Growing up in a Jewish home in war-stricken Israel, Yosi Amram received early exposure to religious fundamentalism, war, and trauma that came from them. Drafted into the army, Yosi began his leadership journey in the Israeli military where he received numerous awards and garnered the fastest promotion record in his regiment’s history. Despite these accomplishments, the military chafed at his soul, eventually inspiring his lifelong quest for more humane approaches to leadership.
After leaving the military, Yosi studied engineering at MIT and earned an MBA from Harvard. He took the leap into leadership experiments of his own as the founder and CEO of two tech start-ups, both of which he led through successful IPOs.
Then, as CEO of a public company with a rising stock price, he experienced a psychospiritual breakdown, a “dark night of the soul,” which catapulted him into a spiritual awakening. The epiphany and the manic episode that went with it were both excruciating and exalting, enabling him to see through the illusion of separation to the truth of our inter-connectedness. This put his life and value system on a fresh trajectory.
He went back to school for a PhD in clinical psychology, ultimately developing the first research-grounded theory and validated measure of spiritual intelligence (SI) with an associated model he created and named Spiritually Intelligent Leadership (SILeadership). This research has received over a thousand citations to date.
Yosi is devoted to awakening greater spiritual intelligence in himself (a lifelong journey) and in the world. Working as a licensed clinical psychologist and leadership coach, he has supported over 100 CEOs as they built organizations, led thousands of employees, and reached annual revenues in the billions, all while increasing their happiness, power, and effectiveness as leaders in their work and personal lives.
He is also the founder of several nonprofits, including trueMASCULINITY.org and Engendering-Love.org. Yosi is blessed with two wonderful grown children who are the bright stars of his life. He enjoys nature, hiking, biking, reading, playing chess, meditating, and dancing. I recently had the chance to talk to Yosi about his life experiences, research, advice for business owners and employees who would like to implement his insights on spiritual intelligence into their life and work, and his book “Spiritually Intelligent Leadership: How to Inspire by Being Inspired”. In our conversation, we talk about the following:
- What spiritual intelligence is and how it differs from and complements emotional intelligence
- How you can implement principles of spiritual intelligence into your work if you are unhappy, stressed, or considering a career change
- How leaders can use principles of spiritual intelligence to make positive changes in their organization and challenge unhelpful bureaucratic procedures
- How his background in the military, CEO, and Harvard MBA helped influence his teachings and practices on leadership
- How to start and run a business that implements principles of spiritually intelligent leadership
Yosi not only talks about how you can incorporate principles into your spiritual life; but also your work and professional life to make changes on an individual and organizational level. We also spend some time talking about how to implement these principles to international war, including the current conflict between Israel and Hamas. You can listen to the conversation above.
For more information on Yosi and his book “Spiritually Intelligent Leadership: How to Inspire by Being Inspired” , you can visit his website at https://yosiamram.net/