RAVE REVIEWS

Last week I got a call from a columnist of a local business publication, Michelle Gahagan. She had some nice things to say about my forthcoming book, "BUDDHA IN THE BOARD ROOM." It's always encouraging to get reviews like this. It helps validate your mission and purpose. Also, really great to hear from others who share your path and passion!


Business in Vancouver September 13-19, 2005; issue 829

Michelle Gahagan

Luncheon Counters

Buddha needs a seat at your boardroom table

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail letting me know about an upcoming book called Buddha in the Boardroom. No question it's a catchy title, and there's no question that the confluence of the concepts of Buddha and boardroom happens to be of great interest to me. Digging a little further, I talked to the author, Allan Holender, about what's on his mind and how these seemingly disparate notions could ever come together. What he told me surprised me and gave me some hope that the movement that has long been predicted - social entrepreneurship, if you will - might finally have some legs.

I believe that there's a substantial movement afoot where individuals want to be part of something that is authentic to them and their lives. After all, every organization is by definition a grouping of mere mortals, brought together to accomplish something, whether it's operating a Royal Bank branch or installing mufflers. The defiling of corporate America in recent years has made us all acutely aware of the shortcomings of profit without regard for consequence.

At a micro level, we're somewhat insulted. You don't need to be a career lefty to find the conduct of the WorldCom executives disgusting. You merely have to have a pulse.

Holender has had experience in radio, and, along the way, one of his adventures was to interview interesting people in front of a live audience.

One of the people that he talked to was Arren Stephens, the founder of Nature's Path, now the biggest natural cereal vendor in the world. Other interviewees like Bob Rennie and Ian Wilkinson (real estate king and Radical Entertainment head, respectively) gave Holender pause.

What was different about the way they were doing things and why did they seem to be able to bring larger value propositions into what they did for a living?

Due in large part to the inspiration of Stephens and Joel Baken (of The Corporation fame), Holender did some digging and discovered that underneath what some of these exceptional people were doing was something called the Eightfold Path.

I'll confess a healthy interest in all things Buddhist myself, but I'm a bit of a beginner. As such, here is an exceedingly simplistic view of the Path: we all get in our own way but can, on a minute-by-minute basis, make more evolved, more informed choices (resulting in greater happiness for us and others). If we made choices to speak authentically and truthfully as well as act with integrity it would be a great first step to getting out of our own way.

How does Holender relate this to the boardroom? These seemingly minute choices, all made dozens of times every day by each individual in an organization can make a historic difference.

Leaders, by definition, have the biggest responsibility to stand up and make those authentic choices - biggest responsibility, biggest impact. Shout out here to Dave Mowat and Chip Wilson, just to choose two.

There is a risk that this is the flavour of the month. Every company seems to have something to say about triple bottom line, the point of which is to speak to something other than pure profit motivation.

What Holender found is that by necessity much of this starts with the motivation of individuals within organizations to be visionary and show leadership to ensure that the Buddhist principles of engaging in more that pure pursuit of profit get taken seriously.

It's pretty amazing to talk to Holender and hear the desire of someone who, at 64, wants to continue to learn and grow and provide value to others.

Holender tells the story of buying his Tony Robbins franchise years ago. He met the big guy and has some interesting things to say about him and his motivations. What's the difference between Tony and what Holender is talking about now?

The desire to do things other than engage in endless self-interest, which in its simplest form is what many motivational speakers and writers do. Tom Vu just wanted you to get the boat and the chicks, didn't he?

There is no doubt that something is happening here. There is a wide chasm between what the world at large is experiencing (Enron, Worldcom) and what our authentic selves tell us ought to be happening (Vancity, The Corporation, general disgust at corporate greed and people like Bernie Ebbers). Everyone feels the disconnect. The question is: what's the best tool to bridge the gap? If it turns out to be the Eightfold Path (or even a Twofold Path to start) the world can't help but be a far, far better place.

Michelle Gahagan is a Vancouver lawyer who deals with all manner of entrepreneurial issues. She can be reached at michelle@equitybl.com.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

EX-TYCO CEO KOZLOWSKI SENTENCED TO AT LEAST EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON FOR SCANDAL


Canadian Press


Monday, September 19, 2005


NEW YORK (AP) - Dennis Kozlowski, former CEO of Tyco International Ltd., was sentenced Monday to 81/3 to 25 years in prison Monday for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the company.

His codefendant, former Tyco finance chief Mark Swartz, received the same sentence, which means they will be eligible for parole after eight years and four months.

The judge also ordered them to pay a total of $134 million in restitution; in addition, Kozlowski was fined $70 million, Swartz $35 million.

Family members wept in the gallery as the sentences were imposed.

The sentences end a case that exposed the executives' extravagant lifestyle after pilfering some $600 million from the company: A $2 million toga birthday party for Kozlowski's wife on a Mediterranean island and an $18 million Manhattan apartment with a $6,000 shower curtain.

Kozlowski, 58, and Swartz, 44, were convicted in June after a four-month trial on 22 counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records, securities fraud and conspiracy. It was their second trial - the first ended in mistrial after a juror said she received threats following reports that she made an "OK" signal to the defense team.

Kozlowski and Swartz join a line of other executives sent off to prison in a wave of white-collar scandals that shook corporate America and outraged the public after thousands of people lost their jobs and pension nest-eggs.

WorldCom Chairman Bernard Ebbers was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year for the $11 billion accounting fraud that toppled the telecommunications firm. Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay, former CEO Jeffrey Skilling and former top Enron accountant Richard Causey are expected to go to trial in January.

TOP 10 BOSSES FROM HELL

Numerous times I am asked why are you writing a book called "Buddha in the Board Room" and why now? Is the world really ready for a new approach to enlightned leadership and does the eight fold path of the Buddha really have a place in Corporate America? Here's my answer:


TOP 10 BOSSES FROM HELL (Re-Printed from Fast Company)


#10 MARTIN DAVIS


People thought Gulf & Western was predatory and acquisitive under Charles Bluhdorn, who earned it the nickname "Engulf & Devour." But when his tough-as-nails protege Davis ascended to the top position, a visitor asked why half of the offices were empty on the top floor of the company's Manhattan skyscraper. "Those were my enemies," Davis said. "I got rid of them."

#9 IVAN BOESKY

Scroogelike employer who routinely screamed at his staffers and made them all work the Friday after Thanksgiving, when he called many times to make sure they were still at the office. Proclaimed "Greed is healthy" in a 1986 commencement address at UC Berkeley, the inspiration for the Gordon Gekko speech in Wall Street. Served prison time for securities fraud but reemerged as a tanned La Jolla beach dude -- and never said he was sorry.

#8 JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER

So self-righteous that he claimed "God gave me my money." The most corrupt mogul of the most corrupt era, he masterminded a grand, cruel conspiracy in 1871 with the railroads to double the price of transporting oil for all producers except his cartel.

#7 ANDREW FASTOW

Fastow could be so hot-headed that he once got into a punch-out with a taxi driver over 70 cents. Pocket change indeed compared to the $24 million of illicit gains the Enron CFO agreed to give back when he pleaded guilty to securities fraud -- or the billions of dollars lost by shareholders when his secret schemes ultimately triggered the company's collapse.

#6 LEONA HELMSLEY

Her most brilliant business move was having an affair with elderly real-estate baron Harry Helmsley, whom she conned into leaving his wife of 33 years by buying herself an engagement ring -- then telling him it was from a rival. Running his hotel empire, she became the "Queen of Mean" to the hundreds of employees she berated and fired on the spot, allegedly for things like a misaligned lampshade. Convinced that taxes were for the "little people," she wound up in prison for tax evasion.


#5 HAROLD GENEEN

Perhaps history's most dictatorial accountant, Geneen ran the huge ITT in the 1960s and 1970s. His method: publicly humiliating his top 120 executives every month at grueling, four-day, 14-hour-long meetings that made some of them physically ill. Geneen liked to see the pained expressions on their faces as he tore into them.

#4 WALT DISNEY

The man behind the Mouse was a suspicious control freak -- a dictatorial boss who underpaid his workers, clashed with labor organizing efforts, made anti-Semitic smears about the other Hollywood studio heads, and wouldn't give due recognition to Mickey's real creator, animator Ub Iwerks, who was supposedly his oldest friend. He also spied prodigiously for J. Edgar Hoover and cooperated with Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1960s

#3 ARMAND HAMMER

Bribed his way through the oil business. Laundered money for Soviet spies. Forced his mistress to alter the way she looked to throw off his wife. Reneged on promises to support his illegitimate daughter. Forced his board members to give him signed resignation letters that he could accept if they ever dared to oppose him. Then promoted himself for the Nobel Peace Prize.

#2 HENRY FORD

Ford used shadowy henchmen to run "secret police" who spied on employees. He had machine guns, tear gas, and a private army at the ready to deter union organizers. He cheated on his wife with his teenage personal assistant and then had the younger woman marry his chauffer as a cover.

#1 AL (CHAINSAW) DUNLAP

As CEO of Sunbeam in the 1990s, Dunlap charged a bulletproof vest and a handgun to his expense account -- understandable given the delight he took in laying off thousands of workers and subjecting his executives to profane, abusive tirades. He threw a chair across the room at his head of human resources, allegedly threatened his first wife with guns and knives, and failed to attend the funerals of either of his parents.

