Why Steve Jobs, The Beatles, and the World's Most Successful Leaders Had Spiritual Advisors

Spiritual Leadership
Written By Sunya Tao-Tzu

Learn the less spoken of secret that global leaders changing the world at scale use, making them move faster, make more precise decisions, increase their impact, and lead with less stress.

Note: Spiritual advisor, mentor, and teacher are synonymous throughout this article.

Opening

It’s a well known, and some can even say an essential practice for influential leaders to work with mentors, coaches, and advisers, but what's talked about far less is the competitive edge top leaders across history have used, yet most leaders today still aren't taking advantage of. With the global pace of change only accelerating, it's becoming no longer an edge, but an increasing necessity to access this quiet, high-leverage form of guidance.

This is the work and guidance of a spiritual mentor, advisor, or teacher - something that history’s most transformative leaders have been utilizing to shape the decisions toward their global impact. Some leaders include Steve Jobs, who spent decades under the guidance of Zen teacher Kobun Chino Otogawa as he pursued and scaled Apple. The Beatles, who traveled to India to study under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, resulting in their most prolific creative period of their career. Ray Dalio, who has named meditation as the single greatest driver of his success, one of which includes building the world’s largest hedge fund. And Oprah Winfrey who has called her relationship with spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle one of the most transformative of her life.

These are among the most well-documented cases, but they are far from the only ones. This practice of working with a spiritual mentor moves beyond modern leaders, it goes back centuries and across civilizations, showing that the people who changed the world at this scale, and this speed, had someone guiding them far beyond strategy alone.

Let me explain.


Steve Jobs’ Spiritual Advisor

You know that iconic design that Apple has, that creates a minimalist user experience? Well, Steve Jobs studied with Zen Master Kobun Chino Otogawa - for nearly three decades. Kobun not only influenced the hallmark design of Apple through Steve Jobs, but also provided Jobs a framework for integrating Zen principles into business (1,3). Eventually, Otogawa became the official spiritual advisor for NeXT, the company Jobs founded after leaving Apple. (2)

As an entrepreneur, CEO, celebrity, or public figure yourself, I’m sure you know how some of the decisions you face on your path, can greatly change the trajectory you go on and the impact you have. Steve Jobs also faced many such decisions, with one of them at the beginning of his path in the 1970's - before creating Apple as you've known it. He was considering becoming a monk and expressed this to his spiritual adviser Otogawa, who advised Jobs against it, encouraging him to instead apply his perspective to technology rather than leaving it behind for a monastic life. (1,2)

This is pivotal. Imagine how that one decision, influenced by Otogawa, could have changed the trajectory of Apple?In a way, you can thank Otogawa for the iPhones we use today.

But Otogawa wasn’t just of importance to Jobs' direction, and Apple’s design - he was an influence to the way Jobs thought, and his connection within, or intuition. Jobs didn’t follow standard business thinking of finding what the customer wants or needs and giving it to them. Instead he combined his intuition with Zen teachings to create products that revolutionized the way we work, study, communicate, and entertain ourselves. (3) Knowing more about Otogawa and Jobs' relationship, you can see how impactful having a spiritual advisor was to one of the most influential people of all time, and these are just what was publicly noted.

As a Spiritual Mentor myself, who works privately with leaders and contributed to pivotal points on their paths, I know the work goes far deeper than what gets publicly displayed, which alone is already remarkable. Thus, I have no doubt there was a lot more to how Otogawa enriched Jobs, Apple as a whole, and the ripple effect it’s brought to the world. Jobs is just one of many leaders who utilized this guidance, and the ways it shows up looks different for each one.


Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle

Oprah Winfrey, who built one of the most influential media empires in history, has publicly stated that Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth "has had more effect on my life than any other book I've read by a living author." (8) She was so moved by it, that unlike Jobs, she ended up taking her spiritual studies with Tolle public.

Oprah utilized Eckhart’s teachings, and made it the foundation of something she built and broadcasted in front of millions. In 2008, together, they created a 10-week series on her platform, and it became a massive global event, accessed over 27 million times (7). Oprah described her partnership with Tolle as one of the most rewarding experiences of her career, helping viewers shift their perspective to a more awakened state (5). It changed the scale and depth she touched the world, while also changing her.

