Heal Yourself; Become a Better Leader

Learn about Conscious Leadership and you’ll be that much closer to preventing a Basecamp-sized catastrophe.

Kelly Campbell, co-founder of Consciousness Leaders, is leading our upcoming Finding Fearless workshop on Conscious Leadership, on June 23, 10:00-11:30 am PDT. She’s coming just at the right time—we all need a reminder that there's nothing selfish about learning to be a better leader. Together, we’re going to learn how healing impacts leadership at every level, and ideally we’ll leave the session with a plan to let go of old rules in favor of embracing our own identities, ideas, and vision for the future. We're pretty excited to learn more about Kelly's methods as a coach, including her seven core foundations of conscious leadership (we love an actionable list!). We’ll save that for the workshop though and instead, dive into Kelly’s methodology and the meaning behind the term conscious leadership.

I’m Not a Therapist… But I Play One on TV

After running a successful marketing agency for 14 years, Kelly sold it at a profit and walked away. She was left wondering what to do with everything she had learned from founding, operating, and leading her business. While she knew she didn’t want to start another agency from the bottom up, she was positive she had valuable lessons to share with other leaders. She thought to herself, “If I were to work with other creative leaders and help them to figure out all the things that I had screwed up and learned along the way, you know, maybe it wouldn't take them 14 years to figure things out.”

She spent 5 years developing and curating her coaching practice before launching the current iteration of her business: Consciousness Leaders. “Conscious leadership coaching for me is like this great intersection of helping creative leaders heal from past trauma, childhood wounds, and psychological and emotional wounds,” she shared on a recent IG Live with Fearless Foundry CEO Madeline Pratt. “I'm not a therapist, but I definitely ‘play one on TV’. I help leaders figure out where they have self-limiting beliefs, and then we translate that into a sustainable, successful business.” Kelly is also a practicing Buddhist with training in contemplative science, shadow work, and integral theory, which all show up in her coaching methods.

A Seat at the Table

While the upcoming workshop centers on the practice of leadership, by no means is it exclusive to current ‘leaders’ in the traditional sense. It’s important to Kelly—and the Finding Fearless Community—to welcome “anyone who self-describes as a leader, or has some idea in the back of their mind that they are a leader, but they might not use that word yet,” she explained. “Everybody's invited to the table.”

Leaders Set the Tone

Conscious leadership practices are especially important as our everyday lives become more politicized by the day—which in many ways, is a positive change. Employees and teams increasingly take it upon themselves to advocate for important changes and causes in the workplace, such as ethical hiring practices, wage disparities, awareness of microaggressions, sexual harassment, better parental leave policies, and so much more. Though for many who are newly working from home, crossing the boundaries between “home self” and “work self” has been difficult—we’re wholeheartedly in support of showing up authentically and standing up for what we believe in, wherever your workplace may be. 

For leaders who set the tone through their behavior, authenticity and awareness are critical. “It's just a non-negotiable. Conscious leadership is the expectation to the degree that employees are literally walking out the door because their leadership is not taking appropriate action, or supporting them in ways that make them feel seen, heard, valued and understood in the workplace,” says Kelly. For a real-life example, look at what happened at Basecamp, the successful project-management startup that crumbled overnight when their leadership essentially ‘outlawed’ talking about politics at work. Employees quit en masse—because they were smart, and they knew it was a completely absurd, out-of-touch policy. “People are not going to accept that. And it's not just the employees—it's also what consumers think. As a leader, you need to care from both ends.”

You Can Do This

Don’t let that example scare you—if you’re reading this and planning to attend the Finding Fearless Community session on June 23rd, you’re in the right place. The fact that you are exploring ways to be a better leader, become attuned to your own internal world, and lean into empathy means that you’re already on the best path to prevent a Basecamp-sized catastrophe. 

Would you or a friend like to attend this session for FREE? Get your first month in the community for $0 with the code “fearless”. No tricks! We want to make sure anyone who is interested is able to attend.