Buddha says: If a man speaks or acts with an impure mind, suffering follows him as the wheel of the cart follows the beast that draws it".

The Top 10 Bosses from Hell

Click below for Fast Company's gallery of the most manipulative, abusive, grandiose -- and downright crooked -- executives who have strutted their way across the stage of American business.


http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/98/open.essay.html

THE CEO'S NEW CLOTHES

THE CEO'S NEW CLOTHES

Forget autocrats and visionaries. Farsighted, tolerant, humane CEOs aren't just nice to work for. They deliver nice results, too.

From: Fast Company Issue 98| September 2005 | Page 27 By: Linda Tischler

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Management style. It sounds like a GQ headline for a feature on Zegna suits. But wander the lushly carpeted halls of America's boardrooms, executive suites, and headhunters' offices, or peruse pointyheaded workplace journals, and you'll find "management style" on everyone's lips.

Why? Consider the failed CEO class of 2005. Most of them didn't do anything to draw Eliot Spitzer's gimlet eye. Morgan Stanley's Philip Purcell, Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina, and Disney's Michael Eisner, to name a few, were put out to the curb by their boards ostensibly because of failed strategies, shareholder lawsuits, and missed earnings. Look deeper, though, and you'll see that it was really their management styles that tripped them up.

Purcell was an autocrat who treated his own employees with contempt. Eisner was smart and creative, but also paranoid and unwilling to share power. And while Fiorina was great on the hustings -- the queen of the keynote -- she was so inept at minding business back at the mothership that her successor, the consummately hands-on Mark Hurd, is being heralded as the "anti-Carly."

Fiorina and her ilk certainly didn't lack management style. It's just that their styles have fallen out of fashion. Boards have been burned too often by self-proclaimed titans whose personalities so dominate an organization that they shut out alternative or challenging points of view. So charisma is out. Imperiousness is so five minutes ago. Autumn's hot look for bosses is the ability to rally the troops behind the organization's mission and objectives. Heard of it? It's called leadership.

Boards are increasingly looking for CEOs who can demonstrate superb people skills in dealing with employees or other stakeholders while delivering consistent results. "I think leadership is more important than strategy, and I say that as a former McKinsey guy," says James Citrin, senior director at executive search firm Spencer Stuart, who has placed such high-profile CEOs as Terry Semel at Yahoo and Ed Zander at Motorola. "Strategy is important, but the same strategy executed by two different leaders will have dramatically different results." The new model, says Sydney Finkelstein, professor of strategy and leadership at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business and an expert on why leaders fail, is someone with "the highest ethical standards, who can lead by example, and who can build a strong effective team around him or her. Those are the hot buttons now, rather than the cowboy riding in to provide the magic answer for the company."

"Farsighted, tolerant, humane and practical CEOs returned 758% over 10 years, versus 128% for the S&P 500."
Fortunately, it turns out that such soft skills can lead to hard numbers. Raj Sisodia, professor of marketing at Bentley College, Jag Sheth, of Emory University, and writer David Wolfe recently completed a study of companies they call "Firms of Endearment" (which will also be the title of their upcoming book). Unlike most students of corporate exceptionalism, Sisodia, Sheth, and Wolfe began their research by winnowing down a list of several hundred top firms based on a human-performance screen. How did they treat suppliers, environmentalists, and their communities? How good were their CEOs at inspiring employees? After doing detailed case studies on 60 of these firms, they came up with a list of 35 that had the best records.

When the authors turned to financial performance, they found that the public companies in their sample returned 758% over 10 years, versus 128% for the S&P 500. Over the past five years -- a particularly tough period during which the S&P lost 13% -- these firms returned 205%.

In each case, these organizations are led by CEOs who inspire respect, loyalty, and even affection, rather than fear. They are, if you will, "Aquarian CEOs" -- farsighted, tolerant, humane, and practical. And they have the courage of their idealistic convictions, even when it means staring down myopic criticism from Wall Street. The businesses they run, it turns out, are the kind we like to cover. Among them: Costco, Whole Foods, Best Buy, Toyota, and JetBlue.

Is this model a new classic? Or like the untucked striped shirts and low-rise pants that currently overwhelm the fashion landscape, will it be an embarrassing management fashion of the week, an appealing but transitory look that gets knocked off the runways by some kick-ass SOB with a take-no-prisoners strategy for dealing with China, Wall Street, and tree huggers alike?

Sisodia argues that this change is more fundamental, an outgrowth of a tectonic shift in the culture, and he's right. "People are expecting more from the companies they're working for, more from the companies they're doing business with, and more from the companies they're buying from," he says. And if these too-good-to-be-true paragons can also deliver the goods, it'll be the best change in management style since casual Friday.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2004 Gruner + Jahr USA Publishing. All rights reserved.
Fast Company, 375 Lexington Avenue.,New York , NY 10017

Buddha says: " A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise".

BECOMING REAL IN BUSINESS

President
United Airlines
Elk Grove Township, Illinois

The world has been through a lot. The employees of United Airlines have been through a lot -- and more. It wasn't until two weeks after September 11 that I gave myself permission to grieve. I was at the opening night of the Chicago Symphony. I just listened to the music and cried. And kept crying.

I am still grieving. But shock has given way to determination. September 11 forced us to get rid of the BS in our thinking. Before September 11, we wanted to be the biggest and best airline. Today, we just want to survive. Before September 11, we believed that size would forgive a lot of our errors. Now we have no room for error. Before September 11, we took a lot of things for granted: that business would always get better, that demand would grow. We no longer take anything for granted.

That said, our sense of purpose has never been greater. We are returning to our core values. Whether it's in advertising, product positioning, or the way that we view ourselves and our customers, we're more sincere in what we say and what we do.

Business has become more real.

Buddha says; "Warded in act and word, in eating temperate, with truth I clear the weeds; and full of bliss is my deliverance"

A CULTURE OF GREED

This article was worth a blog entry, my thanks to loyal reader Brad Danks for passing it on (www.MomentumMediaMarketing.com)




THE REAL COSTS OF A CULTURE OF GREED

By Robert Scheer

09/06/05 "Los Angeles Times" -- -- WHAT THE WORLD has witnessed this past week is an image of poverty and social disarray that tears away the affluent mask of the United States.

Instead of the much-celebrated American can-do machine that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to less fortunate people abroad, we have seen a callous official incompetence that puts even Third World rulers to shame. The well-reported litany of mistakes by the Bush administration in failing to prevent and respond to Katrina's destruction grew longer with each hour's grim revelation from the streets of an apocalyptic New Orleans.

Yet the problem is much deeper. For half a century, free-market purists have to great effect denigrated the essential role that modern government performs as some terrible liberal plot. Thus, the symbolism of New Orleans' flooding is tragically apt: Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal and Louisiana Gov. Huey Long's ambitious populist reforms in the 1930s eased Louisiana out of feudalism and toward modernity; the Reagan Revolution and the callousness of both Bush administrations have sent them back toward the abyss.

Now we have a president who wastes tax revenues in Iraq instead of protecting us at home. Levee improvements were deferred in recent years even after congressional approval, reportedly prompting EPA staffers to dub flooded New Orleans "Lake George."

None of this is an oversight, or simple incompetence. It is the result of a campaign by most Republicans and too many Democrats to systematically vilify the role of government in American life. Manipulative politicians have convinced lower- and middle-class whites that their own economic pains were caused by "quasi-socialist" government policies that aid only poor brown and black people — even as corporate profits and CEO salaries soared.

For decades we have seen social services that benefit everyone — education, community policing, public health, environmental protections and infrastructure repair, emergency services — in steady, steep decline in the face of tax cuts and rising military spending. But it is a false savings; it will certainly cost exponentially more to save New Orleans than it would have to protect it in the first place.

And, although the wealthy can soften the blow of this national decline by sending their kids to private school, building walls around their communities and checking into distant hotels in the face of approaching calamities, others, like the 150,000 people living below the poverty line in the Katrina damage area — one-third of whom are elderly — are left exposed.

Watching on television the stark vulnerability of a permanent underclass of African Americans living in New Orleans ghettos is terrifying. It should be remembered, however, that even when hurricanes are not threatening their lives and sanity, they live in rotting housing complexes, attend embarrassingly ill-equipped public schools and, lacking adequate police protection, are frequently terrorized by unemployed, uneducated young men.

In fact, rather than an anomaly, the public suffering of these desperate Americans is a symbol for a nation that is becoming progressively poorer under the leadership of the party of Big Business. As Katrina was making its devastating landfall, the U.S. Census Bureau released new figures that show that since 1999, the income of the poorest fifth of Americans has dropped 8.7% in inflation-adjusted dollars. Last year alone, 1.1 million were added to the 36 million already on the poverty rolls.

For those who have trouble with statistics, here's the shorthand: The rich have been getting richer and the poor have been getting, in the ripe populist language of Louisiana's legendary Long, the shaft.

These are people who have long since been abandoned to their fate. Despite the deep religiosity of the Gulf States and the United States in general, it is the gods of greed that seem to rule. Case in point: The crucial New Orleans marshland that absorbs excess water during storms has been greatly denuded by rampant commercial development allowed by a deregulation-crazy culture that favors a quick buck over long-term community benefits.

