Consciousness: The Ultimate Tool for Business Performance

For over a decade, I built my reputation as a consultant, driving business growth and helping founders scale and exit successfully. With over $1.5 billion in revenue growth and $1 billion in exit value tied to my name, I've proven my ability to deliver results through traditional methods—people, processes, tools, systems, and training.

But since 2018, I've been using a fundamentally different approach. This is not because the traditional methods don't work, but because I've discovered something that works better: Consciousness.

What Is Consciousness?

Consciousness is not just a philosophical or spiritual concept; it is a practical mechanism for accessing greater levels of human performance, driving revenue growth, and ultimately increasing a business's value.

At its most fundamental level, Consciousness is awareness—how we perceive and create our reality. Everything that exists is within Consciousness, and we each have access to a certain level of it. Think of it this way: I'm here in St. Petersburg, Florida, not in the Andromeda Galaxy. My Consciousness, in a very literal sense, is localized. But even beyond the physical, there are limitations to what I can perceive, think, and do based on my current level of Consciousness.

The Infinite Glass Elevator

A simple way to understand Consciousness is through an analogy I learned from coach Michael Neil: Consciousness is like an infinite glass elevator. When you step into this elevator, your current level of Consciousness determines which floor you have access to—like having a key card that grants you access to a certain range of floors.

If you're on the ground floor, your reality looks a certain way. There's traffic, people moving in all directions, and a limited view. But as you ascend to higher floors, the landscape shifts dramatically. You see the same reality from a completely different perspective. What once looked like insurmountable obstacles now appear as merely part of the landscape. Problems that seemed complex become simple. Solutions that seemed impossible at lower levels become obvious. More opportunities appear.

This is not about intelligence, experience, or skill. It's about the level at which you are perceiving reality.

Why Traditional Approaches Fall Short

For decades, I worked as a consultant, leveraging technology, processes, tools, and systems to drive measurable value. The consulting industry thrives on these tangible assets—a constant churn of strategies, systems, and gurus promising the next big thing.

Traditional business growth relies heavily on changing behaviors, implementing new processes, and providing training. Yet I've witnessed firsthand how this approach often fails to create lasting change.

Here's why: When you give people new tools without changing how the world occurs for them—how they see themselves and their environment—they simply won't use those tools effectively, if at all. As I often say, "I can give you a screwdriver and teach you how to use it, but if I don't help you see that the world has screws in it, that screwdriver will never leave your tool belt."

When people are merely given instructions from a higher level of Consciousness, they may follow them, but they don't truly understand why. The results might come, but they aren't repeatable because the person hasn't changed their way of seeing. This is where businesses struggle with constant retraining, micromanagement, and reinforcement—because they are addressing behaviors, not the root cause: how people see the world.

Consciousness in Business Decision-Making

Let's make this practical. Suppose a salesperson is struggling to close a significant deal. From their current level of Consciousness, they see obstacles, risks, and limitations. A more experienced advisor may come in and offer strategic insights, but if that advisor is operating at the same level of Consciousness, they are merely rearranging the limited options available at that level.

However, when Consciousness is elevated, entirely new possibilities emerge. The same situation is viewed through a completely different lens. Where one person sees a problem, another sees a million-dollar opportunity.

I once worked with an executive who called me distressed over what he perceived as a significant problem. From his level of Consciousness, the situation was frustrating and overwhelming. But from my perspective, it was an incredible opportunity worth an additional million dollars in compensation. If I had told him that, he would have resisted because, from his viewpoint, it was impossible. Instead, through conversation, I helped him shift his level of Consciousness. Within minutes, he saw what I saw. And because he saw it for himself, he knew exactly what to do next.

Consciousness in Strategic Thinking

Consider how Consciousness applies to strategy development. Your awareness of and view of the world are what shape your strategy. If your Consciousness orients around scarcity or threat, you'll build strategies to defend against perceived dangers, which works, to a point.

What you won't see, however, are opportunities to create strategies that could yield the same or better results with less effort, stress, and turnover. From a higher level of Consciousness, you might see where you could surf the wave rather than paddle exhaustively through it.

Breaking the Hard Work Paradigm

Many founders and business leaders have built their success through hard work, perseverance, and pushing through adversity. This approach has worked for them, so naturally, their awareness is attuned to situations where working harder creates advantage.

What this Consciousness doesn't reveal are the opportunities for ease and flow. Let me share a real example: Last year, one of my clients was raising a Series A round during an extremely challenging market. From the outset, his language and preparations reflected his belief that this would be "hard."

