Corporate leadership has long focused on metrics, promotions, and external validation. Yet a growing number of professionals are discovering that true fulfillment comes from a deeper alignment with purpose and presence. Ekta Anand, founder of Shambhala’s Land and spiritual leadership coach, represents this shift toward more authentic leadership. After two decades in corporate environments, she has developed a unique approach that combines spiritual practices with practical leadership development.
Finding Fulfillment Beyond Promotions
Anand’s breaking point came when she couldn’t understand why promotions kept slipping away. “Even though everybody in the organization knew I was deserving of that place, something would happen which would stop it,” she recalls. The frustration consumed her. “I made my job my life.” Her mentor recognized what was happening and introduced her to “The Four Agreements” – a book that opened up an entirely different way of thinking. “Living in the present with very purposeful intentions is all that matters, to give you peace versus trying to look for those titles and salaries and validations from people outside,” she discovered. This realization sparked three years of what she calls deep spiritual awakening, eventually leading her to create Shambhala’s Land.
Defining Purpose Through Authenticity
Most leaders talk about purpose, but Anand defines it differently. “Purpose is something that belongs to you and finds you when you are authentic,” she explains. It’s not about mission statements or corporate values. The real work happens when you stop listening to outside noise. “People get lost in this world and the outside noise so much that they don’t really listen to their inner wisdom,” she notes. “Once you do all that shadow work to find your authenticity, the peace comes in, the inner wisdom starts to speak more, and purpose just follows.”
Anand combines self-awareness with present-moment focus. When something triggers anger or frustration, she teaches leaders to pause. “If you’re self-aware, you know that something that made you mad, angry, or sad is not about them, it is about you. It is a part of you that you haven’t healed that is triggering that.” One technique she used in corporate meetings was the “leadership pause” – one minute of silence before starting. “I used to ask people to take a leadership pause, which meant one minute of silence and thinking about letting go of what happened in the previous meeting and what is going to happen in the next meeting, and just being present.” People weren’t used to it, but it worked.
Bringing Spirituality into Leadership Roles
Anand calls herself a spiritual leadership coach because she hasn’t found anyone else doing this combination. “There are so many coaches out there in the world right now, but I don’t think I’m aware of a spiritual leadership coach.” She rejects the idea that people are different at work versus at home. “When you appear in corporate or in your job, you are not appearing as a different person. There is an authentic self you bring anywhere you go.” Her vision involves bringing spirituality into corporate environments where it’s rarely discussed.
The hardest lesson Anand learned was surrendering attachment to outcomes. “The biggest process of understanding your purpose is also about faith and having to surrender in that faith. Understanding that whatever is happening in the universe is happening for you, not at you.” She reflects on her own attachment to promotion timelines. “I believe if I had surrendered it, things would have been different, and I would have been calmer and peaceful in the place where I was.” Through Shambhala’s Land, she now helps other leaders navigate this balance between ambition and acceptance.
Connect with Ekta Anand on LinkedIn to explore her work in spiritual leadership coaching.
