February 1, 2024 • 44 mins
Unlock the transformative power of Spiritual Intelligence with the guidance of Yosi Amram, a seasoned clinical psychologist and executive coach. In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Amram walks through the intricate tapestry of Spiritual Intelligence—unveiling how qualities such as purpose, compassion, and integrity are not just aspirational, but practical tools that can amplify your personal and professional life. We tackle the common misconceptions that shroud the concept, clarifying how Spiritual Intelligence is a universal asset that transcends religious boundaries, enriching leaders and individuals alike with deeper satisfaction and heightened productivity.
Yosi provides a peek into his book, "Spiritually Intelligent Leadership: How to Inspire by Being Inspired," offering you keys to unlock and harness your spiritual essence for a more impactful presence in all walks of life.
Take the Spiritual Leadership assessment!
Website: yosiamram.net
BelemLeaders–Your organization's trusted partner for leader and team development. Visit our website to connect: belemleaders.org or book a discovery call today! belem.as.me/discovery
Until next time, keep doing great things!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there and welcome to Conversations, where today
we have Yossi Amran, a licensedclinical psychologist and an
executive coach catering to CEOs, entrepreneurs and other
influential leaders, previouslya founder and CEO of two
companies that he has ledthrough successful IPOs.
He has coached over a hundredCEOs, many of whom have built
(00:24):
companies with thousands ofemployees and revenues in the
billions.
He is a pioneering research inthe field of spiritual
intelligence and the author ofspiritually intelligent
leadership how to Inspire bybeing Inspired.
He holds an MBA from Harvardand a PhD from Sophia University
(00:45):
.
Dr Amran is committed toenabling individuals to unlock
their potential throughspiritual intelligence, which we
are going to hear about today.
Yossi, welcome to the show.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm great, I'm delighted to be here with you
and hear these kind words ofintroduction and still feeling
the effect of your prayer andenjoying your smile.
So it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Thank you so much, so tell us where you're coming to
us from today.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I am today in Northern California, near Santa
Cruz.
It's a Northern California Bayarea and I'm close to the ocean,
so I get this energy and themountains on one side and the
ocean on the other side, on theCalifornia coast.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Nothing better than that.
Oh, I love it, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, congratulations on your book.
I think it's fantastic, andthat's what I'm going to talk
about today, because I feel thatpeople don't truly, including
myself, and that's why I'm soglad that you're here with us to
really unpack what spiritualintelligence is.
I would love for us to justjump into that and tell us what
(02:04):
is it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Okay, great.
Well, spiritual intelligence isvery analogous to emotional
intelligence, like most peoplehave heard of, and it's kind of
permeating our culture thesedays.
But emotional intelligence isbasically the ability to draw on
emotional resources andinformation to help manage our
(02:26):
own and other people's emotions.
So, by analogy, spiritualintelligence is the ability to
draw on and embody spiritualresources and qualities and
values that have been hailed byall the world's spiritual
traditions, qualities such aspurpose, service, compassion,
integrity, humility, joy, beauty, higher self and so on.
(02:51):
These are qualities that,regardless of one's tradition
whether you come from aChristian tradition or a Jewish
or a Muslim or a Hindu orBuddhist, and regardless of
their theology and cosmology,these qualities are considered
as virtues.
They have been shown throughthe field of positive psychology
(03:13):
, in fact, and leadershipdevelopment, to contribute to
our well-being and our power andeffectiveness as leaders.
So it's a long definition, butthe essence of it is the ability
to draw on and embody spiritualqualities and resources in
(03:33):
daily life to help functioningand well-being.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And you know what I hear a lot, especially certain
generations, that they'll saythat they're spiritual, they're
not religious.
Is that something that you hearor that maybe you can explain?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, well, I hear a lot.
A lot of my clients would fallinto that category.
I mean, just in terms of myclients you mentioned, I've
worked with over 100 CEOs andthey've been all over the
spectrum, from devoutpractitioners of a particular
religion to quote-unquotespiritual and not religious,
(04:13):
which is very popular these days, and then to pure atheists.
Now, what is amazing is thatyou could develop your spiritual
intelligence and you may notagree or like this, but I think
it's important that people coulddevelop their spiritual
intelligence regardless of theirspiritual and religious
affiliation.
So, going back to thesequalities I highlighted purpose
(04:37):
and service and compassion andhumility and presence and
integrity.
You don't have to be practicingor believing in any one
religion or any one spiritualframework to embody them and to
cultivate them.
So, yeah, but you know a lot ofpeople these days.
(04:59):
I think I just saw recentresearch by a few that says that
the biggest category are now inthe US is called none, which is
I forget the acronym, but it'sbasically that they're not
affiliated with any religion.
It used to be that the majorityof population were affiliated
(05:23):
one religion or another, whetherit's Protestant or Catholic or
Jewish or Muslim, but now thebiggest category is people that
are not.
But, it's interesting still,the majority of Americans
believe in higher powers.
So they believe in higher poweror some notion of spirituality,
(05:44):
but they don't want tocategorize themselves as
affiliated with any one religion, which you know.
Obviously there's been a lot ofproblems and damage done in the
name of religion, but I alsosee that it's contributed a lot
to humanity and I think beingpart of spiritual but not
(06:07):
religious is kind of a personalexperience and connection which
is important.
But I think what religion givesus is tradition and community
and I think that's so important.
So, yeah, so anyway, it's acomplex, long subject.
I'm not sure what's going there.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, thank you for answering that.
What are some of the benefitsof spiritual intelligence for us
as individuals, but then alsofor teams and leaders?
Because you obviously you workwith CEOs, you know people in
those higher level, but also younoted in your bio with
(06:49):
entrepreneurs, so I would loveto hear more about that, what
the benefits are.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, and I'm also work as a clinical psychologist
with individuals and couples, soyeah, so yeah, I'm glad you're
bringing that up.
So spiritual intelligence hasbenefits at the individual level
, first of all in quality oflife, satisfaction with life,
individual productivity and evenrelationship and marital
(07:18):
satisfaction.
So there are lots of benefits.
Individually Now, as leaders,it's also very powerful and
effective.
In my own doctoral research Ishowed the leaders with higher
spiritual intelligence leadteams that have higher morale,
greater commitment and lowerturnover.
(07:40):
And that's after controllingfor emotional intelligence.
So emotional intelligencecontributes to leadership
effectiveness.
Spiritual intelligencecontribute to leadership
effectiveness, but combined theydo more than each of them alone
.
So they are complementary andreinforcing and together they're
(08:03):
more than each of them.
So that's not to knock eitherof them.
They're both important.
And the other point I wouldmake is that, following my
research, there's been otherresearch that has shown that
leaders with greater spiritualintelligence produce better
financial results for theirorganization, which was kind of
(08:23):
pretty amazing to hear.
In another study it's beenshown that teams and groups and
particularly this one study wasdone with banks banks where the
employees hold a higher level ofspiritual intelligence better
financial results and betterreturn on assets compared to
(08:44):
other banks.
So the point is it contributesto leadership effectiveness, to
individual productivity andgroup and team productivity.
When everybody's leadership,spiritual intelligence, hire,
the team as a whole functionsbetter and is more productive.
And, needless to say, peoplefeel more connected, a sense of
(09:06):
community, their happiness,their well-being goes up, so
that all feeds positive energywhich results in greater
alignment, greater cohesion and,ultimately, better results.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So how is this measured?
So how do you get to that?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, you mean the outcome.
As I said, depending on thestudy, they looked at the actual
financial results of theorganization, whether it was
profitability or revenue growth.
