Benjamin Whitehurst, Executive Coach & Authentic Relating Facilitator
Benjamin Whitehurst, MA, MBAFounder & CEO

About Benji

Benji Whitehurst:
Benji Whitehurst is a transpersonal psychologist, relationship coach, and leadership facilitator specializing in emotional intelligence, relational dynamics, vertical development, and conscious leadership. As founder of Navigate Change, LLC and co-founder of Founder Readiness Institute, Benji integrates transformative practices drawn from transpersonal psychology, meditation, and authentic relating to deliver coaching, workshops, and retreats focused on deeper self-awareness, meaningful human connection, and organizational resilience.

Grounded in 20+ years of contemplative and integral practice, Benji brings a uniquely calm and centered presence to leadership teams, guiding clients toward genuine transformation—not simply superficial behavioral changes. His approach draws from rigorous training, including a Master’s in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology from Naropa University (2014), an MBA and Certificate in Business Analytics from North Carolina State University (2025), and advanced certifications in Integral Circling, Authentic Relating, and Men’s Tantra.

A former Peace Corps volunteer fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and Kaqchikel Mayan, Benji’s international perspective enriches his facilitation, helping diverse teams navigate complex cultural and interpersonal dynamics. He actively contributes to Integral Theory and vertical development communities, translating sophisticated developmental frameworks into practical applications that empower individuals and organizations.

Benji resides in Durham, NC, where he continues to build innovative relational leadership practices, supporting individuals, teams, and communities in realizing deeper authenticity, resilience, and growth.

I value serving as a transparent example of authentic, deeper living. A few things about me:

Currently, I reside in Durham, North Carolina. I travel regularly – 50+ cities in the last ten years – and bring an international perspective to my work. Having lived in Brazil and Guatemala (Peace Corps), I am proficient in Spanish, Portuguese and Kaqchikel Mayan. Spiritually, I study many traditions and have 20+ years of experience practicing meditation, breathwork, Tantra and other intuitive practices. I am active in the Integral Movement and am an enthusiastic proponent of Authentic Relating (“we-space”) practices such as Circling and T-Group.

I founded Navigate Change, LLC when I moved to North Carolina in 2015. My day-to-day work involves coaching, consulting, retreat facilitation, and back-end administrative work related to producing close to 200 events and groups per year. I love my work… except making phone calls, which I enjoy procrastinate on.

I have a calm, meditative presence. You’ll find me to be one of the rare people who remains centered during intense conflict or periods of chaotic change. As a systems thinker, I love working with complexity, chaos and conflict. On the Enneagram, I test as a Type 1 (“The Reformer”); and on the Myers-Briggs, I test as type INTJ (“The Mastermind”).

I devour 40+ non-fiction books per year, especially in the areas of psychology, spirituality, business, and personal development. For 22 years, I have been reading and implementing Integral Theory in organizations, including Ken Wilber’s work on Integral Spirituality, Robert Kegan’s work on Deliberately Developmental Organizations, and Frederic Laloux’s work on Reinventing Organizations (Teal Organizations). I’m the guy who has read it all and can digest it into practical applications for you during our coaching sessions or retreats.

I’m deeply passionate about men’s work and lead a growing men’s community in the Raleigh-Durham area, offering group experiences and coaching that support men in reclaiming depth, connection, and wholeness. My drive to do this work is personal. For nearly 20 years, I couldn’t find a partner—not even a dead-end relationship. I wrestled with grief, loneliness, social anxiety, and the ache of wanting connection but not knowing how to reach it. Through years of inner work—Tantra, shadow work, authentic relating—I gradually uncovered what had been blocking love from my life. Today, I’m in a committed long-term relationship with my Tantra partner, and I don’t take a single day of that for granted. If you’ve spent years feeling stuck, isolated, or starved for intimacy, I want you to know: it’s not too late. You can create the kind of relationship—and the kind of life—that actually nourishes you.

When I’m not working, I love to garden, explore tantra, work out at the gym, and do movement meditation practices such as jiu-jitsu and qigong. I also bring out my karaoke machine at every opportunity!

Inspiration

I want to see a world filled with soul-satisfying human connection, emotionally-intelligent leadership, and meaningful relationships.