Given all this, it is no surprise that leaders, from the White House on down, haven't done right by the people of New Orleans and the rest of the region, before and after what insurance companies insultingly call an "act of God."

Fact is, most of them, and especially our president, just don't care about the people who can't afford to attend political fundraisers or pay for high-priced lobbyists. No, these folks are supposed to be cruising on the rising tide of a booming, unregulated economy that "floats all boats."

They were left floating all right.

Buddha says; "Just as a flower which seems beautiful and has a colour but has no perfume, so are the fruitless words of the man who speaks them but does them not".


Buddha says; "There are four bases of sympathy. What four? Charity, kind speech, doing good and treating all alike".

HOW SPIRITUAL ARE YOU?

HOW SPIRITUAL ARE YOU?

To find out, take this test, which is adapted from a personality inventory devised by Washington University psychiatrist Robert Cloninger, author of Feeling Good: The Science of Well Being

1. I often feel so connected to the people around me that it is like
there is no separation between us. TRUE FALSE

2. I often do things to help protect animals and plants from extinction. TRUE FALSE

3. I am fascinated by the many things in life that cannot be
scientifically explained. TRUE FALSE

4. Often I have unexpected flashes of insight or understanding
while relaxing. TRUE FALSE

5. I sometimes feel so connected to nature that everything seems
to be part of one living organism. TRUE FALSE

6. I seem to have a "sixth sense" that sometimes allows me to know
what is going to happen. TRUE FALSE

7. Sometimes I have felt like I was part of something with no
limits or boundaries in time and space. TRUE FALSE

8. I am often called "absent-minded" because I get so wrapped up
in what I am doing that I lose track of everything else. TRUE FALSE

9. I often feel a strong sense of unity with all the things
around me. TRUE FALSE

10. Even after thinking about something a long time, I have
learned to trust my feelings more than my logical reasons. TRUE FALSE

11. I often feel a strong spiritual or emotional connection
with all the people around me. TRUE FALSE

12. Often when I am concentrating on something, I lose
awareness of the passage of time. TRUE FALSE

13. I have made real personal sacrifices in order to make the
world a better place, like trying to prevent war, poverty and
injustice. TRUE FALSE

14. I have had experiences that made my role in life so clear
to me that I felt very happy and excited. TRUE FALSE

15. I believe that I have experienced extrasensory perception. TRUE FALSE

16. I have had moments of great joy in which I sudddenly had
a clear, deep feeling of oneness with all that exists. TRUE FALSE

17. Often when I look at an ordinary thing, something wonderful
happens. I get the feeling that I am seeing it fresh for the
first time. TRUE FALSE

18. I love the blooming of flowers in the spring as much as
seeing an old friend again. TRUE FALSE

19. It often seems to other people like I am in another world
because I am so completely unaware of things going on around me. TRUE FALSE

20. I believe that miracles happen. TRUE FALSE


SCORING: Give yourself one point for each TRUE answer and 0 points for each FALSE answer. 14 and above= highly spirited, a real mystic; 12-13= spiritually aware, easily lost in the moment; 8-11= spiritually average could develop more spiritual life if desired; 6-7= a practical empiricist lacking self-transcendence; 1-5= highly skeptical, resistant to developing spiritual awareness.

How did you do? I and the whole blog world would love some feedback and comments.
* By the way...my score was 14.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Much of this material can be found in Time Magazine's issue of October 25, 2004 in an article titled "IS GOD IN OUR GENES? (A provocative study asks whether religion is a product of evolution. Inside a quest for the roots of faith), written by Jeffrey Kluger.

Buddha says: "He who is free from the bondage of men and from the bondage of the gods: who is free of all things in creation -- him I call a Brahmin".

Namaste,

BuddhaSpeaksBiz

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE BOTTOM LINE

Here's excerpts of an article from a familiar source, FAST COMPANY Issue 98 | September 2005 | Page 64 By: Ryan Underwood. Jason Jennings typifies the new "enlightened" entrepreneur/authors springing up all over North America.


Ten years ago, Jason Jennings woke one morning to find himself in the throes of a severe midlife crisis. Jennings had spent his life as a successful radio entrepreneur and media consultant, starting at 13 years old -- when he drummed up $1,500 a week from local businesses to sponsor a radio show he'd hatched, "Teen Time With Jason Jennings," in his hometown of Marquette, Michigan.


"Then, all of a sudden, I woke up and I felt like my soul wasn't being fed," says Jennings, now 50. "So I sold the radio stations. I sold the consulting practice. And I decided to go to the seminary and become a Lutheran minister." The only kink in his plan was that Jennings far preferred to sermonize on what he saw as the sorry state of business leadership. Finally, the president of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, where Jennings had planned to enroll, suggested that perhaps Jennings would be happier proselytizing on topics outside the divine.

Jennings took up his newfound purpose with a vengeance, preaching the values of corporate humility over hubris, real profits over false promises, and long-term feasibility over short-term flippability. Lying somewhere between Jim Collins's pair of hits, Built to Last and Good to Great, and the pretension-averse ideas in Thomas Stanley's Millionaire Next Door series, Jennings has -- through two best-selling books of his own -- come up with an outline of the ideal leader: a strong, silent type who places the good of a company (and thus, its employees) above his or her own.

Jennings's third, and latest, book is Think Big, Act Small: How America's Best Performing Companies Keep the Startup Spirit Alive (Portfolio, May 2005). It highlights the heads of nine off-the-radar companies, out of an initial candidate pool of 50,000, who embody his leadership ideal while having racked up a decade's worth of double-digit profit growth. Included among the featured companies are outfits such as Cabela's, the wildly popular outdoor-store-cum-tourist-attraction; Koch Industries, a privately held $40 billion behemoth quietly making piles of money in more than 100 unsexy industries ranging from road paving to oil-sludge refining; and Petco, a veritable home-away-from-home for a booming population of spendthrift pet owners.

Here, in his own words, is the leadership gospel according to Jason Jennings.

FOCUS ON THE COMPANY NOT ON YOURSELF

When most corporate types think of growth, they think only about themselves -- about getting that big yacht. Not the people we interviewed.

Look at Pat Tracy. He's the founder and CEO of Dot Foods, a $1.57 billion food-redistribution business in tiny Mount Sterling, Illinois. Tracy cares less about how big of a house he lives in and more about keeping his company healthy for others. He wants the local guy who starts out working in cold storage to get his college degree through the company and eventually make a $150,000 salary there. Jim Goodnight at SAS Institute, which makes business intelligence software, isn't interested in managing his bottom line for what he calls "some 27-year-old snot-nosed analyst on Wall Street." When people say these CEOs get it, the "it" they're talking about is an understanding that running a business is about something much deeper than turning a quick buck.

KEEP YOUR HANDS DIRTY


Last year there was a new reality-TV show called Now Who's Boss?, where a CEO would spend a few days doing menial jobs on the front lines. The CEO from the show's first episode, a 15-year veteran of a major hotel chain, had such a meaningful experience, he later announced that going forward he would require senior managers to spend one day a year doing frontline jobs.

At the companies we studied, there's no need for these types of programs because they happen every day. At Sonic Drive-In, CEO Cliff Hudson insists that his executives spend at least half their time in the chain's actual kitchens -- not a test kitchen at headquarters -- to come up with new menu items. Robert Silberman, the CEO of Strayer University, continues to teach a business-administration class each semester. But he doesn't tell the students he runs the place so that he's able to, as he says, "get the pulse of what my students need." Jim Cabela, founder of the eponymous $1.59 billion outdoor retailing phenomenon, works until noon each day personally addressing new complaints that came in the day before.

STAY FOCUSED BY LETTING GO

One of the great hallmarks of the people leading the companies we studied was they had enough self-assurance to let go of businesses and internal processes that were no longer working. Each year, for example, Koch Industries performs a value assessment on each of its 100-plus business units. If the division's present value -- basically its return on capital and equity -- is smaller than the price it could fetch in the current market, then the unit gets sold off. Simple as that. Someone like Charles Koch views that as a more compassionate way to do business than a prolonged death.

Medline Industries, a $1.6 billion medical-products manufacturer and supplier, is able to innovate while remaining focused on its core business by being "a little entrepreneurial," as CEO Charles Mills describes it. We saw this with other companies we looked at: Take lots of small chances, but don't make a bet so big that it would upend you if it didn't work.

BALANCE SHORT TERM GOALS WITH LONG TERM HORIZONS

Tracy from Dot Foods told me, "Volume is vanity and profit is sanity, and we're far more interested in being sane than we are in being vain." The idea is that some companies get so wrapped up in their future visions of grandeur they lose sight of profitable short-term growth.

That's also a principle used to guide expansion. In the early 1990s, O'Reilly Automotive, a chain of auto-parts stores, had 127 stores. Within a decade, it had more than 1,000 stores in 18 states. That's adding 100 stores a year for 10 years straight. We asked David O'Reilly if he thought he'd have 5,000 stores in all 50 states one day, and he said, "Sure. We just won't make that prediction. We're much better knowing where we'll be in 2 years than in 5 or 10."

