The Way of a True Leader is a book that changed the vision of the world. What is this book about

This book is the result of a decade long discussion between the Head and Spiritual Leader of the State of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and a management consultant. In essence, this is a unique, invaluable storehouse of Buddhist wisdom designed to help business leaders understand what is going on in their minds and teach them to make decisions that provide a higher quality of both their own lives and the life of the organization in which they work.

In today's world, it is incredibly difficult for businessmen to make the right decisions. After all, their consequences affect the employees of the company, consumers, suppliers. This process is especially complex in large, global corporations that operate in many countries around the world, and for which the quality of decisions made is vital. For this reason, the decision maker must not only be competent, but must also have the right motivation and the right state of mind.

Authors: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lawrence van den Meisenberg is an international consultant dedicated to improving corporate governance and top management performance.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: "For a head of state, the best way to lead your country is to first govern yourself."

The book "The Way of a True Leader" is unique in that it can serve as a training course for self-improvement, advanced training, both for the leader himself and for the whole organization. This book teaches a person to develop his abilities, to manage himself, to train his mind, and as a result, to properly conduct business and manage large organizations. Those who are interested in it, the book will teach you to see problems in their true light and make a comprehensive decision.

The book gives clear instructions for self-development: self-management, accepting reality and keeping a positive mindset, the value of honest work, training the mind, how to find time for meditation, simple meditation methods for busy people, meditation while walking, sitting, visualization, analytical meditation, reading mantras and more. After completing this Leadership Training Course, you are on your way to a new stage in your development: mind-trained leadership.

Laurens van den Meisenberg describes a leader as follows: “A true leader is able to analyze a particular issue from all possible points of view, and based on an expanded vision, make the right decisions. Such a leader is characterized by a calm, collected and concentrated, trained mind, not weighed down by negative thoughts and emotions. A true leader recognizes the inevitability of change, the need for shared responsibility, and understands the importance of bringing moral values into the economic system. It is this approach that constitutes the path of a leader.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama believes that on the path to self-improvement, a leader needs to know about the six perfections.

Six perfections.

It is clear that the six perfections (in most cases they include such qualities as generosity, ethical discipline, patience, passion, focus and wisdom) are of great value not only for leaders, but for all people. However, a leader who possesses these qualities is able to exert a strong influence on others.

Generosity

The cause of many business scandals is the greed of leaders seeking power: the opposite of generosity. The effective work of senior management is essential to the success of a company, but real results can only be obtained through the joint efforts of all its employees. A leader who seeks to take credit for all the merits and successes destroys the motivation of other people. A good leader does not skimp on praise if it is appropriate. The leaders of most successful organizations are essentially humble people who attribute good results to their team.

Generosity must be combined with wisdom. It is unacceptable to show generosity only for the solution of one short-term task. When performing an act of generosity, a leader must consider both the short-term and long-term consequences of this act.

Ethical discipline

When I think of the concept of ethical discipline, I think of the advice given to other rulers by a king who successfully ruled his kingdom. He explained the principle of his government as follows: "For the head of state, the best way to lead his country is, first of all, to manage himself." By controlling himself, he meant fighting temptations. All kings want to be rich and successful, they want worship and respect from their subjects. If actions aimed at achieving all these goals are performed without moral restraints, the state will soon fall into decay. That is why Buddhism is not just about discipline, but about ethical discipline. There is nothing wrong with becoming rich, as long as that wealth is accumulated in an honest way, without harming other people or the environment. However, a situation is unacceptable when the person who heads the company gets rich, while the whole company falls into complete decline, shareholders lose their profits, and employees lose their jobs.

Learning self-discipline is not an easy task. I often refer to ethical discipline as "the taming of the mind." An undisciplined mind is like an elephant - if you let it out of control, it will destroy everything around.

The main task is to curb negative motives and emotions, including greed, self-centeredness, anger, hatred, lust, fear, self-doubt and envy. The nature of the mind can be understood by thinking of it as a lake. When waves roll over the lake (i.e., when the mind is affected by negative thoughts and emotions), silt rises from the bottom and the water becomes cloudy. When the storm subsides, the silt settles to the bottom, and the lake becomes transparent again (the mind calms down). Storm refers to the consequences of negative motives and emotions. Before taking this or that action, it is necessary to free yourself from negative thoughts in order to be able to freely respond to what is not happening. Without learning to discipline our mind, we will not be able to enjoy this freedom.

Patience

Patience, which needs to be nurtured in oneself, is the only way to be prepared for the emergence of provoking circumstances, such as hostility, criticism, or disappointment. In the case of anger, patience does not mean the ability to suppress it, but the ability to remain calm in a situation where this feeling can take possession of you. In order to achieve this, you need to train your mind, learn to keep it in a calm, patient state.

On the other hand, patience must be justified - in some cases, immediate action is required. The decision as to whether it is appropriate to exercise patience in a given situation must be made on the basis of common sense.

Passion

The level of our passion depends on the importance of the goals we strive to achieve and our motivation to do so. We all know the phrase “enthusiasm is contagious” - it means that a person has huge reserves of energy, which is released under the influence of enthusiasm. The ability to generate such enthusiasm is one of the most important characteristics of a leader.

Concentration

By concentration, I mean the ability of a person to focus his mental energy on one problem. As a rule, people cannot concentrate, and their attention switches from one object to another. They spend a lot of time remembering the past, worrying about the future, and thinking about relationships with colleagues or family members. Leaders are also not immune to this. However, people who cannot concentrate are unable to focus their minds on one issue, which is necessary to improve the quality of their decisions.

Wisdom

Essentially, wisdom is the ability to adhere to the concept of right view, or the ability to see what is happening in its true light, as well as the awareness of the fact that nothing in this world is permanent, everything changes. Deciding what needs to be done now to achieve long-term goals in the future must be based on the application of the principles of right view and right action.

In the book, His Holiness the Dalai Lama uses economic terms with amazing ease, analyzes and criticizes economic theories, trying to convey the importance of the Buddhist approach in everyday life.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Maslow's theory

Maslow's theory reminds me of Alavi's story. The Buddha arranged a meeting with Alavi to teach him a lesson. The inhabitants of the town in which the peasant lived warmly received the Buddha, who walked many miles, but Alavi was not among them. One of his cows had escaped and he needed to find her. When the peasant returned and came to the Buddha, he was exhausted and hungry. Buddha, seeing the state of Alavi, asked the elders of the town to bring food to the poor man, and only after the peasant had had enough and had a rest, the Buddha began to teach him. Subsequently, the Buddha explained his act as follows: "When people are overwhelmed with pain from suffering, they are not able to perceive religious teachings."

This story illustrates the hierarchy of needs described above. First-level needs, or physiological needs, must be satisfied before higher-level needs are satisfied.

