AMP Leadership

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Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the origin of AMP?

AMP is a project of the Brain-Based Workplace, an organizational development and executive coaching company founded in 2014 and focused on high-growth startups expanding their focus from building a product to building a team and organization. We have spent the past 8 years crystallizing the differentiating factors in leaders and startups whose teams thrived versus those whose teams faltered, as well as between those leaders who kept growing and those who flailed and/or burned out. We have woven together our most impactful offerings into a cohesive, integrated program and framework to serve startup founders and leaders at key inflection points in their company growth and their own development as a leader and a person.

What are the COVID policies?

We require all participants and facilitators to be fully vaccinated and have booster shots. We will also do rapid testing before entry into the retreat facility.

Who is AMP not for?

AMP is not for people who want to come and burnish their reputation or credentials in the startup world.

While we are excited about the connections participants make with each other, the focus of AMP is not on networking; it’s on developing your self and navigating interpersonal dynamics.

AMP is distinctly not for people who want to check the box like signing up for a gym membership in the new year or who want to just add another experience to their lives like an exciting vacation.

When does AMP start? When are the retreats?

AMP’s next cohort starts in February 2023. Retreat #1 will be Wed, March 15  to Sunday, March 19, starting and ending in the late afternoon.

If you are interested, in order to ensure you get a spot, we encourage you to get in touch as soon as you see this.

What are the retreats like? What do they involve?

The first retreat focuses on cultivating mindfulness (focus, clarity, and balance), articulating your purpose, then noticing and transforming the reactive habits within you that distract you from that purpose and from leading yourself towards it. In the first half of the retreat, we will practice mindfulness (almost entirely) in silence through sitting meditation, walking meditation, yoga, and more. Then we will move into more reflective exercises and facilitated work in groups with the other founders and senior executives, seeing the common dynamics that arise as people step more fully into leadership. This retreat will help you access a spaciousness that is often elusive in the fast-paced startup world, then will stretch you to explore the deepest parts of what’s driving you, the creative and reactive parts, ones you might not want to look at. Using the spaciousness and mindfulness you’ve been developing, we will guide you to uncover the power of those raw parts and how to channel them as a leader.
 
The second retreat focuses on interpersonal interactions and dynamics, applying mindfulness to turn confusion and conflict into clarity and connection. While the first retreat draws out vulnerability through self exploration, the second one will stretch your vulnerability by practicing in a relational context. Through both structure exercises and practice within the group, you will strengthen your feedback muscles, expand your awareness of how others experience you, and highlight where you are reacting out of fear and where you can respond more intentionally and authentically instead.

Where will the retreats be? (Everything else is virtual)

The retreats will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Who's eligible for AMP?

Founders and senior executives of startups. Participants must have an active, existing commitment to their own growth, as well as a willingness to take deep and often uncomfortable looks at themselves and their leadership to see where they can grow.

AMP is a great fit for leaders whose startups have found product-market fit and are growing rapidly. That said, if your startup is pre or post that phase and you think the program is a great fit for you, we can have a conversation to explore that.

Can I come alone or with teammates?

Both are possible. Because you will be in a cohort with other founders and senior execs, you’ll get a rich group experience either way.
 
That said, our goal is for you to use your takeaways from AMP to shape your organization, a possibility made much easier if you have other senior teammates co-authoring this effort. This means that if you have teammates who resonate with the Applied Mindfulness approach, we encourage you to invite them to join you. One added benefit is that going through this kind of experience with a teammate tends to forge deeply trusting, supportive relationships based on a profound connection and vulnerability.

How can I apply?

Step 1: If you’re interested in learning more or applying for AMP, click here for an intro call with Jack (if no times work, email [email protected] ).

Step 2: We will ask you to fill out a brief application

Step 3: Submit your deposit

What’s the time commitment?

Short answer: ~2% of your time.

Long answer: The timeline is a good place to start. Behind this question might be a deeper question, “I already have more to do than I have time for. How much time is this going to take?” Our belief—and experience working with hundreds of startup leaders—is that this is a time investment, not a time expense. Implementing the takeaways from AMP will save you significantly more time than you will invest. One past client noted that a few changes in his Operating System almost immediately saved him about 4 hours per week—a pattern maintained when we checked in two years later.

Concretely, here’s what it looks like. The long-weekend retreat starts Wed night for AMP #1 and Thurs night for AMP #2 and ends Sunday afternoon around 4pm. Beyond that, there’s a 3-hour workshop in weeks 1, 3, 7, and 9, and a 1-hour 1on1 coaching  session in weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8. These even weeks also involve some reading and reflection (15-30 minutes). Our belief is that the tasks you will take on are not extra; they are the habits you want to be doing  on an ongoing basis to lead  yourself and build out your team and organization in an outcomes-driven way.

This might amount to about ~2% of your time over the course of the program. We’re confident you can get an outsized return on that investment if you are committed to your own learning.

What do we actually learn?

See the tables at the bottom of the Program Description page for details on the key Inner and Outer Game takeaways. For a perspective on the big picture shift, see the vignettes on that page and our 6-minute video on shifting from reacting to creating.