In the case of the banks, itwas return on assets, which is
again a standard financialmetric that are used to evaluate
(09:49):
performance in the financialsector.
I think the other aspect,though, is how do you measure
someone's spiritual intelligence, so to speak?
And that was my doctoralresearch, and I spent a number
of years to create the firstacademically validated measure
of spiritual intelligence, andit's both a self-report measure,
(10:14):
where it asks you to basicallylook at your behavior over a
period of time and look atquestions as to the extent you
brought compassion to yourencounters and whether that
helped you in your interactionswith others, or to what extent
you are driven and motivated bya sense of purpose that's beyond
(10:36):
just financial rewards orcareer advancement, so that
comes into service or purpose,and whether you are present in
your interaction with others,and so on.
So it's got 22 dimensions ofspiritual intelligence and it's
evaluating you on all of those.
(10:58):
Now, most importantly is thatit's helping people identify
their strengths andopportunities relative to
themselves, so it's not like toget our egos engaged and say
which is kind of a paradoxicalwas like oh, I have higher
spiritual intelligence thansomeone else and we can start to
(11:20):
go into our egoic comparingmind.
The idea here is to help peopleidentify their strengths and
their opportunities.
So someone's strengths might becompassion they bring a lot of
compassion into theirinteractions with others and
helps their connections, etc.
Someone else's strengths mightbe bringing quality of joy to
(11:43):
their interactions and someoneelse may really have a strong
access to vision, and someoneelse may be very mindful and
present, and so on.
So there are all thesedimensions and qualities and
it's to help people identifytheir strengths and their
opportunities.
And then most people, when theygo through the assessment, find
(12:05):
it helpful just the process ofreflecting on ourselves and just
oh yeah, I could bring morecompassion to my interaction, I
can bring more joy, I can bemore intentional, I can be more
mindful, I can be more present,and so on.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I love that and those are to be celebrated, the
things that we're strong in andeven in those opportunities.
Celebrate that there's anopportunity there.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, exactly, and it's important to understand, at
least in my view.
None of us are perfect and it'sa constant practice of building
the muscle, as they say, tobuild our capacity and to stay
centered, to stay grounded, tostay in our heart, to be in
(12:59):
alignment with our values.
But there's so much that lifethrows at us and we kind of lose
balance, we lose center.
And then how quickly do weremember?
How quickly do we come back?
So, remember, what does thatmean?
If you think about the word isre returning to membering
ourselves into the community,into the circle of life.
(13:21):
So when we remember, we moveaway from being an isolated,
separate individual to being amember of the circle of life
that you know, with our fellowhumans and life more broadly,
and that resources us.
So again, we look at the wordresource.
(13:42):
It's resource, so we return tosource.
That is our greatest resource.
So when we so, we get offbalance and then we remember and
we resource ourselves, and soit's an ongoing practice.
We're building new neuralpathways and then finding more
(14:02):
and more stability in that placeso we, when we're thrown off,
we can return faster.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, I'm really I'm listening to you and I'm
thinking of those two words andhow people say them all the time
, but I think those who arelistening are going to stop and
pause and probably rewind andsay I need to hear that again
and really think about those twowords differently.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, so we remember, we've remember.
As I said is once we all think,oh, we forget something, we
remember.
But yeah, remember ourselves,remember our nature, resource
ourselves by connecting tosource and yeah, I like that.
And there's always anopportunity.
(14:50):
That's the beauty.
Like you said, we forget and weremember and we could celebrate
that we remembered.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So it's not.
We don't have to go intobeating ourselves up oh I forgot
, oh, I forgot, oh I.
But in the moment of realizingwe forgot, implicit in that is
the remembering.
And then there's an opportunityto celebrate and bring more joy
to ourselves and celebrate ourgrowth.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
So how do you bring this in?
Because you work with CEOs andI'm thinking sometimes, in
especially corporate environment, it's like oh spiritual, no, we
can't go there.
So how do you bring this in?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Well, by meeting people where they are.
People you know face crises,face dilemmas, face, you know
challenges.
And the way I bring it in is byhelping people find their
essence, find their source andyou know spark of life within
(15:59):
them.
And then they feel rooted intheir depth and their essence
and their spark of life and thenthey find their alignment with
their calling, their purpose,and then it becomes clear to
them how to navigate thosesituations.
So I don't necessarily have to,you know, pitch them and tell
(16:21):
them about, you know thereligion or the spiritual thing,
but they find those resourcesin themselves, they find that
wisdom in their hearts, and so alot of it is helping them
connect and go inward.
I mean, we're so culturallyconditioned to look out and for
(16:41):
our goodies you get this new car, you get this new thing.
From the day we're kids we weregiven new toys, we're given
candy and that makes us happyand that's great.
We need to some of that to grow.
But as we mature, our true poweris from within us.
Because if my true power, if mypower and my satisfaction,
(17:06):
comes externally, then I amdisempowered.
You know my fate, my destiniesis in the hands of these other
things where I'm outside mycontrol, even when I can root
myself in my essence, in myconnection to the divine.
If we use that language or thatmy soul, essence, my spark of
(17:31):
life then I'm dependent on otherpeople's approval for my
self-esteem, for my sense ofvalue.
And I'm not a leader, I'mfollowing.
I'm more a politician, tryingto figure out what do people
want, and then I don't have myNorth Star, my inner compass.
(17:54):
So a lot of what I do is helpingpeople connect with themselves,
with their essence, and that'swhere they find the answer,
that's where they find theirtrue power.
And again, as I said, thatcould be for anybody, regardless
of if they're religious orspiritual, but not religious or
atheist.
They can feel it.
(18:15):
We feel when we live inintegrity with our nature and
when we're integrity with ournature we're aligned, we're
whole and we're not divided.
When we're divided, we'remisaligned and we're weak, you
know, but just if you takesomething misaligned, it's much
weaker than something that'swhole and aligned.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
That's when we need to remember.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
That's when we remember and resource.
You already remember.
You're remembering what wetalked about.
That's right, I'm delighted.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
So that's how we do become inspired.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yes, yeah, what is inspired?
I mean, what do leaders do?
They inspire, right, I mean oneof my first cases at Harvard,
when I attended for my MBA manyyears ago, you know, was the
difference between managers andleaders.
And managers are the important.
(19:24):
They manage resources, theymake decisions, they allocate
scarce resources, but leadersinspire.
Now, what is the root of theword?
Inspire is spirit.
And what is spirit is theanimating breath of life, right?
So by its very nature we say toinspire or be inspired.
It's injecting the life force,the spirit, the energy that
(19:50):
animates life, that animates theorganization, that animates the
team.
So we have to connect to theroot essence of our life force,
which is our spirit, and that'sour source of inspiration.
So we have to ignite that flameand find that inspiration
inside of us.
Before we can have any hope ofinspiring anybody else, we have
(20:14):
to be inspired.
So that's why my book is calledhow to Inspire by being
Inspired.
And people get confused.
Lots of people come to me andsay I want to be an
inspirational leader and I justask them okay, do you want to be
an inspirational leader or aninspired leader?
And what's the difference?
When you say I want to be aninspirational leader?
How do you decide?
(20:35):
If you are, you have to lookout.
Oh, what's the effect I'mhaving on others?
No, right there, I left myself,I disempowered myself, because
that verdict depends on them.
If I say I am inspired, I feelit.
I feel the aliveness, I feel thepassion, I feel the power that
(20:56):
comes when I'm inspired, when Ihave inhaled in the power of
that spirit, and then it'scirculating through my veins and
my arteries and I'm justpulsating with aliveness and
vibrating, and then that's myfrequency that I'm radiating out
.
