Hi Marshall

It sounds like that Buddha's suggestion is very powerful and we all must use the same approach when suggesting people. Isn't it the coaching all about? Such as you help people to find the solution and let them make the choices instead of making the choices for them?

I agree with you Marshall that we should treat the suggestions as gifts and say Thank you to the person. However, I will that when someone is giving you an advice, make sure they practice what they are advising before you act upon their advice. For example: If I advice you to quit smoking because it is not good for the health, on the other hand If I smoke everyday myself. I don't think I should be acting upon someone advice, if they don't practice it. However, back to Bhuddah's philosophy that it doesn't hurt to listen to the suggestion and say thank you. You can decide later on if you want to act upon this advice or not.

Thanks for sharing Chris's philosophy. I cannot agree more with him that "I won't learn less." It is always good idea to ask people "how can I be a better ..."

I personally pay attention to any suggestions I get or any advice. I think people are trying to help you by sharing their suggestions. I respect them and say thank you, even if I knew it already. Because at the end, it is I who is going to decide, if I am going to work on that suggestion or not.

Marshall you mentioned to use the approach of saying thank you, respecting, and listening to stakeholders. Are you suggesting the "Appreciative Inquiry" approach? I believe that appreciative inquiry approach is a best way of approaching things, and it will only do good to the people.

What do you thing about Appreciative Inquiry approach?
How can we best use it in our work environment?

Thanks
Kashi

Hi Marshall,

You are right. Listening to the ideas and thoughts of others in a respectful and genuine manner is instrumental in being and becoming an excellent leader. Even if the thoughts and ideas of others may border on the obscure, it remains imperative to acknowledge and validate. Such behavior is unquestionably professional, fostering a team-oriented environment where everyone has a momentary touch of the basketball.

In the context of suggestions between key stakeholders and your clients, I am chiefly concerned with the process of their interactions. How are the messages being sent? If all of us were androids like 'Data' on 'Star Trek', the process of messages would have no meaning or validity, there would only be a strict exchange of content allowing for maximum productivity on a daily basis.

With that geeky analogy in mind, I would assume that interactive messages in the corporate environment and all environments are often being tainted by emotional distractions whether intentional or not. For clarity, emotional distractions may be considered to be tactics or unconscious gestures in the politics of everyday life and its dealings as people naturally compete for attention, voice time, and an expression of their position.

I think all of us strive to have a stake in the game. As a result, we employ strategic methods. Some methods carry integrity while others do not. Therefore, I believe the leader of today, among many other things, must possess two important capacities.

1. The capacity to self-regulate emotion when interacting with others (there are many strategies to achieve this).
2. The capacity to regulate emotions in others (leading by example and having a personal understanding of key stakeholders).

Again, I agree with you. Take the 'good part'of a message and internalize it. Whatever 'bad parts' have accompanied the 'good parts' need to be discarded. The ability to distinguish the good (more intellectual and less emotional) from the bad (less intellectual and more emotional) is the process of 'information filtering'. I would stress that information filtering, even for the most intellectual among us, is no easy task.

By regulating personal emotion and leading others in emotional development and regulation, less time is spent on the filtering process. When individuals do not need to use their filtering mechanisms as much, they feel more comfortable, think more clearly, and are generally more productive.

Do we want key stakeholders and CEO's to be well-oiled machines or squeaky wheels? The difference between the two is a matter of managing and regulating interaction and emotion. An authentic leader knows enough about her/his players to do 2 things.

1. To know when grease is needed.
2. To know when it is not.

Thank you for the thought inspiring article.

Matthew R. Polkinghorne
Alliant International University
MGSM: Special Topics Friend

It was a pleasant surprise to see this discussion on your blog. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute in a small way.

I really believe that the Buddhist philosophy , more specifically Mahayana Buddhism based on the Lotus Sutra has the deeper insight to our daily life which includes our life as a manager.

I am planning to write a book on this and finding this blog was a happy momment for me. Please let me know more how I can contribute to the propagation of this topic.

As a first try, one of the important concepts of buddhism is ku ke & chu. ku is the invisible, ke is the visible and chu exhibits both invisible and visible but are neither.

the human spirit and passion is invisible, our body language is visible, and the thinking mind exhibits qualities of both visible and invisible but is neither.

All three aspects are concurrent and mutually present in our daily life and more specially important if we play a leadership role in society or in business.

The challenge is how to apply this concept. One example is not to view success in business leadership or management as just a matter of passion, character, and intelligence but rather being able to develop the buddhist wisdom that we all possess, which unlocks our highest potentials as a human being. This buddhist wisdom called " myoho " or the universal law of life is the integrating force within all of us human beings which remains dormant unless we endeavor actively to pursue it.

