Dave Hersh is the founding CEO of Jive Software, which he grew from a small open source project into a public company. He later served as a Board Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and now revives stuck startups as an investor and advisor. He is the author of Reignition and believes inner work is the foundation of companies that last.

In this episode with Dave Hersh, we explore why inner work is the real source code behind every successful company. Dave shares the crucible moment at Jive when the board pushed for an IPO while his marriage broke down, and the personal transformation that began at the Hoffman Institute when he realized change happens at the emotional level, not the intellectual one. We unpack how egoic needs push founders to raise too much money too soon, how intuition becomes a leadership superpower, and why embracing the liminal space between identities unlocks human potential. This conversation is for founders, CEOs, and leaders who sense that consciousness and inner transformation are not soft topics but the deepest lever for building something meaningful.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Founders and CEOs whose success has not delivered the happiness they expected
• Leaders stuck in playbook thinking who want to lead from intuition
• Entrepreneurs curious how inner work creates outer results
• Anyone navigating a liminal season between an old identity and a new one

What You'll Learn:

• Why change happens at the emotional source code level, not in the mind
• How egoic decision making causes startups to raise too fast and get stuck
• How to access intuition as a leader and use it with your board
• How to embrace the unknown between life chapters
• Why AI will push companies to become systems of human growth

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/serial-entrepreneur-on-how-inner

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent - where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:00) The Crucible Moment at Jive Software

(04:42) Hoffman and Change at the Emotional Level

(09:45) Why Startups Get Stuck and the Ego Behind It

(21:32) Leading From Intuition Instead of Playbooks

(27:53) Embracing the Liminal Space

(41:00) AI and Companies as Systems of Human Growth

Kyle Kowalski, the founder of Sloww, a platform dedicated to the art of living for students of life. After walking away from a marketing career following a profound existential crisis at 30, he became what he calls a spiritual synthesizer, studying human development, consciousness, and the wisdom of dozens of spiritual teachers and traditions. His purpose is synthesizing lifelong learning that catalyzes deeper development.

In this episode with Kyle Kowalski, we explore the kind of spiritual awakening that does not arrive as a lightning bolt but as a slow recognition that you are not who you thought you were. Kyle shares how burnout cracked him open, what it means to have a synthesizing mind, and why the awakening process begins the moment you know who you are not. We go deep into ego development theory, horizontal versus vertical growth, and why life itself is the greatest practice for inner transformation.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Founders and CEOs navigating inner transformation alongside business growth
• Entrepreneurs who have hit burnout and sense something deeper is calling
• Anyone exploring consciousness, self realization, and spiritual awakening

What You'll Learn:

• Why spiritual awakening starts with knowing who you are not
• How ego development theory maps human development beyond the conventional self
• The difference between waking up and growing up for spiritual evolution
• How synthesizing across teachers and traditions deepens inner work
• Why Kyle redesigned the Ikigai model and what purpose actually means
• How life itself becomes the practice when you stop identifying with your mind

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/synthesizing-spiritual-wisdom-to

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent - where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:32) Kyle's Existential Crisis and Path Into Consciousness

(16:00) The Synthesizing Mind and How Learning Becomes Living

(31:08) Awakening as Knowing Who You Are Not

(39:25) Free Will, Luck, and the Mystery Beneath Our Desires

(53:34) Redesigning Ikigai and Finding Real Purpose

Michael Leberknight is a healer and bodyworker whose path spans Qigong mystery schools, Rolfing, craniosacral therapy, and nearly five months living in India immersed in the presence of enlightened masters. His work draws from Chinese medicine, energy anatomy, polyvagal theory, and a deep personal devotion to spiritual practice and inner transformation.