According to Maslow's theory, human happiness depends on the ability to meet the needs of all five levels. Buddhists also make happiness their goal, but they understand happiness as peace of mind, not as the satisfaction of their needs. The training of the mind, necessary to eliminate thoughts and feelings that lead to suffering, as well as to cope with inevitable adverse events such as old age, loss of family members, or loss of wealth, allows one to achieve happiness and calmly accept the inevitable.

The basic principle of Maslow's theory is the satisfaction of the needs of the individual, his selfish interests. On the contrary, Buddhist philosophy says that there is no independent, permanent and unchanging "I" and that such statements as "this is mine", "I have been insulted", "I do not earn enough money", or "people treat me badly" do not make sense. relate". According to Buddhist philosophy, not other people should satisfy the needs of the individual, but vice versa. People can only be happy when they satisfy both their own needs and the needs of others.

Followers of Buddhism often say that people should be free from desires. By desire, Buddhists understand an irresistible desire for something. The Buddha said, "You should be satisfied with what you have, but you should never be satisfied with how much good you have done." For a Buddhist, there is nothing higher than happiness, because, according to Buddhist tradition, true happiness is available only to people who perform virtuous deeds and are devoid of negative thoughts and emotions.

The Dalai Lama names the real purpose of any company according to Buddhist teachings: “I have witnessed many discussions about whether profit should be the sole purpose of a company. For me the answer is simple. Making a profit is a condition for survival, but the true purpose of a company should be to contribute to the well-being of society as a whole.”

For His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the right leadership is the way to save the world: "Leadership based on the principle of universal responsibility is an effective factor in overcoming the problems that arise in the world."

Current page: 1 (total book has 14 pages) [accessible reading excerpt: 3 pages]

14th Dalai Lama by Laurens van den Meisenberg

The path of a true leader

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

and Laurens van den Muyzenberg

The Leader's Way

Under the general editorship of V. Dorofeev

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet and corporate networks, for private and public use, without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Legal support of the publishing house is provided by the law firm "Vegas-Lex"

* * *

From the publisher

Two people worked on the book "The Way of the True Leader": the Buddhist monk Tenzin Gyatso - His Holiness the Dalai Lama (since this is the official spelling of the spiritual title, we will adhere to it from now on), one of the most famous religious authorities in the world, who feeds his people for more than half a century as head of government in exile and spiritual leader of Tibet, and Lawrence van den Meisenberg, consultant, company management specialist.

For simplicity and ease of perception of the text of the co-authors of the book, we will call the Monk and the Consultant, and these names will precede their statements.

Of course, in ordinary life it is almost impossible to match the spiritual leader of world Buddhism. In this book, the monk and the consultant comment and analyze the same issues in parallel, listening to the opinion of the interlocutor. Thus showing an example of what a real dialogue of such different people should be like, who met in order to develop and obtain a new quality of knowledge.

This book is valuable not only for its content, but also for the very fact of the fruitful cooperation of people leading different lifestyles and representing in many ways too different cultures and even values.

The book shows a model of the dialogue that needs to be conducted between people, cultures, countries, when the parties are trying to find mutual understanding and build a common world. Moreover, such an example of a fruitful dialogue can be used not only in interstate, intercultural, but also business contacts.

The Dalai Lama hopes that not only Buddhists, but also readers of other religious beliefs, with the help of this book, will be able to identify and formulate for themselves new principles and values that will help them improve their lives. In addition, the Dalai Lama is convinced that this book will be useful for people who do not adhere to any religious beliefs. That is why everyone can try to use in practice, in everyday life and work, the ideas outlined in this book.

MONK

I lost my freedom when I was 16 and became an exile at 24. Throughout my life, I have experienced many hardships. Nevertheless, I kept my presence of mind. I can even say that, thanks to my Buddhist upbringing, I am happier than many other people who take freedom and the opportunity to live in the country they call their own as a matter of course.

This ability to maintain a presence of mind is entirely due to the knowledge that I have received, as well as my persistent attempts to put it into practice through the training of consciousness.

It is my sincere hope that business leaders and leaders of global organizations will be able to master the methods presented in this book and that this will help us strengthen the peace of our planet, making it more resilient.

As a rule, Buddhist monks lead a secluded life away from society, devoting their lives to prayers for the well-being of sentient beings and our planet.

I am one of these monks, but I am responsible for the activities of the Tibetan government in exile. My position allows me to communicate with representatives of different countries, thanks to which I can see a more complete picture of the world.

During my travels, I met different people. Some of them are poor, others are rich, but they all have their own place in the world. I am trusted by people from all over the world, so many of them have told me about their lives, their hopes and concerns, and the future. That's how I found out what people aspire to. Ultimately, what almost every one of us strives for is the measure of our happiness.

Why am I writing this book now? Because I feel that we all need to take care and responsibility for how the global economy functions and reflect on the role of business in building a holistic and interconnected picture of the world.

Times have changed, and I am convinced that leaders of religious movements, with their ability to look to the future, should definitely take part in the discussion of global business and economics.

Every year there are more and more problems in the world. Of particular concern to me are: rising poverty in developing countries; the fact that since the 1950s, even in developed countries, there has been no increase in people's satisfaction with their lives; degradation of the environment as a result of neglect, as well as constant population growth and rising living standards; and, finally, the lack of peace in many parts of the world.

Buddhism takes a rational and logical position regarding such problems, so its approach to solving them is more understandable for non-religious people. Buddhism emphasizes human values, as well as a holistic approach to solving the problems of human society and how to master this approach.

That is why Buddhism can make a great contribution to the analysis and solution of the problems of global business and the economy.

The application of the Buddha's teachings in the context of worldly ethics and fundamental human values may contribute to the development of the business world.

Buddhist ideas about wealth, work, consumption, and happiness are somewhat different from Western ideas. A very important difference is that happiness is not just the satisfaction of our material and other desires. The origins of happiness are not in what we want or what we have, but in something completely different. They are in the contentment that exists regardless of what we have or what we manage to achieve.

The Buddha recognized that a person's self-motivation is a powerful driving factor. Nevertheless, he came to the conclusion that human desires cannot be completely satisfied, since these desires form a never-ending cycle.

People cannot be truly happy if they do not have friendly and just good relationships with other people. In addition, building good relationships is a two-way process.

A person cannot build positive relationships with others if his only task is to satisfy his own desires. I am convinced that this statement is also true for governments and organizations because they bring people together, they create jobs and wealth, they play a very important role in ensuring the material well-being and happiness of people, and they also determine the points of intersection these two aspects of human life.

I do not presume to assert that the solutions we need are simple and obvious. While writing this book, I came to understand how difficult it is for business people to make the right decisions.

The consequences of the decision made by the head of the company affect all its employees, as well as many other people who buy the company's products or act as suppliers. This process is especially complex in large, global corporations that operate in many countries around the world and for which the quality of decisions made is vital.