IGNORE WHAT MOST COMPANIES DO; THEY'RE USUALLY LOUSY ROLE MODELS

We all learn by example. So when we see a self-important, pompous CEO surrounding himself with an army of assistants to make him feel bigger than he really is, the junior execs below him aspire to this.

The people leading the companies we examined either were taught well or had seen what happens when things are run poorly. Before being named CEO, Hudson watched Sonic almost unravel. Brian Devine, Petco's CEO who previously helped build Toys "R" Us, saw that whole operation come unglued as Wal-Mart ate its lunch. Once you've opened the door of a furnace and your eyebrows have gotten singed, you're not going to let that happen again.

Buddha says; "Self-applause, belittling others, or encouragement to sin, some such evil's sure to happen where one fool meets another".

OPEN MINDENESS

Call it coincedence or purposeful synchronicity, but this crossed my e-mail desk shortly after I wrote the last blog entry....hmmmm..perhaps a message here, have a look and re-read my last entry and let me know your thoughts?

For 8/30/05

From Iconoculture's Research Analysts

It's grocery-getting day, and we're on a D.C. pantry restock mission. Coupons in tow, gay mecca / hip urban Whole Foods is the first retailer we hit. Four subway stops later we're alongside other persnickety shoppers scouting condo-piggybacked grocer Harris Teeter. Back through the tunnel, and the finish line looms as we check out local melting-pot, everyman Giant.

Six hours? A gallon of sweat? Ho-hum. We've got bargain-bought goodies! Not so with some African-American shoppers. They follow the advice of our Mature mom: "Don't go where you're not wanted." For many black shoppers, shopping is best done inside the comfort zone. Indeed, a Burrell Communications co-authored study found 56% of black consumers have felt store associates and security guards eyeing them (CommunityNewsDC 7.14.05). No denying shoddy service plays a role. But there's more. As Burrell's co-CEO notes, "Race consciousness is high on the screen of African-Americans."

For retailers, that's bad news - but with a potentially lucrative silver lining. Make blacks feel comfortable and they might spend some of their nearly $1 trillion in annual spending power in-store (USAToday.com 8.15.05). How? Staff training is a plus. Still, they're not perusing the wares if a welcome mat isn't rolled out first. Follow the path laid down by late Ebony publisher John Johnson: Use ads with positive black portrayals. And as radio host Tom Joyner says, target African-Americans unashamedly. Find out what they read, buy, like, and wear, and where they eat, vacation, pray, and live. Connect to blacks by expanding the comfort zone to their reading and listening media - and they might just expand their personal comfort zones to include your store. And throw in a 25-cent coupon for us, while you're at it.

AN OPEN HEART

Along our spiritual journey in Buddhism, there are two aspects of our path that reflect two distinct kinds of practice we must engage in. Though the Buddha taught both, they were passed along over the centuries from teacher to student in two separate lineages. However, like the two wings of a bird, they are both necessary as we embark upon our journey of enlightenment, be it a state free of suffering for ourselves alone or the ultimate enlightened state of Buddhahood we seek in order to benefit all sentient beings.

Clearly the first of these is the opening of one's heart. The Dalai Lama describes the opening of one's heart; "What does it mean to open the heart? First of all, we understand that the idea of of the heart is a metaphorical one. The heart is perceived in most cultures to be the wellspring of compassion, love, sympathy, righteousness, and intuition rather than merely the muscle responsible for circulating blood through the body."

"In the Buddhist worldview, both aspects of the path, however, are understood to take place in the mind. Ironically, the Buddhist view is that the mind is located in the middle of the chest. An open heart is an open mind. A change of heart is a change of mind. Still, our conception of the heart provides a useful, if temporary, tool when trying to understand the distinction between the "vast" and "profound" aspects of the path."

In response to the tragedy and disaster in New Orleans Americans have "opened their hearts" to embrace the victims with offers of food, water, shelter, jobs, and education. Americans by nature are a generous lot, especially went it comes to a national calamity.

If we look at the Buddhist view of an open heart being an "open mind" The quetion is will this perceived generosity, change the mind of those who are helping.

The poverty level amongst blacks is self evident, as is the governments' view of poor blacks with no money, no jobs, no education being prime candidates to be recruited to fight America's wars abroad. This is an interesting turning point; Will it change the mind and perceptions of the broad stroke American populace that still views them as looters, gang members, drug addicts, pimps, and welfare bums. I would encourage you to see a movie called "Crash" which paints a true picture of America's "mind"set.

As you and I journey towards a new sense of enlightenment, I would hope that we begin to "open our mind by opening our hearts" to looking at things a little differently in our lives. Over this past weekend, I had many occasions to test my response to people and events. I failed miserably in one case, by allowiing anger to ruin my evening. I succeeded in another case , by opening my heart to my partner in life and by changing my mind as to how I would share my deepest fears with her. I had no problem "opening my heart" to my grandchild. We never have a problem being open minded with children.

Whether it's your wife, yur husband, your boss, your business partner, your clients, or your friends, the opportunity you have now is to "test" your "open mindeness". Can you view them in a different way that enriches your experience with them. Making that fundamental shift requires a new way of thinking. Be patient with yourself as I have had to be with myself. Are you making these subtle changes in your life?

Buddha says; "Train yourself in this way: from higher to higher, from strength to strength we will strive, and we will come to realize unsurpassed freedom."

RIGHT ACTION

This blog site was never intended to be anti- War, Bush Bashing or anti-American. However events of the last week have diverted all our attention and focus on what is going on in the US. If anything it has galvanized it's own citizens into questioning the direction George W and his gang are taking this once proud nation. I have always been a fan of Michale Moore, particularly because he tells the truth. As I have told many of you who are regular readers of this blog, I too am beginning my journey of enlightenment on the eight fold path of the Buddha. I feel obliged to tell the truth whenever I speak. Today, I came across this moving letter on Michael Moore's website, and I know it does not relate specifically to Buddha in the Board Room, it does relate to TRUTH and I truly hope someone listens and takes the Right Action. We shall return to our normal programming next entry.

Namaste,

BuddhaSpeaksBiz


"Am I a defender of freedom, or a pawn in a campaign of tyranny?"

From: John M. Duffy
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2005 3:05 PM
To: soldiers@michaelmoore.com
Subject: Am I a defender of freedom, or a pawn in a campaign of tyranny?

I am a 28yr old SSgt in the USAF with about 7 years of service currently serving in the Midwest USA. Watching our brothers and sisters come home horribly maimed, burned and mutilated fills me with rage. And some say they are the lucky ones as opposed to the hundreds killed in an unjust "war."

Having served in the Persian Gulf during the Enduring Freedom campaign and the onset of the current debacle...I have developed great distrust for my commander in chief and in fact, some in the chain of command who unquestionably support his intentions. This conflict (not a war, since Congress never declared so) has no logic or purpose. Joining military service didn't include a lobotomy -- I still retain the right and ability of thought. However, for the most part, I feel that many of those serving (that have not deployed and seen it first hand) have been convinced of this imaginary threat and resent any fellow serviceman who questions it. It is sad that the patriotism bandwagon that most Americans have hopped has perpetuated this notion that Iraq somehow posed a threat and was connected to 9/11 in some way. In fact, I feel that this idea has been imprinted into our psyche and many people would now be convinced that there were Iraqis aboard those planes. If you repeat something enough times, no matter how absurd, people someday will begin to believe it.

Another troubling pattern that has developed in America is in the overuse of the word "terrorist." It has been redefined to describe any person who would oppose the decisions or actions of the USA. If you invade someone's country- do they not have the right or duty to resist? The Iraqis resist our rule and the administration calls them terrorists. I call them patriots. If the situation were reversed and North Korea was attempting to indoctrinate communism into the American way of life, would there not be resistance by Americans? In America we have that right and duty. If you follow their definition of terrorist...it would include our ancestors who opposed British rule in the Revolutionary War- Including General and later President George Washington.

Personally, I am torn between my love for my country and desire to serve to DEFEND America, and my conscience. I try to tell myself that I am distanced from the actual fighting, but it does no good. My grandfather served in WWII and is a great man for what he did (some might say a hero). No matter how many typical Americans say that they are proud of us for defending their freedom...I don't feel that distinguished and I don't think I'm alone.

A LETTER TO GEORGE W

I realize that by publishing this letter I am shifting away from our usual musings, but it's time to interrupt our regular programming for this important announcement:



Friday, September 2nd, 2005
Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush


Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

For those loyal readers, I have been AWOL for a good reason this past week, as I have been putting the finishing touches on a presentation package for a potential publisher of my book. This is the first go around for me, not as a writer, but certainly in having something pubished. We are in the final stages of preparing for a meeting with a literary agent. My thanks to my good friend and colleague Bruce Stewart, who co-hosted a radio show with me, and has offered to edit my offerings. He has also kindly agreed to write the forward to the book.

The past week's events in New Orleans have allowed me to ponder and meditate on the current state of American society. As a free thinking writer one can expand on any subject you might have a passion for. Through the eyes of "Buddha in the Board Room", I am beginning to look at the bigger picture through a wide angle lense and the picture isn't very pretty. If one believes in karma and that is certainly the case for buddhist followers, then one has to beieve that America is paying for past life disgressions.