Helpable, yeah, it's palpable,and people that resonate with my
(21:20):
vision and my mission and myvalues are naturally drawn in.
So we get inspired, we elevateour frequency, we vibrate this
energy, this aliveness, thispassion, this vision, and then
people that want to line up.
And if they're not aligned withthat, then it's better than not
(21:42):
be part of our team, becausethen the team is divided, people
are rolling in differentdirections.
So whatever applies to usindividually, the importance of
alignment and wholeness andintegrity applies at the team
and organization level.
The organization needs to bealigned, needs to be whole,
(22:04):
needs to be in integrity, notwith inner fighting which
sometimes we experience withinour own psyche and which divides
us.
So I mean the microcosm and themacrocosms, as above, so below,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, so imagine if all leaders really could harness
that, what our organizationswould be so it would be palpable
.
People would be following,people would be aligning and
people would be getting excited.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And they would be empowered themselves.
So it permeates out.
So it's good.
Leaders inspire and createfollowers.
But also great leaders inspireother leaders.
So it's not just I get inspiredand I'm this charismatic,
(23:01):
powerful leader and peoplefollowing me, which is great.
I can boost my ego and so on,and look at me, but if I'm a
really truly great leader, thenI'm empowering my team to become
leaders, because we're actuallyall leaders.
We're all influencing eachother, whether in a formal, yeah
, right.
(23:25):
Thank you, thank you.
Whether it's in a formalorganization, in a business or a
nonprofit or a governmentorganization, we're leaders.
In our teams, and I mean in ourfamilies and in our communities
, we're always influencing eachother.
And how we behave, how we showup in the checkout line in the
(23:45):
supermarket, we're affectingeach other.
How we drive on the freeway,we're affecting each other.
You know someone drivesaggressively against everybody,
riled up.
You know, before you know it,it's a mess and everybody's
anxiety and stress goes up andaccidents go up.
So I'm just saying is how weshow up in our lives, we're
(24:08):
always leading, we're alwaysinfluencing.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
That's right and that's the message that I hammer
home, it seems all the time,because people don't understand
that.
They think the word leadermeans something else and that it
doesn't apply to them, andsometimes they just need
permission to call themselves aleader and to understand that.
Exactly how you said, itdoesn't matter how do we say, it
doesn't matter if you're on ahierarchy chart or not.
(24:34):
Yeah, they're always in aleadership role.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, you have the opportunity to influence others,
but that has to do with youknow, do you get passionate, Do
you have a vision or an idea orsomething?
And I also want to emphasizethat.
You know, we typically think ofleadership as you know, those
that lead from the front, peoplethat have a vision of the
(25:01):
future, and they said this iswhere we're going and follow me.
It's kind of what I call Yangquality of leadership, and
there's also the Yin quality ofleadership, which is leading
from behind, and that's not somuch about I know where we're
going, you guys follow me.
It's more like, okay, I'm goingto be here and support you from
(25:23):
behind.
And if you look at the Bible,some of the greatest leaders
were shepherds and they werepicked because they cared for
the flock, and from behind.
So you know the biblical storyis Moses was chosen because he
carried the weak lamb and Godwas like okay, if you care that
(25:46):
well for the week among, thenyou can lead, and so when people
feel like that level of careand support, then naturally want
to follow, and so, but that'smore leading from the front and
behind, and the greatest leadersI see can switch back and forth
(26:07):
depending on the situation.
Sometimes they have a visionand they get ahead and say
follow me and they get everybodyrallying behind that vision and
that mission.
Sometimes they fall behind andthey help people discover their
own way and have their ownvision for themselves and then
they're taking more of acoaching, mentoring, empowering
role and I think that's verypowerful and very important it
(26:31):
is.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
All right, let's see what we have here.
So how do we cultivate deep andgrow our spiritual intelligence
?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Well, it's a practice and my experience is it's like
building any new habit or muscleis to focus our intention and
attention on one quality.
And so we say, okay, for thenext month I want to bring more
(27:05):
joy to my activities.
And then what are the practicesthat bring me joy throughout my
day?
You know, what brings me joy iswalking on the beach every
morning and watching thepelicans and the birds as they
feed, and the dawn of the newday and the beautiful sunrise,
and dancing and music andcooking and talking to my family
(27:28):
, my children.
So those are the things.
I bring more mindfulness todoing that and I cultivate the
quality of joy and then I makeit more permeate my day and do I
show up to meetings gloomy ordo I try and elevate people's
spirit, etc.
So once I build that habitmaybe it takes me 30 days and
(27:50):
I'm now practicing joy I couldfocus on another quality.
It could be compassion, itcould be mindfulness, the
presence, whatever it is.
And so, yeah, in the wordpractice it's kind of funny, it
has two meanings.
In the English language we say,oh, I'm practicing this for some
(28:12):
future games, some futureperformance, but when you also
think about it, a doctor has afamily practice or has this.
That is what they do.
It's not like they'repracticing medicine for
something else.
They're practicing medicine.
This is their work.
So what we practice is what webecome.
So if I practice joy, then Ibecome joyful.
(28:35):
If I practice compassion andcompassion, if I practice
humility, then I'm humble.
If I practice integrity, thenI'm an integrity.
So, but you know, we need thesetraining wheels to get us to
find that and so that over timewe could be, that we become more
and more of that quality thatwe're cultivating.
(28:56):
I hope I'm making sense.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
No, you are making sense because, as you said, what
are their 22,?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
22 different elements to the 22 qualities and they
cost these, they cluster around,you know, these domains of
meaning and grace and innerdirectedness, and truth and
wisdom, and so, and under eachof those there's multiple.
So, for example, under grace,there's trust, you know being
(29:28):
trust, and they call it faithand trusting.
Because as leaders, it'scritical and as human being,
it's crucial that we have trustand faith in life and otherwise
nobody's going to be motivatedif we don't believe that we can
accomplish anything over timeand the future is going to be
(29:49):
good for us or the goals we set.
So so trust is one importantquality, as as gratitude, as is
beauty, as is joy.
So when we bring thesequalities, we're kind of
interacting with others withgrace.
We bring in this positivity oftrust and gratitude and joy and
beauty, and so that's just anexample of one cluster of
(30:13):
qualities that, in thisframework, and what I like about
what you're saying is that wedon't have to work on everything
at once.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We can just take that pause.
Do a 30-day work on something,not feel overwhelmed by it,
because that's not what this isabout.
We don't want you overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, and we need to build trust in ourselves.
So when I say the quality oftrust, we can say it's trust in
God, it's trust in the universe,it's trust in our team, it's
trust in ourselves, but we haveto trust ourselves also.
So if we take on too many, tooambitious, we're overwhelmed,
(30:57):
we're not going to attain whatwe start to not trust and
respect ourselves, whichdisempowers us.
So, yeah, it's super importantto take qualities, and one at a
time, and set to ourselvesattainable goals so we can build
(31:17):
our confidence and our faithand our trust in ourselves,
which gives us more energy andmore motivation to keep going
Like I'm successful at this.
I can do this, as opposed to Icannot.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yes, and these are in the book yes, where people yeah
these are qualities.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
There are case studies for each quality.
I have relatable case studiesfrom leaders and how they come
in and they have no access to itand how I work with them to
help them find and awaken thatquality and use that capacity to
address the challenge.
And then, along with eachquality, there are exercises
(31:58):
that I call your turn.
So then it guides you throughapplying it.
And so, yeah, spiritualintelligence not.
You read this book and you getsomething out of it, but it's
not just a cognitiveunderstanding.
