Conscious leadership is more important than ever. In this enlightening episode, we explore the 8 ways to develop conscious leadership. Like most things in life, it starts with awareness. Yet, we can become side-tracked by our attachment to our identities. But by examining how conscious leaders serve and contribute, we can let go of our identities, reframe our priorities, and move away from self-serving behavior. Conscious leadership begins with being in the moment and letting go of the outcome while still being mindful of our goals. Join us as we break down how to work towards becoming a more conscious leader and making a positive impact on the world around us.

[00:00:07] We believe in the 200% life, a hundred percent in our world, in a hundred percent outer world, you know, and I'm really excited if you guys can't tell. I have this really new mic and I think it sounds great. I think it's, uh, I think it's a little bit deeper. Um, so hopefully you guys can all hear the difference.

[00:00:25] Hallie: Well, we normally record on the broadcaster, which sounds even better than the one you're currently

[00:00:39] Hallie: Adam, you sound great.

[00:00:42] Yes. Yeah, but the roadcaster is better.

[00:01:02] We, there's an individual, his name's Tom Murphy, whom we have sponsored before. He's spoken to almost 3 million kids about anti-bullying and gives people the models, tools and systems. His company's called Sweethearts and Heroes. And so we're bringing him into the, um, elementary school where my kids go today.

[00:01:43] Really like consciousness in leadership, like what does it actually mean? I think people use concepts. Um, around big words and spirituality and people get lost in the kind of the abstract concepts of these things in terms of, uh, what does that word actually mean, or how do I actually bring that into life, or, you know, the other thing, I, I had somebody reach out to me a couple of days ago, actually over the weekend.

[00:02:25] That I'm, that I'm aware, that I'm aware and I get caught up. And remember Hallie, a lot of this has to do with the fact that, um, Consciousness wants to identify with whatever you're paying attention to. So that's why people can get caught up so much in roles. And what they, what they are is cuz consciousness has a nature of wanting to identify with whatever, whatever you're staring at, putting your energy.

[00:03:09] It's a self-concept. It's a made up mirage of a concept of who you think you are, and then you've attached yourself to that. And then it can get further because then in the outer world, a hundred percent outer world, you now develop that, that material side, the physical side of who you think you are.

[00:03:45] It's the identification with any of that thinking that is actually who you are. Because the reality is, is you'd have. Many, many different roles that you've had in your life when you were six? I remember I was like either six or seven. I remember dressing up, wanting to be like an Army ranger or like a Navy Seal.

[00:04:16] Um, and so part of. Of kind of walking through what it means to be a conscious leader is also starting with this awareness that I need to bring some level of awareness into my day outside of the daily practices, which they're called the practice for a reason. Doesn't mean it's perfect that you're doing, and that daily practice could be, you know, could be exercise, could be meditation, it could be journaling, it could be reading, whatever.

[00:05:01] And they just, awareness isn't like, Hey, I'm aware there's a tree there, right? Hey, I'm aware that I'm talking to this, this other person. It's awareness of, of, look, here's another way of saying it. Language is so important for us. If, if we're in a situation where we're, we're angry at work, or irritated or frustrated at work, the minute you say, I'm, I am angry, you've now identified with anger versus you could say, Hey, you don't have to say, Hey, you could say, I am experiencing anger, which is a completely different, um, object-subject relationship versus an identification with something.

[00:05:57] Like you could be having be perfectly fine. And then whatever emotion kind of shows up in there, it's being able to objectively look and go. Wow. I'm really experiencing jealousy right now because my partner held the door open for somebody. Like that's, I didn't think I had jealousy of me anymore. That was 10 years ago was the last time I felt that way.

[00:06:39] I'm experiencing this anger inside me right now. That's. That is that right there is presence, is awareness in actually like when the rubber meets the road, that's what you actually start doing. Okay. Now with that behind us, right? Um, We like to think about the next generation of leaders, in particularly in business, uh, or any facet, are not just committed to bottom lines, profit numbers, but they're also committed to this kind of holistic inner world as well too.

[00:07:18] Hallie: a little bit first. No, you can't. Well, I'm gonna, anyway. Alright. Um. Because I think, well, I thought that last little piece that you just said, I think is just a really important context that we just want to, I just wanna stop for a second and make sure people heard, which is that this whole, this whole next generation of business leaders are going, uh, must be just as concerned with Yeah.

