Gandhi said aspiritual act isactually themost practicalone. How doesthis fit in withyour book,‘ConsciousGlobalism’?■ If a thought or action is not practi-cal, it is not worth pursuing for it willnot lead to a constructive result.All tru-ly spiritual ideas will eventually resultin positive outcomes.

There is a close alignment betweenspiritual laws and principles and social-ly responsible business practices discussedin the book.At its core, spirituality isbased on the concept that we are all oneand should treat each other according-ly.There is really only one thing in ex-istence — God — and we are all a partof that One Force.Therefore,what youdo for another, you in reality do foryourself and what you fail to do for an-other, you fail to do for yourself.

Employees, who are treated withrespect, are more motivated, produc-tive and creative — they are willing togo the extra mile. Customers who aretreated well are more loyal and suppli-ers are more cooperative.The com-munity in which the company oper-ates is more supportive and a businessthat is environmentally sensitive is like-ly to find the resources it needs in abun-dance.These economic advantages bol-ster the bottom line and the company’sinvestors are the ultimate beneficiaries.Everyone wins!

You say that globalisation is nota solution for every country’seconomic problems. Can you tellus why?■ Globalisation is based primarily onopen borders and free trade. It may notbe the best answer for every country.Developing countries may need to fol-low more protectionist policies untiltheir industries are able to compete.They, therefore, restrict trade and sub-sidise immature industries. In fact, nocountry is devoid of trade restrictions.In that sense, globalisation is thwartedto some degree by everyone.

While there are many benefits toglobalisation — living standards gener-ally rise and poverty falls — some coun-tries may be more concerned with qual-ity of life and sustainability issues thanimmediate material benefits.Bhutan hasmade a conscious decision to focus onincreasing Gross Domestic Happinessrather than Gross Domestic Product.The GDP of many countries has in-creased several-fold over the last fivedecades while the level of satisfaction

in these countries has not improved.Inaddition, the gap between the rich andpoor has widened as globalisation great-ly rewards the skilled and educated andpenalises those with fewer qualifications.So,how you view globalisation depends,to a considerable degree,on your goalsand whether you have benefited or beenhurt by the process.

There is also a movement that ispromoting self-sufficient “local-livingeconomies” as a superior approach toglobalisation.They believe globalisation’semphasis on economic growth has great-ly harmed the environment. By keep-ing trade local, the strain on the envi-ronment is minimised.Agricultural com-modities and other goods don’t have tobe transported long distances reducingthe use of fossil fuels, and, therefore,global warming.

How can capitalism be conscious? ■ Capitalism — an economic systembased on private ownership of resourcesand free competitive markets — is val-ue-neutral. Managers of an enterprisecan make decisions which are consciousand considerate of the impact they haveon stakeholders and society at large orthey can make decisions that do notconsider how they affect other mem-

bers of the community. Many people— understandably but mistakenly —get upset at “businesses” that take self-ish, short-sighted actions. Businessesdon’t make decisions; people do. Busi-nesses are nothing more than a groupof people working together to achievea common goal. People are sometimesunaware of how their decisions affectothers or unconcerned about the effectof their actions.Too often, we think ofself-interest only in the narrow senserather than the view that is aligned withreality — we are all in this adventure

together and no one gets to “go home”(return to God — our ultimate desti-nation) until everyone is ready and able.

What are the business practicesyou suggest that Indian businesses should avoid? ■ Too many businesses in the West arefocused primarily on quarterly finan-cial results and increasing shareholdervalue as soon as possible, regardless oflong-term gains. Employees are oftentreated as costs to be reduced — to makequarterly profit goals — rather than as-sets to be enhanced.The environment,in too many cases,has suffered becauseof this short-term focus.And researchand development is subject to counter-productive cutbacks which reduce in-novation and technological advances.