It's like you know, you can.
It's like with spirituality orreligion.
(32:22):
I say, okay, well, I understand, and it's important to have
faith or trust in life.
Okay, I can understand thatcognitively, but how do you
rewire yourself to have thatfaith and trust?
It's an ongoing practice.
To cultivate faith it's anongoing practice Interesting.
(32:47):
You know, I come from Israel.
My original mother tongue isHebrew and the word in Hebrew
for faith or trust is Emuna, andit shares root with imun, which
means practice, and oman, whichis art.
So to develop faith or trust,it's an ongoing practice and
(33:09):
it's an art form.
It's not just, oh, you say,okay, I need faith.
Okay, great, that's a good idea.
But let's see what happens whenlife throws you challenges and
you're like do you stillmaintain the faith, do you still
maintain the trust and believethat this is serving some
(33:29):
goodness, or do you get cynicalabout life and feel like a
victim?
So I'm just saying, with eachof these qualities, there are
suggested practices to helppeople work on that and bring it
into life in their own life.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah, and practice isn't a dirty word, it's
something that we all need to doand I love that you brought in
and I'm not going to say thisbut I love that you brought in
the medical practice, becausewhat people don't understand is
that doctors are alwayspracticing.
I mean, everybody's coming in.
They're unique.
They may have something that,yes, maybe they've seen before,
(34:11):
but they still may need to go totheir book and figure it out,
or practice in their craft ofwhatever it is.
I love that you brought that in.
And we do need to be practicingin order to cultivate those
habits and, as you said, gainingconfidence through that
practice is how them we're goingto say oh I did this, think of
(34:33):
it as an experiment for 30 daysand see how you come out.
I love that.
And then move on to the next.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, yeah, and, as you highlighted, the doctor is
practicing in both senses of theword.
They're practicing, they'redoing it, they're practicing
whatever family medicine orwhatever kind of medicine
they're practicing, but eachtime they're practicing, they're
improving and deepening theskill, which is less the way we
(35:03):
are.
When we practice gratitude,we're being grateful and we're
deepening the grooves ofgratitude in our brain.
So it's more living our livesin gratitude.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Accounting our blessings, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
That's right.
So what haven't we talked aboutthat's important for you to
share today before we close?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Well, I think.
Well, I think you touched onsomething which is obviously in
the beginning.
If someone comes from aparticular faith tradition, then
they have one access point tothat spirit, you know, and
(35:54):
through if you're coming from aparticular Christian faith
tradition etc.
Then you know how to tune intothat frequency and through
prayer, like you did, invoking,and then that kind of invoked
and awakened the spirit in you,and so that's awesome for people
who have that.
Perhaps your audience is kindof already steeped in that
(36:18):
tradition and they have anaccess point.
And I think that's a great wayto start and ignite that spark
and draw in that spirit.
And then from there, like workon these other qualities of
gratitude and compassion andintegrity and humility and so on
.
But if someone does not havethat, then it's like, okay, how
(36:42):
do they connect with theirsacred spark of life?
And what I find is that is onepathway and this is not to
negate the other we just talkedabout, but just to complement.
It is to first connect with ourbreath.
(37:02):
So we can do that right now andjust take a few deep breaths
together, feeling the rise andfall of our belly and our chest
and, if it helps, putting ourright hand on the center of our
chest and feeling our heartbeatand lower hand on the lower
belly, feeling our feet on theground and support of the earth,
(37:26):
mother Earth below us, feelingthe verticality of our spine as
its channel for energy thatconnects our head pointing at
the heavens and our feet rootedin the ground.
And then so we become thischannel of energy and, as our
spine is kind of an antenna,picking up these frequencies and
(37:51):
connecting heaven and earth,which is what our role as humans
are, is to bring the energy andthe goodness of heaven down to
this earth.
So it's that's just one way, Ifind, to get centered and
grounded and feel our life force, our aliveness, through our
breath, through our pulsation ofour blood flow through our
(38:15):
veins and arteries and heart.
And you know, that's that's oneway I think people can, and it
doesn't take very long, to getcentered and grounded.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
this way resource.
I'm ready for a nap, now that Idid.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
So it was relaxing, huh.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Relaxing, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Do you feel more or less clearheaded?
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I feel more clearheaded, for sure I feel.
I feel lighter lighter Okay.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I do, I do feel so it's interesting, you're relaxed
and and and alert and alert,yeah, yeah, so, um, so anyway.
But I mean, if we, if we dothese kind of practices few
(39:05):
times a day, it doesn't takelong.
Uh, you know, it took us aminute to do this.
You felt the effect.
So people over time can, can dothis on their own a few times a
day between meetings.
Instead of start coming into ameeting feeling frazzled is
coming in, feeling centered, andso.
But whatever the practice is,it could be center centering
(39:27):
prayer.
You know there's a I think isit Thomas Keating has centering
prayer and you know I don't knowdifferent traditions, but for
whatever, whatever it is, havingthese small tools that we can
weave in throughout our day, andso our nervous systems are more
calm, we're more centered,we're more available, our mind
(39:49):
is clear, we're not reactive,we're more responsive to the
situation and we bring more ofourselves, more of our resources
to to bear and whoever, who andwhatever is in front of us.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
I've done that with teams and opening like that,
very similar to that, and it isamazing that then we're ready to
go after we're all centered, wecomplete that, we take a moment
to just enjoy that moment andthen we're ready.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Yeah, yeah, and it could be a team prayer.
I mean, it's so powerful when agroup of people have a shared
intention, when we're clear onour intention, it's like a
rudder that keeps us on trackand it's super important.
But there's research that showswhen you take multiple people
and they have shared intention,then the power of that intention
(40:46):
is multiplied, which is why youknow spiritual communities and
sanghas or churches or whateverare so powerful, because you
have a group of people cominginto a service with a shared
intention and following a ritualand you, the energy of the
space is palpable and then thewhole space starts to imbue that
(41:10):
.
So, yeah, if you start ameeting with everybody doing
that and affirming the intentionsuper powerful and build a
sense of community, which is soimportant these days.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That is important.
Yossi, I'd love to point peopleto you, like to your book,
where they can find you if theylike to connect with you somehow
.
What can we offer in the shownotes for that?
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Well, a couple of things.
First is my website isyosi-o-s-i-a-m-r-a-m it's two
M's like Marynet, soyosi-a-m-r-a-mnet, and in there
there are resources and links tothe assessment tool.
(41:56):
There's a free assessment toolfor spiritual intelligence that
I mentioned that people couldtake.
There's more expansiveresources, like for if someone
wants to do a 360 assessment,and so on.
But yeah, there's also adescription of my book, which is
(42:17):
available on multiple onlineand bookstores, whether it's
Barnes, noble or Amazon or whathave you.
So the book is, as youmentioned, spiritually
intelligent leadership how toinspire by being inspired.
There it is, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Well, it has been a joy, a pleasure, oh my gosh, and
I'm so relaxed still.
So thank you for that.
But we really went through alot of things and I appreciate
that, really taking people on anunderstanding, on this journey,
of what spiritual intelligenceis.
And it doesn't have to do withreligion, it is about
spirituality, it is about thespirit.
(43:03):
What did you call that?
The spark of the.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Sacred spark of life.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Sacred spark of life.
I think that's beautiful andit's about getting that sacred
spark of life and then sharingthat.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, and just banning its flame, and so then,
Getting the flames?
Yes, and then we all have theflame and the heart that seeks
truth, that seeks God, thatseeks whatever, that wants this
deep fulfillment.