In this episode with Michael Leberknight, we explore his mystical experiences across different healing traditions and what they reveal about consciousness, the subtle energy body, and the energetic blocks that hold us back. If you are a founder, CEO, or leader drawn to the deeper dimensions of healing and inner work, this conversation offers a rare window into the path of a practitioner who has lived it.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Founders and leaders exploring energy healing and consciousness
• Anyone curious about mystical experiences in nature and spiritual practice
• People on a healing journey who want to understand the subtle energy body

What You'll Learn:

• How praying with trees at a mystery school shifted Michael's relationship with nature and energy
• What the microcosmic orbit is and how energetic blocks affect states of consciousness
• How craniosacral therapy and Rolfing support nervous system regulation and healing
• What separates an effective healer from someone who only has technique
• How living in India and sitting with enlightened masters created mystical experiences that reshaped his path

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/learnings-from-a-10x-healer-michael

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent - where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(0:00) Introduction

(1:19) Mystery school and praying with trees

(9:09) The microcosmic orbit and consciousness

(17:27) Nervous system healing and polyvagal work

(30:54) Living in India and being in the field of masters

(37:59) The inner teacher and finding your path

Alex Hardy is a men's coach, entrepreneur, and inner work practitioner exploring the intersection of consciousness, masculine development, and spiritual growth. After building and selling a company, he took a sabbatical in Bali that cracked open a deeper path, one rooted in men's groups, shadow work, and becoming what he calls the integrated man.

In this episode with Alex Hardy, we go deep into the hidden struggles modern men carry and why shadow work inside men's groups is one of the most powerful tools for inner transformation available today. If you are a founder or leader who has been on a path of personal growth but still feels like something is missing a certain rawness, groundedness, or brotherhood this conversation is for you.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Entrepreneurs and founders doing inner work who want to go deeper into masculine development
• Men who sense they are living as a "nice guy" and want to understand what the integrated man really looks like
• Leaders on a healing journey exploring embodiment, anger integration, and shadow work

What You'll Learn:

• Why shadow work in a men's group creates inner transformation that solo practice often cannot
• How the "nice guy" pattern forms and what the path to becoming an integrated man looks like
• The role rites of passage play in male development and what Western culture has largely lost
• How to integrate anger as energy rather than suppressing or bypassing it
• What nonduality and spiritual study reveal about loneliness, samskaras, and self realization

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/how-to-move-beyond-people-pleasing

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent - where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:00) Why men's groups matter and what makes them powerful

(14:12) Rites of passage and what modern men are missing

(26:03) The nice guy pattern and the path to becoming an integrated man

(35:02) Embodiment, anger integration, and shadow work in practice

(45:53) Spiritual transformation and redefining friendship

(55:06) Nonduality, samskaras, and the nature of self realization

Katie Deming was a radiation oncologist and healthcare leader who trained at Duke University and spent 16 years inside one of the largest cancer care systems in the United States. At the height of her career, a rare shared death experience during meditation triggered a spiritual awakening she could neither explain nor ignore. She left Western medicine, her marriage, and started over.

In this episode with Katie Deming, we explore the night she connected with a dying woman's soul in meditation, what she now believes about the root of illness, and how she rebuilt her practice around consciousness and healing. Katie shares the six pillars of her conscious oncology framework and the tools she uses to release stored trauma on the healing journey.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Leaders questioning whether the life they built is the life they were meant to live
• Anyone facing illness who senses healing requires more than conventional treatment
• Founders drawn to science, spirituality, and spiritual awakening

What You'll Learn:

• What a shared death experience is and how it sparked her spiritual awakening
• Why consciousness is the foundation of physical healing in her framework
• The six pillars of conscious oncology including emotional and spiritual healing
• How biofield tuning, Psych K, and Emotion Code release trapped trauma
• Why illness is a message asking you to pay attention to what is out of alignment
• How the mind body connection operates beyond what conventional medicine has explored

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/leading-cancer-drs-shared-death-experience

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent - where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:01) Katie's background as a radiation oncologist and healthcare leader

(10:22) The shared death experience that changed everything

(26:59) Consciousness as the foundation of healing and Katie's six pillars

(41:12) Emotional healing tools including biofield tuning and Psych K

(47:32) Why the healthcare system will not reform itself (55:36) Using your journey as a bridge for others

Gabriel Charalambides is the aerospace engineer who left a career in space engineering to build America's first legal psilocybin retreat after his own transcendent experiences changed the course of his life. Aaron Nesmith-Beck's path into this work was shaped by his own transcendent experiences as well, leading him to cofound one of the first legal psilocybin retreats in Jamaica before joining Odyssey and bringing five years of facilitation experience to Oregon.