You will notice that everytime you explain something that is to your experience and knowledge seems to answer a specific ailment in management , there will always be something that will argue the opposite and thus bring you back to an seeminly incomplete conclusion. This is life, complex , mystical. The buddhist approach is first to understand the workings of life, and one of the tools to do this is to try and understand and apply the 3 concepts of ku ke and chu in your daily managerial challenges.

Sir,

As one of my colleagues is fond of saying: the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. The first step in human development in a holistic sense is the humility to recognize and realize that what we know is a miniscule fraction of what we do not know. The collective wisdom of those around us can contribute to our well-being provided we can use our faculties to discriminate between what probably would work for us and what would not.

The Rigveda declared thousands of years ago: Let Noble Thoughts Come to us from Every Side. Thinking positively, thinking about the welfare of others, trying to spread cheer all round, a never say die attitude, can all create powerful and positive vibrations that would rebound on us in the form of useful, creative suggestions.

Together, we can achieve anything - provided that we don't really care who gets the credit for it.

Warm Regards

Hi Marshall,

I have 3 questions for you.

1. How do we know someone is there when we cannot see them?

2. How do we know someone is not there when we can see them?

3. How do we know to know what is there?

Matthew R. Polkinghorne
Alliant International University
MGSM: Special Topics Friend

Hi Mr. Marshall Goldsmith

I feel very fortunate to know that you posted "Management Advice from Buddha". I agree with what you described. I'd like to share with you my experiences of real day-to-day-life-application of Buddha's advice. I have been learning and experiencing the truth nature of Buddha philosophy in correlation to my everyday work of practice of medicine as well as my family and social life. I learn Buddha Advice and put it into my own practice which is done not really from the religious aspect but from the scientific aspect, the evidence-based-applicable-in-real-everyday-life aspect. I have been doing this approach since my childhood and those very experiences have been shaping me to be very successful and peaceful in my real life. I am not talking about after-life-future-Navarna things. Buddha's advice is well tested and very useful in this present life at least for me. I can discuss more detail and in depth if you have any question on the specific issue. Everyday and even every minute I expose to the variety of physical, mental, and emotional stress which can negatively effect on me if I do not apply the Buddha's advice while handling all those stress and resulting in the potential failure and disappointments. However knowing the fact that those stress can be minimized and translated in to the good high performance stimulus to myself and make those into positive effect on me resulting in success, happiness and peace in my mine and body. In nut shell every successful work of mine is initiated by the sharing-mind-set, i.e, the desire-to-help-others-attitude. This mind set helps me not to bring the subsequences vicious cycle of greedy, anger, ignorance that will be resulting in suffering, frustration, failure and sadness. It is very easy to say but very difficult to practice at least in the beginning. However if you continue to practice day by day with your intelligent and curious mind, you should be able to develop the the good reflexes or responses to avoid the vicious cycle and move on to the right tract that will bring you success and peace in your day-to-day-life. Thanks.

Best Regards,

Alexander Myint Swan, MD, FACP, MBA

Kashif - Ghandi was a great proponenet of 'let me do it myself - before I ask others to do it'. This is wonderful advice for leaders. I am a fan of the AI literature.
Matthew - Thank you for this thoughtful post. I love the 'wheel' anaology!
Edward - Thank you for this thoughtful Buddhist essay!
BV - Your thoughts on giving credit go back a long way - and are just as applicable today.
Matthew - Good questions. You need to answer these for yourself.
Alexander - I agree that Buddha's advice is very practical. It is best not just 'learned' but 'experienced'!

Greetings Marshall,

I remember the first time I asked my wife "how can I be a better husband?" I actually had to ask her several times because she didn't think I was being serious. And ironically, when she gave me a simple little suggestion, I was so sure it didn't apply to me, that I responded with "but I always do that...." Her reaction, and my response, reminded me of two very important things:

1) how unexpected it is for the people we work with - even those closest to us - to actually "hear" our genuine requests for their input, and
2) how difficult it is for us to genuinely accept it.

Asking someone for their input on how I can be better, sounds so simple, yet may be so out of the ordinary and unexpected. I do believe it has tremendous power in creating behavioral change. Ultimately, the people I ask are always willing to help, however I am not always willing to accept it.

I find your analogy of seeing suggestions as a gift, Marshall, absolutely wonderful! I would never imagine turning away a present, even if I had one just like it in the other room. In my experience coaching managers and successful leaders, encouraging them them to ask, and to use the words "thank you," has a tremendously powerful effect.

Thank you Marshall for the suggestion!
Daniel Kuzmycz

Marshall,

Thank you for the insights through the eyes of the Buddha.

Working within the area of Leadership, so many times we term the Executive Roles or functions as the "leadership" of an organization. Through the work within complexity, it is apparent leadership is not a noun but a verb.