For this reason, the person making the decision must not only be competent - he must also have the right motivation and the right state of mind.

The fundamental concept of Buddhist philosophy is the existence of suffering, which the Buddha calls on all of us to help alleviate. I have the same goal - to alleviate the suffering of people and increase their satisfaction with life as such.

Therefore, the purpose of this book is to provide readers and leaders with the opportunity to understand what is going on in their minds, as well as in the minds of others, especially in the context of leadership.

I hope that as a result, you will be able to make decisions that will provide a better quality of your own life, as well as the life of the organization to which you belong, and any person who is affected in one way or another by these decisions.

My own interest in business and economics has developed over the past 50 years. I received a formal education that is entirely religious and spiritual in nature. From my youth to the present day, I have been studying Buddhist philosophy and psychology.

To a certain extent, through communication with the Tibetan and Chinese communists, I gradually learned a lot about different economic systems. In my opinion, I am more sympathetic to socialism, but I have witnessed how the socialist countries experienced a period of economic stagnation, while the free market economy developed much more dynamically.

I was wondering what are the shortcomings that hinder the development of a socialist economy and what are the advantages of a free market.

And yet I still have a feeling of concern that in the free market system the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.

In 1990, I received a letter from Laurens van den Meisenberg, an international management consultant. He thought that instead of looking for common ground between communism and Buddhism, which I did, it would be better to think about how capitalism could be improved by trying to solve our common problems.

This idea seemed interesting, and I asked him to come to me; over the next few years we met many times.

Then, in 1999, Lawrence, taking into account the growing interest of global companies in management (and the fact that the Buddhist tradition contains many theoretical and practical recommendations that would be useful to people in business, especially company leaders, suggested that I write a book on this topic.

From the very beginning, we agreed that this book should be of practical value and help businessmen in developing optimal decisions. We agreed that Lawrence would describe the business aspects of the issues raised in the book, and I would describe the practical application of the doctrines of Buddhism to these issues.

I advised Lawrence to take a holistic approach. By integrity, I meant that he should analyze the topics covered in the book from all possible points of view, and not just from the point of view of a Western management consultant.

I am convinced that one of the main problems of the modern world is that, despite the exponential growth in the amount of information, the level of specialization in society is increasing and people are losing the ability to comprehend the relationship between various ideas for improving society.

While working on this book, I chose topics that were important from my point of view, and Lawrence analyzed them in the context of his experience, and also involved his colleagues in discussing these topics and studied the relevant literature.

In addition, Lawrence held talks with Buddhist business leaders. During these conversations, he tried to find out what influence Buddhism had on their approach to doing business. However, despite our best efforts, we cannot claim that we have found all the answers.

And yet, we have done everything in our power to present the doctrines of Buddhism in a language that is easy and accessible, understandable to business people.

When I began writing this book, I did not seek to convert as many people as possible to Buddhism. My interest lies in presenting the concepts of Buddhism that are acceptable and useful for representatives of all religious denominations, as well as for people who are far from religion.

If, after reading this book, you memorize at least two concepts - right view and right action - and constantly return to them in your mind, it will improve your ability to make decisions and increase life satisfaction.

Guided by the principle of right view, you will be able to analyze your intentions, as well as assess the likely consequences of your actions for yourself, for the organization and for others, and will do everything in your power to not harm others and contribute to their well-being.

In addition, you will get rid of negative thoughts and emotions that lead to wrong decisions and make you and those around you unhappy.

By becoming a leader, you will significantly increase your influence and expand your opportunities. However, this increase in power is accompanied by increased responsibility for decision-making. In today's interconnected world, making the right decisions is becoming increasingly difficult and challenging.

If you are able to keep your mind calm, collected and focused even in very stressful situations, you will be able to draw the right conclusions and analyze the consequences from different angles - in other words, short-term and long-term consequences, as well as consequences for employees, customers, shareholders and society. generally.

Globalization is positive as long as the companies involved in global processes act responsibly and their leaders have a holistic view of the role of their companies in society. In addition, organizations depend on the responsible actions of governments for their activities.

Companies must work constructively with governments that are committed to building socially responsible free market economies and refrain from interacting with economic systems that are devoid of moral values.

Work on this book began with a discussion of the possibilities of integrating the principles of capitalism and the principles of Buddhism. By the end of the book, I came to the conclusion that investment is necessary to ensure prosperity. And investment requires capital.

Therefore, satisfying the need for capital is very important. The problem with understanding the word "capitalism" was that I associated it with capitalists who exploit the workers and get rich quickly while the workers struggle to make ends meet. This problem has not disappeared, especially in poor countries.

Capital is not an end, but a means. The goal is freedom and prosperity for all. And the best way to achieve this goal is to organize a free market system in which all participants act responsibly.

I believe that the integration of capitalism and Buddhism is possible if the principles of right view and right action become an integral part of the economic system.

I see that in this context, instead of the concepts of right view and right action, the concept of social responsibility is being used. That is why I hope that the concept of "socially responsible free market economy" will take the place of the concept of "capitalist system".

The material inequality of people is as old as the civilized world. However, with scientific knowledge, technology, and an understanding of the mechanisms of wealth creation, ensuring a decent standard of living for all is, without a doubt, an achievable goal.

I hope that the ideas presented in this book will inspire many leaders and many organizations to work diligently towards this goal.

...

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso

CONSULTANT

Once I read a book by His Holiness which said that one of the Indian philosophers was looking for ways to synthesize the ideas of communism and Buddhism. I wrote a letter to His Holiness in which I noted that it would be easier to achieve a synthesis of the ideas of Buddhism and capitalism.

To my surprise, I soon received a reply from His Holiness inviting me to visit him in India. Between 1991 and 2000, I met with the Dalai Lama every year and volunteered to do small consulting projects for him, including giving seminars on strategy for the Tibetan government in exile.

Both Buddhism and capitalism have their own difficulties. The Way of the True Leader makes both systems easier to understand as you learn their practical underpinnings. The book is built on the principle of gradual development of material: it begins with how a person can manage himself, then some aspects of managing a company or organization are discussed, and finally an analysis of the management of society as a whole.

Particular attention is paid to leadership. The people who drive the change process are not only found in executives and leaders. We encourage workers at all levels to find the leader in themselves and put into practice the methods outlined in this book.

The modern world is facing many complex challenges, not the least of which is the economic and financial crisis that began in 2008.

This publication presents the Dalai Lama's view of the dangers of an economic system devoid of moral values, and focuses on his belief in the need to create a socially responsible free market economy.

Our collective wealth has increased to enormous proportions and we are all benefiting from the wonders of technology, yet at the same time, billions of people live in extreme poverty, the world is in danger of ecological catastrophe, and even the inhabitants of prosperous countries have no confidence in the future. All this requires a fundamentally new approach to leadership as a process that involves seeing problems in their true light and their comprehensive solution. That is what this book is about.

