In this episode of Create Like The Greats, Ross offers a transparent reflection on a book that has significantly impacted his leadership and personal growth journey in 2025 — The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klemp. Ross walks through all 15 commitments outlined in the book, sharing real-life examples and insights from his entrepreneurial journey. If you're striving to lead consciously, foster better teamwork, and level up your self-awareness, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways for you.
Key Takeaways and Insights:
1. Radical Responsibility
- Embrace ownership for every situation
- Avoid blame, shame, and guilt — they stem from toxic fear
- Replace blame with curiosity: "What can I learn from this?"
2. Learning Through Curiosity
- Always stay in learner mode
- “Above the line” vs “Below the line” mentality
- Stay open, curious, and committed to truth—not being “right”
- Framework: What I know / What I know I don’t know / What I don’t know I don’t know
3. Feeling All the Feelings
- Fully experiencing emotions to completion
- Use head, heart, and gut to inform decisions
- Yoga, breathwork, and meditation as helpful tools
4. Speaking Candidly
- Tell the truth with kindness
- Speak unarguable facts and feelings: “I feel ___ because ___”
- Avoid conflict avoidance and passive communication
5. Eliminating Gossip
- Address issues directly with the person involved
- Gossip is rooted in unmet communication and inability to process feelings
- Test for gossip: Negative intent or unwilling to say it to the person? Then it’s gossip.
6. Practicing Integrity
- Express truth, keep agreements, and take 100% responsibility
- Framework for impeccable agreements:
- Make clear commitment
- Keep it
- Renegotiate if needed
- Clean up broken commitments
7. Generating Appreciation
- Practice giving and receiving appreciation fully
- Celebrate the small things and appreciate yourself and your team
- Create a culture of gratitude and acknowledgment
8. Excelling in Your Zone of Genius
- Identify what you’re uniquely talented at and enjoy doing
- Ross shares his own strengths: presenting, writing, people leadership
- Reallocate more time to activities in your “genius zone”
9. Living a Life of Play and Rest
- Incorporate humor, spontaneity, and celebration into work
- Rest is a challenge, but vital for sustainable leadership
- Play isn’t frivolous—it’s a leadership asset
10. Exploring the Opposite
- Train your mind to challenge your own stories and embrace opposing truth
- Ross advocates for intellectual debates to stretch perception
- Ask: “What am I not seeing?”
11. Being the Source of Approval, Control & Security
- Identify the root wants driving your behavior
- Seek internal rather than external validation
- Approval, control, and security must be self-sourced, not dependent on others
12. Having Enough of Everything
- Abundance mindset vs scarcity
- Perspective: Ross shares personal examples of past financial hardship
- GRATITUDE = enoughness
13. Seeing the World as an Ally
- Every person and situation is an opportunity to grow
- Learn from everyone, regardless of status or age
- Let go of ego and embrace humility in learning
14. Creating Win-for-All Solutions
- Build solutions that serve everyone involved—self, others, organization, and the whole
- Ross: “I’m rooting for you, whether you’re at Foundation or not.”
15. Being the Resolution
- Don’t just wait for change — BE the change
- Leave the world better because you existed
- Make an impact beyond yourself
Resources & Tools:
🔗 The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
🔗 Foundationinc.co
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