The disaster in New Orleans is being viewed as an Apocolypse or Armagedden. If one was to theorize that this indeed is America's Armageddon, then what does that say about it's leaders. Have they been coming from a place of trust, genuine intention, promoting peace and harmony, respecting the environment. Instead we have had the opposite, particulary with the Bush administation.

Let's do a report card on the Bush administration, and the US Government and see where they stand . It's always leadership by example, and if that's the case then the leaders of some American companies are also prone to acting in the same way as the leaders of the country. Here's the scorecard (1-10)and let's see how they stack up based on each of the eight fold paths of Buddha, and for the purpose of this blog entry I'll just stimulate your thinking by referring to a few of the noble paths below. I invite you to respond with your thoughts on the others:

Right Understanding
Right Thoughts
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration



MORALITY involves speech, action and the way we gain our livelihood. Right Speech concerns the truth, holding the words of truth in mind, and speaking from that truth in a way that is true. These are the fundamental words of truth discovered in experience and spoken in a way that causes no harm. Words are all important. Our experience of the world is forged out of the ideas that we carry with us. If we avoid not only lying to others but also lying to ourselves, everything will not only be freed from the distortions we have imposed but will become purified and therefore more translucent and luminus. Buddha- 10 Bush/Cheny/Rumsfeld/Rice etc.-0

RIGHT ACTION is a direct result of refined ideas. If our words are of the nature of greed, hatred and delusion then must our action be likewise. How different are actions are that arise out of their opposites: generosity, compassion, and understanding. Buddha -10 Bush etc- 0

RIGHT LIVELIHOOD encourages us to seek a way of sustaining ourselves which minimizes the impact we have on others and the world in general. It encourages us to think differently, to appreciate the interconnectdness of all things and to tread lightly with due care and compassion, Buddha- 10 Bush etc- 0


RIGHT UNDERSTANDING

Bush often reminds me of a student at school who says he understands the question, but doesn't know the answer. Dose the United States in general truly understand the world around them, the answer quite simply is no. I have studied and lived in the US for the better part of 7 years, and have some wonderful friends there. I gratefully acknowledge the University of Montana for giving me an education. I can tell you that the major focus of the American people from childhood to adulthood is on what's happening within the US first and the world second.

From early childhood, the schools embark on a program of indocrination, that is very similar to what they accused Communist Russia of for so many years. They basically teach American history and government first and the world second. Very little if anything is even taught about their closest neighbour Canada. As a result this Imperialist and patriotic fervour is to convince Americans that they live in the only country in the world that is truly democratic and free.

The Bush administration has built wire fences around the cities and through the threat of terrorism, has convinced everyone that the only people they can trust are themselves. Given that white right wing fundametalists have re-elected Bush, one wonders if they are quickly ripping through the pages of the bible to find the section on Armagedden to prove their theory that those who are non-believers are to blame for what's happening in New Orleans. It is however an interesting paradox, that 80% of the survivors of the disaster in New Orleans are black christians or baptists who believe in the Lord.

RIGHT THOUGHTS

Right thoughts result in right action. Is the Bush administration, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Rice pure of thought. I think not. Have they manipulated, coerced and bullyed the UN and decieved the American people about the legitimacy of the war in Iraq? The answer is YES! The great American tragedy is that THEY believe in some sociopathic way that their thoughts and actions are honourable.

Witness 25,ooo homeless Blacks below the poverty line suffering the worst of human indignities, and George's first response is to call Daddy and Bill Clinton to raise money. Here's another concept ...let's fly over the area...touch down for a pre-arranged photo op with two black survivors..stay away from the downtown trouble spots and then leave without walking amongst the people. Ghandi walked amongst the sick, the poor, the forgotten, Christ and Mother Theresa did the same thing, so did every other great caring leader.

Not George W...he stayed out of the target area and instead walked amongst the troops/national guard...congratulating them. Just as he has avoided Cindy Sheehan and instead walks amongst the troops, shaking their hands and telling them what a great job they are doing with the war in Iraq. Who does that remind you of, all the infamous military leaders who did the same; Hitler, Stalin,and Attila the Hun.

No apologies, no humbling for the bumbling of federal assistance. America the beautiful has suddenly become America the ugly. The mask is off and the true underbelly of America is now under the microscope for all to see. God has truly spoken to George W. and it's not a message in the ear whispered by Mommy in the church pew to "run again-it's what God wants", it's more like I HAVE COME TO SPEAK TO YOU GEORGE W ABOUT THE WAY YOU AND YOUR BOYS AND GIRLS HAVE BEEN ACTING!

Buddha says: "Palaces built of earth and stone and wood, wealthy men endowed with food and dress and finery, legions of retainers who throng round the mighty-these are like castles in the air, like rainbows in the sky, and how deluded those who think of this as truth."

ZEN AND BUSINESS

I came across this interesting interview with Marshall Goldsmith, who is incorporating Buddha principles in his consulting practise with a high degree of success. Enjoy!

Suffice it to say that Marshall Goldsmith is a world authority in helping successful leaders achieve positive, measurable change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams. The American Management Association named Marshall as one of the 50 great thinkers and leaders who have influenced the field of management over the past 80 years. He has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Business Strategy Review and the aforementioned New Yorker profile. The Wall Street Journal named him one of the top ten executive educators. Forbes calls him one of the five most respected executive coaches. The Economist states Marshall is one of the most credible consultants in the new era of business. The Business Times of Asia and Fast Company label Marshall as the preeminent executive coach. Dr. Goldsmith is on the faculty of executive education programs at Dartmouth, Michigan and Cambridge Universities. He is a founding director of A4SL - The Alliance for Strategic Leadership. He is a founder of the Russell Reynolds executive advisors network. He is a partner with Hewitt Associates in providing global executive coaching. He has also served as a member of the Board of the Peter Drucker Foundation for ten years.

We start the interview by asking Marshall Goldsmith about the title to this interview, "Life Is Good."

Zen and Business: I know you end your emails with "Life Is Good" and I know this is prominent on your website and such. Tell us why life is good?

Marshall Goldsmith: There are many schools of Buddhist thought. I would guess that the diversity in Buddhist beliefs is even greater than the diversity in Christian philosophies. My Buddhist philosophy can be summarized in three simple words, "Be happy now." In my mind, this is heaven, this is hell and this is Nirvana. It is not "out there." It is "in here." The great Western disease is "I'll be happy when..." This is fueled by our prevailing art form - the commercial. The commercial says, "You are unhappy. You spend money. You become happy!" I don't believe that anyone can become happy by having more. I also don't believe that anyone can become happy by having less. We can only find happiness and satisfaction with what we have. Life is good when we make it good. I also sign my emails this way to remind myself (and hopefully to help others).

Zen and Business: I want to ask you about your executive coaching and your thoughts on the integration of your practice and business, but, let's go back to the beginning here and let us know how you got involved with your Zen practice. Give us some background.

Marshall Goldsmith: I was a "hippie" in the late '60's and early '70's. During this period, I studied a variety of Eastern philosophies. During the early to mid-'70's, I decided that Buddhism was the right way for me. My favorite teacher is Thich Nhat Hanh. I have had the opportunity to spend a week at his center in France, Plum Village, and also some time in Escondido, California. I just had his painting done by a wonderful artist. It is now in my home. It is a great inspiration! We are going to donate the prints from this painting to his favorite charities.

Zen and Business: Can you tell us when and how you began to see some integration with your practice and your life's work in leadership, coaching and such?

Marshall Goldsmith: My coaching philosophy is based upon Buddhist principles. I believe that we have no "fixed identity" but instead we are ever changing. My coaching approach involves helping people let go of the past and focus on becoming what they want to become. I pioneered a concept called "feedforward" which is the essence of my coaching philosophy. My original article on Feedforward has been republished at least nine times. This concept has been taught to thousands of leaders around the world. As I have grown older, I have "come out of the closet" with my Buddhist beliefs. One event help me in this transition. I was working with a group of hard-charging investment bankers. One banker grunted, "Will this shit help us make any more money?" I thought about this question and replied, "I think so. This will help you lead in a manner that is consistent with your companies values. Your own top management believes that this will ultimately help your company become more successful." Then I decided to take a risk. I said, "But personally, I don't care so much whether your bank makes more money. My personal mission is to help you - and the people around you - have a happier life." I then asked, "Do you have any objection to this mission?" The banker thought for awhile and said he thought that this was a fine mission. I have since asked thousands of leaders if they had any objection to my mission. So far, not one person has objected!

Zen and Business: Can you talk about your approach to Zen and draw some parallels between this "Zen Leadership" and the "Business Leadership" in today's business world. Are there any parallels?

Marshall Goldsmith: My approach to Zen has a lot of applications in behavioral coaching (which is what I do). I not only work with my clients, I work with all of their key stakeholders. I try to help key stakeholders let go of preconceived notions and be open to the fact that everyone can change. I don't try to make anyone change. I only ask people to "do what works for them" in the way that Buddha suggested.

Zen and Business: Let's dig a little further here. In your coaching you do state you do not try to make anyone change. You only ask people to do what works for them in the way that Buddha suggested. Can you elaborate on this - what did Buddha suggest to the executive about doing what works for them?

