Articles

A library of reflections on leadership, consciousness, and the work of awakening to a more aligned way of being. 

These essays are for leaders navigating the frontier between inner stillness and outer impact.

Categories
Leadership

When Expertise Becomes a Liability

Many successful leaders build their professional identities based on being the smartest person in the room (because they really are quite smart). But as a leader of people, the reflexes of that identity keep getting in the way. I see this time and again in my practice. Maybe you see yourself here too.A subordinate walks into your office struggling with a career decision or a stakeholder uncertain about a strategic pivot, and your reflex kicks

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Philosophy

Noticing the world you are already living in

When our thoughts look real to us, we live in a world of illusion.When our thoughts look like just thoughts, we wake up to a space of possibility.One is not necessarily better than the other. It is in the space of possibility that the illusions of our thinking are experienced - as one of many possibilities.When we like what we are experiencing, it might not occur to us to notice. But when we do not

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Philosophy

The Sharpness of a Slow Mind

There is a sharpness of perception that is evoked only when the mind slows down. It is so simplistic that we overlook it. When energy settles, all personal insecure thinking fades away, and wisdom is perceived effortlessly.Being in this receptive space is not achieved by anything you do. It is the natural result of recognising the limitations of whatever you are doing.We see this idea echoing across timeless philosophical and spiritual texts.From the Tao Te

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Leadership

Visionary Leadership in an Unknown Future

There is an occupational hazard that comes with being a successful leader with a prized intellect - the kind that puts one in positions of power and responsibility. It is a skewed perception of reality that major business or life decisions can purely rely on gathering circumstantial data.Yet when it comes to decisions with the highest stakes, this approach does not seem to give sufficient confidence or clarity. If one’s entire strategy is based on

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Coaching Leadership

Energy, Leadership, Effortlessness, and Way of Being

At the core of any way of being is energy. Just as at the core of any action is a way of being. It is the intentional use of energy that creates a way of being. To use energy intentionally, one must focus on complete, total effortlessness.Total effortlessness is only in two states: Engaging in what one loves, or loving what one engages in. Love is at the core of total effortlessness. A love that is so

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Philosophy

Wisdom in a Fistful of Water

We are always guided in real time, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in. But we are guided only in real time and not ahead in time.Often we lose touch with this present-moment guidance because we are not present to the moment, but to our concepts of time. The present moment exists in our direct experience and not in the concept of time we have created in our minds.Grasping this is like grasping water

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Coaching

The Two Futures of Executive Coaching

In 1910, Sigmund Freud set out to legitimize and standardize psychoanalysis. In response to what he called “Wild Analysis”, he founded the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA), drew rigid theoretical boundaries, and demanded strict methodological loyalty from his peers. If you didn’t fit his clinical parameters, specifically his insistence on the sexual origins of neurosis, you were out. The goal was to make the work uniform, clinically controlled, and scientifically unassailable. His institution existed to police

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Leadership Philosophy

Competence Vs. Intelligence

Competence is valuable when operating from the known. Intelligence is valuable when operating from the unknown. Competence is useful to effectively solve a known problem. Intelligence is necessary for navigating an unknown terrain. Life is an unknown terrain. Every moment, even right now, the future is completely unknown. Treating an unknown terrain as a known problem forces the application of competence, precisely where intelligence is required. This is why life begins to look like a

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Coaching Leadership

The Invisible Exhaustion of Success

It is utterly blindsiding to be at the peak of your career, and realize you are suffocating. I know this intimately because I lived it.Almost a decade ago, I built a life that looked perfect for the outside world. By all external measures, I should have been happy. But I was ‘managing’ a highly functional, entirely invisible exhaustion.Everyone around aspired to be me. But I looked at them and thought they were blessed. To each,

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