4:00 AM — When everything changed

Walk Through Fire

Keenan Benjamin lost his father at 4am. Four weeks later, at 4am, the family home caught fire. He didn't wait for the flames to die. He coached from inside them.

Enter the story ↓

Twenty Years. One Through-Line.

Built inside institutional power. Dismantled in silence. Forged in loss.

2006 — 2015
The Foundation
Elon University. Human rights fieldwork in Lithuania. Then a decade inside institutional finance—Bank of America mergers during the Great Recession, management consulting for five of the nation’s ten largest banks, and a final engagement advising a Strategy Executive at a top-two bank. From day one to the last, he was in the room with leaders under the highest pressure the financial world could produce.
January 2016
The Departure
A decade inside institutional power—and something had gone quiet. Keenan walked away from all of it. He left for India with his partner as she began doctoral fieldwork on women’s rights. He carried one question: Who am I without the title?
2016 — 2019 · 1,000+ Days
The Crucible
Three and a half years in India. He sat 10-day Vipassana silence retreats—10 hours of meditation daily, no speaking, no devices, no escape. He called it "Navy SEAL training for the mind." During this collapse of identity, Conscious Motivation was born. Not after he figured it out. During it.
January 2023
The Vigil
His father Eric—"Mr. B"—began a final decline after seven years of heart complications. Keenan spent three months at his parents' side through the last hospitalization, back home in Tennessee where he grew up.
April 18, 2023 · 4:00 AM
The Passing
Eric Vincent Benjamin—Sewanee's first Director of Multicultural Affairs, first Black Honor Council Chair, 40-year servant of a university, jazz lover, barrier-breaker, father of three—passed peacefully in his sleep. Keenan was there. In the family home. At 4am.
May 16, 2023 · 4:00 AM
The Fire
Four weeks later. To the hour. The family home on the mountain caught fire. Keenan was there. Again at 4am. He led the insurance rebuild while grief was still wet.
March — November 2024
The Second Loss
Michelle Benjamin—renowned trial lawyer, TTLA Lifetime Achievement recipient, 15-year Judicial Selection Commissioner, fierce courtroom champion—was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Eight months later, she was gone. As her primary caretaker, Keenan kept coaching. From inside the fire.

The people who shaped the counsel you'd receive.

Where He Comes From

They met in law school. He chose academia. She chose the courtroom.

The Administrator
Eric Benjamin, C'73
"Mr. B" — Sewanee's Trailblazer
Born in Atlanta. English major. Jazz Society president. First Black Honor Council Chair at the University of the South. He returned to the mountain and served 40 years as Director of Multicultural Affairs—mentoring generations, co-founding the Summer Scholars Program, coordinating with Dartmouth, Middlebury, and Williams.

Students called him "Mr. B." His portrait now hangs in the University library. The Benjamin Network—an alumni organization for Black graduates—bears his name. "He is the one who taught me to love jazz." — Sewanee alumnus
The Litigator
Michelle Benjamin
Lifetime Achievement — Tennessee Trial Lawyers
A private practitioner in Winchester, Tennessee who became one of the state's most respected trial lawyers. Served on the TTLA Board since 1993, the Board of Professional Responsibility for two terms, and the Judicial Selection Commission for 15 years.

In 2020, the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association awarded her their Lifetime Achievement Award—recognizing decades of fierce advocacy, integrity, and leadership. A champion of family, justice, and community. (1949–2024)

Forged, Not Broken

Keenan Benjamin — Founder, Conscious Motivation
The Man
Keenan Benjamin
Founder, Conscious Motivation

Former management consultant turned strategic counsel. 1,000+ days in India. Several extended monastery stays. 10-day Vipassana silence retreats. Over a decade coaching executives, athletes, and founders through the seasons that test everything.

The Reckoning

The Work Looked Successful on Paper

Everything he'd built collapsed—not the career, but the story underneath it. The one about what success was supposed to feel like. When that emptiness finally had nowhere left to hide, it broke him open. And from that fracture, Conscious Motivation was born—not as a pivot, but as the only honest thing left to build.

The Philosophy

Everything Affects Everything

Work, marriage, health, money—they move together. You need someone who sees the full landscape. All the fires, and how they connect.

Keenan grew up in a law office. He's sat through hospital strategy sessions, insurance meetings, and estate negotiations. He knows what gets said, what doesn't, and what you're actually up against.

The Difference

From Inside the Fire

Most coaches teach from the other side—from comfort, from theory, from after. Keenan coaches from inside. Through his father's seven-year decline. Through the 4am fire. Through his mother's terminal diagnosis.

When you can't fall apart, when people are counting on you, when you have to make decisions while everything is unstable—that's precisely when you need someone operating in the same reality. Not someone waiting for you to "heal first."

“
I didn't coach despite the fires.
I coached from inside them.
Keenan Benjamin
Keenan Benjamin overlooking the Ladakh valley, India Ladakh, India
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Days in India
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Years Coaching
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Countries
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Continents Lived
Your Season

Is This Your Season of Fire?

Holding it together on the outside—but what's happening at 3am?

When's the last time someone asked how you were doing and you told the truth?

You're the person everyone depends on. At work. At home. With your family.

But who's holding what you're carrying?

You've been strong for so long that asking for help feels like admitting you can't handle it.

