Founder
Laurie J Cameron, Founder and CEO
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With 25 years of international management consulting and business leadership experience, and a passion for creativity, transformation and human development, Laurie is dedicated to helping people learn mindfulness to live with meaning and lead with purpose-driven performance. As a former Accenture management consultant and business executive with three companies, her clients tell her she "gets their challenges" - in how she translates mindfulness into practical language and applications for everyday life.
Laurie founded PurposeBlue on her realization that mindfulness is the foundational competency for achieving human potential, happiness and optimal well-being. Mindful, resilient leaders deepen their self-awareness and self-mastery, which allows them to be in a place of choice during difficult moments. Mindful Leaders are able to stay connected to purpose and thrive during uncertainty, change, and the distractions of our tech-saturated world.
Laurie has practiced mindfulness since 1995, following the teachings of mindfulness leader and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, Tara Brach and Pema Chodron. In 2013, she received the Five Mindfulness Trainings at the Magnolia Grove Monastery from Thich Nhat Hanh. In her capacity as founder of PurposeBlue, Laurie leads retreats, speaks around the globe, coaches and teaches leaders internationally how to bring more wisdom, clarity and meaning to their lives and work.
She is a Certified SIY Master Teacher and part of the first global cohort of teachers for the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI), based on the leadership program developed at Google. Bringing together thought leaders in emotional intelligence, neuroscience and mindfulness, SIYLI is dedicated to developing wise and compassionate leaders. Laurie teaches the SIY program around the world to companies like Google, Gemalto, TE Connectivity, Sunovian and for SIY Programs in New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Hyderabad, Washington, DC and Copenhagen.
Laurie is a Senior Fellow with the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being at George Mason University, working with leading researchers in the emerging field of workplace well-being. Laurie is also a Guest Professor at the top-ranked Smith School of Business at University of Maryland, teaching Mindful Leadership to EMBA leaders in the Leadership Mastery series. Laurie also trained as a Presence-Based Leadership Coach and is a certified coach with the International Coach Federation. She is an active member of the Otto Scharmer's Presencing Institute and with her east coast chapter of the Neuroleadership Institute.
She is the author of The Mindful Day: Practical Ways to Find Focus, Calm and Joy From Morning to Evening. Published by National Geographic and forthcoming in March 2018, the book is designed for over-scheduled professionals looking to incorporate mindfulness into their daily lives. The step-by-step guide draws on contemplative traditions, modern neuroscience, and leading psychology to bring peace and focus to the home, in the workplace, and beyond.
The Backstory
While working in the corporate business environment in leadership development and change, Laurie was on a major growth journey of her own. Living and working in three continents, taking big risks, and experiencing loss and grief created transformational changes and eye-opening learning. While living in the vibrancy of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Laurie became deeply aware of how norms and cultural conditioning shape how we interpret our experiences and make sense of the world. Living in Germany, a country with very different norms and patterns, she launched Cameron Consulting, a leadership development consultancy for global companies. It was here that she deepened her understanding of how identity, ego and psychology affect how we adapt or resist change, how we take action or stay stuck, and how we let go or attach to beliefs and assumptions that block us or catapult us to high performance. She developed ways of teaching others to hold a nonjudgmental awareness, be present with openness, listen and communicate consciously, and focus on the essential.
Laurie spent the the last two decades guiding leaders in navigating change, increasing leadership effectiveness and creating organizational cultures that thrive. After working with leaders across industries and countries, she discovered that there were three key requests that her clients continually asked for: increased capacity and space to lead, a clearer purpose, and mental strategies that lead to optimal results. While on a long walk in the expansive German Eilenriede forest, Laurie was hit with the idea to integrate the wisdom teachings and discipline practices from her years as a mindfulness practitioner into the proven leadership development and change management methods with top global companies. Cameron Consulting expanded its reach, added a network of associates and evolved into PurposeBlue.
PurposeBlue is a conscious business.
Inspired by Conscious Business leaders such as John Mackey of Whole Foods and Blake Mycoskie of TOMS, Laurie uses a One-for-One model in her business for giving back. For every new client, PurposeBlue delivers pro-bono mindfulness classes in public education. Laurie teaches the PB Mindfulness at School program to students and faculty in schools in Maryland and Washington, DC and delivers the PB Mindful Leader program to corporations across North America. She also continues to spread her expertise across platforms and topics with her different speaking opportunities. You can find out what Laurie is doing this year here.
Laurie lives with her husband, daughter and golden retriever in Maryland. She spends time in the summer unplugged with extended family in the village of Sasso Pisano in Tuscany.