Zen and the Art of Business Authenticity: Why Hiding Your True Self Is Costing You
[Just got off a Zoom call with another Zen priest that left me buzzing with recognition. There's that particular energy when someone reflects back to you something you've been doing intuitively but haven't fully articulated. The sun shines in my window as I type, nature's recognition for a revelation...]
The Accidental Experiment That Changed Everything
Let me tell you about an accident that fundamentally altered my business trajectory. For decades—yes, literal decades—I maintained two completely separate identities:
Professional Cian: Technology executive, MBA, fractional CTO, serious business guy in serious business settings talking about serious business things.
Spiritual Cian: Ordained Zen priest, meditation teacher, consciousness explorer, the guy who writes this blog and talks about transcending reality.
I kept these worlds meticulously separate. Different social media accounts. Different websites. Different email signatures. Different versions of myself carefully curated for different audiences.
[Schrodinger's cat just jumped on my desk and knocked over a Buddhist statue, which feels like an appropriately zen interruption to this story of separation...]
This separation wasn't accidental. It was the result of years navigating a business world that seemed fundamentally at odds with spiritual depth. I still remember sitting in boardrooms, dressed in my corporate armor, keeping my meditation practice and spiritual insights carefully hidden like a secret identity.
After all, I'd spent years climbing the corporate ladder. I'd built a five-bedroom house, driven a Lexus, checked all the boxes of material success. But something was missing. When a sleep specialist told me I'd need a CPAP machine for the rest of my life, something inside me rebelled completely. "No, I'm going to prove you wrong," I thought.
That rebellion led me to sell everything, travel the world, study with shamans in Peru, practice with masters in Thailand and Bali—a complete rejection of my corporate life in search of something deeper. I was determined to find what was missing. As I detailed in From Lockdown to Enlightenment, this global odyssey transformed me in ways I never expected.
But the real magic happened when I came back and began integrating these seemingly separate worlds.
The Great Business Authenticity Experiment
Recently, I was negotiating with a potential client about a fractional CTO position. I was running late for our Zoom call and had just finished teaching a meditation class. No time to switch my background from the meditation hall to my usual bland corporate setting. The traditional Buddhist scrolls were visible behind me, and I was still wearing my rakusu (the traditional bib-like garment Zen priests wear).
I braced myself for awkwardness.
But something unexpected happened. The founder's face lit up. "Are you into meditation?" he asked. The conversation shifted immediately from transactional to connective. By the end of the call, he wasn't just hiring me for my technical expertise—he was excited about the unique perspective I would bring as someone who bridges technology and consciousness.
That "accidental" revelation sparked what I now think of as The Great Business Authenticity Experiment. What would happen if I stopped hiding my priesthood in my corporate life? What if I actually highlighted it?
[Just paused writing to check my email and saw three new client inquiries—the universe seems determined to validate this story in real time...]
So I did something that felt terrifying: I completely redesigned my corporate website (cognitivetech.net) to explicitly feature both identities. Right there on the homepage: "Fractional CTO | Ordained Zen Priest." My about page now talks about non-dualistic approaches to technology leadership and the integration of consciousness principles into AI implementation.
I braced myself again—this time for the inevitable decline in business interest.
Instead, I've seen the opposite:
More inbound inquiries
Higher-quality connections
Deeper client relationships
Faster trust-building
Higher rates (yes, really)
One startup I'm working with now literally said, "When we saw you were a CTO and a priest, we knew you were our guy." They're doing conscious leadership work with Fortune 500 companies, and my unique combination is precisely what they wanted.
The Marketplace of Authentic Value
Earlier today, I was talking with another Zen priest who's been watching my journey. He confessed that he's been hiding his spiritual side in his corporate life, maintaining separate LinkedIn profiles and business identities. The separation felt safe, comfortable.
[Realizing that my tea's gone cold. Some insights are worth lukewarm tea...]
But here's what I've discovered: we're living in a time when conscious businesses are becoming mainstream. Companies are actively seeking leaders who can help them navigate not just technological transformation but spiritual and ethical transformation as well.
