Podcast Overview
<p>The ceiling on your leadership isn't external. It never was. Mike McDonnell is a three-time CEO and former Jesuit. In CEO Exercises, he makes the case that developing your interior life is the highest-leverage investment a leader can make — and offers practical tools drawn from five-hundred-year-old Ignatian spirituality and The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to help you do it. No spiritual background required.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
5/3/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 17, 2026
Ask Me Anything: Closing Out Season 1
In this season finale, host Mike McDonnell closes Season 1 of CEO Exercises by answering seventeen listener questions gathered throughout the season. He explains why he created the podcast — primarily to share practices that elevate leadership, but also to convey the growth potential and the sheer adventure of exploring the inner life — and why he began with a secularized adaptation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. He offers practical guidance on where to start (the daily Exa...
July 11, 2026
Imaginative Contemplation - The Leadership Instrument Hiding in Plain Sight
In Episode 12 of CEO Exercises, Mike McDonnell steps back from adapting individual Ignatian meditations to reveal the engine that has powered the last several episodes: imaginative contemplation. He opens with a provocation — leaders already trust disciplined imagination with enormous stakes through scenario planning, war-gaming, and pre-mortems, yet few leaders apply imagination with that same rigor in their inner lives. Mike traces the method to its origin: Ignatius of Loyola, recovering fr...
July 4, 2026
What Have You Actually Let Go Of? — The Two Questions That Test a Leader's Inner Freedom
Episode 11 of CEO Exercises tackles the most stubborn failure in leadership development: the gap between knowing and doing. Many leaders can speak fluently about ego, attachment, and inner freedom, yet lead exactly as they always have. The insights never cross into action. Mike McDonnell argues this is why decades of investment in leadership development haven't increased engagement scores or reduced executive derailment patterns — the field keeps treating knowledge as the bottleneck when the ...
13 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is CEO Exercises?
<p>The ceiling on your leadership isn't external. It never was. Mike McDonnell is a three-time CEO and former Jesuit. In CEO Exercises, he makes the case that developing your interior life is the highest-leverage investment a leader can make — and offers practical tools drawn from five-hundred-year-old Ignatian spirituality and The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius to help you do it. No spiritual background required.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
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