29. On Permission to Glow & Epic Leadership with Kristoffer Carter

Overview

In this episode, I’m speaking with Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) who is a spiritual teacher at the intersection of consciousness and business. He is the founder of This Epic Life, a website and podcast devoted to conscious living, which has created a daily meditation practice for thousands. We discuss KC’s new book, “Permission to Glow: A Spiritual Guide to Epic Leadership.” The book is available for pre-order on September 7 and comes out on October 5.

Don’t get scared off by this episode if you aren’t a spiritual person! I suggest you be open to the power of what KC is “preaching.” This is all about ways to open ourselves up to truly lead in all aspects of our lives and do so in a way that is sustainable. KC might say this is “soul level work,” and it’s about being able to show up in your life as your true, unapologetic self and to allow others to do the same.

So if you’re looking to up your leadership game in any area of your life and to find more capacity for what life is throwing at you, then KC’s 4 Permissions™ framework can help unlock new potential and give you insight into building more Sustainable Ambition.

More about Our Guest

Kristoffer Carter (“KC”) is a spiritual teacher at the intersection of consciousness and business. He is the founder of This Epic Life, a website and podcast devoted to conscious living, which has created a daily meditation practice for thousands. As a meditation teacher and workshop designer, KC has 6,500 active students on Insight Timer, with 120K streams.

As an executive coach, Carter works with leaders at Amazon, AT&T, Avery-Dennison, and many start-ups and mid-sized multi-generational family businesses.

Carter is also an accomplished international speaker, emcee, and retreat leader whose work has appeared in Business Insider, onstage at TEDx and Wisdom 2.0, and in countless other events. Permission to Glow: A Spiritual Guide to Epic Leadership is his first book.

Carter built his experience with Centro, who won the #1 Best Place to Work in Fortune Magazine, Advertising Age, and for an unprecedented four straight years by Crains’ Business Chicago.

Carter is a disciple of the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, through Self-Realization Fellowship, and their lineage of masters. Touring as a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter in his teens, Carter continues to write songs and produce his teenage daughter’s band. He lives in Akron, OH with his wife of twenty-two years and their three children.

Topics Covered

  • We start by hearing about KC’s own journey to his current work as a business owner, sought-after executive coach and meditation expert, transitioning from a corporate career to part two of his personal journey and what he was called to do. KC also mentions how he had a great boss at his last gig (that matters!) and that he was on a sabbatical when his role was eliminated. Just want to call out again how many of my guests have taken sabbaticals, including yours truly. Breaks—very important! Powerful life shifts can pop up during such times.

  • KC’s biggest lessons going through the transition and looking back now for those of you who might be experiencing a similar transition and taking a leap—live fully into one’s full expression, be authentic by honoring emotions, and learning how to be more chill about things, allowing vs. forcing. Be in the process!

  • Don’t get scared off by this episode if you aren’t a spiritual person. I suggest you be open to the power of what KC is “preaching.” This is all about ways to open ourselves up to truly lead in all aspects of our lives and do so in a way that is sustainable. KC might say this is “soul level work,” and it’s about being able to show up in your life as your true, unapologetic self and to allow others to do the same.

  • We talk about what KC means by “epic leadership.” He notes how many leaders are good at the “getting stuff done” piece. KC shares that epic leadership is related to the “epic connections where we feel we’re connected to ourselves in our leadership, we’re connected to the others around us, and we’re connected to something bigger than us.”

  • I think KC’s work uncovers what we are all seeking, but just don’t know it. For one, our craving for peace, meaning and fulfillment, and finding our vocation. He shares his insights on this front and how it relates to The 4 Permissions™ framework.

  • I love the insight KC shares around high achievers—he says, “We confuse contentment, which is a beautiful pursuit.... It’s like some synonym for peace. Right? We can confuse it with complacency.... Oh, I’m being a lazy so and so, if I just sit here and be for a little bit. And, no, contentment is the goal. Why do we work so hard?”

  • KC talks to us about each of the 4 Permissions. They are SO RICH! Don’t take them on the surface level. There’s depth to these permissions. They are: 1) Permission to Chill, 2) Permission to Feel all the Feels, 3) Permission to Glow in the Dark, and 4) Permission to Glow in the Light.

  • We go deeper into Permission to Glow in the Dark, which KC shares is all about self actualization, despite the ever present fear, with the darkness being the fear. I love how KC talks about having the audacity to be our full expressions, to go out there and glow in the dark. One of his favorite examples of people Glowing in the Dark is his daughter who is a professional singer and gets out on stage at times when she’s not at her best, because she’s “open to fail, willing to fight.” Love that! Could be a new mantra for us all.

  • Throughout the conversation, KC hints at the “frenemies,” he calls them, that get in the way of us being the leaders we can be, such as putting on a “game face” and being a “dark star.” You’ll have to pick up the book to learn more!

  • For many of us with the ambition of Sustainable Ambition, we want to find more career and life fulfillment with more ease while avoiding overwhelm. So, we want to be ambitious with boundaries and avoid burnout. We talk about how the 4 Permissions can help expand our capacity, because as KC notes, we aren’t going to expand time. He talks about how each permission teaches us a skill that helps us deal with everything life is throwing at us and to hold more.

  • KC shares how he applies the 4 Permissions to his own life to balance a family of 5, while running his own business.

  • If one is struggling with overwhelm and needing to find capacity, he really encourages us all to meditate. His belief: “If you could only do one thing, meditate consistently, minimum 15 minutes a day, every day, no excuses, no matter what. Time will expand for you.”

  • We talk about the importance of chilling, slowing down, hitting the pause button and how meditation is a really critical component of this. If you’re like me, I’ve been saying I should learn meditation and continue to struggle with it and resist the quiet. But, KC is inspiring me to DO IT. His guidance to easily create a life-changing meditation habit? Start with just 5 minutes. And, he offers his 30 minute challenge on Insight Timer (find the link below!).

  • A final piece of wisdom from KC: that we are here to receive the gift of being ourselves. I’d say KC would encourage us to have the audacity to glow, unapologetically be yourself, and then think about, as he says, “what can you do each day to practice receiving the gift of being yourself.”

Resources Mentioned

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29. On Permission to Glow & Epic Leadership with Kristoffer Carter

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