According to Webster's Dictionary, adding "ship" to the end of the word means "the state of being". So if we define leaders as the "leadership" we are saying these are the individials or groups in the "state of" or in the "state of becoming".

In doing the work of "becoming" is to admit we have not yet arrived. This may be a difficult confession for the Executives in our Corporate societies. Your message of the Buddha would support that "leadership" is about becoming, about letting go or the art of allowing.

Is is possible that our current day Executives are willing to "let go" of Ego and allow gifts to come to them with their arms ready to receive?"

To answer that question would be unfair since I am not their consciousness. However here is what I do believe about Leaders and leadership.

Maybe it is time to admit that the Executive is really around Executive Functions (admittedly taken from Chester Barnard, 1938). They are meaningful and are significant. However, their functions have a meaningfulness to the organization much like others within the same organization. Maybe the Executive Function isn't necessarily a Leader or that they are in the process of Leadership. The functions just are.

When we are in the state of becoming such as in Leadership, the principles of the Buddha ring even clearer. There is not a second doubt as to how to respond to the gifts you spoke of. Because in the art of leadership, there is a recognition we have not yet arrived and all who give us their time, talents and knowledge are there to support our becoming. We bless them.

gay rogers

The whole article was based on Buddha's suggestion,"If you can use the gift – use it. If you don’t want to use the gift, put it in the closet and let it go."

I liked the first part of the suggestion but not the second, when it came to its applicability in the management arena. The first part indicates a willingness to keep an open mind and graciously receive all suggestions as "gifts." However, the second part which suggests putting what one cannot (or will not) use in a closet and "letting it go" indicates an inability to accept criticism and instead pretending everything is rosy and shoving all unpalatable suggestions into the corporate shedder.

Why drag poor Buddha down to the levels of vain corporate executives and dogmatic management gurus simply to justify their pitiful actions and existence ?

Raj Bose
Faculty - University of Phoenix

Daniel - Thank you for this great example and for 'hanging in there' with your wife!
Raj - Buddha thought that we should listen to advice and try it out - not ignore it! On the other hand, all advice is not helpful. Leadership is never a popularity contest. By the way Thank You! This is the first time that anyone has ever let me know that I a dogmatic management guru justifying my pitiful actions and existence'!

Dr. Goldsmith:

The comments I made in my response were not directed towards any particular individual and certainly not towards you. I was just speaking in general terms. If you were offended by my response in any way, my apologies. Perhaps you can put my response in your closet and let it go ?

Best regards,

Raj Bose

Raj - Thank you again! I love your thoughtful posts. We are all human.

Hi Professor Goldsmith

For almost 8 months I am reading your articles. I am an undergraduate student at CCNY, NY. My thrive to read such articles started since last year. I am just confused about: Creativity and Risk taking.

Your articles are awesome and really inspiring:
From a while, My most inspiring quote is below, and I always try to follow it, you see I am having trouble to find my own-inner voice.
“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary”. “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish”.- Steve Jobs, Commencement address 2005

I will really appreciate if you would give your perspective about follow question.
Before that some highlights of my situations. I worked in a project, leader of 30 student did primary research, we were unsuccessful to peruse a scientific grant, our faculty mentor encouraged us to pursue another opportunity. I analyzed the failure problems: I did mistakes in management as an engineering freshmen. However, I do believe our team was not supplied required some crucial resources. After one semester, I resigned as team manager, team collapsed. I can blame myself, I was depressed cause of failure and my exist effected other team members and they left team too.
The following semester, I participated in another project; again I was team leader among a team of 7 students. Project went quite well. The problem is the professors I worked with were different, now I am having some problem, cause I am taking class of the professor that whose project I left. I mean I will pass but I can feel the energy while he see me.(can u give some article on how to face people, where you resigned ?)... also i won some scholarships :P

Anyway my questions:

1) How can we become creative? [ Lots of professor says that creativity cannot be taught(in class), but dont explain well how to develop] (some people argue that change is crucial for being creative, but i think creativity comes first and then comes change)(i am a bit fan of "Who moved my cheese?")

2) People are encouraged to take risk. However, a very few are support till the end, and during failure. That is true for students in academic OR industry. Hence, how far should a person should go for risk-taking? In other words, how to decide “calculated risk taking”? (How to minimize loss of time and capital due to risk taking).[I mean when should a person withdrawal]

3) What do you advice to student who failed their attempt to risk taking? (Remember these individuals have lost some most valuable resources in their lives: including time, money and relationships, and most importantly coworkers' trust)[they might not be ready to take another risk]

4) How to deal with Social loafing while working in a team? (Social loafers)-people who try to take credit of something they are not entitled of..

Thanks