Hi, welcome back leader. I'm happy to serve you today. It's the last week in twenty twenty five and I'm excited to end that chapter with you and really, really curious about what twenty twenty six is going to bring us the possibilities, the infinite ideas and opportunities that are awaiting us. but we need to close this chapter we need to close out and we do that with reverence we we do this in a sacred ritual and by the way i showed you one of many uh on our last podcast episode an exercise for you to take learnings from the contrast, the chaos, the crisis that you experienced in twenty twenty five and take and extract those learnings so we can move them into twenty twenty six together. And so if you haven't watched that yet, you're going to want to do that as soon as we're done with this episode. So don't go anywhere yet. I want to talk to you a little bit about choosing this leadership approach, choosing to be a contemplative leader, especially after everything that you've experienced in twenty twenty five. This is why that exercise is important. It's for you to go back into the memories, extract those learnings, because we don't want all that pain and suffering to be for nothing. We want to take them with us and move into this new year of infinite possibilities as a contemplative. So choosing to be a contemplative leader is is intentional and deliberate. Obviously, you're making a choice. You're making a choice. You're making a choice to find peace in your body. You're making a choice to anchor into spiritual principles. You're making a choice. to lead differently. And so why should you choose this perspective? Why should you choose this approach to leadership? I'll tell you why. Well, there's many reasons why, but one that's really important to us and for us to talk about today is that the old antiquated ways of leading are no longer serving us. Those antiquated, toxic, very dangerous leadership models that I'm guilty of training you in because I'm a trainer, researcher, been in this field of study for over thirty years as a practitioner, as a researcher, molding the clay with our team, with our people, with our budgets. I mean, I did those things and I perpetuated those toxic models. Guilty, guilty. But I don't want to be a contributor to these problems. I'm tired. I'm sick and tired. And now I have the power to do something about it. So contemplative leadership approach is the answer to our prayers. So, twenty twenty five brought so much perspective for me. It was a forcing. It was a forcing of shedding antiquated beliefs and systems. This is why I'm wearing my snake blouse today, because twenty twenty five was the year of the wood snake in Chinese astrology. Well, I'm a fire snake. OK, I was born under a fire snake. And according to this astrology, fire burns wood quickly. And guess what? My learnings for twenty twenty five were learned fast. Oh, the whole thing went down in flames. My whole ideologies, all of my belief systems, everything I thought I knew about leadership, poof, burnt to a crisp. I didn't have a choice. It was thrusted upon me. Twenty twenty five was filled with a whole lot of pain and anguish for me, not only personally in my mind, in my body, but in my business, with my clients, in my institute. So much had to be burned down so that I could be here today to rebuild it right in front of your eyes. And contemplative leadership approach is what has saved me and my spirit and my business and the leaders that I serve and you who I serve today. So I am excited about twenty twenty six because of what I experienced in twenty twenty five. And so many of you are shedding those ideologies. So many of you have transformed out of those old antiquated values and belief systems that you were carrying into the organization. So many of you are right here with me saying, let's freaking go. Let's go. What does that look like? Denise, show me the way. Well, let's go. Let's talk about what that looks like to choose, to choose to be a contemplative leader. Because this old way, this old antiquated, toxic, very dangerous leadership models cannot enter. Twenty twenty six cannot move into this new era of leadership where the individual is empowered. No longer are we looking for gurus. No longer are we looking for authority figures. We are questioning every single thing now. And we're questioning whether we belong in these roles, whether we belong in these organizations, because there's danger all around us. Let me tell you something. Leadership has become unsafe. Leadership is unsafe. There, I put some words to what you've been feeling. You have been feeling the fear, the crisis, the chaos in your own body, in your own mind because of the environment that you are working in. Let's be real. That nervous system of ours, yours, mine, ours, there is so much it can take. We have reached a saturation point. This is what I believe. This is what I see in all of the leaders that I serve. We have reached a saturation point. You know, that kitchen sponge that you use to wash dishes, huh? That kitchen sponge is saturated. You can no longer hold another ounce of water. You have to wring it out. You got to squeeze it out so that you can put more in there. You've reached capacity, my friend. You've reached it. And so what do we do next? What do we do now? And especially moving into twenty twenty six. I want you to wring that kitchen towel out, that kitchen rag, that kitchen sponge. I want you to wring it out, get it dried up, get it out of your system. This is why that exercise that I gave you last podcast episode is important to do before twenty twenty six because we're wringing it all out. We've reached saturation. We can no longer put anything else in that rag or in that kitchen sponge. It's time for us to wring it out. And we're doing that. We're doing that right now. We're doing this right now between Christmas and New Year's Eve. I'm filming this, recording this for you the day after Christmas, twenty twenty five. So instead of taking a break, I'm reflecting with you. I'm contemplating with you. I'm doing the work with you because I am ready for twenty twenty six to be different and I'm ready for us to lead differently. And so my invitation, my invitation for you, dear leader, is to choose to lead differently, is to see how your leadership can impact your people differently. It's about nervous system regulation. It's about you going, ooh, this feels good again. Ooh, there's peace in my body again. Ooh, I am anchored. I'm anchored in something bigger and greater than my tiny little ego. I'm anchored in these five spiritual principles. Ooh, it feels good in my body again. I can think clearly. Ooh, I can feel every nuance of this circumstance, of this situation. Ooh, I'm able to articulate. I'm able to perform. I'm able to behave differently. I'm able to inspire my people. Look at me. I'm a contemplative. That's what I am inviting you to do with me today is to choose a leadership approach that is going to serve you, the inner life, the inner alignment, the interior of this leader of you. It's looking at you first and foremost before we look at the output. But here's what's so great about contemplative leadership is that if we take care of the leader internally, The