But something shifted recently.

Maybe you finally said it out loud to someone.

Maybe you realized you can't keep doing this for another year.

Maybe you're just done pretending it's manageable.

You already know what another year of this looks like.

And you're ready to stop carrying it alone.

The Framework

Why This Works

Most people try to handle crisis alone—or they compartmentalize.

But when you’re carrying multiple fires at once, compartmentalizing doesn’t work.

The fires are connected.

Your work affects your marriage.
Your marriage affects your health.
Your health affects your decisions.
Everything touches everything.

Your therapist holds the emotional. Your lawyer holds the legal. Your advisor holds the financial. Nobody holds the intersection—the place where all of it collides and the real decisions live.

What you actually need is someone who can see the whole landscape—and help you move through it without fragmenting.

That’s what this work does.

We map what you’re carrying across all domains: work, relationships, family, legal, health, money.

We prepare you for the high-stakes moments that matter: attorney meetings, difficult conversations, critical decisions.

We design moves that account for all the fires, not just one.

And we make space for the grief, anger, and exhaustion you haven’t had permission to feel—without losing sight of what needs to happen next.

The Shift

What Becomes Possible

You move through this season with clarity, skill, and your integrity intact.

→

Strategic clarity when you’re making decisions with long-term consequences

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Preparation before high-stakes moments: attorney meetings, difficult conversations, critical choices

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A place to map the full landscape—not just one fire, but all of them and how they connect

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Space to process what you haven’t had permission to feel, without losing sight of what needs to happen next

You slow down. See the full landscape. Make moves that protect your future self.

Strategic Counsel

Strategic Counsel for
Compound Crises

This is strategic counsel for high-responsibility people navigating compound crises—legal, relational, financial, health, and family decisions—all at once.

What It Holds

The Container

  • Grounded strategy for high-stakes decisions
  • Language and preparation for critical conversations
  • Real-time space for emotion, pressure, and grief
  • Rhythms that match the intensity of your life
Why It Exists

Because I Couldn’t Find It

I created this because I couldn’t find it when I needed it.

When my mother was dying, I was still negotiating with insurance adjusters, preparing legal documents, and leading critical conversations. There was no one place to bring all of it.

This work became that place—for others walking the same terrain.

What You Can Expect

Steadiness and Clarity

  • One partner who surveys the whole landscape
  • One clear rhythm for clarity and decisions
  • One season held with steadiness and care
Offerings

Ways to Work Together

Start with an Alignment Call. From there, we’ll shape the container that fits your season.

Alignment Call

30-minute conversation to map what you’re carrying and see if this work fits your season. We’ll name the pressure points and clarify what support might look like. One of three things will happen: I’ll have a clear sense of how I can help, I’ll realize I’m not the right fit and point you somewhere better, or we’ll both need to sit with it. Any of those outcomes is fine.

→ For anyone in a season of fire, change, or decision.

Start Here →
Precision Session
  • 75–90 minutes, single session
  • One decision, one crossroads, one critical moment
  • Includes pre-session intake and post-session action brief

When one conversation, one decision, or one upcoming moment is holding everything else in place. This can stand alone or open into a longer container if the season calls for it.

Start Your Alignment Call →
Fire Navigation
  • 2–6 months, project-based
  • Weekly or biweekly sessions
  • Between-session strategy and preparation
  • Closes when the fire stabilizes

When you’re moving through a defined crisis with a beginning and an end—divorce process, legal dispute, career transition, caregiving chapter. Steady counsel until you’re through it.

Start Your Alignment Call →
Private Advisory
  • Ongoing, 3-month minimum
  • Consistent rhythm matched to your intensity
  • The whole landscape, not a single fire

When the fires are overlapping and there’s no single crisis to “solve”—just a season that needs steady navigation across work, family, health, money, and identity. This is the container for the long game.

Start Your Alignment Call →
Day Retreat
  • Full day (6–8 hours), by invitation
  • Immersive depth for major transitions
  • For existing clients at inflection points

When sessions can’t hold what needs to happen—post-crisis integration, partnership redesign, or a season shift that requires uninterrupted space. Offered to existing clients when the moment calls for it.

Inquire →

If you’re not sure this is your season, it might not be. The Alignment Call will make that clear—for both of us.

Proof

A client responsible for $100M in annual revenue. His wife had a medical emergency. Four kids at home. He couldn't be in two places at once, and he was terrified of losing either his family or his career.

Together, they designed a six-month plan to step back without burning bridges. He had the conversations he needed with leadership. Set boundaries he could sustain. Stayed present for his wife and kids during the crisis.

His wife recovered. He landed his dream role. His kids saw him show up when it mattered. Now they work on the next level—deepening his relationships at home and mastering the new leadership role without repeating old patterns.

What Clients Say

“
I finally had space to tell the full truth.
— Executive navigating family crisis
“
I walked into the legal meeting prepared, not reactive.
— Founder managing estate and divorce
“
I made decisions my future self respects.
— Leader navigating career transition
“
I didn’t lose myself this time.
— Parent managing work and aging parents

If You’re in the Middle of the Hardest Season of Your Life

You already know what another year of this looks like. Start with a 30-minute Alignment Call to map your season and see if this work fits.

Start Your Alignment Call