The Art of Accomplishment Application

Enter your email address below to
receive updates on The Art of Accomplishment

My Story

My name is Tiago Forte, and I am the Founder of Forte Academy, an online school for modern professional development.

Two years ago, I walked into a weekend workshop called Tide Turners, facilitated by Joe and his wife Tara.

I was looking for answers.

I wanted to know why despite the success I had, I still felt so dissatisfied. I wanted to know why I always felt on edge and on guard for no apparent reason. I wanted to know why I felt numb and bored anytime I wasn’t immersed in the adrenaline of working.

I had so many questions, but most of all, I was exhausted with the endless task of proving that I was good enough, capable enough, and hard-working enough to deserve success. Beneath it all, I wanted to know if there was another way.

My experience at Tide Turners inspired me with a new vision for how business could be used to fuel spiritual awakening.

I attended the followup week-long course, called Ground Breakers, the next year. The personal breakthroughs I experienced in that week have been nothing short of transformational, with benefits across my work and my life. I’ve seen dramatic growth in my business, reached new creative depths, had more intimacy in my relationships with my family and friends, and developed a deeper warmth and love toward myself even when I fall short of my ambitions.

Since that experience I’ve found it far easier to be more direct with people, to be vulnerable even with those I work with, and to laugh when life inevitably messes up my plans. I feel a newfound sense of self-love and self-acceptance that frees me to strive for my dreams without beating myself up. I feel a newfound sense of purpose in my work centered on a love for my customers, for my team, and for the planet.

Since then, I've had a burning desire to bring this work and these profound benefits to a wider audience online.

You Can Have It All

One of the greatest realizations I’ve had is that I’ve long been limited by a deeply rooted belief: that I can have spiritual growth OR business success, but not both. That at all times, I had to choose between the two, which always had me second-guessing myself and feeling guilty about my choices.

Joe's work speaks to me because it points to an amazing possibility: that we can have both peace of mind and worldly success. That we can advance our careers, reach our goals, and grow our businesses through the very same process by which we come to understand ourselves better.

I’ve come to understand that these two pursuits are not just compatible; they feed each other. The journey of self-realization can be the driving force in living an effective, successful life.

There are very few people who understand how to bridge the spiritual and the practical in this way. And even fewer who have dedicated their lives to teaching others how to do it in a way that is authentic to them. Which is why I was tremendously excited to discover Joe and his work.

Joe has one foot firmly in the world of business.

Prior to coaching and teaching, he worked as a venture capitalist, philanthropist, consultant, and international banker. His focus has been investing in and advising early-stage companies applying technology to personal development and climate sustainability.

But his other foot is firmly planted in the world of personal growth.

Joe has spent more than 25 years studying and practicing dozens of spiritual traditions and psychological frameworks, and incorporating them into his own work. He has sought to bridge East and West, mind and body, science and spirituality into a uniquely practical approach to personal development.

He has led workshops and courses with more than 1,000 participants. In his coaching practice, Joe works with high-profile executives and their teams at some of the world’s most respected companies and organizations, including Apple, Alphabet, SpaceX, HP, Automatic, and Hand in Hand Parenting among many others.

How This Is Different

Personal development has entered mainstream culture in a powerful way. Meditation and yoga are everywhere. Life coaches have become commonplace. No one bats an eye when you mention a weekend workshop or silent retreat you attended. It’s now generally recognized that “working on yourself” is an essential part of living a happy, successful life.

But it’s also full of pitfalls. There is no one to help you integrate new practices once the weekend is over. To guide you in deciding which practices will be most helpful, and to help bridge the gaps between them. There is no community that exists apart from any one practice, where you can learn from each others’ experiences.

From the beginning of my work with Joe, his approach to personal development has been like nothing else I’ve encountered.

He treats personal development as a practical field that anyone can study and make real progress in. As both scientific and full of wonder. As both work and play.

I believe that the methodology he has created is part of a new generation of personal growth programs. It is far more modern, sensitive to people’s needs, science-based, and transparent than the self-help industry that came before it.