It offers a unique way to apply the principles of right view and right action to decision making in organizations. An organization is not just a collection of people who work in it, it is something both more and less. On the one hand, the role of the organization in people's lives is very great, since it helps them achieve many goals that are inaccessible to each of them individually. On the other hand, the organization is far from being the first place in people's lives, since each person has a personal life, family, friends, and each person belongs to some other organizations.

We do not want the reader to get the impression that the practical application of the concepts of right view and right action is an easy task. No, it's not that easy. Achieving perfection is beyond the capabilities of almost all people. However, we affirm that every person can improve his consciousness and increase his personal effectiveness if he really wants to. The same is true in the context of an organization, whether small or large, private or public, charitable, non-profit or non-governmental.

A true leader is able to analyze a particular issue from all possible points of view and, based on an expanded vision, make the right decisions. Such a leader is characterized by a calm, collected and focused, trained and focused mind, not burdened by negative thoughts and emotions.

A true leader recognizes the inevitability of change, the need for shared responsibility, and understands the importance of bringing moral values into the economic system. This approach is the path of a leader.

The main idea of this book can be summarized as follows: improving the quality of decisions made by our leaders will change the world for the better.

Within the framework of this project, two worlds met: my world of management consulting, in other words, the global market, and the world of Tibetan Buddhism of the Dalai Lama. It was the most exciting and valuable experience of my professional life.

At the beginning of the work on the book, my knowledge of the teachings of Buddhism was very limited; just as limited are the Dalai Lama's ideas about the economy and the world of business. His Holiness studied the socialist system and the writings of Karl Marx, but his familiarity with the free market system was very superficial. The idea of our joint work was that I briefed the Dalai Lama on the economic aspects of the issues raised in the book, and His Holiness commented on these aspects from his point of view.

Our conversations covered many basic business issues and therefore were not directly related to Buddhism.

However, it soon became clear that the Dalai Lama was seeking to see the bigger picture of the integration of business into society, as well as to understand the true meaning of the concept of social responsibility. The Dalai Lama said, "I need a holistic view of the business." After seven years of communication, we have found a way to combine the ideas of Buddhism with the ideas of prominent Western philosophers regarding overcoming business problems. That's when the idea of writing this book came up.

This book is the result of the work of a whole team, and we would like to thank all those who took part in its creation.

During their meetings in Dharamsala, the authors of the book received constructive help from such people as Tenzin Chogyal, the younger brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; Tenzin Goyche Tetong - Personal Secretary of His Holiness and Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile; Venerable Geshe Lhakdor, Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. Jan Kalf, former CEO of ABN Amro, and Volkert Schukken, former member of the board of directors of SHV from the Netherlands, reviewed several versions of the chapters in this book to make sure that the material presented in the book would be useful to businessmen; in addition, they shared their rich experience with us. Cor Herkstrother, former CEO of Shell and Chairman of the Board of Directors of ING, spoke about his experience in developing and implementing business principles in global companies, especially Royal Dutch/Shell. Sir Leonard Peach provided the authors with information about his work at IBM and his interactions with the government.

Venerable Prayudh Payutto from Thailand shared with us his knowledge of Theravada, one of the branches of Buddhism. In addition, we express our gratitude to the leader of the retreat, in which Lawrence took part. Siriton Ratnin and Titinart na Patalung told us about their experiences with the practical application of the principles of Buddhism.

Nicholas Brealey, our publisher, understood from the beginning the importance of the message contained in this book. He made a great contribution to structuring the book and determining the sequence of presentation of the material in order to make the content of the book accessible and interesting to a wide range of readers. Our editor, Sally Lansdell, has improved the text and made sure that the various passages are in a logical sequence.

This project would not exist without my son Jorgen. He awakened my interest in Tibet and in His Holiness the Dalai Lama. My wife, Maria-Pia, had to put up with the fact that her husband, having immersed himself in the study of a certain topic, was unable to think and talk about anything else. In other words, if the topic was Adam Smith, she heard talk about Adam Smith at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and even before bed, and so on for several days, until the place of one topic was taken by the next. My sincere gratitude to both of them - both to the son, and to the wife.

...

Laurens van den Meisenberg

Right View

There is a widespread misconception in the modern world that Buddhism makes people passive, makes them renounce all material things and just meditate in the forest. In fact, such isolation is typical only for monks and nuns. As one of the philosophical currents, Buddhism seeks answers to classical philosophical questions: what is truth and how to find it? What are we living for? What is the universe in which we live? What is the nature of man, his duty and destiny? What is good and what is bad?

However, the main question to which Buddhism attaches particular importance concerns the choice of right actions: what should I do? The essence of Buddhism boils down to two concepts - right view and right action. The right view is of no value unless it is backed up by the right action, and the right action, in turn, is a major factor in business success.

CONSULTANT

Leadership is the ability to make decisions, and not just any, but the right ones. The leaders of global companies make decisions that affect thousands and even millions of people, and the lives of tens of millions depend on the decisions of political leaders. Therefore, making the right decisions is very important, since incompetence in this matter can have disastrous consequences.

In Buddhism, a true leader is seen as a person who makes the right decisions. This, in turn, depends on the extent to which the leader is able to take the right position in relation to what is happening, and also on whether he has a mind, which the Dalai Lama describes as a “calm, collected and concentrated” mind, a mind that is peaceful , unburdened by negative thoughts and emotions, trained and focused. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the reader to some of the fundamental concepts of Buddhist philosophy, and to show how the practical application of these concepts can improve the quality of life and improve the performance of our organizations.

In order to improve the quality of decisions made, the leader needs to improve his consciousness. One of the central concepts of Buddhism is that every man and woman can take the path of consciousness improvement, and this step can lead to a happier life for themselves and others. Perfection of consciousness is achieved through right thinking and right action. However, one cannot act correctly without relying on the right way of thinking.

Thinking right means thinking about each action before you take it, to make sure that the action is based on the right intention and the right motivation. The right intention is that any action should benefit every person it affects—in other words, that the person performs the action with regard to both their own well-being and the well-being of others. This statement is true both in the context of the individual and in the context of the organization.

Right intention is the first part of the Buddhist concept of right view. The second part of this concept covers three aspects of reality: nothing is permanent, everything changes; nothing is absolutely isolated; everything has its reasons.

We tend to think of ourselves as separate, independent entities.

In the same way, leaders believe that their organizations are something separate and independent. This is an erroneous point of view. We depend on others for things like housing, food, education, and work; organizations depend on their employees, customers, suppliers and banks. Awareness of this dependence at all levels of thought is one of the fundamental elements of Buddhism: one must start from the whole and see oneself or one's organization as part of an even larger whole. This process is referred to as the realization of interdependence - an interdependence that manifests itself especially strongly in the relationship between business and government policy.

This approach is similar to the system dynamics method developed by Jay Forrester and Marvin Minsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Santa Fe Institute.

