The Process of Creating Purpose-Driven Leaders: How Harvard Business School and Landmark Led To The Founding of Hive

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Leadership Training That Starts With Purpose

Ten years ago, after selling my tech company iContact in February 2012, I was 27 years old and deeply passionate about heart-centered and purpose-driven leadership. My mother Pauline had just passed away from glioblastoma -- a brain tumor -- and I wanted to use my life to make her as proud as I could.

That Spring, I applied got accepted into the Harvard Business School MBA program and learned as much as I could about leadership from the professors, students, and alumni.

After the first year of HBS, my co-founder in a new tech startup I was working on, Anima Sarah LaVoy, suggested I attended the Landmark personal development program in San Francisco, which came out of Werner Erhard’s controversial yet very effective programs from the 1970s called Erhard Seminar Training (EST). Talk to anyone who attended EST in the 1970s and there is one thing that most who attended agreed on -- “that program was intense, but wow it changed my life.”

And so I went to Landmark, and yes, it changed my life.

Hive.org Born Out of Landmark & Harvard in 2013

The Landmark curriculum’s foundation in the 20th century philosophies of Martin Heidegger, Albert Camus, and Jean-Paul Sartre spoke to me -- and scratched a deeper philosophical itch I’d had for a long time -- a desire to find meaning in living beyond the surface level of the ordinary state of existing in the traditional suburban American cycle of consumption and production -- the endless loop of Amazon.com cardboard boxes, instant gratification, Monday morning work blues, and weekend distraction.?

There was a calling to get out of the caffeine, alcohol, antidepressants, and television cycle that so many fall into like fish in water (which Werner calls falling into the “morass”) -- and instead proactively create a life of intention, purpose, health, growth, exploration, and meaning.

That was a calling I resonated with.

Creating Deeper Meaning in Your Work as a Key to Authentic Leadership

The core message of Landmark’s Curriculum was simple...

We must create the meaning in our lives for ourselves. And we do this by choosing to do work that has a deeper purpose beyond ourselves and by living a life that makes us happy rather than living for someone else.

I would summarize the key takeaway from each of the three Landmark programs as follows:

• Landmark Forum - Life is empty and meaningless unless you create the meaning. Let go of the past, forgive everyone, forgive yourself, and create a life that matters.
• Landmark Advanced Course - Creating your purpose for the next phase of your life
• Landmark Self-Expression and Leadership Program (SELP) - Helps you create a new community organization (i.e. non-profit project or social enterprise) that aligns with the purpose for the next phase of your life.

It was good timing for me --- as I was very much looking for a wide range of leadership training after my first year at Harvard Business School -- a school with the mission to “educate leaders who make a difference in the world.”

The Missing Piece at Harvard Business School

HBS was great at teaching business cases and was really making strides in a well rounded leadership education with their Authentic Leadership class by Bill George and Reimagining Capitalism class by Rebecca Henderson? -- but the HBS MBA program still lacked something important in their leadership preparation -- time spent on personal growth and philosophical questions of why are we alive on this planet in the first place and what our purpose, dharma, or calling was as heart-centered leaders.

HBS in 2013 seemed to me like more of a place for rising investment bankers and management consultants than a place for purpose-driven leaders who knew why they were alive. In my view, HBS was a fantastic business school (the best in the world), but only an average leadership school.

HBS (at least as of when I graduated in May 2016) spent plenty of time on teaching finance and management skills, but not enough time on guiding their students into clarity about why they are alive and the the deeper purpose of their leadership.

We were taught to go for the industry (private equity, consulting, banking, supply chain) or the title (SVP, CEO, Partner) when I wish we were taught to start first with what brought us alive and the impact we wanted to make in the world and then use business as a tool to achieve it.

I didn’t want to build a better MBA program (a substitute) -- I wanted to build something that would go along with HBS training (a complement) -- and still be applicable for any leader who cared about the world who didn't have that type of advanced training.

I wanted my graduates to realize that every day they were trading in their life force for something -- and if they did it right -- building something meaningful that would outlast them on this planet.

I didn’t want to build a better two year management degree -- but rather a highly affordable two-day leadership program anyone who wanted to be a passionate, purpose-driven leader could experience to find their inner direction and deeper soul’s purpose.?

But first I had to get clear on my own purpose for living. I was still a little foggy on that.

I knew I’d be happier, and be a more engaged, passionate, and authentic leader if I could discover a clear purpose for my life beyond simply building software companies (what I had been doing since age 18).

