Episode 64

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Published on:

30th Oct 2025

Dov Baron on Integrity, Belonging, and the Emotional Source Code

Global leadership mentor Dov Baron joins Coach Keren for a candid conversation on what it really takes to lead with integrity, earn trust, and build cultures of true belonging—not performative “fitting in.” Dov unpacks his Emotional Source Code framework, the destructive side of “enlightenment,” and why leaders must move their teams from tolerated presence to trusted belonging. We also get into AI, guardrails, and why the future of work is profoundly human.

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Timestamps

  • (00:01) — Opening and why Dov’s work sits at the intersection of integrity, leadership, and belonging
  • (02:27) — The fall: 120 feet, eleven reconstructive surgeries, and five near-death experiences; why “enlightenment is a destructive process”
  • (07:21) — Choosing between comeback bravado, lifelong victimhood, or the harder third path: burn the identity and begin again
  • (10:18) — From applause-seeking to service: “It’s not what I do. It’s where I’m doing it from.”
  • (14:04) — Shadow work, truth-telling, and dropping the pedestal (including for our heroes—and ourselves)
  • (21:28) — “You say you want X. What are you willing to give up?” The cost of real change
  • (28:00) — How Dov’s polymath path (Kabbalah → Jungian psych → neuroscience → leadership) forged the Emotional Source Code
  • (34:27) — The five layers: milieu, anatomy of meaning, identity, values/beliefs, behavior—and why most change fails
  • (38:01) — Curiosity ≠ confirmation questions; how leaders rewrite the emotional contract with teams
  • (41:18) — Organizational truth-telling vs. profit, and building purpose that creates fierce loyalty
  • (44:53) — Rebuilding community at work (mandatory “come in/don’t work” days)
  • (45:44 )— AI: why guardrails matter; the human edge will win
  • (50:27) — What’s next for Dov: Creating Cultures of Belonging (book + course), weekly writing, ongoing podcast

Key Ideas & Takeaways

  • Enlightenment burns before it builds. If you won’t let old identities burn, you won’t rise.
  • The Emotional Source Code (ESC) explains why behavior won’t change if you skip meaning and identity work. Start at the source, not the symptom. Dov Baron+1
  • Belonging beats fitting in. Fitting in is self-betrayal; belonging creates courage, innovation, and trust. Dov Baron
  • Curiosity is rigorous. It seeks to disconfirm your bias and understand the other’s meaning.
  • Future of work = more human. Tech will compress the “niche,” but connection, discernment, and community can’t be automated.
  • Build community on purpose. Intentionally create non-work time on-site to deepen real bonds.
  • Truth-telling scales culture. From “tolerated presence” to “trusted belonging” requires identity-level honesty, not slogans.

Resources Mentioned

About Dov Baron

Dov is a world-renowned leadership mentor and host of The Dov Baron Show (formerly Leadership & Loyalty). His work blends spiritual traditions, Jungian psychology, neuroscience, and culture-building. He writes weekly on LinkedIn and at dovbaron.com; his books include Fiercely Loyal and the forthcoming Creating Cultures of Belonging. Dov Baron+2Amazon+2

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#CoachedPodcast #CoachingMasters #DovBaron #Leadership #Integrity #Belonging #EmotionalSourceCode #Culture #Trust #FutureOfWork #Curiosity #AI

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About the Podcast

COACHED with Coach Keren
Coaching mastery, personal transformation, leadership development, spiritual growth, burnout recovery, and business reinvention start here. Welcome to Season 5 of Coached: The Coaching Masters, where the world’s top teachers, coaches, spiritual guides, and conscious entrepreneurs share the real story behind transformation and leadership. Hosted by master coach Keren Eldad, this season explores the full arc of becoming a teacher and leader. Each episode explores coaching at its core, not as a polished highlight reel, but as a soul-centered journey. We go behind the scenes of coaching businesses, leadership breakthroughs, burnout recovery, and conscious entrepreneurship. You’ll discover how teachers turn personal pain into wisdom, purpose, and coaching mastery.

This season features transformative conversations with master teachers, bestselling authors and podcasters such as Byron Katie, founder of The Work, revealing how to break free from suffering. Dr. Kristin Neff, global authority on self-compassion, shares the truth behind inner kindness. Jessica Zweig opens up on collapse, rebirth, and her platform: The Spiritual Hustler. Danielle LaPorte speaks on softness, strength, and heart-centered leadership. Craig Siegel shares insights on business reinvention, financial success and transformation. Kurtis Lee Thomas dives into breathwork, burnout recovery, and becoming a true vessel for change.

What listeners will walk away with: personal transformation, leadership growth, spiritual insight, business breakthroughs — and all of the above. You’ll gain insight into your own journey through these role models. Reframe coaching leadership as a soulful, grounded path. Receive spiritual wisdom from teachers who embody what they teach. Discover business breakthroughs rooted in alignment, not hustle. And gain permission to evolve, unravel, and rebuild again and again.

In this season of Coached: The Coaching Masters, we explore emotional resilience, energetic alignment, spiritual awakening, business reinvention, leadership development, coaching business growth, and personal transformation. These honest conversations reveal the real work behind building coaching mastery and conscious entrepreneurship with integrity. Whether you're a coach, leader, entrepreneur, or in a season of reinvention, this podcast is your guide. You’ll gain insights from role models who’ve lived it, leadership development rooted in alignment, business reinvention strategies with purpose, spiritual growth grounded in wisdom, and burnout recovery guidance for rebuilding with intention.

Keren Eldad brings mastery, heart, and wisdom to each conversation, helping you evolve personally, spiritually, and professionally. If you are searching for coaching mastery, personal transformation, spiritual growth, leadership development, burnout recovery, business reinvention, coaching business growth, and conscious entrepreneurship, this season will be your essential companion. Join us for earned wisdom, deep transformation, and coaching that changes lives. Subscribe now to Coached: The Coaching Masters and begin your journey of conscious leadership, soulful business reinvention, and personal mastery.

About the Host: Keren Eldad (“Coach Keren”) is a top executive coach helping Founders, Olympic athletes and Fortune 500 leaders reach success. As the bestselling author of GILDED, she empowers individuals to redefine success and unlock their full potential. Recognized as a Top Ten Executive Coach by the ICF, Real Leaders, and Goop, Keren holds advanced degrees from The London School of Economics and the University of Jerusalem. With 500,000+ TEDx views and a global presence, her insights inspire leaders worldwide.


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About your host

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Keren Eldad

A thought leader in the coaching world, Keren Eldad (“Coach Keren”) specializes in taking high achievers out of the futility of constant pursuit and into the greatest levels of success and fulfillment. Her coaching clients include Olympic athletes, politicians, Hollywood stars, supermodels, Special Forces operatives and serial entrepreneurs, as well as renowned global organizations such as Estée Lauder, J.P. Morgan, and Nike… She is also the founder of THE CLUB, a community of leaders, entrepreneurs and coaches who encourage and support each other to reach their fullest potential and make their greatest contribution.
Recognized as a Top Ten Executive Coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF), Real Leaders Magazine, & Goop, Keren maintains gold-standard coaching credentials on top of her advanced academic degrees from The London School of Economics and the University of Jerusalem. She is also a former C-suite executive, who has lived and worked in 17 countries and on four continents, and now coaches leaders all around the globe in four languages: English, Spanish, Hebrew and French. With half a million views on her TEDx talks, and speaking engagements all over the world, Keren’s message seems to transcend borders. She hopes it resonates with you.
Coach Keren resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Ryan, and many beloved pets.
For booking and coaching consultations, contact: Lee@KerenEldad.com