Right thinking depends on having a calm, collected, focused mind. If your consciousness is influenced by anger, envy or fear, if you lack self-confidence (- article), you experience anxiety and your actions lose their effectiveness; you cannot see the world in its true light; your mind is no longer calm, collected and focused. To avoid this, you need to master the technique of mindfulness.

Mastering this technique means being able to track when negative emotions begin to affect the mind. In addition, it is necessary to develop the ability to control your mind, thereby repaying such emotions. You must take complete control of your state of consciousness and make decisions in accordance with the correct vision of what is happening.

Right view is formed on the basis of the intention behind the decision. Right action, another concept of Buddhism, is directly related to the quality of the actions that the company and its employees take in accordance with this decision. A person must do all his actions, taking into account their impact on other people.

At first glance, there is a big difference between business and Buddhism, but their common denominator is the value that a person's happiness can have for them.

A company that does not have happy employees, customers, and shareholders is doomed in the end. The Buddha believed that the main task of his studies and teachings was to find the causes of lack of happiness, as well as to determine the actions that need to be taken to alleviate suffering. He came to the conclusion that the main cause of human suffering lies in his self-centeredness. The Buddha treated this phenomenon as one of the laws of nature.

In addition, self-centeredness is a source of negative thoughts, the consequences of which can affect other people. Cheating, lying, bad intentions, aggression, anger, arrogance, jealousy, malice and resentment are all negative thoughts or emotions. When you manage to overcome the negative perception of the world, you will see that your relationships with others improve rapidly. It's very simple!

People are more willing to maintain a relationship with someone who thinks about their well-being, and not with someone who is only interested in his own person. However, many people don't even think about it. Communicating with other people, they try to impose their ideas on them and convince them of their superiority, without showing any interest in the interlocutor.

As soon as a person realizes the danger of the threat posed by negative thoughts and emotions, he inevitably comes to the conclusion about the importance of controlling them. At the same time, it would be useful to develop an “early warning system” in yourself, or an inner voice that will say: “You are entering a state of consciousness that can be categorized as negative. Be careful to make sure you don't lose control of your thoughts and emotions." It is even more important to remind yourself of the following: “Remember that negative thinking is a very powerful process, so do not make any important or irreversible decisions at this time.”

Over time, a person can reach a stage of development at which negative thoughts and emotions simply do not arise or appear very rarely. Of course, this requires many years of preparation, but the result is worth it.

CONSULTANT

The Dalai Lama's comments above reflect the perspectives of the teachings of Buddhism and their application to the business world. At first glance, the possibility of combining business principles and Buddhist concepts seems unlikely. Business, for which production, profit and growth are of paramount interest, seems to be the complete opposite of Buddhism, the main principles of which are compassion for other people and the well-being of all mankind. However, a closer look reveals that both the principles of business and the principles of Buddhism are based on caring for happiness and making the right decisions. After all, business and Buddhism are not so incompatible. When a company begins to adhere to the principles of right view and right action, its effectiveness in dealing with issues such as building trust, creating wealth, and generating profits increases dramatically.

How long does it take to implement this approach in a company?

It is not easy for a person to get rid of firmly rooted habits. Many people knew about the existence of serious shortcomings in the system of business and finance. However, they were shocked when the economic crisis hit in 2008. Meanwhile, this crisis was an inevitable consequence of the rapid increase in global interdependence and the misguided intentions of leaders, especially in the financial sector. Apparently, company leaders have completely neglected the consequences of their actions for their employees, customers and society as a whole. Their main motive was greed.

Right view has two parts: the decision-making process and the three values or concepts that must be taken into account in every decision. Leaders are constantly faced with the need to make decisions.

In the event of difficulties, whether in personal life or in the work of the company, the leader must set himself the task of responding to these difficulties not from the standpoint of his own benefit, but from the standpoint of benefit for the company, as well as for all people and organizations on which one way or another otherwise the decision will have an effect. Our task is to make sure that the whole process, from the moment a decision is made to the tracking of its consequences, functions as efficiently as possible. The focus of decision making based on the concept of right view is always the consequences that will result from the implementation of this decision.

The first thing to be analyzed in the decision-making process is the intention behind the action in question. This intention should be positive, in other words - its results should at least not harm people.

In some cases, the action taken is beneficial to some people and inevitably detrimental to others. However, every effort must be made to minimize such damage as much as possible, using creative and innovative approaches. This book contains many examples of good decision making.

The second important aspect of the decision-making process is the state of mind of the leader and, if possible, the state of mind of the people involved in this process in one way or another. The decision maker has the difficult task of detecting the appearance of any negative elements, such as defensiveness or anger in their thinking, and returning their mind to a calm, collected, and focused state.

At the end of the decision-making process, the leader should ask himself the question: Are the consequences of this decision beneficial for my organization and for other people affected by it? What is my motivation: only personal gain or, besides this, the benefit for others?

The cause-and-effect aspect of decision making becomes clearer when analyzed in the context of the Buddhist principles of dependent arising, interdependence, and the variability of all things.

Below, His Holiness explains these principles in more detail.

Dependent origination, causes and conditions, is another way of defining the principle of causality, or the law of cause and effect, or actions and their effects.

Everything has its reasons, and nothing changes on its own. There is nothing new in this principle, but its deep understanding plays an important role for the following reasons. Any decision entails changes, to which people will react differently: some positively, others negatively. No matter how competent the leader who makes the decision, no matter how trained his mind, he is not able to foresee all the possible consequences of his actions. However, leaders who have the right intentions and carefully consider the consequences of their decisions make fewer mistakes.

In this context, two more principles are of great importance: the ability to see what is happening in the true light, as well as the ability to analyze possible consequences from the point of view of other people and from different angles. We will return to the practical application of these principles in later chapters of the book.

There is a slight but interesting difference between the classical law of cause and effect and the law of dependent arising: the latter emphasizes the process that links cause and effect. When studying this process, much attention is paid to the conditions that make the event possible, as well as the conditions on which the consequences of this event depend. The success of a solution always depends on many conditions that also need to be analyzed.

CONSULTANT

I brought to the attention of the Dalai Lama a simple example of how the law of dependent arising works. Imagine a situation where a senior executive finds out that a senior executive at another, smaller, less successful company is getting paid more than he does. The normal reaction to such a situation is to conclude that it is unfair. It would be unnatural if this leader were proud of the fact that he earns less than his less successful colleague. Reflecting on this problem, he asks himself the question: “What should I do in this situation?” A person unfamiliar with the concepts of right view and right action is likely to draw the attention of a company's board of directors to the fact that they are being paid too little and suggest that a pay consultant be brought in to analyze the situation and determine a fair wage. for him. However, in doing so, the manager does not take into account the possible consequences of his actions for other people.

