The Buddha Was a CEO

Hotei Should Be so Happy!

Why Wake Up?

The Buddha gave us a plan for living. It is a plan of leadership. It shows us a direct way to take control of our own lives, become leaders in our group, community and workplace. It is a simple plan and simplicity is difficult for us. We want the world to be complex but our gratification immediate. Life is extraordinarily simple if we can see through the veil of our opinions, biases, prejudices and misconceptions. What is wrong in our personal life is probably the same thing that we see wrong in our societal life, our business life and our political life. The Buddha’s simple plan can make it all easier for us. What can be said of us can also be said about our social structures.

In our age this 2500-year-old plan can help us save our lives but also save corporate America from its own chaos, corruption and greed. Because we are individuals of kamma what can be said of an individual can also be said of any organizational community whether it is a company, a not-for-profit organization, a church and its congregation, a community, a government or a culture. We all have both individual and corporate cultures we must deal with every moment of our lives.

The journey that leads to awakening is prompted by the question, “Am I now awake?” Because the question also involves our corporate kamma we also need to ask, “is my company or organizational community awake? Is my neighborhood awake? My society, culture or government?” We begin by exploring what it means to be awake? Because we are literally at the epicenter of our community, work, or organization, we often reflect those communities. We are a mini-version of the cliques and organizations we form. If we find that we are uncomfortable in those surroundings it is because we do not fully reflect the greater community. Many devoted Buddhists feel out of place in the United States because the values they understand as being nurturing and supportive to peace and good will is basically alien to the culture in which they find themselves. These people do not feel comfortable in the current post 911 era of greed, paranoia and lack of transparency – another word for honesty.

Let us begin by asking ourselves some simple questions about ourselves to see if we consider ourselves awake.

·      Is the communication I use open, spacious, inspiring, motivating and transparent?

·      Do I foster a creative, nonthreatening environment?

·      Am I mindful of my vision for my life, of my views, and values?

·      Do I have a goal that makes an impact on the world? Does my goal benefit others or just my ego?

Because we are a microcosm of our society and the organizational communities in which we take part we can ask the very same questions about the company we work for, the churches in which we belong, the community in which we live and even of the government which we endorse by voting or even elected by not participating in the political process. Even if you don’t vote you contribute through your apathy that some would call a protest by non-involvement. Even inaction is an action of some kind. That is very much how we became the recipients of the government we now have. So we must ask ourselves about the governments we choose to elect or ignore or complain about, the laws we choose to pass or not actively protest, the companies we work for and thereby support, the organizations in which we participate and therefore guide. What should we be asking? We should be asking essentially the same questions.

·      Do these associations to which I belong communicate openly, spaciously, inspiringly, transparently?

·      Do they foster a creative, nonthreatening environment for everyone?

·      Is the leadership of the organization mindful of its mission and values?

·      Do my associations have goals that include making an impact on the community that is for the better?

The answer to one set of questions will probably mimic the answer to the second set.

Many of us can point to people we know and tell ourselves and others how those people should be running their lives but do we follow our own advise? Just as when we look around and see great examples of how people ought not to live life, we can read the headlines of any newspaper and see examples of how not to lead an organization. Corruption is at the corner market, in the local church as well multi-national corporations. No one sector of the world has a monopoly on greed, fear and poor judgment.

There are those who are astute enough to see the problems they see as opportunities. The opening they see is to transform their own lives and the life of their organization. Such people are in the habit of transforming themselves and so they also transform others, their churches, their companies and their communities. What they are providing is a future with value-based leadership. Perhaps in your own organization, church or community you can identify management styles that appear to be self-serving and are not working for the greater good of that organization. You might very well be one of those people who intuitively know when to make the changes to approach the organizational community and try to do business in a new way. You might be the one who has a plan to upgrade communication both in and out of the Boardroom or wherever decisions are made.

The Internet and Library are full of management techniques, new and old, but few of them actually work to the fullest advantage. They may offer short-term rewards but the effects are not long lasting. Bringing the principles taught by the Buddha into your life and the life of your organization is not just useful to you but also a unique strategy that can help you cultivate lasting success not just in your life but also the life of your organizational community, be it a shop, church, not-for-profit, or multinational company.