Marshall Goldsmith: My understanding of Buddhism is that Buddha suggested that each of us test ideas and only use the ideas that work for us (including his ideas). In my coaching I ask executives to get ideas from many sources and use only the ideas that work for them. I don't try to "convince" or "make" my clients do anything. A key element to understand in coaching very successful people is that they have a very high need for self-determination. The more the motivation comes from them, the greater the probability of positive, long-term change.

Zen and Business: I want to follow-up on this idea that in your coaching you do not try to make anyone change. Why? Isn't change a good thing and is it not necessary for the coach to try and get the person to change?

Marshall Goldsmith: I agree that change can be a very good thing! That is what I do for a living. I help people make the changes that they want to make. I don't try to make or force people to change anything. I only work with people who care. My theory on coaching is "if they don't care - don't waste your time." I only get paid if I achieve results. I don't get paid for spending time. Therefore, I only work with clients who are motivated to change. I don't judge other people (who don't care to change) - I just don't choose to work with them. The people who choose to work with me are very clear about what they are "signing up for" and want to do it. I am sometimes asked if most executives are willing to admit to the need to change, ask for help and follow-up on a regular basis. My answer is, "I don't know. I only work with the ones who want to do this."

Zen and Business: Marshall, one more angle on this idea of "change" and "leading change." Can you tell us how you see change. What is it about change that makes it so important and discuss with us this concept of leading change in the business organization.

Marshall Goldsmith: My area of expertise is helping successful leaders achieve a positive, long-term change in behavior: for themselves, their people and their teams. My practice is focused on micro-level behavioral change, not organizational change. I help leaders make the behavior changes that they believe will lead to increased effectiveness for themselves (which ultimately help the organization).

Zen and Business: You mention how you work with people to make long-term, positive changes in behavior. How does this sit with a business world that is so focused on quarterly results, this month's actuals versus goal and what seems to be a continued micro-management of company's results down to the daily ups and downs. How do you work to make this long term change in such a short term focused business world?

Marshall Goldsmith: I typically work with my clients for 15 to 24 months. The research on behavioral change is clear - change measured over a longer period of time is far more lasting than change measured over a short period of time. Instant "religious conversions" seldom last. "Motivational speeches" seldom have much long-term impact. If people are serious about making long-term change in behavior, they have to make a serious investment. If they don't want to do this, I don't judge them - I just don't work with them. My clients are extremely successful people. Their companies are willing to make a long-term investment in their development.

Zen and Business: I know the clients you work with are successful - you coach many of the top executives and CEO's in the business world today. Do you find an openness to your ideas concerning the integration of Buddha and business?

Marshall Goldsmith: Since I am so widely published, most people who hire me are well aware of what I do and how I do it. They don't have any problems with my approach or philosophy. I really can't say if this is true for the larger population of executives, since those that don't approve of my approach wouldn't call me. In general I believe that our society is more open to different ideas than in the past. I have not felt any negative reaction to me being a Buddhist. Since I have been listed in almost every major publication as one of the top professionals in my field, it doesn't seem to be hurting my career!

Buddha says; "The perfect way knows no difficulties except it refuses to make preferences"

Namaste,

Buddha Speaks Biz

THE CORPORATE CRIMINAL VS THE ENLIGHTENED CAPITALIST

In today's Vancouver Sun, two articles appeared side by side, that could not exemplify more the contrast between what is right and what is wrong with our current state of capitalism. One story was about deceit and fraud and the other was about philanthropy and good deeds. One story was about stealing money and the other about giving it away. So here they are for you to exlpore yourself, and we could aptly title this blog entry; The Corporate Criminal vs The Enlightened Capitalist:

Radler, Hollinger lawyer charged with $32m fraud

Wire fraud, mail fraud charges laid; Radler said to be cooperating with investigators

Peter Brieger and Theresa Tedesco
National Post, with files from the Ottawa Citizen and Bloomberg

August 19, 2005


In the first criminal charges laid in the scandal of Conrad Black's fallen newspaper empire, David Radler, the former president of Hollinger International Inc., was indicted on fraud charges Thursday along with the company's top lawyer and Black's private holding company.

At a news conference in Chicago Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice accused Radler and Mark Kipnis, former in-house lawyer at Hollinger International Inc., of siphoning $32 million US away from the U.S. newspaper company to holding companies controlled by Black and his top lieutenants, including Radler.

The announcement resulted from a two-year probe into business dealings at the media empire, which followed a scandal that began four years ago when an institutional investor started asking questions about management fees paid to Hollinger executives.

"This was a systematic fraud on shareholders," Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Thursday.

Black himself wasn't named in the indictment, and Fitzgerald sidestepped questions about whether Black will face charges.

"I'm not going to comment on any individuals who haven't been named today," he said. "All I can tell you is the investigation continues and charges will be laid if they're warranted."

Fitzgerald said Radler is cooperating with an ongoing federal investigation. It's also expected, he said, that Radler, 63, will plead guilty at a later date -- a revelation that raises the speculation he will offer testimony against his longtime business ally and friend.

"If Radler is cooperating, it's very significant and is the worst possible news for Conrad Black," Richard Breeden, a former SEC chairman who advised Hollinger International on its civil suit, told Bloomberg News. "The evidence here is overwhelming, and in Radler they've got a very knowledgeable and articulate witness."

Along with Radler and Kipnis, Ravelston was also charged Thursday with seven counts of fraud after a federal grand jury recommended charges be laid, the Justice Department said.

Radler and Kipnis could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 US fine on each count.

Ravelston, which faces a $500,000 US fine for each count in the indictment, filed for bankruptcy protection in April -- a request granted by a Toronto judge who demanded that neither Black nor Radler play any role in running the company.

Last year, a special committee appointed by Hollinger International accused Black, Radler and other senior company executives of siphoning more than $400 million US from the newspaper giant, which has sued Black and his top associates for $542 million.

Hollinger International, based in Chicago, declined to comment on the charges.

In March, Hollinger Inc. launched its own $636-million lawsuit against Black and other past Hollinger executives.

The case against Radler and Kipnis centres on six separate sales of Hollinger International newspaper assets between January 1999 and May 2001 and payments made to the company so it wouldn't open rival publications, known as non-compete fees.


When Hollinger sold Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. for $472 million US in 1999, Radler and other Ravelston "agents" earmarked $50 million US of the proceeds as non-compete payments, $12 million US of which was "fraudulently" transferred to Hollinger Inc., the charges allege.

Four Hollinger International executives, including Radler and Kipnis, paid themselves a bonus in 2001 of $5.5 million US each, which they described as non-compete payments to win tax breaks, defrauding Canadian tax collectors, the charges allege.

In another case, the Hollinger executives paid themselves not to compete with a company that they owned.

"The fraud became more brazen and bold over time," Fitzgerald alleges. "They decided among themselves to pay themselves not to compete with themselves."

The charges come as Black, Radler and others face securities fraud probes in the United States and Canada.

Land records indicate that David Radler transferred ownership of his West Vancouver home to his wife, Rona Radler, last November.

The home has an assessed value of $2 million.


When Hollinger sold Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. for $472 million US in 1999, Radler and other Ravelston "agents" earmarked $50 million US of the proceeds as non-compete payments, $12 million US of which was "fraudulently" transferred to Hollinger Inc., the charges allege.

Four Hollinger International executives, including Radler and Kipnis, paid themselves a bonus in 2001 of $5.5 million US each, which they described as non-compete payments to win tax breaks, defrauding Canadian tax collectors, the charges allege.

In another case, the Hollinger executives paid themselves not to compete with a company that they owned.

"The fraud became more brazen and bold over time," Fitzgerald alleges. "They decided among themselves to pay themselves not to compete with themselves."

The charges come as Black, Radler and others face securities fraud probes in the United States and Canada.

Land records indicate that David Radler transferred ownership of his West Vancouver home to his wife, Rona Radler, last November.

The home has an assessed value of $2 million.

- - -

THE ACCUSER

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

THE ACCUSED

David Radler

Vancouver-based former president of Hollinger International Inc.

ALSO ACCUSED

Mark Kipnis

Hollinger International's former in-house lawyer

Ravelston Corp. Ltd.

The private Toronto company that controlled Hollinger's global publishing empire.

THE ALLEGATIONS

It's alleged that Radler, Kipnis and Ravelston diverted $32 million US through a series of secret deals by disguising the money as noncompete fees connected to the sale of U.S. newspapers to other companies.

THE CHARGES

All three are charged with five counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Radler and Kipnis face five years in prison on each count.

WESTCOAST NEWS

Hidden philanthropist ready to help others follow her lead

Nicholas Read
Vancouver Sun


August 19, 2005


Carol Newell is coming clean.

She is, and has been for more than a decade, one of Vancouver's most influential citizens, funding environmentally forward-looking charities and businesses with her personal wealth.

It's just that few people knew it.

That is about to change.

Newell, 49, is getting ready to tell her story to anyone willing to listen in the hope that other people with fortunes comparable to hers will realize that money is only worth something if it is spent to improve the world.

As one of the family heirs of the small U.S. company that went on to become the Newell Rubbermaid Corporation, the New York-born Newell came into a personal windfall of more than $25 million 15 years ago, not long after she emigrated to Canada. But instead of spending the money on herself, or using it to amass an even bigger fortune, she has, she says, spent it on building a culture that is "simpler, sustainable for all, and linked to the land."