A business leader who is based on the principles of right view and right action and has a well-trained mind (which will be discussed in chapters 2 and 3) thinks very differently. He asks himself: “Does greed affect my way of thinking? Am I embarking on the path of self-centeredness?” Once these questions are answered, the business leader can either stop the process immediately or continue very carefully.

He may reflect on the fact that he earns much more money than is necessary to ensure a comfortable life. During these reflections, the thought may arise in his mind that many businessmen in similar positions have, say, ski lodges in Aspen. This person is immediately aware that a thought process is beginning in his mind that has a tinge of envy. He then asks himself, "How will my requirement affect the other people in the company?" This is a typical example of paying close attention to negative thoughts and emotions.

Is it fair to ask for a pay rise? Would it violate moral principles? These are the kinds of questions you should be asking yourself until you find the right answer.

As a result, the business leader in this example may decide to either approach higher-level officials for a pay increase, or not to do so. However, whatever the final decision, a person with a trained mind analyzes the consequences of his actions, not forgetting that he must carefully control his motivation and his emotions, such as envy.

Of course, at the company level, much more complex decisions have to be made. When making corporate decisions, it is necessary to analyze their consequences for all levels of the hierarchical organizational structure of the company. The need for such an analysis is due to the following reasons: financial risks; company reputation; choosing a solution that meets the interests of the majority of the company's employees, as well as many other persons interested in the success of its activities.

Interdependence is another kind of manifestation of the connection between causes and effects. Since nothing exists without a cause, and each cause has many effects, the interdependence between different phenomena is a completely logical phenomenon.

In the context of this book, it illustrates our dependence on each other. Every action taken by a person has consequences both for himself and for other people; the reaction of others to the actions of a person affects him, and so on: this process is endless.

A company is a typical example of an interdependent organization. The company depends on consumers, government policies and political events, as well as on its employees, customers, shareholders and distributors - their actions, together with the response, form an endless chain of cause and effect.

Indra's web is a perfect illustration of interdependence. Indra is an Indian god, the king of the universe, who wove a net in the shape of a ball. Each node of this network is a gem. The light emitted by one of these stones is reflected by other stones. Reflections return to the first stone and bounce off it again. Imagine that you are one of those gems. In this interdependent system, you and other people, as well as the entire network, are constantly changing.

Leaders recognize their dependence on others, but they do not fully understand how dependent they are on the reactions of others beyond their control - for example, clients or members of the media.

The best of leaders are fully aware of the importance of such interaction to their reputation: one serious mistake, and it will take decades to restore the tarnished reputation.

The variability of everything that exists is another form of manifestation of the relationship between causes and effects.

Given the fact that the number of causes and their effects is truly incalculable, nothing in this world is permanent and everything has its causes. This concept, which is referred to as emptiness, creates a great deal of confusion in Buddhist literature. The term emptiness is derived from the expression empty of anything that exists inherently ("free from everything that exists in itself") - in other words, from everything that has no reason, which is absolutely independent. The only thing that exists is the processes that take place within the network of cause and effect. People know that this is so, but do not accept this fact; they would prefer an unchanging state of affairs acceptable to them.

Many business leaders make the same mistake. They set certain goals and objectives, hoping that their achievement will provide them with a consistently satisfactory result. But this is impossible. Every target is a moving target.

Leaders, as well as everyone else, must be aware that an incalculable number of circumstances can arise that make it impossible to ensure continued satisfaction without change, sometimes pleasant and sometimes not. We must reckon with reality and make numerous adjustments to our lives. One of the biggest problems in modern society is the inability of people to adapt to the ever-accelerating pace of change. Even companies that have been successful for many years cannot remain successful forever.

CONSULTANT

Volatility, or "constant change," manifests itself in the world of business in literally everything. This statement is familiar to every modern business leader.

Robert Rosen, founder of Healthy Companies International, puts it this way: “When I was traveling in Asia, I was particularly struck by the concept of variability. The essence of this concept is that change is a natural state of affairs, when everything in this world develops and declines, and uncertainty and anxiety are an integral part of life ... I began to look at the heads of other companies that I met as real men and women with their own personal aspirations, vulnerabilities and fears. I realized that for most of our lives we are in a state of anxiety.

Companies depend on innovation, product renewal and rebranding as well as the ability to find ways to remain competitive in the global marketplace and meet changing customer needs. That is why, of all the concepts of Buddhism, the theory of variability finds the widest understanding in the business world. However, even though this concept is understood, many companies are too slow to respond to the ongoing changes, not having time to catch the next wave of innovations or bring a new product to market in time.

You may be wondering why it was necessary to apply three concepts that have so much in common with each other. Experience accumulated over several millennia shows that the application of each of these concepts activates different parts of the human brain, which allows him to more deeply understand reality. Just try it yourself!

The Buddhist worldview does not have an element of fatalism; Buddhism does not invite us to blindly accept change for the worse as an indisputable fact of our lives. On the contrary, by being aware of the constancy of change and by trying to recognize negative changes at an early stage, negative events can be prevented, and in some cases even turned into favorable opportunities.

Companies must constantly look for positive ways to bring about change.

CONSULTANT

Buddhism emphasizes that the application of the concepts listed above - cause and effect, interdependence and variability - allows one to develop intellectual understanding. These concepts must receive their "embodiment"; they need to be felt; they must become an integral part of consciousness.

As long as we live in this world, we will invariably encounter a variety of problems. If we lose hope in doing so, we diminish our ability to overcome difficulties. If, on the other hand, we keep in mind that not only we, but also other people have to suffer, this more realistic perspective will strengthen our resolve and ability to overcome difficulties. Moreover, with this approach, any new obstacle is seen as another valuable opportunity to improve one's consciousness.

The purpose of this book is to help business leaders develop the ability to analyze emerging problems from different angles - in the short term, in the long term, and from the point of view of different stakeholders - and then use the expanded vision of the picture of what is happening to make the right decisions.

So, one of the main principles of Buddhism is that in order to fully understand reality (in other words, in order to see and accept what is happening in its true light, a person must take a position of correct view and learn to control such negative emotions as anger or envy .

There are two phenomena that prevent a person from seeing reality as it really is - wishful thinking and thinking about the problems of the past as if they still exist.

Wishful thinking is a fairly common occurrence in the business world. The market demands from business people constant success and confidence in the correctness of the chosen path. An entrepreneur with a pessimistic mindset has little chance of success. On the other hand, the desire to be successful forces many businessmen to discard negative information. A typical example is when employees of a company encounter a certain problem in the workplace, but wait a long time before drawing the attention of their manager to this problem. Perhaps they are counting on the fact that the problem will resolve itself and they will not have to play the role of a messenger who brings bad news. When an employee sees that one of his colleagues is doing a negative act, such as taking a bribe, he is in no hurry to report this to management, fearing his wrath.