This timeless wisdom was given to us nearly 3,000 years ago. This newsletter has presented the various aspects of these teachings over and over again. We have talked about creating peace in the workplace and the community. We have discussed the natural imperative of living with virtue in your life. Perhaps if we present a case for the Buddha’s teaching within the context of your work, your not-for-profit, your community and politics the message will become clearer.

The Buddha Was a CEO

The Buddha understood that at our core everyone is basically neutral. Even though we have a proclivity for clinging to our desires, we also have a capacity for good and, likewise, a capacity for evil. It is the capacity for goodness that the Buddha termed “skillfulness,” that leads to greatness within the individual. From this point of view each and every one of us has the capacity to be a “bodhisattva” or an “arahant”, one who is able to implement highly effective ways of going through life, conducting business that will transform your life, organization and community.

First the Buddha gave us a vision. This vision was couched in terms of a practical doctrine of values he called the Eightfold Path. This path was laid down in such a way that it help free the world from “suffering” and stress that would lead us to enlightenment. The Buddha called this enlightenment being “awake.” The key to your life and the success of your organizational community is this Eightfold Path leading to “authentic leadership.” It is a proven model that offers strategic practices to improve the bottom line for you and your organization and will increase your efficiency, productivity and creativity. This is the practical day-to-day application of the teaching of the Buddha.

All of the practices of the Eightfold Path are interdependent. They were never meant to be an eight-step program. The Buddha intended the path to be seen as a wheel with eight interrelated and interconnected spokes to guide you to the essential values of life: wisdom, ethics, and mindfulness.

Wisdom1.       Right View: vision
2.       Right Intention: mission 

ETHICS 

3.       Right Speech: communication
4.       Right Action: accountability
5.       Right Livelihood: personal and professional investment
6.       Right Effort: integrity 

MINDFULNESS 

7.       Right Mindfulness: presence
8.       Right Concentration: focus

Effective strategic planning is essential to personal success and the success of any organization. Because of the nature of the not-for-profit model strategic planning is often ignored because most not-for-profits are volunteer driven. Volunteers quite normally have little regard for the eventual success of their organization. They are mainly concerned with pushing their personal agenda for their particular program. One would hope this were true of only the not-for-profit, but it is common everywhere. The average person is concerned with their own issues and not the issues of the world as a whole. Most will agree that strategic planning is necessary but few are willing to utilize it in their own lives much less the life of whatever community they are involved with. Without it, the organizational community is most likely doomed to failure.

But however good your strategy is, it will fail if people don't understand it. They won't know where you or the organization is going, or how to help you get there. They'll probably get frustrated and confused; friends may feel bewildered, co-workers may sense that they are abandoned and patrons may feel dissatisfied; and other stakeholders may lose their faith in vision and/or your organization's ability to deliver. So you and your organization need both effective strategic planning and good communication of your strategy. Just as a map is usually more effective than a list of directions, so a graphical description of your strategy can often communicate your strategy more effectively than a weighty document filled with many words.

There are many ways to articulate a strategy. One approach, which also illustrates the hierarchical structure, thinks of strategy as answering the following questions:

1.   Why are we doing what we are doing?
2.   What do we need to do to fulfill our intended purpose?
3.   How exactly are we going to do what needs to be done?
4.   Who (or what) is going to make sure it's done?

Answering these questions can help you thoroughly articulate your strategy, covering the key ingredients that are generally needed in a strategic plan:

·       Question 1 – "why" – refers to your values, mission, and vision or may to those of your organizational community.
·       Question 2 – "what" – covers objectives and goals.
·       Question 3 – "how" – refers the actions needed to realize these goals.
·       Question 4 – "who" – refer to the people, systems and tools that deliver these.

The questions are arranged so that a hierarchy of questions emerges: In order to answer question 4, who or what is going to get this done, you need already have answered question 3, what actions do we need to take; to answer that question you need to answer the question of what it is are our goals, question 2; and to answer that question you should have figured out why your doing this in the first place.

This is the same approach the Buddha uses when he taught the Four Noble Truths. There was a need to alleviate the suffering in the world. That answers the “why” question 1. He then taught the goal of nibbana answering question 2. Then came all the methods of ethical practice that answering the “how” in question 3. Finally we have the practice of taking Refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha giving us the answer to questions 4, the system and tools that will deliver everything else.

The Buddha really was a strategic planner.