[00:08:07] Uh, I was, um, talking to a coaching client yesterday and she was saying that she was just, you know, having a conversation with her leader about the fact that, you know, employees can work wherever they want and the majority of them want to be working with a compassionate, conscious, self-aware leaders who believe in some sort of bigger mission or purpose or or vision.

[00:09:04] So, yeah. Um, and then the one other thing I wanted to say before we got very true Yeah. Before we got into the eight ways, was. That the conscious leadership is made, made up of three main areas. And you touched on one of them, which is this whole concept of awareness. Yeah. And then the other two is are knowing that you can engage with the mind as a tool, but you don't have to be ruled by it.

[00:09:41] Adam: What does that mean to you? Well,

[00:09:51] Adam: how, well, lemme ask you a better question, um, instead of what it means to you is how do you, how do you stay neutral?

[00:10:04] That's why business is the best way to work on yourself and your inner, and your inner growth and your inner world, because there's so many things that are coming at you constantly in the business world. It's a test of your patience and your willpower, and your resilience and your confidence and, and all, all the things.

[00:10:50] state before you go into that next meeting or onto that next phone call where maybe you're about to fire somebody and then you need to reenter yourself because then the next conversation is that you maybe need to go give somebody a raise. Or then the next meeting is that you need to go negotiate a contract and you have to tell them that you want 50% off or you're not going to, um, continue working with them.

[00:11:18] Adam: I think, you know, and it's very well said. I think the other way to think about this is just also is asking the question. You can take the, the phrase, you know, conscious leaders, stay neutral and just basically ask, ask that as a question when you.

[00:11:52] It's kind of all them kind of wrap up in the one bow. But the reality is, is when you can, when you just can remind yourself constantly, so you can just ask that. And particularly when you're about to respond to an email, it doesn't, you know, people always go to like, oh, when you're about to fire somebody, it's doesn't always have to do about that.

[00:12:23] It's, it's an ending thing that you're going into is like this constant reminder of like a, my neutral right now. Or am I, have I identified with the, the, the emotion that that is happening inside this inner world right now? So that's kind of step one, and there's a good way of doing it. Turn that into a question, which is just, am I neutral right now?

[00:12:46] the, I think it's, it's tricky to identify, like people wanna know, like, what does it mean to be self-aware? And, and in my experience, people. Um, will only admit about 20 or 30% of what they're self-aware about to, to then be able to tell somebody that they recognize that they're self-aware. So as an example, you may wake up and go, no, like, you know, and I'm doing this exercise, like I'm pretty self-aware and here are three things that I know that I, that I need to really work on.

[00:13:36] Um, everyone has a, has a nature to it. So it's not necessarily what that is. It's more about, um, Being aware of that I get angry when this happens, or being aware that I make this decision every time I, I don't, you know, have a good night's sleep or I don't meditate or that I, I, you know, when I'm around this person, I make a poorer decision or I get

[00:14:29] What would you say about that Hallie?

[00:14:47] They're conscious leaders are also teaching the people in their life. All of these concepts. Yes. So they're also teaching. Their team members how to be self-aware. They're teaching their team members how to stay neutral, but I mean, that's what leadership is, right? It's creating other leaders and conscious leadership is creating other conscious

[00:15:05] Yeah. Number three, conscious leaders serve and contribute. You know, um, I once heard Michael Singer talk, talk about how he would never even use the word service, uh, or contribution. Mm-hmm. Um, for what it is. He said it's at some level those words get dropped away. He's not look, and he, he uses 'em still, but he said at a really deep level, it's not even service or contribution, it's actually just what you're doing.

[00:15:56] And I'm gonna show up and serve in a way that I, that I know that I can make a difference for the organization, for my customer or my client or what's there. Now, look, it doesn't mean that you just don't take money or that you let you know you work for free or do different things. There's a mechanical nature to this.

[00:16:35] Um, cuz there's quieter egos that show up there as well too. Ego is, there's a way I want the world to be and it needs to be that way. It's simple as that. And that can be in business, that can be in how you want your kids to behave. That can be, you know, the roles that you play. That could be how you want the weather to be.

[00:17:11] If you look at that definition of work that way, really service and contribution is more of just like I'm in this moment. I'm being asked to hold this door, or I hold this door for somebody, or I'm, I, I walk by and, you know, I happen to see this piece of trash and I grab it, and you don't tell anybody that's just kind of service in there.

[00:17:44] You can, you're not doing it because you didn't like the person or whatever it was. You're just doing it from differently. The key is, is when, when you think about serve and contribute and then how you can add your, your, take this cuz it may be a little bit different, which is this, what part of you is doing it again.