So I did all three Landmark programs -- twice all the way through. And I finished my HBS MBA -- all the while studying all I could about the pedagogy of teaching leadership.?

Reinventing Myself: Become a Coach to Purpose-Driven Leaders

The combination of doing both Landmark and the HBS MBA taught me a lot about leadership and personal growth.?

HBS was a place of incredible students, alumni, and teachers where I thrived in the process of reinventing myself as a purpose-driven entrepreneur.

And Landmark and was truly a place where everyone from all walks of life (from drug addicts to regular hardworking people to the country club elite) could get psychologically stripped naked of their self-imposed identity cages and reinvent themselves anew.

And reinvent myself I did. I came into HBS and Landmark as a tech entrepreneur. I left as a coach of purpose-driven leaders -- and today am building both Hive and HeartRithm -- a crypto hedge fund that uses part of its profits to fund social impact projects.?

I also left with a new passion -- building a global community of purpose-driven leaders -- who would support each other in their life and work. I knew it would take me the rest of my life and how much inner work on myself to be ready -- but it was an obsessive passion that has gripped me since.?

How Hive.org Started & Became A Global Community of Purpose-Driven Leaders from 2014-2020?

The best part of Landmark was the third program, the Self-Expression and Leadership Program (SELP). In that program, you create a community organization that you wish existed. For my project, I chose to create a leadership training program called Hive that helped train purpose-driven leaders of all ages.

After graduating SELP in November 2013, Hive.org was born with the help of my friends Nadia Mufti, Adam Pumm, Smiley Poswolsky, Wes Mahler, Tim West, Caen Contee, Satya Kamdar and many volunteers who pitched in to pull off of our first leadership training workshop.?

Eight week later in January 2014, we gathered at the Change.org headquarters in San Francisco to host the first ever Hive Global Leaders Program. We had 34 attendees from 12 countries -- a pretty good accomplishment for two months of work.?

Below is the group photo from the very first event...

It was the prototype of a program that would eventually become focused on one value proposition: helping leaders get clear on why they are alive and their plan for the next phase of their life.

Now it’s eight years after our original event in San Francisco and we’ve put on 35 Hive events in 8 countries and 14 cities -- and over 3,500 leaders have graduated from our weekend program. We’ve held Hive events in places ranging from Abuja, Nigeria to Lahore Pakistan to Cambridge, Massachusetts (see photos below), and we've had incredible leaders including Marianne Williamson, Tom Chi, and Elizabeth Gore come to our events.

Through the Hive events today, we guide attendees in creating a purpose-statement and a one-page life plan through a process we call the Hive Designing Your Life Workbook, a 35 page workbook I co-created with Nadia Mufti that we guide attendees through during the two day event.

There have been many challenges along the way ranging from my dad's passing in 2014 to COVID shutting us down for nearly two years, but we have survived and are ready to thrive.

At the core of our curriculum is a weekend workshop for purpose-driven leaders from all sectors (business, government, technology, science, arts, healthcare, wellness, and education) who want to use their lives to do something meaningful -- and be supported in community by other leaders.

Our attendees are leaders of all ages (18-80). They come to Hive for three reasons:

1. To create a clear purpose for the next phase of their life
2. To create a one-page life plan that is in alignment with their passion and soul
3. To become part of a community that supports them in making their dreams a reality.

You can join our next Hive program May 7-8 in Austin, Texas. We'd love to have you there. It's open to leaders of all ages who want to make a difference in the world.

See the photos below from our Hive Global Leaders Summit, Hive Africa, and Hive Pakistan.

Join us for Hive Austin May 7-8, 2022

While we had to take 2020 and 2021 off due to COVID restrictions, we’re coming back May 6-8, 2022 in Austin, Texas -- where I now live with my wife Morgan.?

So far, we have 70 leaders coming to the Hive Austin event from 14 countries including the USA, Mexico, South Africa, Canada, Ghana, Australia, Nigeria, Rwanda, UK, Egypt, Pakistan, India, Cameroon and Turkey.

If you’re at a place in your life where you could use some inspiration, clarity, and community -- come join us. You can register at hive.org/austin. We are nearly full but have 5 spots remaining at this event as of today. This is our first event in two years -- so we’d love your support.

Making Hive Affordable for All Types of Leaders: The Secret to Massive Scale

The cost to attend Hive isn’t very much -- and keeps coming down over time. It’s $350 for the two-day program. I run it just to break even, keeping costs low and making it accessible to as many people as possible.?We’re definitely not doing this for the money, but rather for the impact.?

