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Meditations on Leadership with Don Carpenter
Leadership begins within.
In Meditations on Leadership with Don Carpenter, author, youth development pioneer, and relational leadership coach Don Carpenter invites you into a weekly practice of deeper reflection, personal clarity, and meaningful connection.
Each episode begins with a short meditation from Don’s soon to be released book, The Inner Work of Leadership: 52 Meditations for a Life of Meaning, Courage, and Growth. From there, Don offers personal commentary and lived insights before welcoming a guest, leaders from all walks of life, to explore how that week’s theme plays out in their own professional journey. The episode closes with two powerful questions to help you pause, reflect, and grow as a leader from the inside out.
Whether you’re leading a team, a classroom, a nonprofit, or your own life, this podcast is a companion for those committed to doing the inner work that sustains courageous outer change.
Episodes
16 episodes
Language Leads
In this episode, Don sits down with longtime friend and visionary youth leader Jim Cummings, founder of UrbanTrekkers. Together they explore the meditation “The Words That Lead” and unpack the power of language in building trust...
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1:01:01
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Anchor in the Fog
In this episode, Don reflects on what it means to lead through uncertainty, when clarity hasn’t yet come and all you can see is fog. Drawing from the concept of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), he explores how curiosit...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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1:00:14
Lead Toward, Not Away
In this deeply personal episode of Meditations on Leadership, Don Carpenter explores what it truly means to lead toward something rather than simply reacting to what we fear or want to avoid. Through a candid reflection on sca...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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1:05:31
Tending the Flame
In this episode, Don explores what it means to tend the flame - to lead with passion without being consumed by it. Through the lens of Ronald Heifetz’s “balcony view” and a personal story about navigating conflict with a group of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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58:59
When the Conditions are Right
In this episode, Don reflects on a lesson learned among the redwoods of the Pacific Northwest - that growth can’t be forced; it can only be cultivated when the conditions are right.His guest, Elias Edwards-Jenks, embodies that tru...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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1:13:22
Built to Last, Not to Impress
This episode begins with the meditation Built to Last, Not to Impress - a reflection on the pull between wanting to grow fast and the discipline to build slow. Don explores how real leadership isn’t about scaling quickly but about hono...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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1:10:10
The Discipline of Holding Back
In this episode, Don reflects on the quiet strength it takes to lead without rushing to fill the space. Drawing from Meditation #10: The Discipline of Holding Back, he explores the power of restraint—how silence, patien...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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1:04:56
When Love Leads
What happens when leadership is guided not by power, but by love?In this episode, Don explores the tension between love and control - and what it really means to lead with honesty, courage, and care. Based on his meditation “When Lov...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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1:10:15
Leading From the Inside Out
In this episode of Meditations on Leadership, Don reflects on Dr. Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems model and what it means to lead from the grounded center of the Self. He’s joined by Bill Burke, founder of The Optimism Insti...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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1:07:06
Leading Without Hidden Agendas
Episode 7 — Leading Without Hidden Agendas In this episode of Meditations on Leadership, Don Carpenter sits down with Dr. Jacqueline “Jackie” Edmondson, President of the University of Southern Maine. A first-generation coll...
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58:30
The Broker, Not the Keeper
This episode of Meditations on Leadership begins with Meditation #17: The Broker, Not the Keeper, a reflection on collaboration—why it’s harder than we often admit, and how real partnership requires trust, belonging, and agenc...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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1:20:00
The Message Is You
This episode of Meditations on Leadership opens with Meditation #9: The Message Is You, a reflection on how true leadership is remembered less for eloquent words and more for authentic presence—the way a leader makes others fe...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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54:24
The Art of Letting Go
This episode of Meditations on Leadership opens with Meditation #1: The Art of Letting Go, reflecting on the challenge of knowing when to hold on and when to release. Don is then joined by Megan Taft, the first Executiv...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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1:04:26
The Ripple of Influence
Episode 3: Ripple of InfluenceEvery leader carries an energy that ripples outward — shaping culture, relationships, and the sustainability of the work long after they leave the room. In this episode, Don reads his meditation R...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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1:09:14