The marketplace has evolved, but many of us haven't evolved our approach to it. We're still hiding the very aspects of ourselves that might be our greatest professional assets.
This shift aligns perfectly with Ken Wilber's Integral Theory. If you're not familiar with Wilber's work, he describes humanity's evolution through different stages of consciousness. We're currently witnessing a massive shift from what he calls the "orange" achievement-focused paradigm to the "green" pluralistic worldview, with more and more people beginning to access "teal" and "integral" consciousness.
The fascinating thing about this evolution is that once we hit a critical mass—just about 10% of the population operating from an integral perspective—we'll see a dramatic acceleration in collective consciousness. Those of us who have been operating from these more integrated perspectives while "hiding in plain sight" will suddenly find ourselves valued for precisely what we once concealed.
I explored a related insight in Unveiling My True Self Through Blogging, where I realized I was hiding my deepest insights even in my writing. It's all part of the same pattern—we compartmentalize our authentic selves out of fear, only to discover that authenticity is precisely what creates the deepest connections.
The Pricing of Authenticity
This authenticity revolution extends beyond just how we present ourselves—it impacts how we price our services too.
My friend shared how he completely revamped his approach to mondo (Zen-style spiritual coaching) fees based on advice I'd given him. Rather than the traditional "pay what you can" approach that so many spiritual teachers default to, he now:
Clearly states the market value ($1,200 for a mondo session)
Indicates a typical donation range ($600-800)
Emphasizes that many people pre-pay
Follows up with value-reminder communications
The result? Donations of $1,700-2,600 for sessions he used to get $100-200 for.
[A notification just popped up from my banking app. Another client payment cleared. These synchronicities are getting a bit on-the-nose...]
Here's the non-dual truth about money and spirituality: Undercharging doesn't serve you OR your clients. It creates an energetic imbalance that subtly undermines the value of the exchange.
Years ago, I learned this lesson through what I call The Bliss Disease – the tendency for spiritual practitioners to create unsustainable cycles of bliss and darkness by avoiding the messy work of integration. Part of that integration involves healthy relationships with material resources like money.
The Power of Professional Containers
What I've realized is that my professional identity isn't separate from my spiritual identity—it's a container for it. The business world provides structure, accountability, and real-world application for spiritual principles.
The fractional model exemplifies this beautifully. I work with multiple clients at 5-10 hours per week each, charging $150-250 CAD per hour. This allows me to:
Maintain deep spiritual practice
Allocate time for teaching and writing
Provide focused, high-value expertise
Create financial abundance without burnout
Practice presence and mindfulness in multiple contexts
[Just realized I've been typing furiously for 30 minutes straight. When alignment happens, the words just flow...]
This approach isn't just good for me—it's good for my clients too. They get the benefit of a mind trained in both technological precision and spiritual expansiveness. The very practices that make me a good priest make me a better CTO: present-moment awareness, non-reactivity, systems thinking, compassionate leadership.
Consider how my path has unfolded: from age 4 when I began meditating, to programming computers at 8, to ordained Zen priest and CTO. These seemingly divergent paths were actually converging all along. When I lecture at places like UBC, I show students how my understanding of consciousness informs my approach to technology, and how my technological understanding enhances my spiritual practice.
In Emotional Architecture: AI and the Non-Dual Nature of Consciousness, I explore how these two worlds—technology and spirituality—are actually working with the same fundamental principles. My journey as both a Zen priest and CTO has revealed that "the same principles of pattern recognition, information processing, and emergent complexity govern both spiritual awakening and artificial intelligence."
The Non-Dual Business Model
The traditional view places business and spirituality in opposition. Business is seen as materialistic, grasping, ego-driven. Spirituality is seen as renunciative, detached, transcendent.
But this is a fundamentally dualistic perspective—precisely what Buddhism teaches us to move beyond.
[The sun just broke through the clouds, casting my desk in golden light. Even nature seems eager to demonstrate non-duality...]