And when that flame is shiningbright, then it radiates light
(43:41):
and warmth and other people aredrawn into that and that helps
ignite their flame.
It's like we all light up eachother and then we light up the
world.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
That's right.
Let's light up the world,people, all right.
Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Well, I thank you, you're welcome and next time.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
You keep doing great things.
Bye-bye, bye-bye.
Hey there and welcome to Conversations, where today
we have Yossi Amran, a licensedclinical psychologist and an
executive coach catering to CEOs, entrepreneurs and other
influential leaders, previouslya founder and CEO of two
companies that he has ledthrough successful IPOs.
He has coached over a hundredCEOs, many of whom have built
(00:24):
companies with thousands ofemployees and revenues in the
billions.
He is a pioneering research inthe field of spiritual
intelligence and the author ofspiritually intelligent
leadership how to Inspire bybeing Inspired.
He holds an MBA from Harvardand a PhD from Sophia University
(00:45):
.
Dr Amran is committed toenabling individuals to unlock
their potential throughspiritual intelligence, which we
are going to hear about today.
Yossi, welcome to the show.
How are you doing today?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I'm great, I'm delighted to be here with you
and hear these kind words ofintroduction and still feeling
the effect of your prayer andenjoying your smile.
So it's awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Thank you so much, so tell us where you're coming to
us from today.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I am today in Northern California, near Santa
Cruz.
It's a Northern California Bayarea and I'm close to the ocean,
so I get this energy and themountains on one side and the
ocean on the other side, on theCalifornia coast.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
Nothing better than that.
Oh, I love it, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, congratulations on your book.
I think it's fantastic, andthat's what I'm going to talk
about today, because I feel thatpeople don't truly, including
myself, and that's why I'm soglad that you're here with us to
really unpack what spiritualintelligence is.
I would love for us to justjump into that and tell us what
(02:04):
is it.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Okay, great.
Well, spiritual intelligence isvery analogous to emotional
intelligence, like most peoplehave heard of, and it's kind of
permeating our culture thesedays.
But emotional intelligence isbasically the ability to draw on
emotional resources andinformation to help manage our
(02:26):
own and other people's emotions.
So, by analogy, spiritualintelligence is the ability to
draw on and embody spiritualresources and qualities and
values that have been hailed byall the world's spiritual
traditions, qualities such aspurpose, service, compassion,
integrity, humility, joy, beauty, higher self and so on.
(02:51):
These are qualities that,regardless of one's tradition
whether you come from aChristian tradition or a Jewish
or a Muslim or a Hindu orBuddhist, and regardless of
their theology and cosmology,these qualities are considered
as virtues.
They have been shown throughthe field of positive psychology
(03:13):
, in fact, and leadershipdevelopment, to contribute to
our well-being and our power andeffectiveness as leaders.
So it's a long definition, butthe essence of it is the ability
to draw on and embody spiritualqualities and resources in
(03:33):
daily life to help functioningand well-being.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
And you know what I hear a lot, especially certain
generations, that they'll saythat they're spiritual, they're
not religious.
Is that something that you hearor that maybe you can explain?
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, well, I hear a lot.
A lot of my clients would fallinto that category.
I mean, just in terms of myclients you mentioned, I've
worked with over 100 CEOs andthey've been all over the
spectrum, from devoutpractitioners of a particular
religion to quote-unquotespiritual and not religious,
(04:13):
which is very popular these days, and then to pure atheists.
Now, what is amazing is thatyou could develop your spiritual
intelligence and you may notagree or like this, but I think
it's important that people coulddevelop their spiritual
intelligence regardless of theirspiritual and religious
affiliation.
So, going back to thesequalities I highlighted purpose
(04:37):
and service and compassion andhumility and presence and
integrity.
You don't have to be practicingor believing in any one
religion or any one spiritualframework to embody them and to
cultivate them.
So, yeah, but you know a lot ofpeople these days.
(04:59):
I think I just saw recentresearch by a few that says that
the biggest category are now inthe US is called none, which is
I forget the acronym, but it'sbasically that they're not
affiliated with any religion.
It used to be that the majorityof population were affiliated
(05:23):
one religion or another, whetherit's Protestant or Catholic or
Jewish or Muslim, but now thebiggest category is people that
are not.
But, it's interesting still,the majority of Americans
believe in higher powers.
So they believe in higher poweror some notion of spirituality,
(05:44):
but they don't want tocategorize themselves as
affiliated with any one religion, which you know.
Obviously there's been a lot ofproblems and damage done in the
name of religion, but I alsosee that it's contributed a lot
to humanity and I think beingpart of spiritual but not
(06:07):
religious is kind of a personalexperience and connection which
is important.
But I think what religion givesus is tradition and community
and I think that's so important.
So, yeah, so anyway, it's acomplex, long subject.
I'm not sure what's going there.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, thank you for answering that.
What are some of the benefitsof spiritual intelligence for us
as individuals, but then alsofor teams and leaders?
Because you obviously you workwith CEOs, you know people in
those higher level, but also younoted in your bio with
(06:49):
entrepreneurs, so I would loveto hear more about that, what
the benefits are.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah, and I'm also work as a clinical psychologist
with individuals and couples, soyeah, so yeah, I'm glad you're
bringing that up.
So spiritual intelligence hasbenefits at the individual level
, first of all in quality oflife, satisfaction with life,
individual productivity and evenrelationship and marital
(07:18):
satisfaction.
So there are lots of benefits.
Individually Now, as leaders,it's also very powerful and
effective.
In my own doctoral research Ishowed the leaders with higher
spiritual intelligence leadteams that have higher morale,
greater commitment and lowerturnover.
(07:40):
And that's after controllingfor emotional intelligence.
So emotional intelligencecontributes to leadership
effectiveness.
Spiritual intelligencecontribute to leadership
effectiveness, but combined theydo more than each of them alone
.
So they are complementary andreinforcing and together they're
(08:03):
more than each of them.
So that's not to knock eitherof them.
They're both important.
And the other point I wouldmake is that, following my
research, there's been otherresearch that has shown that
leaders with greater spiritualintelligence produce better
financial results for theirorganization, which was kind of
(08:23):
pretty amazing to hear.
In another study it's beenshown that teams and groups and
particularly this one study wasdone with banks banks where the
employees hold a higher level ofspiritual intelligence better
financial results and betterreturn on assets compared to
(08:44):
other banks.
So the point is it contributesto leadership effectiveness, to
individual productivity andgroup and team productivity.
When everybody's leadership,spiritual intelligence, hire,
the team as a whole functionsbetter and is more productive.
And, needless to say, peoplefeel more connected, a sense of
(09:06):
community, their happiness,their well-being goes up, so
that all feeds positive energywhich results in greater
alignment, greater cohesion and,ultimately, better results.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
So how is this measured?
So how do you get to that?
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Well, you mean the outcome.
As I said, depending on thestudy, they looked at the actual
financial results of theorganization, whether it was
profitability or revenue growth.
In the case of the banks, itwas return on assets, which is
again a standard financialmetric that are used to evaluate
(09:49):
performance in the financialsector.
I think the other aspect,though, is how do you measure
someone's spiritual intelligence, so to speak?
And that was my doctoralresearch, and I spent a number
of years to create the firstacademically validated measure
of spiritual intelligence, andit's both a self-report measure,
(10:14):
where it asks you to basicallylook at your behavior over a
period of time and look atquestions as to the extent you
brought compassion to yourencounters and whether that
helped you in your interactionswith others, or to what extent
you are driven and motivated bya sense of purpose that's beyond
(10:36):
just financial rewards orcareer advancement, so that
comes into service or purpose,and whether you are present in
your interaction with others,and so on.