There are,of course,many compa-nies in the west who take a longer-termapproach.They spend a great deal onemployee development and training andare concerned about employee satis-faction and fulfilment. However, fos-tering humility is not something evendiscussed let alone emphasised in west-ern companies, yet I believe it is veryimportant.Too often,managers exhib-it a misplaced sense of pride when thingsgo right and they feel the need to berewarded for “what they did.” Spiritu-

ally-aware people know that every sit-uation is the result of many unseenforces, a good many of which are notof our doing.They may be based onkarma or the result of the effort of aguru, angelic beings or spirit guides. Itis also important to know that univer-sal powers are constantly at work in anycreative process. It is important to un-derstand the proper balance betweenthe personality-level self and higher uni-versal forces in any creative process in-cluding those in the workplace.

What makes a good leader? ■ A good leader is commonly thoughtto be one who demonstrates qualitiessuch as integrity,courage, flexibility,vi-sion and passion.Two qualities oftenoverlooked are self-knowledge and gen-erosity, the latter being a by-product ofhumility and compassion.

Self-knowledge enables people tounderstand themselves, especially theirfaults and weaknesses, and to begin toeliminate habits that might be detri-

mental to their leadership responsibili-ties.If we are not conscious of our neg-ativities,we can’t change them and theywill continue to hinder our effective-ness in the world as well as our spiritu-al development.Our ego would ratherignore any personality trait that is notflattering. It is not easy to admit frail-ties as we think others will think less ofus.The truth is just the opposite. Oth-er people have trouble relating to any-one who exhibits the mask of perfec-tion.And none of us are perfect despiteour best efforts on that front.Admittingour deficiencies is actually very liberat-ing and rewarding;we feel better aboutourselves when we expose what hasbeen previously hidden and others aremore inclined to connect with us.

Being generous with those we leadis essential to building their self-esteemand self-fulfilment.This makes the wholeorganisation stronger and more effec-tive. Leaders who are generous withtheir time and resources gain the fullcommitment of their followers.Theywillingly exert extra effort and gain theskills and confidence to make difficultdecisions and assume the risks every or-ganisation needs to take to grow andprosper.The universe rewards, in manyways, those who offer selfless service.■

poonam.jain1@timesgroup.com

T H E S P E A K I N G T R E EB A N G A L O R E , M AY 2 7, 2 0 1 2

What is the use of a house if you don’t have a decent planet to put it on? — Henry D Thoreau

Good Fortune“Life isn’t like that,” my father toldme.“Sometimes things happen thatcannot be foreseen.” He told me ofthe time when, in Buchenwald, theNazi concentration camp in whichhe was imprisoned and starving, hestole a loaf of bread from the bakery.The baker had the Gestapo line thesuspects up.“Who stole the bread?”

the baker asked.When no oneanswered, he told the guards to shootthe suspects one by one until either

they were all dead or someoneconfessed. My father stepped forwardto spare the others. Instead of havinghim killed, though, the baker gave

my father a plum job, as hisassistant.“A chance event,” my

father said.“It had nothing to do

with you, but had it happeneddifferently, you would never have

been born.” It struck me then that Ihave Hitler to thank for my

existence, for the Germans hadkilled my father’s wife and two

young children, erasing his prior life.And so were it not for the war, myfather would never have met mymother, also a refugee, and never

have produced me and my two brothers.

— Leonard Mlodinow,The Drunkard’s Walk

10 Miracle Points1.There is no order of difficulty

among miracles. One is not “harder”or “bigger” than another.They are

all the same.All expressions of love are maximal.

2. Miracles as such do not matter.The only thing that matters is their

Source, which is far beyond human evaluation.

3. Miracles occur naturally asexpressions of love.The real miracle

is the love that inspires them.In this sense, everything that comes

from love is a miracle.

4. All miracles mean life, and Godis the giver of life. His voice will

direct you very specifically.You willbe told all you need to know.

5. Miracles are habits and should beinvoluntary.They should not be

under conscious control. Consciouslyselected miracles can be misguided.

6. Miracles are natural.When they do not occur, something

has gone wrong.7. Miracles are everyone’s right, but

purification is necessary.8. Miracles are healing because they

are performed by those whotemporarily have more for those who

temporarily have less.9. Miracles are a kind of exchange,

like all expressions of love.10. The use of miracles as spectacles

to induce belief is wrong.— Helen Schucman,A Course in Miracles

EMPLOYEES, WHO ARE TREATED

WITH RESPECT, ARE MORE

MOTIVATED — THEY ARE

WILLING TO GO THE EXTRA MILE.