I'd rather serve 10 million customers paying $350 each than 100,000 customers paying $3500 each.

What’s Next: Building The McDonalds of Leadership Training

My next challenge over the next 10-20 years is to make Hive the “McDonalds of leadership training.”

I am not interested in running an expensive $3,500 leadership training program that can only be afforded by the well to do.

I’m interested in bringing leadership training to the masses. Something that anyone can hugely benefit from.?Something that starts with helping people get clear on why they are alive, what they love to do, and what they are here to help build and create.

I’m interested in getting Hive to 10 million graduates over the next 30 years by building a “train the trainer model” that gets our curriculum out to 1,000 cities globally at highly affordable prices.?

This may take many weekends and lots of trainings -- but is an exciting dream for me.

While the McDonalds brothers were devoted to their fries being seasoned and cooked exactly the same way in every one of their locations -- we are devoted to creating the world’s best weekend leadership program.?

I’ve spent time the past two years during COVID writing our Facilitator Training Manual that enables any graduate of ours to learn how to deliver the Hive curriculum. We’ll be hosting our first “Train the Trainer” weekends this Fall designed to put our first 10 certified trainers out in the world.?

For the trainer, we will offer city exclusivity rights (which can be economically very profitable, especially in a big city) -- as long as each trainer is training at least 1,000 people in their city annually.?My eventual goal is to get 1,000 trainers training 1,000 people annually -- enabling us to reach 1 million graduates per year.?

The same way McDonalds served 10 billion hamburgers in the 20th century, I hope to serve 10 million leaders in the 21st century -- through consistency, quality products, training handbooks, and franchises.

What I’m Up to Today as a Consummate & Joyous Creator & Dad-to-Be

I’ve used 2020 and 2021 to write the Hive facilitators manual, go deep into a new industry that’s changing the way financial services are offered globally, get married, and help make a baby with--two very productive years!

Today I live in Austin, Texas with my wife Morgan and puppy Happy. We’re about to have a son in two months by the name of Apollo Allis.?

In addition to getting ready to be a Dad, I’m working on building five things with my time these days:

1. Building HeartRithm, a crypto hedge fund that gives part of its profits to charity.
2. Building Coinstack, a weekly crypto newsletter for institutional investors.
3. Building Hive, a weekend workshop for purpose-driven leaders who want to use their lives to do something meaningful
4. Helping Tatango, a SMS fundraising platform for non-profits and political campaigns, as a Board Member and advisor
5. Building LuvMonsters, a stuffed animal, cartoon animation, and NFT business with my wife Morgan, turning the mythical animals she draws into an entire realm designed to show that magic is real.

I’m working 40+ hours per week during the work week right now to build HeartRithm into a leading crypto hedge fund because of its incredible mission to fund philanthropic projects through a major portion of its profits and because it provides a solid financial footing for Hive to expand and allows my me to be able to work on my other endeavors on nights and weekends. Here I am below with Nick Sullivan, the founder of HeartRithm.

Living a Full Life & Getting Ready for Fatherhood

I’m publishing this right now at 12am on a Saturday night during a 24-hour creative retreat that my wife Morgan encouraged me to go on to prepare for the Hive Austin event coming up in two weeks.

It’s not an either-or life but rather a both and life as a creative entrepreneur. I guess you could say I’m a passionate manifesting generator who only stops to take care of my puppy Happy, do something creative like make music with my wife and friends during a Sunday brunch, or go to an Austin-area festival with great people.?

How do I do all this in a 24 hour day? Well, it comes from an inner drive that comes from finding my purpose and passion and being lit up by everything I do in life.

I found a creative life that for me has a lot of joy and a lot of purpose.

I also realized long ago that if I prioritize 8 full hours of sleep every night followed by 90 minutes of morning exercise and meditation -- that what I could accomplish in the following eight to nine hours of focused productivity would be 2-3x more than most. Good sleep + exercise + meditation = my best productivity hack.?

We shall see how fatherhood adjusts my schedule. It sure won’t be linear -- but I’m excited to bring Apollo into the world and help create an educational program for him based on curiosity, play, and real world adventure.

Thanks for reading -- and for some way being a part of this journey. Here’s to together creating a more purpose-driven and joyous world for ourselves and the generations to come. I hope to see you at Hive Austin in two weeks or at a future event!

I plan to keep sharing from time-to-time how its going in the journey as we build HeartRithm, Hive, and LuvMonsters.

- Ryan Allis