Fred Kofman

“The most challenging aspect of conscious business is not to understand the principles, or even to understand the practices conceptually, but to put them into practice.”

Fred’s been a pioneering voice and teacher in the conscious business world for well over a decade. In this rich and precise interview we discuss the role of consciousness in business and how to start being an agent of this new approach. Listen as he paints a picture from pain, to awareness, to consciousness to practice.

In this interview we discuss…

  • Why awareness is just the first step for an agent of conscious business. Without it, you’re not going to get started, but awareness is just 10% of the equation.
  • How the importance of a conscious approach to business is like not eating hamburgers.
  • Why Fred thinks that the key question is: “what does it take to translate this awareness into an embodied awareness; into a practice.”
  • What the starting place is for aspiring agents of conscious business and which questions they should ask themselves to further the journey.
  • How starting small and building your conscious business muscle is the beginning of the road to mastery.

About Fred

Fred Kofman, Ph.D. is the co-founder and President of Axialent, an international consulting company in the areas of leadership and organizational learning. He has developed and taught programs in leadership, personal mastery, team learning, organizational effectiveness, coaching for managers and coaching for professional coaches for more than 10,000 managers at numerous blue-chip companies.

After completing a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, Fred became an assistant professor of Management Accounting and Control Systems at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where he was named “Teacher of the Year” in 1992. In his years at MIT, he worked alongside Peter Senge as a senior researcher at the Center for Organizational Learning. Fred also helped found the Business Branch of the Integral Institute, with Ken Wilber.

Fred has led seminars in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia and presented his research at numerous academic institutions, including MIT’s Sloan School, Harvard University’s Economic Department, Harvard Business School, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of California at Los Angeles and Berkeley, University of Notre Dame, The London School of Economics, the University of Tel Aviv, Nanyang Technological Institute of Singapore, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, and Universidad Francisco Marroquín.

Fred is the author of the book Conscious Business, which has been translated to more than 10 languages. He also wrote the  trilogy Metamanagement and his scholarly articles have appeared in publications such as Econometrica, The Journal of Public Economics, The Fifth Discipline Field Book, and The Journal of Organizational Dynamics.

Fred enjoys sports and outdoor activities such as golf, trekking, mountain climbing, scuba diving, and skiing.

 

MP3

MP3

Download the Dialogue

Date of Interview: 14th May 2012

 

Want more stuff like this?

This dialogue is part of a free mini-series on the practice of Conscious Business, leading up to a traing course that will take you even deeper!

If you would like to be updated about the series, then just enter your email in the box on the right and join our growing community!

 

84 responses to “Being an Agent: from Pain to Practice”

  1. Start with your pain. That was the big standout for me!

  2. Jeroen_Maes says:

    He just speaks with so much clarity. Loved the diet metaphor.

  3. Daphne says:

    So much looking forward to listening to this dialogue! Thanks guys, for pulling this together (again)!

  4. Josep38 says:

    I love this guy, such earthy wisdom. You really get where he is coming from. Thank you Fred as always spot on.

  5. Sue says:

    As always since studying with Fred in the late 90's at LLC, I am again struck by the ageless wisdom of his approach to being more effective in the world. Thank you Fred. And thanks Ewan, Diederick and Jeroen, for making these interviews available.

  6. Tim Haggstrom says:

    Such dignity and kindness

  7. A great way to start your business. Great approach.

  8. Fred does remember me the practise of the heroe's journey and my own journey. Now, seeing the journey, I can value it even more. Thanks Fred, but also Diederik c.s.

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