One of the key impacts he had on Oprah was his advice to embrace the power of the present moment and to relinquish the need to control life’s outcomes.The result - Oprah stated that Tolle’s teachings, particularly regarding this topic of acceptance of what is, “eliminated all stress from her life” (4).

Can you imagine that? As an influential leader yourself, you know the amount of stress you carry is different then most people’s. Being an entrepreneur and taking risks, holding the weight of the company as a CEO, or being in the public eye as a celebrity or public figure creates a kind of pressure that feels all encompassing at times, as you’re stretching yourself to new edges that most, or sometimes none, of humanity has done before you.

Without that weight and inner resistance to keep up, you can think bigger, move faster, and access the kind of clear, innovative thinking that stress can blind people to - making you unstoppable. The shift may be internal and quiet, but the compounding effect is huge.

Oprah didn’t only transform herself through the work of Eckhart Tolle, but their series together showed that humanity wasn't just open to spiritual wisdom being shared publicly, they were yearning for it. And since then, that yearning has only grown. Spiritual teachers are more widely known and accepted today than ever before. But this isn't just a modern phenomenon, having a spiritual mentor draws back across time and through nearly every major industry.


The Beatles Spiritual Teacher

Spiritual mentors have reached beyond the business world, into creative arts too. One example is The Beatles who, after reaching extraordinary fame and wealth, asked the question “what is this all for?” -  which I'm sure you know is a common breaking point leaders intimately face (9). Reaching a goal to find an unexpected emptiness on the other side, for some can unravel everything that was built, and others it can create depression that runs beneath the surface of success. However, The Beatles, utilized this question to look within it, and as a result, moved their success and fulfillment further.

In February 1968 they went to India to find the answer, and that short trip opened up the most creative period in the band's history, reportedly writing 48 songs, with most of them ending up on the White Album released later that year. (9) During their stay, Maharishi delivered a lecture about the importance of nature and humanity's role in preserving the Earth. That one teaching directly inspired both "Mother Nature's Son" by Paul McCartney and "Child of Nature" by John Lennon, with Lennon himself confirming: "It was from a lecture of Maharishi where he was talking about nature... both inspired from the same lecture of Maharishi." (10) This shows the powerful impact a single spiritual teaching alone can have on the work of a creative artist, but it didn't only affect what they created.


Meditation and Business Success

On an individual level, from their trip to India, they reported becoming more happy (even having an elevated feeling or high at times), relaxed, and above all finding a peace of mind that had been denied for so long. (9) Harrison (lead guitarist of The Beatles) stated "the meditation buzz is incredible. I get higher than I ever did with drugs. It's simple… and it's my way of connecting with God.” (9)

Maharashi’s impact on The Beatles didn’t only show up in their music and personal life, but in the impact The Beatles had in shifting the Western world and what they were open to spiritually. They affected leaders of today like Ray Dalio, American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager, who in his own words credits The Beatles as the spark to his curiosity in meditation techniques from Maharashi, which he now claims those meditation techniques to be the biggest influence towards the success he's had (11,12). He even incorporated these techniques as a core part of the corporate culture at his company, Bridgewater Associates, and eventually caused a spread into Wall Street. (11) Something I’ll go deeper into in my next blog post.


Historical figures and Spiritual Advisors

While these are all more modern documented cases, the practice of influential leaders obtaining spiritual guidance that shaped their impact, goes far beyond what's covered here, with findings dating back centuries, with Abraham Lincoln being one of the most compelling examples.

In the 1860’s he was leading the country through its most defining crisis, the Civil War, and had a spiritual adviser regularly present at the White House, Reverend Phineas Gurley (13). He was trusted by the president in one of the most consequential decision-making periods, with those closest to the president stating “Lincoln expressed his views to his pastor as to no one else.” (13,14)

The two regularly met at the White House and Gurley advised Lincoln on matters beyond just the crisis.