This behavior is very common, and that is why top management of companies is often simply not aware of the problems that have arisen until they become global in nature and the situation is already difficult to correct. Note the principle followed by one company: "Good news can wait, while bad news must be communicated immediately."

Following this principle ensures that companies are aware of the possibility of problems even before they entail financial consequences. It is an effective way of realizing reality before it is too late to do anything.

Thinking about the problems of the past as if they still exist is another way to bring past experience into the present. If a person allows a negative thought process to take over his mind, he spends a lot of energy on upsetting or resenting past events. Many business people fall into the trap of wasting emotional energy on injustices they or their companies have experienced in the past. Constantly reliving the past as if it were the present is an inefficient, waste of time.

An illustration is the story of Titinart na Patalung, CEO of Working Diamond, Thailand. Titinart said that she was very successful in running a business, but lost everything when a partner cheated on her. As a result, she fell into a state of depression and anger. On the advice of her friend, Titinart signed up for meditation courses. The first image that arose in her mind after plunging into a trance was the face of a partner who had betrayed her. An instant flare-up of rage brought her back to reality - the meditation session was disrupted.

Reassured, Titinart tried to analyze her thought process. The woman mentally returned again and again to the betrayal of her partner, and at the moment when righteous anger flared up in her, she imagined that someone was cutting her hand to blood with a piece of broken glass. Eventually Titinart realized that the anger she was feeling was only in her mind, and this helped her get rid of her feelings of bitterness about the past.

As a rule, decisions are made in order to change something. The process of change is often thought of as moving from one situation to another, but this is a dangerous oversimplification. The present situation is the result of an incalculable number of causes and effects; in addition, this situation in the present depends on many circumstances.

In other words, the situation is constantly changing, and stability is not characteristic of it. The awareness of these interdependencies and interconnections fills us with a sense of healthy humility and makes us accept the complexity of successful change. In addition, the realization of this fact leads to the application of a holistic, rather than a limited approach to the process of change. That is, before making a decision, it is necessary to analyze all the possible consequences from different angles. Accepting the variability of all things will strengthen you in the intention to carefully monitor the implementation of the decision.

It is easy enough to understand the concept of right view, but the correct application of this concept requires certain skills. Every situation is unique and there are no ready-made answers. Understanding the principles listed above is the first step, but the decision maker must think hard after that, learn to bring conflicting goals to a common denominator, weigh short-term and long-term consequences, and take into account the interests of different parties. Applying these concepts takes practice, and with practice comes mastery.

Forming the right view is the foundation on which the rest of the concepts in this book are built. It is impossible to achieve positive change on the basis of an erroneous vision of the situation.

Never forget the principles of right view and right action, and actively apply these principles in practice. This will allow you to always make the right decisions.

Right Action

In Buddhism, it is considered very important that people who teach the principles of Buddhism to others put them into practice themselves. At the time of the Buddha in India, teachers and philosophers were only taken seriously if they lived up to the principles they preached. While most of the Buddha's teachings are fairly simple and straightforward, moving from theory to practice requires a great deal of effort and determination on the part of the individual. Perfect mastery of the technique of their application is the goal to achieve which is worth striving for.

This principle applies to true leaders as much as it did to philosophers of the past. A leader will only be respected if he acts according to the principles he says he believes in. This idea can also be formulated as follows: many people imitate the behavior of their leaders, and if this behavior deviates from the stated principles, people will imitate the actions of the leader, not the principles.

In Buddhism, a person is considered as the totality of all the actions of a person committed by him up to the current moment. Noble deeds form an exemplary personality, unworthy deeds - immoral.

The consequences of bad deeds can be compensated by doing good deeds in the future - this is the law of karma.

CONSULTANT

Chapter 1 discussed how good decision making depends on the use of the principle of right view and the skill and vigor with which this principle is applied.

Determination and practice, or training of the mind, allow any person to develop the ability to choose the right path. This ability is especially important for leaders who have to make decisions that affect the entire organization, as well as the people who work in it. These may be decisions affecting the policies and practices of the organization, as well as the functional responsibilities of the organization's employees. Simply put, the task of the leader is to meet the needs of the organization as a whole and each of its employees in particular.

It often seems that the leader is in a hopeless situation, since these needs may conflict with each other.

The Dalai Lama has an answer to this dilemma.

The principle is simple: the result of the decision taken should be beneficial for both the organization and all stakeholders. At the same time, harm to anyone should be avoided. In reality, the decision made may be beneficial for one party, but disadvantageous for the other. In this case, it is necessary to choose the solution that will benefit the maximum number of people.

The situation becomes even more complicated when it is impossible to avoid harming some people. In this case, the principle of Buddhism applies, which says that if damage cannot be prevented, then actions that lead to such damage must be performed in the name of eliminating even more serious damage. Thus, the decision-making process is reduced to three stages. First you need to make an initial decision and check if the consequences of this decision cause harm to anyone. If not, you can take action. If so, you need to be creative and try to find another solution, the consequences of which will not harm anyone.

If it is not possible to completely avoid damage in one form or another, it is necessary to make sure that this damage is justified because it prevents even more serious damage or results in very large benefits for other parties. For example, if a company is facing a financial crisis, a sharp decline in sales may justify layoffs. Yes, some employees will suffer, but the rest will keep their jobs. Of course, it would be better if the crisis itself could be avoided, but crises do happen from time to time.

A good leader must develop the ability to find a way out of such situations in such a way that people both inside the organization and outside it consider the decisions made to be fair. However, it is not enough that the decision is just fair: the leader must also convey to all stakeholders the rationale behind the decision.

Making decisions and taking action are two vital elements of leadership. However, not every action will bring the desired results. Leaders often make decisions just for show, but this is a mistaken tactic. This chapter describes how to ensure that all actions taken have a good result - which means that such actions must be ethical in nature and follow from the leader's understanding of the need to adhere to the principle of right view and train the mind. It is ethical decisions, as the Buddha teaches, that underlie the world. Inaction can in itself be harmful: in some cases, a detached position opens the way to suffering.

CONSULTANT

So how do you know when and how to take the right action?

In 2000, ABN AMRO, the largest bank in the Netherlands, started a new CEO. Shortly after his appointment, he announced that in three years the bank would take one of the first three places in the ranking of the best banks in Europe. This rating is compiled according to estimates of the market capitalization of banks, depending on the level of profit and growth rates. The new CEO also added that if he fails to achieve this goal, he will resign. In fact, he never managed to improve the rating of the bank, but he did not resign and was eventually fired. The bank itself bought out other banks from the US, Belgium, Spain and the UK in pieces, with disastrous consequences for the Royal Bank of Scotland and its controversial CEO, Sir Fred Goodwin.

Many ambitious business people are tempted to be the hero. The easiest way to achieve this is to focus on making a profit, not on customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, which is the essence of right view. If top executives of companies recognize the need to change their motivation and behave more modestly, disaster can be avoided.