I want to see all of us feeling liberated to be our full selves at work, at play, and with family… and to have the skills to be 10x more effective than back when we were repressed and living from fear and shame. I believe in abundance.

For the past 15 years, I’ve basked in the glow of intentional communities where this is a reality. Where people are able to be 100% alive, radiant beings, free from fear and conditioning. I want this for you, for your sex life, for your workplace, and for the world.

I’ve spent 20 years developing the skills to make this a reality, both soft skills and business skills. I have two Master’s degrees and have read hundreds of books. I have attended over 40 retreats. And I feel increasingly driven to bring everything I’ve learned into this world, to make life better for everyone around me.

I also feel inspired by organizations and coaches leading the way… Teal Organizations implementing technologies such as Holacracy; Robert Kegan’s retreats for Deliberately Develomental Organizations; Authentic Relating Communities exploring the peaks of what is possible in connection with others.

It’s time to make these Relational Leadership & consciousness-based practices widely available here in the Raleigh-Durham area – including in your workplace, at home, and in the organizations where you find community. And I am committed to building it with you.

I am an avid learner and continuously seek out the most challenging training available:

2014: I completed a rigorous 3-year, in-person Master of Transpersonal Counseling Psychology at Naropa University, including a 900-hour internship focused on group psychotherapy.

2015: I studied the application of systems theory to group leadership with the 17-Day Comprehensive Training at the Matrix Leadership Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

2017: I completed the 9-month Train-The-Trainer (T3) Circling Immersion at the Integral Center in Boulder, Colorado, a pinnacle training in the field of Authentic Relating.

2022: I completed a 3-year, 21-day Diploma in Tantra in 2022 with Tantra4GayMen at Easton Mountain in Albany, New York. I’ve completed about 30 additional days of Tantra training and retreat experience since 2019.

I also have extensive training in modalities such as yoga, qigong, breathwork, sitting meditation, mediumship, dreamwork, and Spiritist energy healing.

2025: I just completed the in-person Jenkins MBA Program at North Carolina State University, where I learned how to turn ideas into profitable businesses, to create more of what we want to see in the world, and have it succeed. I also use my MBA training to support coaching clients who are developing similar businesses.

2025+ Now that I’m finishing my MBA, I’ve begun learning Jiu-Jitsu. Time for embodiment! I am also continuing to deepen my training in Tantra, Authentic Relating, Dreamwork, and other healing modalities while co-creating a new startup, Founder Readiness Institute.

My leadership style is both professional and relational. I incorporate cutting-edge authentic relating practices and a sensitivity to cultural dynamics into my work, for a level of support you can rely on. Whether you are seeking private relationship coaching with your partner, or for consulting to improve the dynamics in your team or community, Navigate Change, LLC has the rock-solid skills to guide you toward success.

In my experience, focusing on problems and solutions has limited success. If a simple mechanical solution were all that was needed, you would have already achieved your desired change. You don’t simply need to push harder or be more disciplined, stressing yourself out to implement new behaviors. You have already tried that, and your personal change project did not work. It’s the same with organizations: forced change achieves little more than stress and resentment. And it’s the same in relationships: you definitely don’t need more of the same, with more discipline, to revive your love life!

Most people perceive the world today in the same way they did in high school, through a lens of struggle and fitting in. This is like insisting on using a computer from the 1980’s, and wondering why you’re so far behind! The intractable problems of your life – relationship problems, difficulties at work, emotional overwhelm – do not require solutions, inasmuch as new ways of being. A core upgrade, not a superficial change in habits.

The coaching and retreats I offer provide this core upgrade. I will work with you to upgrade not just your habits (the role of a traditional coach), but also how you exist and perceive the world around you.

To use a different metaphor, the next step is not to change the glasses you wear, but rather to acquire the glasses factory. Any consultant can sell you a new pair of glasses—perhaps a rose-tinted pair with a stronger prescription. Such temporary solutions are helpful but do not lead to the highest results. Working with Navigate Change, LLC is the equivalent of acquiring the glasses factory: Not only will you always have the most cutting-edge frames in town, but you’ll also see much more clearly, no matter what the situation.

If you like what you’re reading, make sure to set up a free 30-minute consultation today!

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    "The general rule seems to be that the level of consciousness of an organization cannot exceed the level of consciousness of its leader."

    — Frederic Laloux, Reinventing Organizations
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