[00:18:16] And the fruit of the action just is some material award. Right. Or for what it is. And, and the thing is, is, and most deep individual teachers will tell you that the minute you actually show up with that intention, even the, the putting your star there, it actually you end up getting what you wanted. Right?

[00:18:41] Hallie: I'm not sure I would add too much more to that. I just think it like, in such a simple term, it's, for me, it's just like you're not worried about what you can get from other people or what you can get from various situations.

[00:19:11] And I mean, you know, you know when people are doing that too. Yes. That's, that's feel it, it's so obvious I can feel when I'm doing it, even though

[00:19:22] Hallie: Not as in, you know, Maybe unintentionally, but like I can feel when I'm having that sort of energy, like, oh, I really need this from this person.

[00:19:47] Adam: Yeah, that's, that's great. Number

[00:19:58] Adam: It doesn't mean you don't hold yourself to a level of standards that you do. It's just, you know, um, Phil Knight talked a lot about this, right? In his book. Um, or, uh, 11 Rings Phil Jackson. Sorry. Phil Jackson. I always say Phil Knight, for some reason he just did Nike. Cause I always wanna think of Nike, but Phil Jackson, when he wrote the book, 11 rings his, and this was back in the late nineties, you know, he had.

[00:20:39] We do this, and the minute we got into the game, we would let go of the outcome and people would, interviews would ask him like, why would you let go of the outcome? He goes, well, it's just way more fun to play the game that way. And I think that's the, it's a great way of kind of thinking about it in life is like you, it doesn't mean you don't prepare.

[00:21:07] That way I'm not identified with having to win the game. Sure. Would I like it to be a certain weather every day? Cause it'd be great. Yeah, that'd be wonderful. But like, you're not gonna get riled up about it. You let, kind of let go of what that is. It's the same thing when you, the minute you let go of making, if you're faced with making a very difficult decision in business and the minute you can let go of the outcome as it relates to you personally.

[00:21:49] But that's what people are really there and that's why when you serve and contribute, when we're talking about number three, It goes to, goes with number four of letting go of the outcome, and then you just show up and contribute. So you actually say what needs to be said in the meeting. You take the action, what needs to be said in the meeting.

[00:22:26] Right. And they're like, yeah, I didn't want hit it. Cause it's pretty heavy. And I just throw back to like, this isn't heavy at all. Like, this is just a, this is just a challenge that you just go through. And I think that's, that's, that's kind of it. It's like, okay, I see it. Fine. Like I've, it's not, we can fix it.

[00:23:06] That is the key thing to all of this. You should feel okay and then show up and answer the question cuz if you're okay. You do that from a neutral standpoint. When you are neutral in a, in a, in a decision making process, you actually are letting go of the outcome. Because you're not looking to be okay inside from the particular outcome that happens.

[00:23:42] So that's kind of what, when you think about number four, conscious leaders let go of the outcome. That's, that's really what it means there. Five conscious leaders do not bother themselves about the moment. One of the most powerful. Lines, and I think the book called Living Untethered, um, Michael Singer's new book.

[00:24:13] And I actually, I was just doing a podcast earlier today and I actually came up with the analogy when I was doing it, which I think is a good one, um, to kind of describe this concept, which is, um, one. Let's just say, Hallie, you had something in your teeth, okay, and you didn't know it, and you're in a group of five people and you don't, there's something in your teeth currently, but you don't know it and you're not being bothered by it, are you?

[00:24:51] You're just like, oh my God, how would I do this? How could I do whatever it is? Or if somebody says them to you in that moment, you're bothered from what it was. So it's not the fact that something was in your teeth that bothered you. Because the fact is for five minutes it was in your teeth and it wasn't bothering you.

[00:25:25] So it's just a great way of, of the example of that. The moment in front of you is rarely ever bothering you. It's not bothering you. It's you then bother yourself about the moment for a whole host of reasons. And for most of it is cuz you wanna be validated in the way that you are seeing yourself, i e that you've attached yourself to a certain identity, therefore you have to do it.

[00:25:50] It's not that it bothers them because what also what bothers Hallie doesn't bother me, but what bothers me doesn't bother Hallie. So it's not the moment itself or the event that's actually happening that bothers you. So that's why you wake up and go, oh man, this is inside, not outside. And I think this is a great kind of example of that.

[00:26:08] Hallie: Uh, no, just like, I mean, it's just, it's just interesting how they, I mean, it makes sense that these all play so much into each other because how do you not bother yourself about the moment? Well, you continue to work to stay neutral or you continue to work to let go of the outcome.

