I have been greatly blessed in life AND life has been very hard. I have much to offer others regarding how to start a business and how to grow it into a global business with a positive culture. From my almost 30 years of starting and running software companies, and with my legal experience, I am confident that I can help business leaders achieve better operational excellence. This is the arena where I am a coach and consultant. Much of my business framework is summarized in my Thrivers book (see below). 

Additionally, most all my life I have suffered from generalized anxiety, and I have often lived with much fear and shame. For example, I have witnessed my child battle cancer and I have faced my own cancer, both of which felt like emotional deaths. This suffering has been the catalyst for my passionate pursuit of understanding my emotional and spiritual journey. Mentors in my life have been essential in this quest. What I have learned is that life is hard and treacherous;  AND life always offers beautiful redemption and resurrection. 

My first half of life was more about surviving than thriving. It’s helpful to walk with a mentor who is a little further down the often lonely road to give some guidance and perspective. “Mentor” was first used as a word from Greek mythology, as “Mentor” was the name of the counselor and guide of Odysseus. With help from my mentors, I believe there is hope for more peace, contentment and happiness in all aspects of life. I have enjoyed a career in the corporate arena and achieved a lot of worldly success, but getting to the top of the ladder often felt empty, like the ladder was leaning against the wrong wall (a metaphor as described by Thomas Merton). 

Spiritually, I was raised as an evangelical Christian (see my book No Matter the Cost –  my “first-half-of-life” spiritual manuscript). In 2001 I started a men’s ministry called Band of Brothers (bandofbrothers.org). However, I went through a long season of deconstruction of my faith. In the past ten years, I have been greatly impacted by the non-dualistic and contemplative message and practices of Fr. Richard Rohr, the author of many books, including Falling Upward (a great overview of the two halves of life). Rohr helped me to reorder my faith through my Christian tradition instead of totally abandoning it and “throwing the baby out with the bath water.” In 2021, I completed the 2-year Living School program, founded by Rohr, at the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC). 

The spiritual journey is the arena where I am a mentor and spiritual director. There is no intention when working with my clients to proselytize any particular religion, but I do reference the ancient wisdom of perennial traditions and truths representing and respectful of different faiths. We will consider the big patterns that are true always and everywhere. 

I typically work with business leaders who are in transition, perhaps questioning the systems, world views and religious beliefs that no longer seem to be working. My model for being a mentor to executives is holistic – Mind, Body and Spirit – where we work to Rewire the Mind, Regulate the Body, and recognize the Spiritual Connection to Everyone and Everything. I believe it is impossible to experience true personal growth and transformation without exploring all aspects of well-being. “Spirituality” is not just for the church – it is the human language of failure, suffering, and glory in all of life. It’s the language of meaning and purpose, which usually is transformed through unwanted yet necessary suffering. I believe that pondering the big questions of life is important to the way we deal with the suffering. Even Albert Einstein commented, “I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’” Our core belief or view regarding the benevolence, absence, or wrath of the Divine in our lives is a crucial question to ponder. 

I consider myself a “wounded healer” who continues to do life wrong – every day. As often stated by Rohr, “We grow spiritually much more by doing it wrong than by doing it right.” An elder has lived long enough to know that life is very hard, and an elder understands that all will be okay and knows that in the end life is “very good.” Often what we thought were curses were actually blessings as we reflect on our lives looking back. I believe in good endings because I believe that resurrection(s) always follows death(s), a truth that is echoed by the loss and renewal pattern found in nature. An elder also is about being curious, being present, and is about always being a life-long learner. Most importantly, an elder is able to see and believe the good in you and to provide a mirror so that you can find and see your true self. 

Our time together will include my role as a coach, consultant, mentor and spiritual director. Holistically, it is all about laying the groundwork for transformation – which essentially is about surrender and letting go – much harder said than done! This process is not necessarily about helping you fix all the problems, but instead guiding you through them. Rohr describes this as a “three-steps-forward and two-steps-backwards” journey. An “elder” brings a perspective that helps you hold the space, the paradox and the tension between the “very hard” AND the “very good.” Our time together will be less about homework assignments and reading “how to” books (although good books will be recommended), but more about building a relationship and being present with you. The only term that feels inclusive of my role with the business leaders I work with is “Executive Elder.”

Richard Rohr writes: “We suffer to
get well. We surrender to win. We die to live. We give it away to keep it. This
counterintuitive wisdom will forever be resisted, denied, and avoided, until
it’s forced upon us by some reality over which we are powerless—and, if we’re
honest, we are all powerless in the presence of full Reality.”