The Control Addiction Running Every Company
Michael dives into research on internal audit to prepare for a conversation about the audit industry, and an insight he had over a decade ago suddenly clicks into a much bigger picture: organizations run on command and control, which creates fear, so they add regulatory controls. When those don't work, they add internal audit as a third layer of control on the controls. And when that fails, the question is always the same: how do we add more controls? He traces it through a story from his telco days where an auditor openly admitted the whole thing made no sense, and through a client whose internal auditors sat in every standup meeting and blocked every attempt at new ways of working. Gas and brake at the same time.
From there, Audree pushes back on Michael's stance that he only wants to work with leadership. Her position: you don't need your organization's permission to evolve. Psychological safety can't be given to you by your boss. How you show up is what you control, and that changes everything around you. They land on a live realization that their business course gives leaders the tactics, yet its their L1 Awakening that gives leaders the consciousness shift to actually use them. Midway through, Michael's frustration about corporate dysfunction leaks out on mic. Audree catches it. He processes it in about 30 seconds. They debrief it in real time.
00:00 French Press Coffee Hack
00:49 From Chat to Podcast
02:04 Leadership Training Origins
03:16 Energetics of Conscious Organizations
05:16 Command and Control Costs
09:44 Auditing Industry Spark
10:33 Control Addiction Explained
12:56 Internal Audit Storytime
14:13 Behavioral Risk Audits
16:22 Agile Meets Audit Roadblocks
21:22 Deck Chairs on Titanic
25:22 Leadership vs Personal Evolution
28:06 Ownership Creates Leadership
29:03 LEO1 Practical Culture Tools
29:30 Awakening Builds Safety
30:44 Business Versus Personal Growth
32:57 Consciousness Before Structure
33:28 You Create Psychological Safety
35:08 Reality Feedback Loop Model
36:10 Indoctrination And Empowerment
37:51 Leaders Can Shift Cultures
39:42 Debrief Releasing Emotional Charge
43:40 Audits And Control Trap
49:45 Measuring Coherence In Leaders
52:12 Framework Art And Interrupts
53:55 Societal Evolution Wrap Up
54:30 Integration And Closing Mantra
Creators and Guests
Host
Audree Tara Sahota
I was born with mystical gifts I learned to hide from a world that wasn't ready, the weird kid teaching Samadhi at slumber parties while trying to make sense of being different. Almost a decade in formal healing training, a graduate of the Barbara Brennan Collage of Healing. Five years on a Chicago medical team, healing what Western medicine couldn't touch. In 2009 I received Evolutionary Energetics, yet discovering it and embodying it are completely different. I've done the messy work: dissolved my ego, healed my deepest patterns, trusted guidance I couldn't see when everything rational screamed not to. I'm not a guru with all the answers. I'm a real person who happened to be born remembering cosmic truth, walked the uncomfortable path of living it, and learned how to make it practical.
Host
Michael K Sahota
Raised with logic and science, I started as the ultimate skeptic. In my AI PhD program, I discovered that human vision and cognition is controlled hallucination; we literally make up reality. After years in software architecture and management roles leading organizational transformations, the pattern became clear: the consciousness of the leader creates culture, culture creates outcomes. I hit the truth: I was the limiting factor in every change initiative. Meeting Audree transformed everything as our opposite approaches unlocked something extraordinary. Through 100+ leadership trainings, we didn't create this work, we received it, download by download, in an unfolding evolutionary process. I've done the messy work: learned to trust direct experience over logic, followed guidance that made no rational sense. I'm not a guru with all the answers. My passion is the mechanics of creation. I'm the bridge between worlds, translating cosmic downloads into step-by-step practical tools.
