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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