Dave Kashen, a coach to startup CEOs, explains how his own meditation, exercise, and retreats keep him present enough to support founders under extreme pressure. Inner work isn't optional for leaders who want to actually help others.
What gives me the right to coach another human being, much less top startup CEOs and founders, is doing my own inner work. In practice, I really contain my hours in which I coach so that I have time to make sure I can be in the state that best serves my clients. I meditate, I exercise, I go on retreats, I do workshops. My life is like a living meditation. So if they come to me with some big, "Oh God, I'm about to run out of money and lose hundreds of millions of dollars for my investors, if I get triggered by that, I'm not available to show up for them in a way that really serves them. So I need to learn to be present with whatever they've got so that I can help them shift into presence and then just do what needs to be done.