So it's got 22 dimensions ofspiritual intelligence and it's
evaluating you on all of those.
(10:58):
Now, most importantly is thatit's helping people identify
their strengths andopportunities relative to
themselves, so it's not like toget our egos engaged and say
which is kind of a paradoxicalwas like oh, I have higher
spiritual intelligence thansomeone else and we can start to
(11:20):
go into our egoic comparingmind.
The idea here is to help peopleidentify their strengths and
their opportunities.
So someone's strengths might becompassion they bring a lot of
compassion into theirinteractions with others and
helps their connections, etc.
Someone else's strengths mightbe bringing quality of joy to
(11:43):
their interactions and someoneelse may really have a strong
access to vision, and someoneelse may be very mindful and
present, and so on.
So there are all thesedimensions and qualities and
it's to help people identifytheir strengths and their
opportunities.
And then most people, when theygo through the assessment, find
(12:05):
it helpful just the process ofreflecting on ourselves and just
oh yeah, I could bring morecompassion to my interaction, I
can bring more joy, I can bemore intentional, I can be more
mindful, I can be more present,and so on.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I love that and those are to be celebrated, the
things that we're strong in andeven in those opportunities.
Celebrate that there's anopportunity there.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, exactly, and it's important to understand, at
least in my view.
None of us are perfect and it'sa constant practice of building
the muscle, as they say, tobuild our capacity and to stay
centered, to stay grounded, tostay in our heart, to be in
(12:59):
alignment with our values.
But there's so much that lifethrows at us and we kind of lose
balance, we lose center.
And then how quickly do weremember?
How quickly do we come back?
So, remember, what does thatmean?
If you think about the word isre returning to membering
ourselves into the community,into the circle of life.
(13:21):
So when we remember, we moveaway from being an isolated,
separate individual to being amember of the circle of life
that you know, with our fellowhumans and life more broadly,
and that resources us.
So again, we look at the wordresource.
(13:42):
It's resource, so we return tosource.
That is our greatest resource.
So when we so, we get offbalance and then we remember and
we resource ourselves, and soit's an ongoing practice.
We're building new neuralpathways and then finding more
(14:02):
and more stability in that placeso we, when we're thrown off,
we can return faster.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah, I'm really I'm listening to you and I'm
thinking of those two words andhow people say them all the time
, but I think those who arelistening are going to stop and
pause and probably rewind andsay I need to hear that again
and really think about those twowords differently.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Yeah, so we remember, we've remember.
As I said is once we all think,oh, we forget something, we
remember.
But yeah, remember ourselves,remember our nature, resource
ourselves by connecting tosource and yeah, I like that.
And there's always anopportunity.
(14:50):
That's the beauty.
Like you said, we forget and weremember and we could celebrate
that we remembered.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
So it's not.
We don't have to go intobeating ourselves up oh I forgot
, oh, I forgot, oh I.
But in the moment of realizingwe forgot, implicit in that is
the remembering.
And then there's an opportunityto celebrate and bring more joy
to ourselves and celebrate ourgrowth.
That's right.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
So how do you bring this in?
Because you work with CEOs andI'm thinking sometimes, in
especially corporate environment, it's like oh spiritual, no, we
can't go there.
So how do you bring this in?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Well, by meeting people where they are.
People you know face crises,face dilemmas, face, you know
challenges.
And the way I bring it in is byhelping people find their
essence, find their source andyou know spark of life within
(15:59):
them.
And then they feel rooted intheir depth and their essence
and their spark of life and thenthey find their alignment with
their calling, their purpose,and then it becomes clear to
them how to navigate thosesituations.
So I don't necessarily have to,you know, pitch them and tell
(16:21):
them about, you know thereligion or the spiritual thing,
but they find those resourcesin themselves, they find that
wisdom in their hearts, and so alot of it is helping them
connect and go inward.
I mean, we're so culturallyconditioned to look out and for
(16:41):
our goodies you get this new car, you get this new thing.
From the day we're kids we weregiven new toys, we're given
candy and that makes us happyand that's great.
We need to some of that to grow.
But as we mature, our true poweris from within us.
Because if my true power, if mypower and my satisfaction,
(17:06):
comes externally, then I amdisempowered.
You know my fate, my destiniesis in the hands of these other
things where I'm outside mycontrol, even when I can root
myself in my essence, in myconnection to the divine.
If we use that language or thatmy soul, essence, my spark of
(17:31):
life then I'm dependent on otherpeople's approval for my
self-esteem, for my sense ofvalue.
And I'm not a leader, I'mfollowing.
I'm more a politician, tryingto figure out what do people
want, and then I don't have myNorth Star, my inner compass.
(17:54):
So a lot of what I do is helpingpeople connect with themselves,
with their essence, and that'swhere they find the answer,
that's where they find theirtrue power.
And again, as I said, thatcould be for anybody, regardless
of if they're religious orspiritual, but not religious or
atheist.
They can feel it.
(18:15):
We feel when we live inintegrity with our nature and
when we're integrity with ournature we're aligned, we're
whole and we're not divided.
When we're divided, we'remisaligned and we're weak, you
know, but just if you takesomething misaligned, it's much
weaker than something that'swhole and aligned.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
That's when we need to remember.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
That's when we remember and resource.
You already remember.
You're remembering what wetalked about.
That's right, I'm delighted.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
So that's how we do become inspired.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Yes, yeah, what is inspired?
I mean, what do leaders do?
They inspire, right, I mean oneof my first cases at Harvard,
when I attended for my MBA manyyears ago, you know, was the
difference between managers andleaders.
And managers are the important.
(19:24):
They manage resources, theymake decisions, they allocate
scarce resources, but leadersinspire.
Now, what is the root of theword?
Inspire is spirit.
And what is spirit is theanimating breath of life, right?
So by its very nature we say toinspire or be inspired.
It's injecting the life force,the spirit, the energy that
(19:50):
animates life, that animates theorganization, that animates the
team.
So we have to connect to theroot essence of our life force,
which is our spirit, and that'sour source of inspiration.
So we have to ignite that flameand find that inspiration
inside of us.
Before we can have any hope ofinspiring anybody else, we have
(20:14):
to be inspired.
So that's why my book is calledhow to Inspire by being
Inspired.
And people get confused.
Lots of people come to me andsay I want to be an
inspirational leader and I justask them okay, do you want to be
an inspirational leader or aninspired leader?
And what's the difference?
When you say I want to be aninspirational leader?
How do you decide?
(20:35):
If you are, you have to lookout.
Oh, what's the effect I'mhaving on others?
No, right there, I left myself,I disempowered myself, because
that verdict depends on them.
If I say I am inspired, I feelit.
I feel the aliveness, I feel thepassion, I feel the power that
(20:56):
comes when I'm inspired, when Ihave inhaled in the power of
that spirit, and then it'scirculating through my veins and
my arteries and I'm justpulsating with aliveness and
vibrating, and then that's myfrequency that I'm radiating out
.
Helpable, yeah, it's palpable,and people that resonate with my
(21:20):
vision and my mission and myvalues are naturally drawn in.
So we get inspired, we elevateour frequency, we vibrate this
energy, this aliveness, thispassion, this vision, and then
people that want to line up.
And if they're not aligned withthat, then it's better than not
(21:42):
be part of our team, becausethen the team is divided, people
are rolling in differentdirections.
So whatever applies to usindividually, the importance of
alignment and wholeness andintegrity applies at the team
and organization level.