"We have been talking of the state of the soul after death. That is a subject of which Mr. Lincoln never tires. I have had a great number of conversations with him on the subject."
- Gurley  (15)

Their talks, including the spiritual aspect, created a paramount impact on the shaping of the crisis and practical measures taken. When you look back, there’s documentation that Gurley's counsel was most concentrated during 1862, the exact period when Abraham was writing the Emancipation Proclamation. Scholars confirm Gurley was actively reshaping Lincoln's internal framework during this window. He moved from fatalism, believing events happen without meaning, towards providence, believing suffering and crisis serve a larger divine purpose and moral order. (13,14) It was this framework Lincoln drew from to articulate the Emancipation Proclamation, one of the most important executive decisions in American history, which fundamentally transformed the Civil War into a fight to abolish slavery. (16)


And Gurley wasn't the only form of spiritual counsel Lincoln sought. Following the death of his son Willie, Lincoln and his wife attended a few séances at the White House, conducted by trance medium Nettie Colburn. In her memoir, Colburn claimed that guidance delivered through these few sessions directly influenced some of Lincoln's most monumental decisions, including her message of urgency to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, while outside sources strongly counseled him to defer the matter. (17) While historians debate the extent of that influence, witnesses present confirmed her account of events could not be disputed. (17) What’s clear in either case is that a president leading the country through its greatest crisis was actively seeking counsel beyond conventional strategy, and through multiple forms.

Lincoln was far from the first in history to utilize this spiritual support. This pattern goes back beyond the 1800s to Egyptian Pharaohs who kept high-ranking priests as personal advisers who guided decisions of war and governance. (18)  Greek kings consulted oracles before making moves that shaped the ancient world (19). Even Roman Emperors, like Marcus Aurelius, kept Stoic philosophers by their side while governing entire empires. (20)

The pattern shows throughout history that the most influential people in the world have understood something, which rarely makes headlines, that the inner work is inseparable from the outer impact. Spiritual Advisors, teachers, or mentors were a staple to the level of impact they had. The greatest leaders of every era kept spiritual counsel close. Jobs brought it into a more modern context, taking it one step further by making it an official position within his corporation NeXT. And his decades-long relationship with Kobun showed that sustained spiritual support doesn’t just help in key moments, but shapes the entire trajectory of what you build, how you lead, the business you run, and the legacy you leave behind.


Modern Use of Spiritual Advisors

The world these leaders built their legacies in was complex, but as a leader yourself you already know that running a business today looks different than it did even a decade ago. The rate of change, the reach of your impact, the pressure of decisions - is more amplified. And with the rise of AI and global transformation happening in real time, the external world is moving even faster. All of this makes that inner foundation even more important. Having a spiritual mentor isn't just a well kept secret of the world’s most successful leaders anymore, it’s becoming an essential part of leading at your best - allowing you to stay grounded, clear and connected amidst the pace of the world.

That inner connection is what I call the fountain to clearer thinking, better decision making, creativity, and innovation. It creates a deeper relationship with oneself, where that kind of fulfillment and aliveness The Beatles touched, becomes not just possible, but can be the regular foundation you operate from.

Leading from this space is something I see becoming not only more widely practiced, but with the global changes happening, a necessity for leaders to advance in a way the collective needs, and in a way that makes leadership sustainable, easeful, and even more fulfilling.

This is the work I've dedicated myself to so leaders like you can bend time towards achieving your goals, and excel in your impact and fulfillment. I'm Sunya, a Spiritual Mentor who works 1:1 with 7-8+ figure entrepreneurs, CEO’s, celebrities and public figures, who are ready to go further than strategy alone can take them. What I do sits at the intersection of spirituality, leadership, and business, and like the advisers you've read about in this article, the most powerful work happens behind closed doors.

The things that make this work truly transformative aren't just in the immediate decisions made that accelerate the trajectory of your path. The significance comes from leaders like you having a space to not only be seen and heard, but reach a deeper spiritual state that opens further clarity and fulfillment within, that you can carry beyond the time of our work. It’s the transformation in the way you think, the habits or patterns you have, the identity you operate from, and the connection within that you hold. We dissolve the inner dialogue and perspectives that cap your growth, while helping you become self realized, allowing you to operate at a different level in life and business. There’s a relief our clients find in finally having a space where nothing is off the table, where they can not only be seen for who they are despite whatever weight they come with, but be held in becoming a greater version of themselves then they ever imagined.  Whatever is weighing on you - decisions, fears, visions, hiring, relationships - comes into the session not just to be heard, but so the root patterns beneath can become dissolved. Collapsing the time between where you are and where you're going, and beyond.

