In this concise 6‑question, 7‑minute interview, Professor Pete Alexander talks with Peter Matthijs, founder of the Conscious Business Institute. Matthijs describes his role as providing insight and inspiration for professionals seeking fulfillment, satisfaction, and success through conscious leadership. He laughs about the industry’s focus on irrelevant tasks and smiles when clients discover deeper purpose. He critiques the prevailing accumulation‑based model of success, arguing it creates suffering and calls for a new paradigm centered on personal consciousness growth. Matthijs advises leaders to prioritize expanding their consciousness over conventional business advice, noting that success is limited when personal awareness stalls. He highlights Marcel Gasser, a Swiss entrepreneur who healed himself through non‑traditional means, dubbing him a “business Buddha.” Matthijs shares his first job in construction, emphasizing respect for the labor that underpins society. The episode ends with contact information: his LinkedIn profile and the Conscious Business Institute website.
Chapters
This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast, where business leaders share their insights. It is 6 questions in 7 minutes because successful business leaders are busy and rarely have more time to spare. So let's get to it. Question number 1: In a few sentences, please tell me who you are and what you do.
That's a good question. If I go explore a little bit, I'm consciousness squeezed into a white male body at this time. I'm Peter Matthijs. I run the Conscious Business Institute. And what I do is I provide insights and I provide inspiration for professionals who really want to work with more fulfillment, more satisfaction, and more success.
Well, Peter, it's an absolute pleasure to have you on the show. Question number 2: What is something that makes you smile and/or laugh about working in your industry?
Well, let's see, what makes me laugh is the amount of time we all spend on things that really don't matter. We think they matter, but they don't make us happy. It's so sad that we better laugh about it. What really makes me smile is that when we come to that moment with our clients, where we take them to places that they've never gone before, but they've always wanted to go, where they explore who they are here to be and how they can bring it into that world. That's That's the perfect smile there.
Mm, I love it, and I can hear the passion in your voice. It's so great. Question number 3: I have a fictitious book with all the answers for business. What chapter would you think most companies should read?
I think they should read the chapter that our current model of success is not designed to make us happy, that it's actually the reason for much of our suffering. Our current model of success is designed to accumulate. It's based on the paradigm that we are not enough, that there's not enough, and so we are always striving. And that there is actually a different model of success which we need to consider if we want to be happy and want to be really satisfied and fulfilled.
I like that. That sounds like an excellent chapter to read. Thank you. Question number 4: Other than the generic work harder, have a great attitude, and care for customers, what advice or insight would you give to other business leaders?
I actually wouldn't give that advice. That sounds a little bit like business school advice, and if you look around, if we all would do that, we'd all be happy and we'd all be successful, and that's clearly not the case. I've met a lot of people who've worked really hard, really passionate about what they're doing, um, customer-oriented, everything that we are supposed to do, and they're burnt out. So what I would ask people to consider is that our Success stops exactly at that point where our consciousness stops growing. So we can become CEOs, obviously, without having a high consciousness, but if we go home and our consciousness is limited in the way we relate to our children, to our family, our less— success will be limited at that point. So if you're a leader, I encourage you to look at your consciousness rather than all the outside things. Because your wife, your success, and your kids will be thankful for it.
And that often is the most important things in one's life as well. And so if you— from what I'm hearing you, I'm making the assumption that if you focus on those areas, not only will you be happier, your stress will go down, etc. Am I understanding that correctly?
Yes, if we are showing up who we are here authentically to be, which is a question most of us have never been asked what that really is, there is a sense of flow that we step into. And then success is something that comes much easier for us. So if you look at individuals who are actually really successful, holistically successful, maybe the 5 or 10% that we admire at times, they actually live according to that paradigm, whereas most of us do not.
Wonderful. That is so insightful. Thank you so much. Question number 5: What other business leader like yourself would you like to acknowledge and invite to be on my podcast?
I would like to acknowledge— I'm going to kick the ball to Europe, to Switzerland, to a guy called Marcel Gasser. He built a few companies and then had a physical problem. He got cancer, and he knew that the traditional ways wouldn't help, so he dealt with this in a different way and healed himself. And now is really somebody who walks his talk. And you can call him a business Buddha. He works with business leaders, but he's got a tremendous amount of insight to share.
He sounds wonderful. I look forward to talking to him. Thank you for that referral. And our final question, question number 6: Please tell me about your first job.
My first job was when I was in my teens, and I was working in construction because my dad is an architect. He helped me find that job and I had to kick out, click out all the grouts in a brick building, a 3-story office building. So for days and days and days, I went there at 6 o'clock in the morning and clicked out grouts until 6 o'clock in the evening. And I found an enormous admiration and respect for the people who do that kind of work every day. The individuals that keep our world intact, that do all the jobs that keep our world moving, that usually don't get the credit for it. We oftentimes look at the CEOs and praise the high-level people, but it's really many of those individuals that do the hard work that should receive more of the praise. So that was a big learning for me.
Mm-hmm. You know, it's interesting. I totally relate to that because one of my first jobs as well, I spent a summer working in construction as well and doing primarily sheetrock where, you know, putting it up on the walls and up on the ceiling and literally for 12 hours a day, and I would come home completely exhausted. And I too got that appreciation for the construction workers because it is really hard work and they don't get enough credit for that. So I appreciate you mentioning that and I'm glad that you got that same learning. So thank you, Peter, for sharing that experience. It's really great. And thank you so much for being on the show. How can people find you?
They can find me at the LinkedIn profile, which is my name, Peter Matthijs, or they can find me at consciousbusinessinstitute.com.
Perfect. This is Professor Pete Alexander with the Winning at Business and Life podcast. Get hundreds of amazing business insights from previous guest episodes on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for listening.