In Buddhism, there is a concept of auspicious-beneficial and unfavorable-bad tendencies in a person's thoughts and actions. Favorable tendencies lead to physical and spiritual well-being and can be categorized as ethical actions; unfavorable tendencies lead to suffering and pain and are therefore viewed as unethical acts. In addition, in the thoughts and actions of a person there are both useful and harmful elements. Therefore, the task is to eliminate harmful elements, replacing them with useful ones. The important thing is that favorable and unfavorable thoughts and actions are mutually exclusive: a person cannot be angry and calm or focused and distracted at the same time.

In this book, attention is focused on the comparison of favorable and unfavorable mental factors. In the book, these factors are also referred to as positive and negative emotions. By combining favorable and unfavorable factors in pairs, one can see what should be eliminated or discarded and what should be used instead. Some examples are given below; the rest of the pairs can be found at the end of the chapter.

The same rejection procedure applies to all adverse factors. The first step is to perform analytical meditation (we will cover it in Chapter 3) on a given state and formulate conclusions about how this state will benefit. The second step is to use the method of meditation on one object (which we will also discuss in Chapter 3) in relation to the conclusion reached in order to replace the corresponding negative emotion with a new, positive one. These two steps need to be repeated many times. Over time, the procedure for discarding negative emotions will become a habit for you.

At first glance, it may seem that in the business world, adverse factors are eliminated, but in reality this is not the case. Replacing a negative state of consciousness with a positive one will allow the leader to immediately increase the effectiveness of leadership.

In this situation, the old principle of leadership by example works. Instead of telling people in their organization how they should behave and what they should do, a mind-trained leader becomes a role model. This concept is a universal starting point.

The Buddha teaches that the greatest value that a person is given to have is his self-confidence. It is believed that leaders and company leaders have this quality, but they can only look confident - often this is just an appearance. In my opinion, a leader who is not confident in his own abilities is only wasting his time, because he is incapable of making the right decisions.

In order to remedy the situation, leaders must apply the principle of dependent origination in daily life (see Chapter 1). This means that they must make wise decisions, taking into account all possible factors.

Mindfulness is, simply put, the ability to focus on the issue at hand or on the interlocutor. People are able to subtly feel the presence or absence of this quality. If you are not listening to the person you are talking to, there is a very high chance that your interlocutor will feel it and interaction with him will become almost impossible. Attentive attitude to the interlocutor is considered not only a sign of good taste, but also an ethical, useful action.

CONSULTANT

Mindfulness is an important, even inspiring quality, especially in the context of leadership. If your manager listens carefully to you, you feel your importance and importance.

An example is the Dalai Lama. I have met hundreds of business people over the years, but few of them were as busy as he was. However, when I talk to him, I feel that he is completely focused on the subject of the conversation. Our conversations were never interrupted by phone calls; no one came into the office to talk to him - and I know very well that his time is highly valued. If the leader can inspire his interlocutor that he is very important to him, he will inspire confidence in himself. And trust opens up a variety of possibilities.

The ability to abandon unwanted actions and replace them with desirable ones will benefit any person. Obviously, by discarding adverse factors and emotions and replacing them with favorable ones, a person can devote more time to productive mental activity, since this will reduce his suffering and increase well-being. However, the implementation of this process will require certain skills: observation, discipline and considerable patience.

One of the most important decisions we make is how to make a living. The concept of honest work implies that a person should earn his living in righteous ways, obtain material wealth in a legal and peaceful way.

The Buddha points to four specific activities that harm other living beings and should be avoided for this reason: arms dealing; trade in living beings (including raising animals for slaughter), slave trade and prostitution; work in the meat industry and in the trade in meat products; sale of toxic and poisonous substances such as alcohol and drugs. In addition, any other activities that may violate the principle of right action should be avoided.

The definition of honest work as a process of earning a living in a lawful and peaceful way defines the basic principles of such a way of life. The activities listed above that should be avoided need to be commented on in more detail.

I am deeply convinced that war is evil, but it was justified when the Allies liberated Europe and Asia from German and Japanese occupation. Weapons played a big role then. However, under all circumstances, every effort must be made to avoid the use of weapons.

Human trafficking is certainly also evil, but raising animals for slaughter for the production of meat products is a widespread phenomenon in almost all countries. Most Buddhist monks, although not all, are vegetarians. I was also brought up as a vegetarian, but after a serious illness, the doctor recommended that I eat a little meat, which I have been doing ever since.

Obviously, the illegal drug trade is a very dirty business, however, the trade in toxic substances such as alcohol is also common throughout the world. Here the same question arises as in the case of the meat trade - the question of freedom of choice. Attempts to ban the sale of toxic substances never worked well and led to the formation of a black market.

These problems need to be solved through consumer education, they cannot be solved by prohibition. Based on all these conditions, a person who is guided by right intentions and adheres to the principle of right view and right action can earn an honest living.

CONSULTANT

I have spoken to many leaders in Asia who are very enthusiastic about the benefits they have received from applying the concepts of right view and right action, as well as training the mind through meditation (more on this in Chapter 3).

An example can be given as an illustration. Ten years ago, many companies in Thailand faced an economic crisis. Nevertheless, even under such circumstances, Buddhist practitioners noted that, compared with their counterparts from other companies, they reacted to the troubles that arose more calmly and balanced. They were asked what they thought the purpose of the business was, and none of them cited profit or shareholder value as the main purpose.

The head of one of the very profitable companies said the following: “The main drawback of Western leaders is that they are too worried about the bottom line. In all business transactions, I try to ensure that the transaction is beneficial for customers ... but also for the company. Thanks to this approach, we are making a profit.”

Moreover, the leaders themselves formulated the basic principles that allowed their companies to successfully overcome the crisis as follows.

Resistance to the crisis. According to one executive, almost all company directors have asked banks to cancel their debts. He was one of the few who did not even try to do it. By his own admission, he was very worried about the situation, but instead of going to the bank, he decided to talk to his Buddhist teacher, who told him: “I don’t understand anything about your problems, but if you calm down and meditate, I I'm sure you'll find a solution." At first glance, it may seem that the teacher was dismissive of the problem, but the leader in question followed his advice and really found the best way out of the situation.

Confidence in making decisions. These executives said they were less worried about making the wrong decisions and felt they had a broader decision-making base at their disposal. It was easier for them to focus on the problems that arose, because they did not doubt the correctness of their choice.

Good relationship with subordinates. Buddhist leaders attributed their good relationships with subordinates to a closer look at labor disputes and other issues related to their subordinates. According to them, they were willing to analyze the same problem several times and did not consider their inability to make an instant decision as a disaster.

The ability to focus on the problem at hand. Some of the managers reported that they had less need for different meetings, because by that time they already knew how to focus all their attention on the issue at hand. They listened more carefully to their colleagues when decisions were being made or ways to implement those decisions were being discussed.