Elevation Coach | Facilitator | Author | Broadcaster | Father | ‘Nice Chris’ |
Chris Cooper
Chris Cooper supports the development and elevation of leaders, teams, and business cultures. He has a reputation as a deeply present and inspirational coach, consultant, facilitator, and speaker. Since 2011, he has hosted the weekly ‘Business Elevation Show,’ which became the most accessed business show on the world’s leading on-line radio platform ‘Voice America’.
He is co-Author of The Power To Get Things Done (Whether You Feel Like It Or Not) published by Penguin Random House New York, and in 2021 contributed to the multiple international best seller Play The Game. Chris founded the ‘Elevation Collective’ a community of exceptional business and thought leaders who care about contributing to a better world through deep collaboration and connection.
Chris Cooper lives in Leicestershire in the UK with his wife and two teenage boys and loves adventure and the natural world. In 2019, he survived one of Scotland’s toughest endurance events (The Artemis Great Kindrochit Quadrathlon) to raise funds for Mary’s Meals and Mercy Corp.
His leadership and spiritual adventures have taken him across the globe including learning about true leadership within the largest slum in Africa, the wisdom of the Masai in Kenya, and learning about Rumi in Turkey with the whirling dervishes.
https://chriscooper.co.uk/
My 10 Best
(In no particular order)
The Celestine Prophecy
The Celestine Prophecy was, for me, the place where my own spirituality was awakened. A story about a journey to Peru acts as a vehicle to deliver key spiritual messages, from noticing meaningful coincidences to helping others, the awareness of subtle energy that is all around us in nature and people, competition Vs. cooperation, clarity, following your intuition, synchronicity and fulfilling human destiny are all explored within the journey. A journey of discovery that I now realise I must rebuy.
The Awakened Brain
Lisa Miller is a leading psychologist who shares the journey of her research interwoven with her own life experiences into understanding spirituality and its impact on mental and emotional health. The book helped me to more deeply appreciate that there are two modes of conscious awareness. The mode of ‘Achieving Awareness’ where we focus upon controlling and organizing our lives and, if overplayed, to our detriment. Also ‘Awakened Awareness,’ where we lean into the stream of life through access to nature, meditation and adventure and ask, ‘what is life showing me now’? Profoundly valuable in helping to understand how best to integrate these two modes and to realise that our brains are naturally wired for both.
The Power of Now
This book helped me to understand the importance of focusing our minds on the present and then putting into practice being present for others. Not getting lost in regrets from the past or anxious about the future. Rather, be present in the now—that sacred space where the magic happens. Being present for the people in your life in a state of permanent awareness can greatly improve relationships. It also means more special moments where we feel deep connection with others. Enjoying your life in the now is also a powerful antidote to all the anxiety in the world right now.
The Power of Decision
This is a book about decision making and how making decision leads to a better life and how we may be held back and helped by our sub conscious minds. I first read the book about 15 years ago and have always remembered the spiritual notion that ideas may be seeking me as much as I am seeking them. Therefore, if an idea comes to me, it is for a reason and because I have the capability to make it happen even if I might at first find it overwhelming.
Falling Upward
When we fall, what we learn provides the learning to then step up. We fall upwards. Richard Ruhr explains that in early life we are generally in the competitive frame of mind. More money, better car, home, etc. However, as we fall in life, we learn that there is more importance to what is on the inside i.e., what is inside our container. As we fall, we can become more connected to kindness and caring for others, doing good deeds and making our lives truly count. Having had two failed major surgeries this year, this book seemed particularly poignant and helped me avoid descending into “why me?” rather than taking the positive gifts from the experience.
My Big TOE
Tom Campbell is a high respected physicist who has also spent much of his lifetime studying consciousness. Having interviewed Tom on several occasions, I decided to tackle his trilogy My Big Toe. I must confess, I never finished it as I got lost in his intellect and stream of consciousness. However, within it are many golden nuggets. Some that I will be returning to. However, my experiences with Tom have been profound. I certainly began to meditate again with greater vigour. His work also helped me deal with the loss of my father and consider that there is far more than we understand. A non-physical world exists, and the signs are all around us if we choose to observe and see them.
Human Kind – A Hopeful History
Human Kind is a special book written by a very talented young thinker, Rutger Bregman. The research in this book is great and helped me to appreciate that what I felt deep down was true. Humans are designed to be kind. However, we are also wired to live in groups and to be very protective of each other. The spirit for me in this book is the realisation that humans like to look on the negative, dramatize, sell stories based upon building anxiety, and design schools and prisons based upon a negative mindset. Whereas the truth is that we have much more natural ability to do good, love, and be kind than the media or government will ever portray. Why? Because of the fear of a loss of control. More an excellent read than a purely spiritual book yet it does leave you with the hope that if we can harness the natural good in people and a new breed of non-self-centred leaders rise to the top then we could reverse the current world paradigm.
The Beautiful Business
Steven is a wonderful friend and therefore I could be accused here of bias. However, The Beautiful Business is selling extremely well in the US right now. Why? Because Steven, who is a very talented artist, marketing strategist, and meaningful linguist, has brought us a book that says business matters and you can make it beautiful and impact life and the world through it. With Steven’s deep sense of practical business application, meaningful spirituality, and connection, this is a book to be savoured. The imagery has also been created by Steve and journeying through it is a beautiful, spiritual meditative experience as well as a practical one.
The Essential Rumi
Less of a book recommendation as there are lots of published works of Rumi, rather, a love for the man and his work. I just happen to have this one on my shelf and do I understand it all then? No! Though it does help me get into a meditative state! I love Rumi’s work and legacy and I have ventured to Konya in Turkey, visited his shrine, met and interviewed the head of the whirling dervishes, a blood relative of Rumi who runs his foundation, and a hotelier who operates his hotel based upon Rumi principles. When my plane was grounded for two days due to fog in Konya there was a real question mark that I would make it home for Christmas with my family. The hotel reverted to the teachings of Rumi: ‘In generosity and giving be like the river’. They insisted upon giving me an extra two nights accommodation for free and an a la carte meal and helped me deal with the bureaucracy of changing flight times multiple times in Turkish. Rumi’s inspiration lives on.
Fearless at Work
Michael Carroll held executive positions in organizations like Simon & Schuster and Walt Disney. A passion for Buddhism led him to explore how these teachings could help transform work life into a source of confidence, goodness, and happiness. I have interviewed Michael several times and when we speak, he is everything you might imagine if you were to meet the real Santa Claus – wise, warm, caring, and emotionally intelligent. Fearless at work reflects his deep wisdom and inspires and helps us to awaken our natural bravery.