It focuses on having people do personal experiments and learning for themselves, instead of telling them “the answer.” It draws on people’s own inner wisdom that comes out of their own life experience, instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. It is a rare example of inner work that is also aimed at making a positive difference in the external world.

The Art of Accomplishment is part of a new generation of personal development programs that are holistic, safe, customized, and research-backed. We are creating a new kind of self-development work that occurs at cognitive, emotional, and somatic levels, while also producing concrete results quickly.

Who We Are Looking For

We are seeking a group of leaders dedicated to fulfilling their full potential. Not only their inner potential, but their potential to make a difference in the world in this time of unprecedented crisis.

What do we mean by "leaders"? This group includes people who are or want to be leaders in their companies, startups, organizations, careers, or simply in their own families and their own lives. Whether or not it is accompanied by an official title, transformational leadership is a role you take on for yourself. It describes someone who is empowered, resourceful, and guided by a particular vision of the future. If that describes you, then we invite you to apply.

We are looking for people who want to work with a world-class coach and teacher, alongside inspiring peers, on releasing themselves from the fundamental limitations in their lives. Who want to experience the power of opening up their emotional range and cultivating a healthy relationship with each and every part of themselves. It is this courage and curiosity that we believe distinguishes great leaders, and it is those leaders that this experience is designed for.

I’ve been working with Joe over the past two years to translate the work that I’ve had the privilege of experiencing into an online format.

The cohort-based learning experience we've pioneered will allow us to come together from around the world in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown. It will allow us to access Joe’s expertise at a fraction of what it would normally cost, without sacrificing the quality of the experience. In fact, I believe that we have the opportunity to connect and communicate in radically innovative ways by leveraging the power of technology.

This program is only available to our existing network, is by application only, and will not be advertised publicly. Every one of the 48 participants in the group will be carefully selected to ensure psychological safety. We will look for people displaying potential for leadership, an ability to bring their full self to the group, and a commitment to being transparent about their inner world.

Together we will create an environment of safety and vulnerability, with a tightly knit group that can support each other through the growth that we seek.

Why Now

Why are we launching this program in the midst of a global pandemic and multiple other crises?

This is the question I’ve asked myself every day for the last few months. It is because we now need a different kind of leader.

We are undergoing the greatest civilizational trauma in memory, with unimaginable effects on every part of society. Everyone is frantically looking outward for the sources of both our problems and solutions. But we also need to look inward. We have to get our own house in order before telling others what they must do and how they must change. The world changes when we change.

As we enter the greatest economic crisis in generations, many organizations and industries are facing more demand than ever. Leaders in healthcare, technology, communications, food production, logistics and supply chain management, education, government, and manufacturing are facing absolutely unprecedented challenges to grow and adapt and evolve more in a few months than they would have had to do in years.

At the same time, the usual avenues for personal and professional development are shut down and offline. Conferences, workshops, meditation retreats, coaching, and support groups of all kinds aren't available at the very moment they're most needed. And making the shift to online delivery is proving far more difficult than anyone expected.

But there is a silver lining in all of this: the rise of new kinds of technology that allow us to connect like never before. Only in the last few years have we gained access to platforms that enable communication, connection, and even vulnerability at a distance. We have multiple ways of interacting and learning that allow all parts of ourselves to be expressed. We can scale in ways that allow us to learn from THE very best teachers in any discipline at a fraction of the usual cost, alongside a radically more diverse group of peers. And we can do all this while sitting safely in the comfort of our own homes.

From companies to non-profits, from government agencies to startups, from community groups to crisis response efforts, we need a new generation of leaders to lead us through this crisis.

These leaders need more than just bravado. They need to be deeply self-aware about their own limitations and needs as they give to others. They will need to be compassionate without sacrificing practicality. We need leaders who aren’t satisfied with just looking authoritative, pretending they know what they’re doing, and running circles around their intellect – leaders who have the courage to engage the emotional center.

We need transformational leaders to guide us through the convulsions that our society is being wracked by. We have found in our own work and in our lives that when leaders have their mind, heart, and body fully aligned, they can act in the world with equal parts love and power.