Jay Papasan is a bestselling author that serves as vice president and executive editor at Keller Williams Realty International, the worlds largest real estate company. He is also vice president of KellerINK, co-owner of Keller Capital, and co-owner, alongside his wife Wendy, of Papasan Properties Group with Keller Williams Realty in Austin, Texas. For more information go to http://jaypapasan.com/ or https://www.the1thing.com/.

A conversation with Aaron Niequist on his book, The Eternal Current: How a Practice-Based Faith Can Save Us from Drowning.

https://www.aaronniequist.com/

Jonathan Merritt is an award-winning writer on religion, culture, and politics. He currently serves as a contributing writer for The Atlantic and contributing editor for The Week. Jonathan has published more than 3500 articles in respected outlets such as The New York Times, USA Today, Buzzfeed, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. As a respected voice, he regularly contributes commentary to television, print, and radio news outlets and has been interviewed by ABC World News, NPR, CNN, PBS, MSNBC, Fox News, and CBS’ “60 Minutes.”

Lisa Gungor started loving music and art as a child. After college, she began recording and traveling with the band that eventually turned into the Grammy-nominated musical collective simply known as “Gungor.”

Lisa now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two beautiful and wild girls, Amelie and Lucie. She continues to write for Gungor, Planet Moon, and The Liturgists, plus contributes to a handful of other publications.

Her first book, The Most Beautiful Thing I've Seen, was released on June 26, 2018.

Called "The Brené Brown of Wonder” by Mind Body Green and a “Millennial Motivator” by Fortune, Amber Rae is an author, artist, and speaker whose work invites you to live your truth, befriend your emotions, and express your gifts.

Her writing blends raw, personal storytelling with actionable aha! moments, and has reached over 5 million people in 195 countries. Her public art has spread to more than twenty countries, and she's spoken to and collaborated with brands like Kate Spade, Apple, Amazon, Lululemon, and Unilever. She's been featured in The New York Times, TIME, Fast Company, BBC, ABC World News, Tim Ferriss's blog, and more.

Previously, Amber helped launch six best-selling books as Chief Evangelist of Seth Godin's publishing experiment and started an "accelerator for your life" called The Bold Academy. She lives in Brooklyn and around the world with her fiancé, Farhad.

Amos Smith holds a Doctor of Ministry from Chicago Theological Seminary. He teaches classes on contemporary Christian Mysticism at the Redemptorist Renewal Center and at various churches in Tucson and has been invited to participate in forums at the University of Arizona. His writing has been published in various newspapers and magazines including The Billings Gazette, The Spokesman Review, Friends Journal: Quaker Thought and Life Today, and Chicago Seminary Press.

Amos published his first book, Healing The Divide: Recovering Christianity’s Mystic Roots with Wipf & Stock Publishers in 2013. The book has been well received and reviewed and is part of the curriculum for the Living School of The Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC | Richard Rohr).

Amos’ latest book, Be Still and Listen: Experience the Presence of God in Your Life, was published by Paraclete Press on June 12th, 2018.

The Way of the Essentialist involves doing less, but better, so you can make the highest possible contribution.


The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done. It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’.


It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to
choose for us.


In Essentialism, Greg McKeown draws on experience and insight from working with the leaders of the most innovative companies in the world to show how to achieve the disciplined pursuit of less.


By applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest
possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter.

Chris is a serial entrepreneur with more than 13 years of real estate development and investment experience and has developed over $200M in multi-family, student housing, commercial/industrial, and residential & land development projects throughout Fort Worth and the greater DFW Metroplex. Chris is a visionary with a demonstrated talent in looking ahead at what could be and understanding what must be done today to get there. His ability to conceptualize, raise capital, and execute are only a small part of what Chris brings to the table.

