- Madison Torres

Tal Shavit calls herself an organizational healer and a vision doula, titles that raise eyebrows in boardrooms more accustomed to strategy decks and quarterly KPIs. Yet in a world where burnout, mistrust, and complexity define the workplace, her language feels less outlandish and more prophetic.

Shavit, a keynote speaker, facilitator, and coach, works with what she calls full spectrum intelligence, building a career at the unlikely intersection of group shadow work and executive leadership. She guides teams not just through what they think, but through what they fear, avoid, and dream of. With a background that spans McKinsey consulting to women’s leadership retreats, she moves fluidly between corporate towers and circle gatherings, insisting that the most interesting transformation happens when organizations are willing to face what lies beneath the surface.

“It’s not just about pushing harder to perform better,” she says. “It’s about aligning. And when organizations and teams align, performance follows.”

What made you brave, or reckless, enough to bring shadow work into the corporate world?

Laughing: “Probably a good mix of both. Or neither. I think it’s a practice-what-you-preach thing more than anything. Part of me would love to do the normal, easily digestible leadership development work, because it’s scary and risky to put this in the forefront. What if people don’t get it? What if people think I’m weird? But this is what I speak, facilitate, and guide—meeting the parts that are terrified along with the deepest longings.

And my deepest longing is to work with people who are ready to do the deep work, so they can make the type of impact they know and feel they can. So if I’m asking those I’m working with to be as brave as possible, then I can only authentically do this if I do the same. And I try my best every day, day by day.”

Isn’t “shadow work” just therapy language dressed up for business? How do you make it real for executives?

“I would say that shadow work is therapy language, not even dressed up. But the reality is that just because we enter the boardroom doesn’t mean we stop being humans, with triggers and fears and unconscious motivations driving us.

When I work with teams on the relational work, they begin to see conflict as an invitation for deepening the relationship - not just with the other person, but also with themselves and with that which moves them. You see teams showing a clear and unmistakable change in the quality of conversations, in trust, in the enjoyment of working together. And we train the muscle of staying in discomfort, while getting less emotionally triggered and more able to navigate from choice and freedom.”

Can you point to a moment where full spectrum intelligence actually shifted business outcomes?

“That’s a good question. It’s not just about the business outcomes—it’s also about building organizations, teams, and lives that are in alignment with life, that don’t feel like a battle for survival, significance, and satisfaction that never ends.

A potent example was in a group context where an executive was debating whether or not to let someone go. The methodology is built on the notion of allowing you to access data you don’t usually have access to. Most people, when trying to make decisions, make a pro/con list. In business, these lists get incredibly complex and robust, but they still boil down to an analytical exploration. In full spectrum intelligence we explore these but also somatic intelligence, intuitive or tacit intelligence, relational intelligence, spiritual intelligence and a wide range of additional sources.

In this case I brought in a body awareness inquiry, which gave the executive access to new information that surprised her. She found that she actually felt more relaxed with the idea of letting this person go, whereas when she was only thinking about it, she thought she’d feel discomfort. Once she realized letting them go created more relaxation in the system, she could make this complex decision and feel much more secure in it.

And we start with the executive team, but this trickles down to the whole organization, this is what sets the right cornerstones in place, to do this work at scale, transforming the entire system.”

What’s the biggest wall of resistance you’ve slammed into when doing this work, and how did you break through it?

“The biggest wall is people not interested in going into depth. It might be discomfort, it might be because it’s new, it might be the set and setting. One way I mitigate this is by always anchoring my work in research-backed and scientific methodologies, so people know I’m not just winging it. Another way is humor and fun—this also works to defuse cynicism, because if we’re not taking ourselves too seriously, then we can relax a bit.

For many, it boils down to safety. One thing I’ve found creates safety is seeing people and giving them choice. At the end of the day, if someone isn’t ready or willing to do the work, that’s perfectly acceptable. I trust that they know best. We don’t shove people over the cliff—they have to choose to make the jump.

So I don’t aim to break walls of resistance; we can work with them. They are welcome.”

If leaders don’t embrace shadow work and full spectrum intelligence, what do you think the cost will be in the next decade?

“Markets are just a mirror to the whole world, which feels like constant warfare. In business, it’s a battle against competitors, markets, time, and sometimes even within our own teams and organizations. But we are pushed to find a different relationship to power—one that is not based on force.

One that allows for a slow relaxation and unwinding of the need to prove oneself, the need to be ‘enough,’ to have enough, which is what drives competition. The sense of survival is embedded in all of us.

