About CPL (Copy)

At Center for Purposeful Leadership (CPL), we support leaders and organizations in creating thriving cultures based on purpose, trust, and collaboration by offering solutions that work for problems that matter.

Since our founding in 1995, we have assisted thousands of clients in transforming themselves and their organizations, reaching the cutting edge of leadership, through our unique and highly effective trainings, coaching, customized programs and consultation services. Problems are solved; new ways of being discovered. We teach principles and practices for discovering purpose, engaging staff and exploring personal transformation to resolve the challenges that keep leaders up at night.

Responding to an ever-increasing need around the world for a reliable way to discover and develop a shared sense of purpose, the founders of CPL created a methodology and corresponding book called The Art of Convening (AoC), which have been utilized by thousands of organizational leaders in hundreds of companies all over the globe. The user-friendly 9-step AoC process empowers those who employ it to access the highest potential from themselves and any meeting or engagement, no matter the number of people.

Take a positive step forward in your leadership today: get your copy of the AoC book and work with us to make your greatest purpose and potential become reality. Contact us today.

Read Client Stories and Testimonials

HISTORY

In 2017 Heartland Inc. became the Center for Purposeful Leadership in the next evolution of 24 years of leadership and thought leadership.

Heartland: The Convening Company, 1995-2017, was founded by Craig & Patricia Neal as the manifestation of a dream nurtured for 30+ years, from Craig’s early “awakening to a greater purpose” at the March on Washington in 1963.

Consulting, Coaching, Trainings
Center for Purposeful Leadership is a trusted source for leading-edge leadership development and culture change consulting. Our clients call upon us to to create alignment, transform organizational systems, spark innovation, develop talent and resolve the toughest problems. For 24 years, our methods have been delivered in numerous corporate and educational institutions for powerful inclusion, engagement and collaboration sessions.

The Art of Convening Book
Published in January 2011, The Art of Convening: Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings, and Conversations is the first and only book on convening and begins to define convening as a capacity and force for transformation.
2013: Danish translation:  Mødekunst – Autentisk engagement i møder og samtale. Gyldendal Business.
2020: Chinese Mandarin translation to come.

The Art of Convening Trainings
Since 2004, the pioneering Art of Convening™ Trainings and TeleTrainings were launched. To-date 1000+ people have participated in over 100+ TeleTraining and Zoom Cohorts, Advanced Training Cohorts, Certification Cohorts, and Workshops.

Thought Leader Gatherings & Transformational Leaders Collaboratory
1998-2016: Leadership Learning & Innovation Sessions.
Early 1998 brought a partnership with Honeywell and Seagate Technology, to launch and convene the first Thought Leader Gathering™ for 40 Minnesota business and organizational pioneers, knowing that meaningful conversation about things that matter is revolutionary and can transform lives and organizations.

Over 1,000 organizations of every size and stripe attended the more than 220 TLGs held in the Twin Cities and the California Bay Area. In 2012, the TLGs evolved to become the TLCs, Transformational Leaders Collaboratory, to explore leadership within a framework of authentic leadership, socially responsible, sustainable and ethical best practices. Each TLC utilizes an innovative program design, with tools for learning, application and impact.

Men's Wilderness Journeys
2006: Craig founded the Men's Wilderness Journey Retreats as a guided journey of inner reflection and discovery for leaders, in one of America’s most pristine wildernesses, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota. 

VisionHolders Interview Series
2005: VisionHolders Interview Series, a pioneering and innovative online with over 100 Interview/Conversations convened, now archived in audio form. The VisionHolders are those among us leading by example, creating the story of vision in action in their lives and work.

Essential Conversations Speaker Series
2003: Essential Conversations Speaker Series launched with thought leader friends such as Peter Block, Margaret Wheatley joining us in some fantastic conversations of authentic leadership.

Programs and Conferences
1996: A Passion for Life: Revisioning How We Live, Heal, and Die
1996-1998: The Inner Life of Business conferences, Integrating the Creative Body, Mind, Spirit workshops and events

Together, we are co-creating a positive future for us all.

Media
Our work has been featured in
The Power of Purpose, Richard Leider
Community: The Structure of Belonging, Peter Block
World Café, Juanita Brown and David Isaacs
The Power of Collective Wisdom, Alan Briskin
The ASTD Management Development Handbook: Innovation for Today's Manager, Lisa Haneberg and Sharlyn J. Lauby