The organization needs to bealigned, needs to be whole,
(22:04):
needs to be in integrity, notwith inner fighting which
sometimes we experience withinour own psyche and which divides
us.
So I mean the microcosm and themacrocosms, as above, so below,
so to speak.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Yeah, so imagine if all leaders really could harness
that, what our organizationswould be so it would be palpable
.
People would be following,people would be aligning and
people would be getting excited.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
And they would be empowered themselves.
So it permeates out.
So it's good.
Leaders inspire and createfollowers.
But also great leaders inspireother leaders.
So it's not just I get inspiredand I'm this charismatic,
(23:01):
powerful leader and peoplefollowing me, which is great.
I can boost my ego and so on,and look at me, but if I'm a
really truly great leader, thenI'm empowering my team to become
leaders, because we're actuallyall leaders.
We're all influencing eachother, whether in a formal, yeah
, right.
(23:25):
Thank you, thank you.
Whether it's in a formalorganization, in a business or a
nonprofit or a governmentorganization, we're leaders.
In our teams, and I mean in ourfamilies and in our communities
, we're always influencing eachother.
And how we behave, how we showup in the checkout line in the
(23:45):
supermarket, we're affectingeach other.
How we drive on the freeway,we're affecting each other.
You know someone drivesaggressively against everybody,
riled up.
You know, before you know it,it's a mess and everybody's
anxiety and stress goes up andaccidents go up.
So I'm just saying is how weshow up in our lives, we're
(24:08):
always leading, we're alwaysinfluencing.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
That's right and that's the message that I hammer
home, it seems all the time,because people don't understand
that.
They think the word leadermeans something else and that it
doesn't apply to them, andsometimes they just need
permission to call themselves aleader and to understand that.
Exactly how you said, itdoesn't matter how do we say, it
doesn't matter if you're on ahierarchy chart or not.
(24:34):
Yeah, they're always in aleadership role.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Yeah, you have the opportunity to influence others,
but that has to do with youknow, do you get passionate, Do
you have a vision or an idea orsomething?
And I also want to emphasizethat.
You know, we typically think ofleadership as you know, those
that lead from the front, peoplethat have a vision of the
(25:01):
future, and they said this iswhere we're going and follow me.
It's kind of what I call Yangquality of leadership, and
there's also the Yin quality ofleadership, which is leading
from behind, and that's not somuch about I know where we're
going, you guys follow me.
It's more like, okay, I'm goingto be here and support you from
(25:23):
behind.
And if you look at the Bible,some of the greatest leaders
were shepherds and they werepicked because they cared for
the flock, and from behind.
So you know the biblical storyis Moses was chosen because he
carried the weak lamb and Godwas like okay, if you care that
(25:46):
well for the week among, thenyou can lead, and so when people
feel like that level of careand support, then naturally want
to follow, and so, but that'smore leading from the front and
behind, and the greatest leadersI see can switch back and forth
(26:07):
depending on the situation.
Sometimes they have a visionand they get ahead and say
follow me and they get everybodyrallying behind that vision and
that mission.
Sometimes they fall behind andthey help people discover their
own way and have their ownvision for themselves and then
they're taking more of acoaching, mentoring, empowering
role and I think that's verypowerful and very important it
(26:31):
is.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
All right, let's see what we have here.
So how do we cultivate deep andgrow our spiritual intelligence
?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Well, it's a practice and my experience is it's like
building any new habit or muscleis to focus our intention and
attention on one quality.
And so we say, okay, for thenext month I want to bring more
(27:05):
joy to my activities.
And then what are the practicesthat bring me joy throughout my
day?
You know, what brings me joy iswalking on the beach every
morning and watching thepelicans and the birds as they
feed, and the dawn of the newday and the beautiful sunrise,
and dancing and music andcooking and talking to my family
(27:28):
, my children.
So those are the things.
I bring more mindfulness todoing that and I cultivate the
quality of joy and then I makeit more permeate my day and do I
show up to meetings gloomy ordo I try and elevate people's
spirit, etc.
So once I build that habitmaybe it takes me 30 days and
(27:50):
I'm now practicing joy I couldfocus on another quality.
It could be compassion, itcould be mindfulness, the
presence, whatever it is.
And so, yeah, in the wordpractice it's kind of funny, it
has two meanings.
In the English language we say,oh, I'm practicing this for some
(28:12):
future games, some futureperformance, but when you also
think about it, a doctor has afamily practice or has this.
That is what they do.
It's not like they'repracticing medicine for
something else.
They're practicing medicine.
This is their work.
So what we practice is what webecome.
So if I practice joy, then Ibecome joyful.
(28:35):
If I practice compassion andcompassion, if I practice
humility, then I'm humble.
If I practice integrity, thenI'm an integrity.
So, but you know, we need thesetraining wheels to get us to
find that and so that over timewe could be, that we become more
and more of that quality thatwe're cultivating.
(28:56):
I hope I'm making sense.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
No, you are making sense because, as you said, what
are their 22,?
Speaker 2 (29:04):
22 different elements to the 22 qualities and they
cost these, they cluster around,you know, these domains of
meaning and grace and innerdirectedness, and truth and
wisdom, and so, and under eachof those there's multiple.
So, for example, under grace,there's trust, you know being
(29:28):
trust, and they call it faithand trusting.
Because as leaders, it'scritical and as human being,
it's crucial that we have trustand faith in life and otherwise
nobody's going to be motivatedif we don't believe that we can
accomplish anything over timeand the future is going to be
(29:49):
good for us or the goals we set.
So so trust is one importantquality, as as gratitude, as is
beauty, as is joy.
So when we bring thesequalities, we're kind of
interacting with others withgrace.
We bring in this positivity oftrust and gratitude and joy and
beauty, and so that's just anexample of one cluster of
(30:13):
qualities that, in thisframework, and what I like about
what you're saying is that wedon't have to work on everything
at once.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
We can just take that pause.
Do a 30-day work on something,not feel overwhelmed by it,
because that's not what this isabout.
We don't want you overwhelmed.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, and we need to build trust in ourselves.
So when I say the quality oftrust, we can say it's trust in
God, it's trust in the universe,it's trust in our team, it's
trust in ourselves, but we haveto trust ourselves also.
So if we take on too many, tooambitious, we're overwhelmed,
(30:57):
we're not going to attain whatwe start to not trust and
respect ourselves, whichdisempowers us.
So, yeah, it's super importantto take qualities, and one at a
time, and set to ourselvesattainable goals so we can build
(31:17):
our confidence and our faithand our trust in ourselves,
which gives us more energy andmore motivation to keep going
Like I'm successful at this.
I can do this, as opposed to Icannot.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
Yes, and these are in the book yes, where people yeah
these are qualities.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
There are case studies for each quality.
I have relatable case studiesfrom leaders and how they come
in and they have no access to itand how I work with them to
help them find and awaken thatquality and use that capacity to
address the challenge.
And then, along with eachquality, there are exercises
(31:58):
that I call your turn.
So then it guides you throughapplying it.
And so, yeah, spiritualintelligence not.
You read this book and you getsomething out of it, but it's
not just a cognitiveunderstanding.
It's like you know, you can.
It's like with spirituality orreligion.
(32:22):
I say, okay, well, I understand, and it's important to have
faith or trust in life.
Okay, I can understand thatcognitively, but how do you
rewire yourself to have thatfaith and trust?
It's an ongoing practice.
To cultivate faith it's anongoing practice Interesting.
(32:47):
You know, I come from Israel.
My original mother tongue isHebrew and the word in Hebrew
for faith or trust is Emuna, andit shares root with imun, which
means practice, and oman, whichis art.