Chris oversees the vision for the company, Fort’s largest deals, capital relationships, executive level recruiting, strategic partnerships, and chairs the investment committee. Creating meaningful relationships and building a team around a vision and Fort’s goals are the most important qualities that make Chris ready for the job. With a belief that investing time in people is the best investment that can be made, Chris has built a strong network throughout Texas that has helped catapult Fort to where it is today. “I want to build a culture that fosters creativity and creates leaders – our goal is to be the absolute best place to work in Fort Worth, because when we have the best people who are encouraged to give their best – we are unstoppable.”

Powers graduated with a BBA in Finance & Marketing from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Innovative, ethics-driven, people-focused, community-minded and passionate about ideas that matter, Powers’ professional philosophy remains the same as his personal one: “Tell the truth and be nice to people.” As a champion of young entrepreneurship and causes that give our youth better resources, Chris is passionate about serving Rivertree Academy in Fort Worth, the TCU Chancellor’s Advisory Council, and the Ben Hogan Strategic Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council and Fort Worth YPO Chapter. He lives in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Mikal, his daughter Palmer.

Mark Nepo moved and inspired readers and seekers all over the world with his #1 New York Times bestseller The Book of Awakening. Beloved as a poet, teacher, and storyteller, Mark has been called "one of the finest spiritual guides of our time," "a consummate storyteller," and "an eloquent spiritual teacher." His work is widely accessible and used by many and his books have been translated into more than twenty languages. A bestselling author, he has published twenty books and recorded fourteen audio projects. In 2015, he was given a Life-Achievement Award by AgeNation. And in 2016, he was named by Watkins: Mind Body Spirit as one of the 100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People, and was also chosen as one of OWN's SuperSoul 100, a group of inspired leaders using their gifts and voices to elevate humanity. In 2017 Mark became a regular columnist for Spirituality & Health Magazine. Recent work includes More Together Than Alone (Atria, 2018), Things That Join the Sea and the Sky (Sounds True, 2017), a Nautilus Book Award Winner and cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2017, The Way Under the Way: The Place of True Meeting (Sounds True, 2016), a Nautilus Book Award Winner, The One Life We're Given (Atria) cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2016, Inside the Miracle (Sounds True), selected by Spirituality & Health Magazine as one of the top ten best books of 2015, The Endless Practice (Atria), cited by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2014, his book of poems, Reduced to Joy (Viva Editions), named by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2013, a 6CD box set of teaching conversations based on the poems in Reduced to Joy (Sounds True, 2014), and Seven Thousand Ways to Listen (Atria), which won the 2012 Books for a Better Life Award. Mark was part of Oprah Winfrey's The Life You Want Tour in 2014 and has appeared several times with Oprah on her Super Soul Sunday program on OWN TV. He has also been interviewed by Robin Roberts on Good Morning America. The Exquisite Risk was listed by Spirituality & Practice as one of the Best Spiritual Books of 2005, calling it "one of the best books we've ever read on what it takes to live an authentic life." Mark devotes his writing and teaching to the journey of inner transformation and the life of relationships. He continues to offer readings, lectures, and retreats.

The vice president of leadership at LinkedIn claims that the biggest driver of motivation is the chance to serve a larger purpose beyond our careers and ourselves, rather than salary, benefits, bonuses, or other material incentives; companies that are able to successfully focus their people, their teams, and their culture around meaning outperform their competition.

Fred Kofman’s approach to leadership has little to do with the standard practices taught in business school and traditional books. Bringing together economics and business theory, communications and conflict resolution, family counseling and mindfulness mediation, Kofman argues in The Meaning Revolution that our most deep-seated, unspoken, and universal anxiety stems from our fear that our life is being wasted–that the end of life will overtake us when our song is still unsung.

Kofman claims that transcendental leaders, wherever they are in the hierarchy, are able to put aside their self-interests and help others to feel connected with others on a team or in an organization on a great mission and part of an ennobling purpose. He argues that every organization involved in work that is nonviolent and non addictive has what he calls an “immortality project” at its core. And the challenge for leaders is to identify and expand on that core, to inspire all stakeholders to take part.