output, success, inevitable success. But we have to take good care of you first before we can go and have all these transformational, impactful things that we do as leaders. See, while other leaders are busy with OKRs and KPIs and meeting all the measurements, cool, that's important because you are measured by the impact of your success. I get that. I get that. But before we look at that, oh, I want to look at you. I want to look at you. I want to put a mirror up against your incredible soul. And I want to show you, look at that. Look at that. Your divine assignment is clear. You may have forgotten what it is. You may have been distracted from it, but I'm here to show you. I'm here to reflect this right back to you, dear leader. Wow. The purpose that you hold in this life and what you're doing today, my goodness, that's my job. That's my job as your guide is to show you who you really are, to show you your divine assignment. before the whole world and society and culture told you who you should be. We're going to shed all of that. And we're moving into twenty twenty six with a new identity, the identity of a contemplative leader. Because you have a divine assignment, unlike mine. Mine is unlike his. His is unlike hers. Hers is unlike theirs. We are all put here with a different assignment. What's yours? Do you even know what it is? If you don't, stick around because I'm going to put that mirror up against your incredible spirit. I'm going to show you what it is. I'm going to show you. Because once you realize your divine assignment, The sacred responsibility that you do have becomes front and center. It becomes so important because now that you know you have a divine assignment, then you realize, oh, then every single person I interact with has a divine assignment too. Oh, now it gets interesting. Now we can have some fun together. Oh, and when you leader, When you wake up and when you realize what your divine assignment is, sacred responsibility is going to be easy. You're going to take your role seriously. It'll be very different for you. It'll have a different purpose for you. It'll have a different fulfillment for you because now you know you were put on this earth to do this thing right here. Divine assignment, sacred responsibility, embodied presence, expansive vision, and transformational impact are the five spiritual principles that we anchor ourselves into as contemplatives. You want to learn more about them, join me inside the sanctuary. Hurry up. Get in there. We go deep. Because contemplatives, we go deep. We don't stay on the surface talking about the weather. No, we talk about the systems down below. We talk about the crisis down below. We talk about what it really means to move this collective forward. We're not surface contemplators. Talkers, we're not going to take what you say at face value. No, we're going to take you down ten layers deep or deeper than that. That's just who we are. So when your friends and your parents and your siblings or your partner or your spouses or whoever says you are such an overthinker, You're going to respond to them. No, I'm a deep thinker. There is a difference. I'm a contemplative. I don't take what you say at face value. I'm not interested in surface level conversing. Although I can shoot the shit with you anytime, any place. But when it matters most, we're taking it down, down, down below. So join me. join me, lead them, lead them in those deeper conversations because you have chosen to be a contemplative. You've chosen this leadership approach that is unlike anything you've experienced before. This ain't transformational leadership. This ain't authentic leadership. This ain't servant leadership. This ain't emotional intelligence or whatever else you spew out there in the industries, right? Like I hear it all. I mean, I hear it all. This is unlike anything you have experienced before. Because the world is asking for deeper, more meaningful fulfillment in our leaders. Just look at where we're surrounded by. Just turn on the television. Local news. The leaders who are leading on your behalf. Huh? How about on the national level? Yikes, y'all. Yikes. Global level. Entertainment. Turn on Netflix. You'll see the abuse of power everywhere. Why is that? Why is there so much abuse of power? Why is there so much manipulation and coercion? Why? Why? Because the old antiquated models of leadership, that's from generations past. I know. I'm part of that generation. I know. I perpetuated that cycle. Guilty. Yep. But I'm doing something about it now, you see? Now I've woken up. My spirit has awoken. It's time to do something about this. Because we can no longer lead our workforce. They're all traumatized because the leaders are traumatized. Traumatized leaders are perpetuating this out in the workforce. Well, guess what, leader? Contemplative leadership approach solves the problem of abuse and coercion and manipulation. Because we're not dependent on our tiny egos. We're anchored into something so much greater than our egos. Contemplative leadership approach is unlike anything you've experienced. And I invite you to experience that for yourself. I invite you to join me so we can experience this together as this is unfolding, as we are forming the foundational work of this incredible leadership approach. It's infancy stage right now. And one day, because they're calling me crazy now, but one day people are going to say, well, that was genius. Yeah, because the culture, society, the era thrusted this into our laps. We have to do something about it now. And so I invite you into twenty twenty six. to choose contemplative leadership approach, to choose this way of leading. I am inviting you into the sanctuary as always. Join me inside this incredible community. It is quiet. It is reflective. It is contemplative. It is where we get to anchor ourselves into these very important spiritual principles because I see you, brilliant leader. I see you. I know no one has said that you're doing an amazing job. No one has called you out on your brilliance, but let me be the first to do that. I see you and you're working so hard, but what if I showed you something different, a different way of leading that makes it so much more simpler and peaceful? You'll be at ease because your nervous system will be at ease because you're going to be anchored into some very powerful spiritual timeless principles. And when the leader is at ease and in peace, then her output is that of safety, is that of psychological safety, is that of ease and trust and calm and resilience. So we take care of you first so that you can then go take care of your followers, your employees, your constituents, your children. So join me inside the sanctuary. Twenty twenty six is the year of the contemplative. And we're going to do all of that great work inside our community. So let me be the first to wish you a fantastic twenty twenty six. Make sure you close out twenty twenty five with love and reverence and care and then move those learnings into this incredible year ahead. A year that is filled with infinite possibilities as a contemplative leader. I look forward to meeting you in twenty twenty six. Happy New Year, leader. I'll see you very soon. Take good care.