So to develop faith or trust,it's an ongoing practice and
(33:09):
it's an art form.
It's not just, oh, you say,okay, I need faith.
Okay, great, that's a good idea.
But let's see what happens whenlife throws you challenges and
you're like do you stillmaintain the faith, do you still
maintain the trust and believethat this is serving some
(33:29):
goodness, or do you get cynicalabout life and feel like a
victim?
So I'm just saying, with eachof these qualities, there are
suggested practices to helppeople work on that and bring it
into life in their own life.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah, and practice isn't a dirty word, it's
something that we all need to doand I love that you brought in
and I'm not going to say thisbut I love that you brought in
the medical practice, becausewhat people don't understand is
that doctors are alwayspracticing.
I mean, everybody's coming in.
They're unique.
They may have something that,yes, maybe they've seen before,
(34:11):
but they still may need to go totheir book and figure it out,
or practice in their craft ofwhatever it is.
I love that you brought that in.
And we do need to be practicingin order to cultivate those
habits and, as you said, gainingconfidence through that
practice is how them we're goingto say oh I did this, think of
(34:33):
it as an experiment for 30 daysand see how you come out.
I love that.
And then move on to the next.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yeah, yeah, and, as you highlighted, the doctor is
practicing in both senses of theword.
They're practicing, they'redoing it, they're practicing
whatever family medicine orwhatever kind of medicine
they're practicing, but eachtime they're practicing, they're
improving and deepening theskill, which is less the way we
(35:03):
are.
When we practice gratitude,we're being grateful and we're
deepening the grooves ofgratitude in our brain.
So it's more living our livesin gratitude.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Accounting our blessings, you know.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
That's right.
So what haven't we talked aboutthat's important for you to
share today before we close?
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Well, I think.
Well, I think you touched onsomething which is obviously in
the beginning.
If someone comes from aparticular faith tradition, then
they have one access point tothat spirit, you know, and
(35:54):
through if you're coming from aparticular Christian faith
tradition etc.
Then you know how to tune intothat frequency and through
prayer, like you did, invoking,and then that kind of invoked
and awakened the spirit in you,and so that's awesome for people
who have that.
Perhaps your audience is kindof already steeped in that
(36:18):
tradition and they have anaccess point.
And I think that's a great wayto start and ignite that spark
and draw in that spirit.
And then from there, like workon these other qualities of
gratitude and compassion andintegrity and humility and so on
.
But if someone does not havethat, then it's like, okay, how
(36:42):
do they connect with theirsacred spark of life?
And what I find is that is onepathway and this is not to
negate the other we just talkedabout, but just to complement.
It is to first connect with ourbreath.
(37:02):
So we can do that right now andjust take a few deep breaths
together, feeling the rise andfall of our belly and our chest
and, if it helps, putting ourright hand on the center of our
chest and feeling our heartbeatand lower hand on the lower
belly, feeling our feet on theground and support of the earth,
(37:26):
mother Earth below us, feelingthe verticality of our spine as
its channel for energy thatconnects our head pointing at
the heavens and our feet rootedin the ground.
And then so we become thischannel of energy and, as our
spine is kind of an antenna,picking up these frequencies and
(37:51):
connecting heaven and earth,which is what our role as humans
are, is to bring the energy andthe goodness of heaven down to
this earth.
So it's that's just one way, Ifind, to get centered and
grounded and feel our life force, our aliveness, through our
breath, through our pulsation ofour blood flow through our
(38:15):
veins and arteries and heart.
And you know, that's that's oneway I think people can, and it
doesn't take very long, to getcentered and grounded.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
this way resource.
I'm ready for a nap, now that Idid.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
So it was relaxing, huh.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Relaxing, thank you.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
Do you feel more or less clearheaded?
Speaker 1 (38:39):
I feel more clearheaded, for sure I feel.
I feel lighter lighter Okay.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
I do, I do feel so it's interesting, you're relaxed
and and and alert and alert,yeah, yeah, so, um, so anyway.
But I mean, if we, if we dothese kind of practices few
(39:05):
times a day, it doesn't takelong.
Uh, you know, it took us aminute to do this.
You felt the effect.
So people over time can, can dothis on their own a few times a
day between meetings.
Instead of start coming into ameeting feeling frazzled is
coming in, feeling centered, andso.
But whatever the practice is,it could be center centering
(39:27):
prayer.
You know there's a I think isit Thomas Keating has centering
prayer and you know I don't knowdifferent traditions, but for
whatever, whatever it is, havingthese small tools that we can
weave in throughout our day, andso our nervous systems are more
calm, we're more centered,we're more available, our mind
(39:49):
is clear, we're not reactive,we're more responsive to the
situation and we bring more ofourselves, more of our resources
to to bear and whoever, who andwhatever is in front of us.
Speaker 1 (40:03):
I've done that with teams and opening like that,
very similar to that, and it isamazing that then we're ready to
go after we're all centered, wecomplete that, we take a moment
to just enjoy that moment andthen we're ready.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Yeah, yeah, and it could be a team prayer.
I mean, it's so powerful when agroup of people have a shared
intention, when we're clear onour intention, it's like a
rudder that keeps us on trackand it's super important.
But there's research that showswhen you take multiple people
and they have shared intention,then the power of that intention
(40:46):
is multiplied, which is why youknow spiritual communities and
sanghas or churches or whateverare so powerful, because you
have a group of people cominginto a service with a shared
intention and following a ritualand you, the energy of the
space is palpable and then thewhole space starts to imbue that
(41:10):
.
So, yeah, if you start ameeting with everybody doing
that and affirming the intentionsuper powerful and build a
sense of community, which is soimportant these days.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
That is important.
Yossi, I'd love to point peopleto you, like to your book,
where they can find you if theylike to connect with you somehow
.
What can we offer in the shownotes for that?
Speaker 2 (41:35):
Well, a couple of things.
First is my website isyosi-o-s-i-a-m-r-a-m it's two
M's like Marynet, soyosi-a-m-r-a-mnet, and in there
there are resources and links tothe assessment tool.
(41:56):
There's a free assessment toolfor spiritual intelligence that
I mentioned that people couldtake.
There's more expansiveresources, like for if someone
wants to do a 360 assessment,and so on.
But yeah, there's also adescription of my book, which is
(42:17):
available on multiple onlineand bookstores, whether it's
Barnes, noble or Amazon or whathave you.
So the book is, as youmentioned, spiritually
intelligent leadership how toinspire by being inspired.
There it is, so thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Well, it has been a joy, a pleasure, oh my gosh, and
I'm so relaxed still.
So thank you for that.
But we really went through alot of things and I appreciate
that, really taking people on anunderstanding, on this journey,
of what spiritual intelligenceis.
And it doesn't have to do withreligion, it is about
spirituality, it is about thespirit.
(43:03):
What did you call that?
The spark of the.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Sacred spark of life.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
Sacred spark of life.
I think that's beautiful andit's about getting that sacred
spark of life and then sharingthat.
Speaker 2 (43:20):
Yeah, and just banning its flame, and so then,
Getting the flames?
Yes, and then we all have theflame and the heart that seeks
truth, that seeks God, thatseeks whatever, that wants this
deep fulfillment.
And when that flame is shiningbright, then it radiates light
(43:41):
and warmth and other people aredrawn into that and that helps
ignite their flame.
It's like we all light up eachother and then we light up the
world.
Speaker 1 (43:52):
That's right.
Let's light up the world,people, all right.
Well, thank you so much.
I appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Well, I thank you, you're welcome and next time.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
You keep doing great things.
Bye-bye, bye-bye.
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