In other words, apart from a modest amount she has set aside to live on, all her money has gone into furthering environmental and social-justice concerns. In six years most of it will be gone.

Principally, she's done it in two ways. First, in 1992 she created the Endswell Foundation, which grants money to environmental and social justice charities.

And second, with her business partner Joel Solomon, himself a $5-million US heir to a Tennessee development fortune, she set up in 1994 the Renewal Partners Company which provides venture capital, through loans and/or equity investments, to fledgling companies with a vision for a better B.C.

Included among the 50 or so firms her seed money has helped nurture are Capers Community Markets, Happy Planet Foods, Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (SPUD), Communicopia Web Design, Hollyhock Retreat Centre and New Society Publishers. Eighteen of them have failed -- an unacceptably high percentage in the eyes of most financial institutions, but a risk Renewal is prepared to take for the sake of its ideals.

But she's done it without a breath of publicity. When Shauna Sylvester received funding from Endswell to start the Institute for Media Policy and Civil Societies, an organization that does communications work for charities, it was two years before she learned who Newell was -- even that she existed. "I didn't know Carol," Sylvester says. "She was an anonymous donor. In those days, she just wanted her money to be anonymous."

Not any more. Newell is now ready to come forward and, she hopes, set an example to other wealthy people interested in seeing their money make a difference. "I think those of us who have extraordinary wealth have an opportunity to leverage that wealth to stimulate a just and sustainable economy," she told The Vancouver Sun in her first-ever interview with a daily newspaper. "I know it goes against the grain, but I know it's possible. It's just about deciding what kind of choices we want to make."

She's kept her work so secret that neither the Vancouver Board of Trade, the B.C. Business Council nor the Canadian Venture Capital Association has heard of her.

But Vancity CEO Dave Mowat calls Newell's "a one-of-a-kind organization. There are probably individuals around with a similar mindset, but Renewal has staff. They have full-time people working on this. I would say they're unique in that regard for sure."

What also makes Renewal unique in B.C., Mowat says, is that when it is considering investing in a new business, the most important criterion on which it bases its decision is not whether the business will make money -- though that is important -- but how it will contribute to the greater good.

"We are about mission and purpose first," confirms Solomon. "And that is unusual."

Yes, Renewal wants to see the business plan, he says, but only if it includes a real vision for addressing environmental and social concerns, and if it is going to make a real contribution towards creating a more sustainable and just society.

"We first want to know what the purpose of the enterprise is in addition to creating a successful business," Solomon says.

Money can be provided either in the form of a loan, for which interest is eventually required, or as an equity investment. Terms are negotiated according to the entrepreneur and the type of deal suggested.

The point, says Solomon, is not to have a prescribed exit strategy. The point is to help these companies remain in business as long as possible. And 12 years into it, he and Newell are pretty much committed. No matter how many people may come knocking from now on, they're not in a position to hand out much more.

That's why Newell has also helped set up the Tides Canada Foundation, another giving arm that will, thanks to the help of other investors, operate in a more traditional way and give away only the money it earns.

However, like Endswell and because of Newell's involvement, most of Tides' gifts are made to environmental and social-justice causes, says executive director Tim Draimin. "[Newell] was the instigator of us being here," Draimin says. "She's the founder."

But Endswell was meant to be different, Solomon says. Newell wanted to see her money spent well in her lifetime, and had she tied it up in a traditional foundation, that wouldn't have happened.

David Van Seters, who, in the last seven years, has turned SPUD into a $7.5-million organic food delivery service, says Renewal's help was crucial to his company's survival and success.

"They helped in providing some much-needed funding for SPUD in its early days, and they've continued to support us as we've grown with additional funding," Van Seters says. "They have been a true strategic partner for us in every sense of the word."

And now SPUD is in a position to give to charitable organizations with complementary missions. Capers does the same.

Randal Ius, who helped establish Happy Planet Foods with recently elected NDP MLA Gregor Robertson, agrees that without Renewal's interest and help, Happy Planet wouldn't be what it is today, the largest fresh and organic juice and smoothie manufacturer in Canada.

Their influence financially was important, but their influence by bringing a lot of excellent sales consultants on board and introducing us to excellent business contacts both in the U.S. and Canada was every bit as important," Ius says.

Jason Mogus, CEO of Communicopia Internet Inc., an online strategy and design firm for sustainability companies and non-profit organizations, will do almost $1.5 million in business this year, and, as such, will be in a position for the first time in 12 years to repay some of Renewal's investment in him in hard cash.

No other venture-capital company would have been as patient, he says. "They helped us at a time before social and environmental responsibility was known," Mogus explains. "Their approach to supporting me as an entrepreneur with business values was unprecedented and incredible. They are absolutely critical to my success and our company's success. But they would never say that they did that."

For her part, Newell says none of her clients has disappointed her. "That's remarkable," she admits. "And as I say that, it almost brings tears to my eyes. But in one way or another I feel so good about the investments and the philanthropic contributions I've made. I'm so happy that that money is out there working."

nread@png.canwest.com

Buddha says; "There are four bases of sympathy: charity, kind speech, doing a good turn and treating all alike. Happy indeed are the men-of-worth, in them no craving'seen. The "I" conceit is rooted up; delusion's net is burst."

NAMASTE & SUCCESS---THE JOURNEY

First of all I want to acknowledge those of you who have sent in comments to this blog site. Muniandy from Malaysia I appreciate your positive feedback and PT your constructive critique.

I have learned some huge lessons as this blog unfolds, and the most important is to be patient with your journey. I am learning as you are to be on a better path in my life and my life's work. To do this in your 20,s , 30,s 40,s or even 50's is an uphill climb given our childhood training and early adulthood programming, but to start at my age of 63 is even more of a challenge.

Some of you have questioned the motivation for the blog. Is it simply a marketing tool for writing my book? That's a fair question and requires a truthful answer. "Buddha in the Board Room" was conceived long before the blog. About two years ago I came up with the title but never really did anything with it. I was also not in the right space to begin any journey, I was caught up in the daily spin that we are all engaged in until we realize that something is missing, we are chasing that ever elusive state of nirvana that never comes. Money comes and goes...happiness is merely an interruption of sadness.....anxiety is motivated by fear......we do business to get business to make money....we create relationships to make us happy....we are never alone we are just in between relationships, it's too painful to be alone..we meet and network with people to get businesss..we make money to buy things to be happy...and when we're done buying the house, the car, the big screen t.v., the Australian trip, the winter condo, the summer cottage, the ski trip, etc etc...it's always NEXT!!!

I decided six months ago I had had enough. That didn't mean I had to drop out and retreat to a monastery in the himalayans, although I was tempted. I decided to do something different with my life and after connecting with a few people at a deeper level and hearing their story, observing how effortlesly they conducted their business and personal life and seeing how truly happy and content they were I looked at how I could begin a similar journey.

This blog and the writings herein are the beginning of that journey. And I emphasize again this is very much the beginning of the journey. I have truthfully admitted that I am not a Buddhist and I am not a deeply religious man. I am however deeply spiritual and have had many life altering experiences that have come through divine intervention and a source that goes beyond the infrastructure of a religious institution. I don't meditate regularly, do yoga or burn candles...only when I take a bath....so you see I'm probably just like you....beginning the journey. And if by some chance I can inspire you to begin the journey with me as a fellow traveller, maybe we can learn a lot from each other.

I became intrigued by the eight fold path of the teachings of the Buddha and thought that if we conducted our lives with these fundamental principles, not only would we be in RIGHT alignment, our life's work would be of personal choice and fulfillment, businesses would grow and prosper for the right reasons , our relationships would be of pure intention and the view of our world would change.

As I have been led to believe, weblogs have been created to allow everyone to express themselves in a free and unshackled way. The opinions I express and yours are not monitored by some news director, surveilence camera, Home Land Security. the FBI, CIA or RCMP..Big Brother is not watching. So I encourage you to not just drop by this blog site for a visit, but to use it as a forum to write your own personal stories about your journey, whether you are at the beginning, middle, or end.

<strong>Buddha says: "The moment we are enlightened within, we go beyond the voidness of a world confronting us".

Namaste
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Ed note: Many of you have asked why I use the term Namaste when I sign off the blog entry...there is a reason and here it is:

NAMASTE & SUCCESS

Meaning and Definition

Namaste, appreciation, and success all go hand in hand when you understand the true meaning.

The meaning of success is the continued expansion of happiness and the progressive realization of worthy goals by honoring others.

Success is a life filled with appreciation and gratitude. You could say the real meaning of Success is the ability to fulfill your desires effortlessly and with ease.

Yet success- all by itself, success, including the creation of wealth, has been considered by some to be a process that requires hard work, and it is often considered by some to be at the expense of others.

What's needed is a more spiritual approach to success and to affluence; which is the abundant flow of all good things to you.

These 7 spiritual laws have helped many people live in harmony with nature and create with carefree-ness, joy, and love once they have realized it's true meaning.

7 Spiritual Laws of Success

Meaning and Definition.

1. The Law of Pure Potentiality

The source of all creation is pure consciousness... pure potentiality seeking expression from the un-manifest to the manifest. When we realize that our true self is one of pure potentiality, we align with the power that manifests everything in the universe.