My clients don't just feel better and think clearer, but move faster, make more decisive and effective decisions, and the way they show up and lead shifts entirely. This is the work that doesn't make press releases, yet quietly shapes the leader, the business, and the global impact they have. This is the work Steve Jobs, The Beatles, Ray Dalio, and even Oprah Winfrey were implementing behind the scenes.

If you're a leader that’s here to create an even bigger impact - maybe you have a world-changing vision like Jobs, are on the brink of a turning point or challenge like The Beatles, or are ready to step into your next level of leadership and create a global transformation like Oprah, then I invite you to apply for a complimentary session with me. Experience firsthand what the world's greatest leaders already knew: that you can move faster, create greater impact, and lead at a higher, more fulfilling level, with a spiritual mentor by your side.

If you want to experience a channeled clarity practice right now, access our free decision meditation. Or you can apply for your complimentary 1-on-1 sapphire session with us.

 
Apply for a complimentary session
 

About The Author - Sunya Tao-Tzu

Sunya Tao-Tzu is a private spiritual mentor to 7–8 figure entrepreneurs, CEOs, celebrities, and public figures, guiding them to collapse the distance between where they stand and where they're destined to arrive. As a Clear Channel of Archangel Michael, her work delivers precise, personalized guidance for business and life, distilled through spiritual wisdom, providing a more efficient and fulfilling way of leading and being. For those standing at a crossroads, facing a high-stakes decision, or ready to draw on the edge history's most influential leaders have quietly relied on, a complimentary Sapphire Session is the first step toward accelerating your arrival.

 

FAQ: About Working With a Spiritual Mentor

  • A spiritual mentor and spiritual advisor for business are often used interchangeably, both refer to someone who works with leaders at the intersection of spirituality and business, helping entrepreneurs, CEOs, celebrities, and public figures to access deeper clarity, stronger intuition, new found perspective, and the inner foundation that accelerates impact in ways strategy and coaching alone cannot reach. They are essentially the same, either providing guidance on specific decisions, or working with you over time on the deeper patterns, identity, and inner framework that shape everything you build. Some do both.

  •  A spiritual mentor helps you dissolve the inner patterns, beliefs, and blocks that quietly limit your growth, creating the mental clarity, more precise and easeful decision making, and inner stability that allows you to lead and build at a faster and higher level.

  • A life coach primarily works with goals, accountability, and strategy. A spiritual mentor goes deeper, addressing the subconscious patterns, inner framework, and spiritual perspective that determine how you show up, decide, and lead at the highest level.

  •  For entrepreneurs and high-level leaders, a spiritual advisor provides the inner edge that strategy, and coaching often can't reach, addressing the root patterns that determine how fast and how far you grow in business and life. Thus, results typically seen are saving in time, energy, and money, while also increasing fulfillment, impact, and profit.

  •  To find a spiritual mentor for your business, look for someone who works at the intersection of spirituality, leadership, and business, that has direct experience working with entrepreneurs, executives, and public figures. Look for those whose approach addresses root patterns, not just mindset or strategy, although that may be incorporated into their work with you.

  •  Yes, successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and celebrities use spiritual mentors more than most people realize, with Steve Jobs, Ray Dalio, and Oprah Winfrey all crediting spiritual guidance as a significant contributor to their success and impact.

FAQ: About the Leaders in This Article

  • Leaders who have used spiritual advisors include Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Ray Dalio, The Beatles, and Abraham Lincoln, and even Egyptian Pharaohs, Greek kings, and Roman Emperors kept spiritual counsel close.

  • In February 1968, The Beatles traveled to India to study Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and a single one of his teachings directly inspired multiple songs that became part of their most prolific creative period, the White Album.

  • Eckhart Tolle taught Oprah that all stress comes from resisting the present moment, a teaching so transformative that Oprah credited it with eliminating all stress from her life, describing their collaboration as the most rewarding experience of her career.

