Episode #93 Breaking free from gurus, cults and self-help books by finding meaningfulness in life. Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal

Professor Debbie Haski-Leventhal understands resilience. Her personal story of  growing up in an ultra-orthodox Jewish family but became secular at the age of 19. Her family were some of the first families into the Kabbalah centre, decades before Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow made it famous.
 
She watched first hand, how power and money change people from their original intentions of doing good. Her story talks about child abuse, emotional abuse. This is not just a story about religious cults. This is about all cults, gurus that abound themselves on people's suffering. We talk about how to know if you are in a cult, whether it is a workplace, political party, self help gurus and anyone that denies you access to "special knowledge" that makes you feel less.

We discuss how she overcame 18 years of brain washing to restart her life. Her latest book is called "Meaningfulness" and gives the tools to work your way back to find purpose in life beyond cults and anything that reduces your ability to question or flourish.

After leaving the Kabbalah Center she moved to Jerusalem to study philosophy at the Hebrew University where she also studied a Master’s in Management of not-for-profits and a PhD.
She migrated to Sydney, Australia in 2008, worked at the Centre for Social Impact and in 2011 moved to Macquarie University.

Debbie Haski-Leventhal was born in Tel-Aviv.

You can view her TED talk here.

https://www.ted.com/talks/debbie_haski_leventhal_the_purpose_driven_university
 
She has written the following books. 
Haski-Leventhal, D. (2020). The Purpose Driven University. London: Emerald Publishing.

Haski-Leventhal, D., Roza, L., & Brammer, S. (2020). CSR and Employee Engagement. Edited book. London: SAGE Publications.

Haski-Leventhal, D. (2018). Strategic corporate social responsibility: tools & theories for responsible management. London: SAGE Publications.

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