“The Spiritual Practice of Conscious Leadership” with Jeffrey Deckman | Ep. 047
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About this Episode:
In this episode of The Transformative Leader Podcast, I’m pleased to be speaking with seasoned entrepreneur, leadership consultant, speaker, and kindred spirit, Jeffrey Deckman. Jeffrey is an internationally recognized thought leader and award-winning author in the emerging field of Conscious Leadership. Since 2005, Jeff has been a leadership and organizational performance consultant with his company, Capability Accelerators, where business owners and executives take their organizations and leadership teams to the next level using twenty-first century processes. Jeff is also an avid student of many spiritual traditions and a stage 4 cancer “thriver,“ and his brings his depth of experience to bear in his teachings and his practice.
Jeff’s entire career has been spent in the trenches and has spanned from the front lines to the front office as he rose from being a lineman, tower worker and field engineer to the CEO of his telecommunications integration firm. He has built nonprofits, political organizations, was a founding partner in a twenty-first century think tank, and has created two multi-million dollar companies, among many other accomplishments. His recently published book, Developing the Conscious Leadership Mindset for the 21st Century, which I highly highly recommend, is an Amazon bestseller and the recipient of two national Stevie Awards. Jeffrey is an extremely fascinating person with a unique message and powerful approach, especially in the context of business and leadership. The short bio above really can’t do justice to the depth Jeffrey gets into in his book and his practice, so I can’t recommend this episode highly enough!
The aspect of Jeffrey’s approach and message that resonated with me is the holistic way that he has integrated many of the philosophical and spiritual insights of various traditions into his teaching. He doesn’t shy away from powerful and important topics because they might be seen as “soft stuff,“ rather he leans in all the way because he knows from personal experience that this stuff works. Suffice it to say, you can see why Jeff is certainly another kindred spirit! Like any endeavor to transcend oneself in service of a greater cause, leadership is fundamentally a spiritual practice, not merely a technical one. As Jeff puts it, “Leadership is a state of consciousness.“ These principles that underlie the practice of leadership are timeless and universal, and they are expressed differently in different cultures and eras, but they all point to the same fundamental truths, that we can either accept and thrive in accordance with, or deny and struggle in opposition to. This was an awesome conversation about the philosophy and spirit of leadership with a deeply fascinating guest, so make sure you don’t miss it!
Some topics discussed in this episode include:
How Jeffrey came to be where he is now, and how he went from lineman to CEO to entrepreneur and consultant.
The focus of his books, including: what it takes to actually shift from one mindset to another, the “organizational trinity“ behind the org chart responsible for 100% of all performance, and the eight-step leadership methodology of Conscious Leadership.
Just what Conscious Leadership actually entails, and the Four Pillars that it is founded upon: reality, practicality, psychology, and spirituality.
How ego is the greatest impediment to becoming a trusted leader, but why it isn’t a bad thing.
Why our blind spots have the potential to be our greatest catalysts for growth.
Jeffrey S. Deckman is the founder of Capability Accelerators, and an award-winning serial entrepreneur who has spent over thirty-five years founding and building companies—two of which became multi-million-dollar firms in the technology sectors. He is also the creator of the Conscious Leadership Conference, and co-founder of the Seeking Wisdom initiative. Jeffrey is a 2016 stage 4 cancer "thriver" (which you can learn more about through his podcast on his journey). Jeffrey is a devoted student of the Eckist, Taoist and Native American spiritual teachings, a level II Reiki practitioner, and a certified practitioner of restorative justice. His goal is to spend the rest of his time and career helping to promote conscious leadership in companies, communities and cultures.
Guest Links:
To learn more about Jeffrey and his work, you can visit his website. His book, which I highly recommend, is available for purchase on Amazon. You can connect with Jeffrey on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You can also email him to start a conversation at Jeffrey@JeffreyDeckman.com
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