[00:26:29] Adam: Yeah. Yeah. I think number six is pretty self-explanatory, which is conscious leaders are curious. And, and I think the depth of curiosity, uh, is wonderful. I mean, just the curious of about how and why you're here.

[00:27:02] But then there's this curiosity about who am I? There's a curiosity about who Hallie really is or about What about the depth of your partner, right? Of, of who that is and, and or the depth of your business, I mean, Curiosity is just such a great way and a great perspective. Uh, it's also a great way to approach problems and challenges and when people bring you things.

[00:27:49] So your job is to be curious about both sides of things and so that you realize that it's probably somewhere lies within the middle, or sometimes it can be 80%, one person and 20% the other, right? I'm not gonna say that always lies in the middle, but. There's usually elements of truth in both sides. And if you're, if you don't stay in curiosity for those things, you can get caught identifying, uh, and then having to either apologize or just looking like, uh, that you're not, uh, staying in curiosity, because I think you'd want people to stay in curiosity when they, when they talk about you or, or different things as well.

[00:28:21] Hallie: Yeah. Um, I, I just think that really great leaders are both humble and curious. And you really can't have humility without curiosity. I'm, I can't. I think Matthew McConaughey in a recent thing I just did, said humility was defined as, I'm gonna forget what exactly what he said, but basically like humility is just acknowledging the fact that you don't have all the answers.

[00:29:11] Adam: Genuinely is the key word that you put in there too as well. Yes, yes. I think a lot of people that you talk to will say, no, I go in there not wanting to be. Right. And if you're, this is where that self-awareness example is trying to give. Yeah. You've kind of convinced yourself that you've sang that, but the reality is, is there's energy around a certain particular way you want that conversation to go or you want it to actually be, um, and or you've already identified with a particular side, so you're actually not fully curious.

[00:29:43] Hallie: Yeah. And teamers aren't stupid. They know. They know when a leader has really already made the decision and they're just asking the question just to ask the question. Yeah. Question. Um, oh, okay. This is what he, I just, sorry, I just, all my notes are humble, admitting that we have more to learn.

[00:30:05] Adam: it's, yep. Yeah, I love that. Number seven, conscious leaders have a clear vision, right? That's number one. As a, being an effective leader is understanding where you're going, so the rest of the organization does. Um, and I think that's, that's, you also have a clear vision in terms of, you wanna call it a north star or vision of your life.

[00:30:37] He has a certain work ethic that he re requires, and that doesn't work for everybody, and that's totally cool. But the people that wanna be associated with that are willing to. If you actually listen to the interviews of people that work for SpaceX or different companies that he, or, or that he, that he owns that are doing that, they're like, we, we don't mind working 20 hours a week, or whatever that is.

[00:31:16] So having this clear vision in, in business. Right. And I would also say having a clear vision for your. For your life is really important, not just in your life, but for your family life. Um, and being very clear for what that is. Um, it just, not only does it attract people, but it keeps people focused on all those different things that are there.

[00:31:47] This could just be, remember, I, I think of, you know, leadership by the definition is not a noun. I think it is like a verb more of like an, like a, like getting into action. So, Leaders get others to take a new level of action that benefits them in the organization, particularly in a business setting for that context, right?

[00:32:26] You can read LinkedIn articles. There's a plethora of things that you can do to work on yourself. But it's, you have a clear plan for what that looks like to work on yourself. That is self leadership because you're creating more input that allows additional output for people that are out there, and you're constantly in that growth mode for what it is.

[00:33:08] 3, 2, 1, relax. Let go of the anger that's in there. That is self-leadership at the highest level. I mean, that's a whole separate podcast we could do just on that alone. But self-leadership means that I'm working on myself to become a better individual, and I see the word better, just more actually. Self leadership is doing the seven things that we just described to, to bring into every day so that you become a more conscious

[00:33:53] They just, I promise you, they would right it. It just, you would get if you just went out on the sports team and. Every day you won a hundred to zero, you would stop playing, right? You just would if every day you were just given a million dollars a day. Now, I know when I say that people would go, Give it on, I promise you, after a year you, what do you really do?

[00:34:35] And as Hallie said earlier, earlier, Helping teach and train these particular concepts in the business world cuz it helps them serve clients better, helps them have better relationships with employees, helps have better relationships with their, with their selves and with their families, which is business can be this conduit for everyone's personal and spiritual growth, especially if we're really conscious on ourselves and consciously teaching these these components.