%201.jpg)
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.
Meditations on Leadership with Don Carpenter
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 Love Leads,” Don reflects on how love, when practiced in leadership, doesn’t soften accountability - it deepens it.
Joining him is Alan Furth, co-founder of the Cobscook Institute and a lifelong educator whose work has been rooted in peace, honesty, respect, and empowerment - with love intentionally at the core. Together, they talk about the difference between control and care, the courage it takes to hold both truth and compassion, and how leadership grounded in love can transform people, organizations, and communities.
Because when love leads, power finds its proper place - and people rise.
To learn more about Don's work, upcoming offerings, and leadership resources, visit carpentercompanyconsulting.com
If something in today’s episode spoke to you, I hope you’ll subscribe and continue the journey with me — because leadership begins within.