If we don’t embrace the deep work—if we don’t commit to inner developmental work—it is very unlikely that we will succeed in meeting the global challenges we face, both in business and in society at large. One of the reasons we haven’t moved the needle enough on so many core topics is that we keep looking outside, with strategy and big initiatives, forgetting that we need to support our leaders in growing and developing the capacities and qualities needed to navigate this incredible complexity. I don’t think there are many people not feeling the pain of this now, the global sense of urgency, and this answers what is unspoken about but so prevalent, the sense of helpless and hopelessness. And we do have a way.

Tal Shavit calls herself an organizational healer and a vision doula, titles that raise eyebrows in boardrooms more accustomed to strategy decks and quarterly KPIs. Yet in a world where burnout, mistrust, and complexity define the workplace, her language feels less outlandish and more prophetic.
Shavit, a keynote speaker, facilitator, and coach, works with what she calls full spectrum intelligence, building a career at the unlikely intersection of group shadow work and executive leadership. She guides teams not just through what they think, but through what they fear, avoid, and dream of. With a background that spans McKinsey consulting to women’s leadership retreats, she moves fluidly between corporate towers and circle gatherings, insisting that transformation happens when organizations face what lies beneath the surface.
“It’s not just about pushing harder to perform better,” she says. “It’s about aligning. And when organizations and teams align, performance follows.”

What made you brave, or reckless, enough to bring shadow work into the corporate world?

Laughing: “Probably a good mix of both. Or neither. I think it’s a practice what you preach thing more than anything. Part of me would love to do the normal, digestible leadership development work, because it’s scary and risky to put this in the forefront. What if people don’t get it? What if they think I’m weird? But this is what I speak, facilitate, and guide, meeting the parts that are terrified along with the deepest longings. And my deepest longing is to work with people ready for the deep work, so they can make the impact they know they can. If I’m asking those I work with to be brave, then I can only authentically do this if I do the same. I try my best every day.”

Isn’t “shadow work” just therapy language dressed up for business? How do you make it real for executives?

“I would say shadow work is therapy language, not even dressed up. But just because we enter the boardroom doesn’t mean we stop being humans, with triggers and unconscious motivations driving us.
When I work with teams, they begin to see conflict as an invitation for deepening the relationship, not just with the other person but also with themselves. You see teams showing clear change in the quality of conversations, in trust, in the enjoyment of working together. And we train the muscle of staying in discomfort, while getting less emotionally triggered and more able to navigate from choice and freedom.”

Can you point to a moment where full spectrum intelligence actually shifted business outcomes?

“That’s a good question. It’s not just about outcomes, it’s about building organizations and lives in alignment with life, that don’t feel like a battle for survival and satisfaction that never ends.
An example was a group where an executive was debating whether or not to let someone go. The methodology allows access to data you don’t usually have. Most people make pro/con lists. In business, these lists get complex, but they still boil down to analysis. In full spectrum intelligence we also explore somatic, intuitive, relational, and spiritual intelligence.
Here I brought in a body awareness inquiry, which gave the executive surprising new information. She found she felt more relaxed with the idea of letting this person go, whereas in her head she expected discomfort. Once she realized letting them go created more relaxation, she could make the decision with much more security.
We start with the executive team, but it trickles down to the whole organization, setting the right cornerstones to scale this work.”

What’s the biggest wall of resistance you’ve slammed into when doing this work, and how did you break through it?

“The biggest wall is people not interested in going into depth. It might be discomfort, or because it’s new. One way I mitigate this is anchoring my work in research-backed methodologies, so people know I’m not just winging it. Another way is humor and fun, which also defuse cynicism.
For many, it boils down to safety. One thing that creates safety is seeing people and giving them choice. At the end of the day, if someone isn’t ready to do the work, that’s perfectly acceptable. I trust that they know best. We don’t shove people over the cliff, they have to choose to make the jump.
 So I don’t aim to break resistance; we can work with it. It is welcome.”

If leaders don’t embrace shadow work and full spectrum intelligence, what do you think the cost will be in the next decade?

“Markets are a mirror to the world, which feels like constant warfare. In business, it’s a battle against competitors, markets, time, and sometimes even within our own teams. But we are pushed to find a different relationship to power, one not based on force.
One that allows for a relaxation of the need to prove, the need to be enough, to have enough, which drives competition. The sense of survival is embedded in all of us.
If we don’t embrace the deep work and commitment to inner development, it is unlikely we will be able tp meet the global challenges we face. One reason we haven’t moved the needle enough is we keep looking outside, with strategies and big initiatives, forgetting we need to support our leaders in growing the qualities needed to navigate this complexity. Who doesn’t feel the pain of this now, the urgency, the sense of helplessness? It’s time for a new way.”