We did some Consciousness work to create the possibility that fundraising could be "easy and fun." This seemed absurd to him initially. But by shifting his Consciousness from "this will be hard" to "this is easy," new pathways appeared. With just a couple of phone calls, he closed a $10 million round.

This wasn't just positive thinking or a shift in perspective. It was a fundamental change in Consciousness that altered what information and opportunities became visible to him.

Beyond Perspective Shifts

Someone might say, "That's just a shift in perspective." But there's a crucial distinction: A perspective is a different way of looking at what you see, assuming what you see is objective. Consciousness recognizes that what we see is not objective—we are actively creating our world with our mind, thoughts, and being.

When we shift Consciousness, we're not just looking at the same thing differently. We're literally changing what appears in our reality so that new information materializes that wasn't accessible before. The challenge isn't convincing someone that a different possibility exists; from their current perspective, it doesn't. The real work is in helping them elevate their Consciousness so they can see it for themselves.

Coaching at the Level of Consciousness

Coaching at the level of Consciousness is not about giving advice. It's not about telling people what to do. It's about facilitating an internal shift that allows them to perceive new possibilities on their own. When that happens, the necessary actions become clear to them, and they take them naturally—not because they were told to, but because they now see the path forward.

By elevating Consciousness, we change not just what people do, but what they see when they wake up in the morning and look in the mirror. Only then do sustainable changes in behavior follow.

The Power of Permanent Shifts

When someone's Consciousness is elevated, the shift is permanent. They don't just act differently; they think differently. They see differently. And from that place, they naturally create better results without needing external motivation or micromanagement.

How Consciousness Shows Up in Language

Want to witness Consciousness in action? Start noticing the language you and others use. Observe how often you create life as "hard," "difficult," or "busy." Notice how frequently your first thought about a new situation is, "This is a problem."

Your brain produces thoughts about what to do based on what you believe you see. If you see a lion, you'll run or defend yourself—you can't cuddle it, no matter how convincing someone is that it's just a harmless kitten. You must act in accordance with your perception of reality.

Try this simple exercise: Spend a day tracking how often you or others use words like "busy" or "hard." Notice if there's a correlation between people who frequently use these words and their quality of life. Those who consistently frame their experience as busy or difficult are operating from a different level of Consciousness than those who experience life with more ease.

Working with Consciousness

Consciousness isn't something we can directly manipulate like an engine under a car hood. But we can work with its expressions—our thoughts, words, emotions, and bodily sensations. These all give us clues about our current level of Consciousness.

This isn't about chanting or burning incense. It's about paying attention to what we say and do, recognizing these as indicators of how the world occurs for us, and then creating shifts that allow the world to occur differently.

Transforming "Problems" into Possibilities

Consider how often we face situations and immediately categorize them as "the worst thing ever," only to look back years later and realize they were actually beneficial turning points. What if you could access that realization in real time, rather than waiting for hindsight?

I'm not talking about rationalizing or self-soothing: "This sucks, but someday I'll see the good in it." I'm talking about actually experiencing life from a different level of Consciousness where you can see the benefit or opportunity immediately, before the thought "this is terrible" even forms.

Results, Not Fuzzy Thinking

Let me be clear: I'm concerned with outcomes. I'm not advocating Consciousness as some spiritual pursuit—I'm advocating it as a superior tool for producing business results. And I'm doing so because I've seen it work consistently, producing greater results faster, with less turnover and burnout.

Since I've been using Consciousness as my primary tool for driving business growth, the results have been remarkable. We're achieving greater outcomes faster, with lower turnover and reduced stress. Teams are more engaged, leaders are more effective, and businesses are more successful.

There's nothing fuzzy about it. Consciousness is simply a more effective toolset.

Integrating Consciousness into Business Practice

The beauty of this approach is that it doesn't require abandoning traditional business practices; it enhances them. When people operate from elevated Consciousness, they implement processes more effectively, use tools more appropriately, and achieve outcomes more consistently.

The true power lies not in strategies or advice but in raising Consciousness. The higher the Consciousness, the greater the access to solutions, opportunities, and breakthroughs that were previously invisible. This is the path to sustainable growth, not just in business but in life.

In a world where businesses are constantly seeking competitive advantage, Consciousness offers something truly transformative. It's not just about doing different things—it's about operating from a place where different possibilities become visible.

So the question is: what floor are you on? And are you ready to go higher?