+ 22.06.2008 + His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Why am I writing this book now? Because I feel we all should have a sincere concern and responsibility for how the global economy operates, and an interest in the role of businesses in shaping our interconnectedness.

Times have changed and I believe that leaders of religious traditions—with their ability to take a long view—should participate in discussions of global business and economics. Our world faces very serious problems. Those that are of particular concern to me include how to alleviate poverty in poor countries; the fact that even in prosperous countries the sense of satisfaction with life has been stagnating since 1950; the negative impact on the environment that is a result of negligence and of our ever-increasing population and rising standards of living; and, finally, the lack of peace in many parts of the world.

Because Buddhism takes a rational and logical attitude to such problems, its approach is sometimes easier to understand for those who are not religious. There is a stress on human values and particularly on the importance of motivation—how humans can be taught to take a holistic approach to solving society’s problems. This is an important contribution that Buddhism can make to these discussions.


Laurens van denMuyzenberg
This project is about the meeting of two worlds: my world of management consulting, more specifically the global marketplace, and the Dalai Lama’s world of Tibetan Buddhism. At the beginning, my knowledge of Buddhist teachings was limited; so too was the Dalai Lama’s experience with economics and the world of business. Although His Holiness had studied the socialist system and the works of Karl Marx, his exposure to the free market system was more limited. The idea was that I would brief the Dalai Lama on an economic issue and the Dalai Lama would comment on the issues based on his perspective.

These discussions covered many of the basics of business and as such had little to do with Buddhism. However, it soon became clear that the Dalai Lama wanted to understand and see the big picture—how business fits into society and the true meaning of “corporate responsibility.”

What is new about the Leader’s Way?
Leading a business in a way that the employees are enthusiastic about what they do, customers like their products and shareholders are satisfied with their returns is an immensely difficult task. That is especially the case when the market is down or when the company encounters unforeseeable problems.

The Dalai Lama and I have during a decade examined best practices in leadership to day and the Buddhist concepts that can help leaders to perform better under all circumstances.

The results are presented in the book “The Leader’s Way”. We found that looking at this challenge several Buddhist concepts are very valuable like for example, Right View and Right Conduct, Mindfulness and Training the Mind. The application of these concepts is illustrated with many practical examples

What to do

• Face Reality: Change is accelerating. The expectations of what leaders should do is rising. Therefore:
• Think better. Apply Right View. Use the concepts of Right intention, impermanence, interdependence, knowing causes and condition as a foundation to arrive at the right decision
• Act faster. Apply the concept of Right Conduct. Think constructively at all times. Train the mind in concentration, flexibility and innovative thinking, foresee the effect of actions on others and stay calm and clear under all circumstances also, in downturns
• Deliver and maintain a strong and warm company heart, even in times of contraction

Table of contents
PART I: LEADING YOURSELF
Chapter One: Taking The Right View
Chapter Two: Doing the Right Thing
Chapter Three: Training the Mind:
Simple Techniques for Busy Leaders

PART II: LEADING YOUR ORGANIZATION
Chapter Four: The Leader’s Purpose
Chapter Five: Creating Profit, Jobs—or Happiness?
Chapter Six: Doing Business Right

PART III: LEADING IN AN INTERCONNECTED WORLD
Chapter Seven: The Challenge of Globalization
Chapter Eight: Entrepreneurship and Poverty
Chapter Nine: The Responsible Free Market Economy