In this episode with Gabe and Aaron, we go inside what it took to open a legal psilocybin retreat in the US and what this moment means for people ready to go deeper. Oregon's Measure 109 lets anyone meeting basic screening criteria access guided psilocybin services without a diagnosis, entirely outside the medical system. They cover the regulatory landscape, why consciousness matters more than credentials, and what preparation and integration look like at Odyssey.

This episode is for founders, CEOs, and leaders exploring the healing journey and curious about psychedelic states, inner transformation, and what legal access looks like today.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Entrepreneurs exploring altered states of consciousness for growth and healing
• Leaders who want to understand legal psilocybin access in the US
• Founders interested in how psychedelic states can support the healing journey

What You'll Learn:

• How Gabe's and Aaron's own transcendent experiences led them to build America's first legal psilocybin retreat
• Why Oregon and Colorado operate outside the medical system and what that opens up
• What makes a great facilitator and why presence matters more than clinical training
• How preparation, the session, and integration work in practice at Odyssey
• Where the psychedelic movement is heading and what comes next

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/the-new-frontier-of-psilocybin-legalization

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent - where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:00) From Aerospace Engineer to Psilocybin Pioneer

(07:35) Aaron's Journey and the Jamaica Retreats

(13:11) Oregon's Framework and Who Can Access It

(32:22) Why Therapists Must Unlearn to Facilitate Well

(47:31) What a Retreat at Odyssey Actually Looks Like

(52:01) The Future of Psychedelics

Maverick Kuhn is the co-founder of Thyself, an always available AI emotional work guide built on modalities like Internal Family Systems and somatic inquiry to help people do real inner work between practitioner sessions.

In this episode, we explore how AI is making the most powerful psychotechnologies for personal transformation accessible to anyone. Maverick unpacks why healing has always happened from the inside, why the tools to support that healing have stayed locked behind expensive containers, and how Thyself is changing that. They dig into the difference between self-improvement and self-enfoldment, how technology is currently functioning as a collective soothing mechanism, and what becomes possible when we build tools that point us back to ourselves instead of away from ourselves. This conversation challenges the assumption that real inner work requires a practitioner in the room and opens up a grounded, honest look at where consciousness-first technology is headed.

Who This Episode Is For:

• People doing inner work who want more support between sessions
• Founders and entrepreneurs at the intersection of consciousness and technology
• Anyone curious about how AI can serve healing and human development

What You'll Learn:

• How Thyself guides emotional work through voice AI using IFS and somatic healing
• The difference between self-improvement and self-enfoldment
• Why the consciousness of the builder shapes the technology they create
• How technology can serve personal transformation instead of capturing attention

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/how-ai-can-improve-self-awareness

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:00) Maverick Kuhn and the Origin of Thyself

(06:00) Why Healing Happens From the Inside

(15:30) Technology as a Tool for Inner Work

(27:00)The Vision for AI Guided Personal Evolution

(38:00) Challenges for Consciousness-First Tech Builders

(51:00) What Opens When Inner Work Becomes Accessible

Shauheen Etminan is co-founder of Ancestral Magi, a consciousness supplement company rooted in ancient Iranian shamanic traditions, and co-founder of vCenna, a plant alkaloid extraction technology company.

In this episode, Shauheen traces the history of the Magi, the ancient Iranian priests who gave the world the word "magic," and reveals the psychoactive plant compound they used for thousands of years to access altered states of consciousness. He breaks down how beta-carbolines differ from tryptamines, why the hypnagogic state is the true gateway to the collective unconscious, and how Ancestral Magi is bringing these ancestral tools into daily meditation and lucid dreaming practice. This is a conversation about reclaiming a lost technology of consciousness expansion rooted in shamanic traditions spanning Iran, Egypt, and the Amazon.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Seekers who have explored psychedelics and want a more sustainable daily consciousness practice
• Meditators and lucid dreamers looking to deepen their practice with ancestral plant support
• Entrepreneurs and founders curious about the science and history behind altered states of consciousness

What You'll Learn:

• Who the ancient Iranian Magi were and what consciousness practices they developed
• Why beta-carbolines may be the key to triggering altered states of consciousness over tryptamines
• What the hypnagogic state is and why it appears across every major shamanic tradition
• How Ancestral Magi supplements are designed to catalyze meditation and lucid dreaming practice

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/the-lost-wisdom-of-iranian-mysticism

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

01:00 The Ancient Magi and Shamanic Origins

09:40 Why the Middle East Is Missing From Psychedelic History

15:00 Building Ancestral Magi and the Homa Discovery

22:00 Beta-Carbolines vs Tryptamines

29:00 The Hypnagogic Gateway to the Collective Unconscious

39:00 How Ancestral Magi Supplements Work

53:00 The Future Beyond Tryptomania

Brandon Evans is the founder of One Heart, a transformational retreat program that has guided over 1,000 leaders through ayahuasca journeys and deep community immersion, and author of the viral essay Lost on Purpose.