  •  Yes, Abraham Lincoln had a spiritual advisor, Reverend Phineas Gurley, who met privately with the president throughout the Civil War. He also had the support of trance medium Nettie Colburn, who advised him to issue the Emancipation Proclamation rather than listening to those that counseled him to defer the matter.

  •  Yes, Steve Jobs had a spiritual advisor, Zen Master Kobun Chino Otogawa, who guided him for nearly three decades and eventually became the official spiritual advisor for NeXT, the company Jobs founded after leaving Apple.

References:

(1) Business Insider, "Steve Jobs Had a Spiritual Adviser — Here's What It Was Like the First Time They Met," Jason Guerrasio, September 7, 2015 — businessinsider.com

(2) AppleInsider, "Steve Jobs' Love Affair with Japan," December 30, 2011 — appleinsider.com/articles/11/12/30/steve_jobs_love_affair_with_japan

(3) Barry Bradford, "Steve Jobs and His Inconsistent Zen" — barrybradford.com/steve-jobs-inconsistent-zen

(4) Oprah.com, "Eckhart Tolle's Advice That Oprah Says Eliminated All Stress in Her Life," Super Soul Sunday — oprah.com/own-super-soul-sunday/eckhart-tolles-advice-that-oprah-says-eliminated-all-stress

(5) Oprah.com, "The Greatest Discovery of Oprah's Life" — oprah.com/spirit/the-greatest-discovery-of-oprahs-life

(6) Oprah.com, "Oprah Talks to Eckhart Tolle" — oprah.com/spirit/oprah-talks-to-eckhart-tolle

(7) On Being Project, "Eckhart Tolle — The Power of Now" — onbeing.org/programs/eckhart-tolle-the-power-of-now

(8) Oprah Winfrey, "A New Earth 20th Anniversary Reading," YouTube, January 2025 — youtube.com/watch?v=EFyMXM398YI

(9) Rolling Stone, "The Beatles in India: 16 Things You Didn't Know" — rollingstone.com/feature/the-beatles-in-india-16-things-you-didnt-know-203601

(10) Irish Times, "The Beatles: White Album — The Hidden Meanings Behind the Lyrics" — irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-beatles-white-album-the-hidden-meanings-behind-the-lyrics-1.3704667

(11) Yahoo Finance / Business Insider, "Transcendental Meditation, which Bridgewater's Ray Dalio Calls 'The Single Biggest Influence' on His Life, Is Taking Over Wall Street," Richard Feloni, November 4, 2016 — finance.yahoo.com

(12) Ray Dalio Interview, YouTube — youtube.com/watch?v=3k868Sy2rRo

13) David R. Barbee, "President Lincoln and Doctor Gurley," Abraham Lincoln Quarterly, Volume V, March 1948, No. 1, p. 14

(14) Ronald C. White Jr., A. Lincoln: A Biography, Random House, 2009, p. 625

(15) Phineas D. Gurley, personal notes (1861–1865), Lincoln Manuscripts, Lilly Library Archives, Indiana University, Bloomington — as cited in Daily Citizen, Focus on the Family — dailycitizen.focusonthefamily.com

(16) National Archives, "Emancipation Proclamation" — archives.gov/milestone-documents/emancipation-proclamation

(17) Nettie Colburn Maynard, Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist?, originally published 1891, Back Creek Books; Smithsonian Magazine, "The Spiritualist Who Warned Lincoln Was Also Booth's Drinking Buddy," February 17, 2015 — smithsonianmag.com/history/the-spiritualist-who-warned-lincoln-was-also-booths-drinking-buddy-180954317; and White House Historical Association, "Séances in the Red Room" — whitehousehistory.org/seances-in-the-red-room

(18) Joshua J. Mark, "Conflict Between the Temple and the Crown in Ancient Egypt," World History Encyclopedia, March 3, 2017 — worldhistory.org/article/1027/conflict-between-the-temple-and-the-crown-in-ancie

(19) Britannica, "Delphic Oracle" — britannica.com/topic/Delphic-oracle; and History.com, "Delphi" — history.com/articles/delphi

(20) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Marcus Aurelius" — plato.stanford.edu/entries/marcus-aurelius; and Britannica, "Marcus Aurelius" — britannica.com/biography/Marcus-Aurelius-Roman-emperor

Sunya Tao-Tzu