Episode 9: Interview with Timothy Swords
In this episode of Courage to Advance, host Kim Bohr sits down with Timothy Swords, a mindfulness-focused executive coach, to explore how leaders can cut through digital noise and stress to regain mental clarity and make confident decisions. Timothy shares his unique journey from corporate consulting to mindfulness coaching, revealing practical techniques that have transformed executives from being the “scary person in the room” to creating harmonious relationships with their teams.
Discover why self-awareness might be more valuable than an MBA, learn simple grounding techniques you can use in your next meeting, and understand how stress contagion is silently undermining your organization’s performance.
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Conversation Highlights
- Mindfulness as Agency: Mindfulness isn’t just “being aware” – it’s a “lucid awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose in the present moment in an open and curious way”
- The Stress Contagion Effect: A leader’s emotional state directly impacts team performance through emotional contagion, making self-regulation critical for organizational health
- Digital Overwhelm Reality: Research shows working more than 50 hours per week delivers diminishing returns, with 70-hour weeks producing no more output than 55-hour weeks
- Simple Grounding Technique: Feeling the sensations of your feet on the floor during meetings can interrupt anxiety cycles and help you respond rather than react
- 10-Minutes Daily Impact: Recent research shows just 10 minutes of daily mindfulness practice can increase self-awareness by 35% in 6-8 weeks
- Values-Based Leadership: Authentic leadership starts with clarity on your personal values and how they align with organizational values
Notable Quote from Timothy Swords
“An emotion on its own lasts like 30 seconds. But if you’re feeding it with thoughts, it goes on and on—it gets worse and worse. If you want to do anger management, you’ve got to stop that cycle, because you’re actually creating your own anger.” — Timothy Swords
Free Resource
Based on Timothy’s practical guidance, we’ve created a toolkit to help you transform your leadership through mindfulness techniques. This resource includes:
- A leadership stress assessment to identify where overwhelm affects your decisions
- The complete 3-2-1 Leadership Protocol with strategic practices and emergency resets
- Step-by-step instructions for proven techniques, including the “feet on the floor” method
- Exclusive access to Timothy’s 15-minute guided meditation session
About Timothy Swords
Timothy Swords brings a unique blend of corporate acumen and mindfulness training to guide senior leaders in integrating mindfulness into their decision-making, emotional resilience, and leadership effectiveness. His extensive business experience includes roles as CFO and strategic business transformation leader at Fidelity Investments, MUFG Union Bank, and PwC.
Timothy has served in leadership positions including Board Member of the Harvard Alumni Association, Advisory Board Member for the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion, Board Chair for Interaction Associates, and Board Member of the Alzheimer’s Association, Northern California and Northern Nevada Chapter.
He holds an MBA from Harvard University, a BS from Boston College, and a Graduate Certificate in Executive Coaching from William James University. As a certified professional mindfulness instructor, Timothy’s personal mindfulness journey spans over 2,000 hours of practice and includes training with renowned teachers Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Sharon Salzberg.
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“Transformative Leadership isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about having the courage to find them.”