In this episode, Brandon shares the story behind his departure from a fast-growing startup world and the moment he realized that checking all the boxes was not filling him up. He walks through how ayahuasca became the beginning of a journey rather than the end, why community is the missing piece in most plant medicine experiences, and how One Heart was born from his own search for meaning. This conversation explores what inner work for entrepreneurs actually looks like when it is structured around community, integration, and long-term alignment rather than a single ceremony. Brandon also breaks down the practical tools One Heart uses in its five-week integration program, including a ten-year visioning exercise and a personal manifesto, and shares his perspective on why the psychedelic industry needs to maintain the sacredness of these medicines as access expands.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Type-A founders and executives who have achieved a lot but still feel something is missing
• Anyone preparing for or integrating a plant medicine experience
• Leaders exploring what inner work for entrepreneurs looks like in a supported container

What You'll Learn:

• Why inner work for entrepreneurs requires community, not just a solo ceremony
• How Brandon went from a VC-backed startup founder to leading consciousness retreats
• What One Heart's five-week integration program teaches about vision and long-term alignment
• How to evaluate a retreat center and know when ayahuasca is the right next step

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/moving-beyond-societys-success-formula

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction and Brandon's Origin Story

(07:00) Fired, Ayahuasca, and the Start of the Real Journey

(15:00) Inner Work for Type-A Founders

(22:00) Why Community Is the Missing Medicine

(31:00) How One Heart Was Born

(39:00) What Real Integration Actually Looks Like

(49:00) The Future of Ayahuasca and Sacred Containers

Josh Schrei is the host of The Emerald, one of the most artistically rich mythology and spirituality podcasts available today, and the creator of The Mythic Body, a year long deep dive into mythic traditions from around the world.

In this episode, Josh explores what he calls the difference between right story and wrong story, and why the stories we inherit and absorb shape every dimension of how we perceive and live reality. He traces the roots of myth and ritual as the original consciousness practices of the human species and makes the case that nature is the ultimate barometer for which stories are worth holding. Josh goes deep on the tension between spiritual lineage and syncretism, why depth requires showing up to the same consciousness practices over and over even when it is inconvenient, and what the animate force of the cosmos needs from us in order to flow into our lives. This conversation is a grounding reminder that consciousness practices are not optional extras but the architecture through which human beings have always navigated the deeper currents of existence.

Who This Episode Is For:

• Seekers who feel scattered across many traditions and want to understand the value of lineage and depth
• Anyone drawn to myth, story, and the role of ritual in human consciousness and spiritual evolution
• People navigating the noise of modern media who want a practical framework for discernment

What You'll Learn:

• How story functions as the filter through which we process all of reality
• Why nature is the ultimate barometer for distinguishing right story from wrong story
• What consciousness practices need structurally in order to hold the animate force of life
• How to balance lineage depth with the syncretism that is natural to all living traditions

For full show notes: https://podcast.scottbritton.me/p/how-story-shapes-your-reality-with

Go Deeper:

If this conversation resonated, you can check out:

• Join my email list for ongoing insights on consciousness, spirituality, using business as a spiritual path and human potential.

• My book Conscious Accomplishment: How to Use Personal Achievement for Spiritual Growth

• My company Conscious Talent where business leaders and companies who value both inner work and professional excellence connect.

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction and The Emerald Podcast

(01:00) Right Story Wrong Story and Nature as Barometer

(08:00) Navigating Distraction and Harmonic Discernment

(17:00) The Voice of the Cosmos and Modern Culture

(23:00) Daily Practice as Ritual and Offering

(28:00) Spiritual Lineage vs Sincretism

(35:00) The Animate Force and Building a Living Vessel