2. The Law of Giving

The universe operates through dynamic exchange.... giving and receiving are different aspects of the flow of energy in the universe. And in our willingness to give that which we seek, we keep the abundance of the universe circulating in our lives.


3. The Law of Cause and Effect

Every action generates a force of energy that returns to us in like kind.... what we sow is what we reap. And when we choose actions that bring happiness and success to others, the fruit of our action is happiness and success.

4. The law of Least Effort

Nature's intelligence functions with effortless ease.... with care-freeness, harmony, and love. When we harness the forces of harmony, joy, and love, we create success and good fortune with effortless ease.

5. The Law of Intention and Desire

Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment... intention and desire in the field of pure potentiality have infinite power. When we introduce an intention in the fertile ground of pure potentiality, we put this infinite organizing power to work for us.

6. The Law of Detachment

In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty..... in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.

7. The Law of Purpose in Life

Everyone has a purpose in life... a unique gift or special talent to give to others. When we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.

ERA OF IMPERIAL CEO'S OVER

Here are excerpts from an article in Fast Company worth re-publishing:

by Jennifer Reingold

It's the new era of accountability: Most of the nation's worst-performing bosses have been shown the door.

The death certificates have been signed. The eulogies have been written. The bagpipes have sounded. That's right, folks. The era of the Imperial CEO is officially over. Thanks to the humiliating collapse of the fraud-riddled likes of Enron, HealthSouth, Tyco, and WorldCom, chief executives today are about as respected as, oh, Internet stock analysts.

And they have about as much job security, too. A CEO no longer has to be photographed on a perp walk, handcuffs scraping cuff links, in order to get the boot; heads are now rolling for the slightest whiff of impropriety. In June, Freddie Mac wiped out much of its C-suite -- its CEO, COO, and CFO -- amid an accounting probe. Another prominent departure of late was American Airlines chief Donald Carty, forced out after neglecting to mention a special bonus pool for top executives while he was asking stewardesses and pilots to take massive pay cuts.

But as the bills come due for the millennium's excesses, many executives are losing their jobs for much less. These days, bosses may actually be shown the door for something as simple as poor performance (imagine that!). Just ask Ford's Jacques Nasser (broomed in 2001); Vivendi's Jean-Marie Messier (2002); EDS's Dick Brown (2003); AOL-Time Warner's Gerald Levin (2002); and -- hello, again, AOL-Time Warner -- Steve Case (2003).

A stunning 78% of the CEOs at the worst-performing 20% of companies in the S&P 500 have been replaced within the past five years. "The way companies are managed is more by the numbers now," says Chuck Lucier, senior vice president emeritus at Booz Allen Hamilton. "If an executive doesn't perform today, he gets shot."

For the rest of the story go to www.fastcompany.com


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BEWARE OF GURUS BEARING GIFTS

In my relentless pursuit of learning who I am and what this journey of discovery is all about , people are beginning to show up in my life who are in what I have been callng "purposeful alignment". Yesterday, I met with an old friend, Andrew Barber-Starkey, who has now built himself a very successful coaching and seminar business. We shared "war stories" about what it's been like to be in business with self-styled western world gurus and where our business is today without them, as the captain of our own ship .

His experiences and mine with individuals who ride the roller coaster of fame and fortune and are quite eager to take those of us who are willing participants along for the ride, are quite similar. We have all met them and in our desperate need to accomplish something GREAT in our lives...whether it's financial freedom or being recognized as a leader, we are willing to give up body and soul to follow them, dsspite the fact we know that these individuals are totally ego based and narcisstic in nature.

They are known to the western world mistakingly as "Gurus". Western style Gurus come in many forms: Self Help, Spiritual, Medical, Sales, Marketing, and pretty much for every category of human and business life. The challenge we face as human beings , is that we generally feel we need someone to help us get from point A to point B. Maybe it's the fact that our parents did it for us and so we turn to others for that guidance once we grow up. The truth is that we are by nature "lemmings" when it comes to anyone who even remotely appears to replace our parent/s...it's like we all need a "Moses" to take us to the promised land of milk and honey.

And so these people continually show up on our radar screen , until we learn we can actually do it without them and be really at peace with our own sense of integrity, truth , and we are able to design our own destiny. We don't need to live someone else's dream, vision, or reality. As this friend and I began to share these stories of what it's been like to live under the shadow of our personal western style "Gurus", we realized that the common theme is one of being dispensable when the Great Guru no longer needs you. The moment of truth is when you realize that he/she is neither a guru, your father, your mother , or the person you think can take you to the top of the mountain. The minute your loyalty and allegiance is in question ...he/she will remove you.... like a surgeon with a knife removing the cancerous tumour.

So what's the point here in my rambling today. Well, I have been in search of personal gurus my whole life, and interstingly enough they have found me. Every time they have found me I have been in a state of need, and looking for answers and meaning to my life. So rather than look within ,I chose the easier route of having someone else look after me...someone else who I perceived to have all the answers. And I was willing to pay big bucks to follow this galavanting guru to the promised land and take me out of the darkness and into the light. Because no one wants to be alone in the dark.

The lesson learned for both Andrew and I was that we can essentially keep all our ideas, maintain our self respect and integrity and venture forth alone to accomplish what we were meant to accomplish, what we love to do, and empower others to do it alone. We are merely guides and mentors. And for that reason we need to abolish the term "Guru" in our western society and replace it with the word "Mentor or Guide". I believe strongly in only using the term "Guru" with reference to the Eastern religion defintion of the "true" Guru:

A guru (गुरू Sanskrit) is a Hindu religious teacher. It is based on a long line of Hindu philosophical understandings of the importance of knowledge and that the teacher, guru, is the sacred conduit to self-realization. Till today in India and among people of Hindu or Sikh persuasion, the title retains its significant hallowed space.


Guru is widely used in contemporary India with the universal meaning of the word "teacher".
In the traditional sense, the word guru describes a relationship rather than an absolute and is used as a form of address only by a disciple addressing his master. Some Hindu denominations like BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha hold that a personal relationship with a living guru, revered as the embodiment of God, is essential in seeking moksha.

The role of the guru continues in the original sense of the word in such Hindu traditions as Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra and Bhakti sects. Indeed, it is now a standard part of Hinduism (as defined by the six Vedic streams and the Tantric Agamic streams) that a guru is one's spiritual guide on earth. In some more mystical Hindu circles, it is believed that the guru could awaken dormant spiritual knowledge within the pupil, known as shaktipat.

In tantric Buddhism, a guru is essential for the initiation,practice and guidance along the path. The importance of a guru-disciple relationship, is demonstrated by ritual empowerments or initiations where the student obtains permission to practice a particular tantra.

The Dalai Lama speaking of the importance of the guru said: "Rely on the teachings to evaluate a guru: Do not have blind faith, but also no blind criticism."


The Guru in Buddhism represents a set of teachings and beliefs that no common man is a God or a Guru and that we are all interconnected to one another to do good and be good and to understand that it is through the collaboratve efforts of humankind that we will always come from a place of abundance and happiness.

This weblog is designed to not only share with you the writings of my book, but I hope it serves as a well spring for your own journey of self discovery. I encourage you to write your story and I will post it, and with your permission we may use it in the book. And by the way, pay attention to those serendipitious meetings with people who just show up in your life. They are either a reminder of the past, a test to see if you'll drink the Kool Aid again or have you learned your lesson, and that you don't need a GURU, you just need a fellow traveller for the journey.


I would like to acknowledge Heath Row, the editor of Fast Company Now for recognizing the work we are doing with the book and this weblog, by recommending it in the lastst edition of FC Now, which can be found at www.blog.fastcompany.com. Thank you Heath.

Buddha Says: "Grasping after systems, imprisoned by dogmas for the most part in this world. But he who does not go in for system-grasping he neither doubts nor is perplexed; by not depending on others, knowledge herein comes to be his own."

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BUDDHA AT WORK

Using the teachings of Buddha in real-world workplace situations will inspire employees, employers, and executives alike with practical answers to everyday problems dealing with the self, with others, and everyday decisions. You always have a choice on how you will react to pressures, and conduct yourself each day. It’s about how you use the freedom of choice in the moment to become a better worker, and to find your own path to enlightenment.



ON BECOMING AN ENLIGHTENED WORKER:

First recognize that you are responsible for your own future.

Second, recognize that you always have a choice.

Mission statements for your organization and life are key to enlightened work. The mission statement is a compass to guide your priorities and decisions so you do not become lost in day-to-day activities.

Part of the Eightfold Noble Path is choosing Right Livelihood. Do work that helps rather than harms living things.

It is not wise to become too attached to one job or career. Things change, everything is transitory. Find your freedom in that truth.

Do great work, all the time. Start work before the boss gets in, and leave after she does.

Do not take more than you should. Taking home a pencil or minor office supply is stealing.

You represent your employer, so uphold the company name.

Your self-confidence increases when you know you have done good work. Good results come from healthy self-esteem.

Action always beats inaction. Making mistakes is better than not doing anything at all. If you aren’t making mistakes, it means you are not taking risks and not trying hard enough.

You are a work in progress. You are responsible for your own self-improvement.

Practice yoga or meditation to learn how to focus.

Buddha says; "If a man do something good, let him do it again and again. Let him find joy in his good work. Joyful is the accumulation of good work."

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