The Hoffman Podcast S7e8: Carsten Sorensen – To Be a Great Leader…
Technology and finance executive, Carsten Sorensen, had a powerful transformation during his Process in 2014. Over the next five years, Carsten worked diligently to transform his core negative patterns. Using his Process tools and doing the deep work, Carsten was able to profoundly shift his life.
The Hoffman Process was recommended to Carsten by his therapist, Rick Hanson. Rick said this was a way to take that last step of moving down from the head to the heart. Carsten shares that he had achieved everything in his life through “pure intellect and raw power.” He would just power through it and get it done.” But in mid-life, he knew this way was no longer working for him. And so, he signed up to attend.
A few years after his Process, as a CEO, Carsten began to invite employees to attend the Process to experience their own transformation. He knew for certain that the Hoffman Process is a great leadership development tool.
Listen in to hear this powerful, articulate, promising conversation about what it takes to be a great leader and how you go about doing so. Some of the areas that Carsten and Liz discuss are how to create safety at work, how to invite employees to attend the Process without pressuring them, his own journey to become more authentic and vulnerable, what he says are the two most necessary qualities and capabilities as a leader, and how you can’t separate work life and home life if you want to be a great leader and happily successful.
Carsten is interested in having a conversation with other leaders on how best to use the Hoffman Process as a leadership development tool in the corporate setting. If you’d like to converse with Carsten about this, please reach out to him at carsten@xaccorp.com.
Discover more about Carsten Sorensen:
Carsten Sorensen is a technology and finance executive with a broad background in a variety of industries and extensive European work experience. A former software engineer, he has over 25 years of experience combining Technology, Mergers, Acquisitions, and Finance, as well as a deep operating background in the organizations he works with. Carsten has worked as a senior executive in fast-growing companies, both private and public, and is comfortable balancing the conflicting needs of high-growth and long-term strategy within the organizations he runs. He is a keen steward of a company’s culture and understands its importance for long-term financial and strategic results.
Carsten spent a decade as a partner in private equity, where he was a member of the team overseeing portfolio companies. While working in the private equity field, his responsibilities included turnarounds and technology strategy development. Carsten holds a B.S. from the University of California at Berkeley in Business and Finance and lives with his family in San Francisco.
Discover more about Carsten on LinkedIn.
As mentioned in this episode:
University of California at Berkeley
“The last foot and a half are always the hardest.” Rick Hanson, Therapist
(the distance from the head to the heart.)
Lisa Wenger, Hoffman Teacher and Coach, Founder of the Istituto Hoffman Italia, Milan, in 1990.
• Listen to Lisa on the Hoffman Podcast
IDEO, a global design company
• Read articles on introverts from IDEO.
Hoffman Leadership Path at Harvard
Brené Brown, Professor and Writer