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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.
Meditations on Leadership with Don Carpenter
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, patience, and presence can become acts of courage in leadership.
Joining him is Krystal Williams, attorney, social entrepreneur, and founder of the Providentia Group and the Alpha Legal Foundation. Krystal shares how she’s learned to balance conviction with curiosity, structure with empathy, and how sometimes the most powerful thing a leader can do is wait.
Together, they explore what it means to hold space instead of control it—and how silence can be a bridge to deeper understanding, trust, and transformation.
If you’ve ever felt the urge to jump in, fix, or fill the silence, this conversation is an invitation to slow down, listen more deeply, and W.A.I.T.
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.