The Ceiling

Mike McDonnell introduces the CEO Exercises podcast, arguing that the developing your interior life is the highest-leverage investment a leader can make.  The ceiling on leadership isn't external, it is internal.  Most leaders develop strategically, mentally, and physically but neglect their interior life, which quietly limits the clarity of their thinking and judgement, the quality of their decisions, the depth of their relationships, and the performance and fulfillment in the cultures they build.  The show explores integrating deep spirituality with high-stakes business leadership using practical, field-tested practices from 500-year-old Ignatian spirituality, adapted for busy professionals and open to listeners across beliefs. McDonnell shares his background as a three-time CEO and former Jesuit in formation, describing how a realization about the difference between happiness and fulfillment led him to the Jesuits and later back to business with a new framework for leadership. He outlines Ignatius of Loyola’s core ideas—God present and active in all things, discernment through interior movements, and freedom from “disordered attachments”—and explains the podcast’s aim to build consistent interior practice that strengthens self-awareness, humility, empathy, resilience, and clearer judgment.Send CEO Exercises a message