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

— 👋🏾 Let's stay connected —

╰ Subscribe to my channel:  @RossSimmondsTV 

╰ Instagram:  @thecoolestcool  

╰ Twitter / X: @thecoolestcool  

╰ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rosssimmonds