In non-dual reality, these apparent opposites are integrated aspects of the same whole:
Business provides the structure that spirituality needs to manifest
Spirituality provides the wisdom that business needs to be ethical
Money is just another form of energy exchange
Success is measured in both impact and income
Service and self-care are complementary, not contradictory
When I sold my house and left my corporate job to travel the world, I thought I was rejecting materialism in favor of spirituality. What I didn't realize then was that I was still operating from a dualistic mindset—just choosing one side over the other. True liberation came when I stopped seeing these as opposing forces and began recognizing them as complementary dimensions of a unified whole.
This integration is similar to what I described in Energy Vampires and Cosmic Surplus, where I explored how cultivating energetic abundance creates a natural magnetism. The same principle applies here: when you integrate your spiritual and business identities, you create an authentic presence that naturally attracts the right opportunities and connections.
Practical Steps Toward Integration
If you're feeling the call to integrate your spiritual and professional identities, here are some practical steps based on my experience:
Audit your online presence: Where are you fragmenting yourself? How might you begin to present a more integrated identity?
Start with subtle signals: You don't have to announce "I'M SPIRITUAL!" immediately. Begin with small indicators that the right people will notice. (Like my friend who just has Tibetan prayer flags in his LinkedIn background image.)
Value your unique integration: The specific way you bridge different worlds is your competitive advantage. Name it, claim it, price it accordingly.
Create clear value frameworks: Be explicit about the value you provide and what fair exchange looks like, whether in money or other forms.
Watch for resonance: Notice who lights up when they see your whole self. These are your people, your clients, your community.
[Just got a text from a potential client asking about my meditation background. The universe really wants to drive this point home...]
Try to imagine what would happen if you allowed your full self to shine through in your professional life. Picture the people who would be drawn to you precisely because of what you're currently hiding. Envision the conversations that would shift from transactional to transformational. Feel the alignment that comes when you no longer have to compartmentalize different aspects of yourself.
As I explored in The Authenticity Paradox, "What if real evolution isn't about becoming something new? What if it's about washing away everything that isn't authentically you?" The journey of professional authenticity isn't about adding a spiritual veneer to your business; it's about removing the artificial barriers you've placed between different aspects of yourself.
The Future of Conscious Business
We're in the midst of a profound shift in the business landscape. The old paradigm of separation—work self vs. personal self, business goals vs. spiritual values—is dissolving.
The leaders of tomorrow won't be those who master one domain at the expense of others. They'll be integrators who can bridge worlds, who embody seemingly contradictory qualities with grace:
Technical expertise and emotional intelligence
Strategic thinking and present-moment awareness
Profit focus and purpose orientation
Executive presence and spiritual depth
This isn't just good philosophy—it's good business. My revenue has increased since I began this integration, and more importantly, so has my sense of alignment and purpose.
As Ken Wilber would put it, we're moving into an era where the ability to hold paradox and integrate multiple perspectives becomes not just a spiritual achievement but a competitive advantage. The integral consciousness that was once the domain of mystics and sages is becoming an essential leadership capacity.
In Dimensions Unveiled, I explored how reality exists along multiple dimensions, with energy itself serving as the fourth dimension beyond the standard three. This multidimensional perspective applies perfectly to identity integration: we're not three-dimensional beings learning to access higher dimensions, but "multidimensional beings remembering how to use our full capabilities."
Your Turn: The Whole Self Revolution
What aspects of yourself are you hiding in professional contexts? What wisdom, practices, or perspectives might actually be your greatest professional assets if you had the courage to reveal them?
The invitation here is not just to "be yourself" in some vague, feel-good way. It's to recognize that your wholeness is your competitive advantage. Your integration is your innovation.
[A final synchronicity: my calendar just reminded me about a meeting with a client who initially hired me because of, not despite, my Zen background...]
Whether you're a spiritual practitioner hiding your business acumen or a business person hiding your spiritual depth, now is the time to bring your whole self forward. The world is ready. The market is ready.
And most importantly, you're ready.
Until next time, keep bending light and hacking minds,
Cian