CUSTOMERS WHO ARE TREATED

WELL ARE MORE LOYAL AND

SUPPLIERS ARE MORE

COOPERATIVE. THE COMMUNITY

IN WHICH THE COMPANY

OPERATES IS MORE SUPPORTIVE

If you do so, your world will become ahaven of peace, says SANT RAJINDER SINGH

The more thoroughly you know yourself, the more likely you are

to make impartial, objectivedecisions, businessman and

author DAVID SCHWERIN tells POONAM K JAIN in Bangalore

AMANDEEP GUPTA

Sitting cross-legged, youngmen and women welcomethe new day with chants ofAum. They inhale and ex-

hale, experiencing the power of thebreath.This is not a group of mysticsout on their morning meditationexercise, but a group of young menand women who are professionalsemployed by corporate India.

Holistic ApproachManagements,across companies,

are realising that an effectiveworkforce should have a ho-listic approach to life andwork.There is a need to un-derstand and comprehendwholesomeness,self-aware-ness,compassion,creativity,thought and reason.In oth-er words,those who understand life’spurpose make for much better work-ers and more adaptive team mem-bers.The combination of intelligencequotient and spiritual quotient (SQ)is fundamental to finding answers tolife’s problems and also solutions forthe workplace.Today, companies tryand lower employee stress levels byraising an employee’s SQ.Everybodywants to do good and be good, butif these qualities remain dormant,in-dividuals may not realise their truepotential.

Spiritual quotient has nothingto do with religion; it’s an essentialvalue,beyond materiality, intelligenceor emotional quotient. It’s some-thing that we seek regardless of ourvocation or station in life.When aworker realises his inner potential,as a first step,he tries to make an au-thentic and frank conversation at the

workplace,which is the foundationof a trusting community.This in-volves selfless service which createsa better world to live in.

It is this drive to do “good”whichharmonises the innate powers thatevery individual is endowed with. Itprovides for lasting peace and har-mony. An important need of theworkplace is the creation of tightlyknit communities which are drivennot only by the desire to succeed in-dividually, but also to create a betterfuture for everybody. Such cohesive

groups help in removinganxieties and in loweringstress levels.The individualis then uniquely equippedto “give back”to the world.A person’s thoughts,wordsand actions are all directedtowards a higher objective,

much above individual aspirations.

Higher PurposeOrganisations that have a physi-

cally, emotionally and intellectuallybalanced workforce make for pow-erhouses.When the vision and val-ues of an organisation are in tune witha higher purpose,it makes for a trans-parent and highly motivated work-place which experiences collectivejoy and happiness.It’s no surprise thatorganisations are, therefore, increas-ingly opting for spiritual workshopsas they look towards inculcating last-ing values in their employees.For theworkplace of tomorrow, a mere as-sessment of an individual’s IQ andEQ may not be sufficient. It is a mixof SQ, IQ and EQ that makes for agifted and committed employee. ■

The author is the HR head,Dalmia Bharat Group

Once, Mother Teresa wasasked,“Do you get an-gry at the examples ofsocial injustice that you

see around you in India and in oth-er parts of the world?” She an-swered, “Why should I expend en-ergy in anger when I can expend itin love?”

Every day, we go through manysituations that can provoke anger.Sometimes we become angry whensomeone hurts or offends us.Thereare instances in which we becomeangry when we see others being hurt.We may find cases of social injusticein which a group of people is beingtreated unfairly. In each case, we mayfeel that a wrong has been commit-ted, and we may not be able to ig-nore what is happening.The differ-ence is in how we respond to injus-tice.We have the capability to makechoices. We can either react out ofanger, or we can overcome and re-place that anger with love. MotherTeresa chose to overcome anger withlove and compassion.

A Sweet BalmThere is a lot of anger and vio-

lence in the world. In every town andvillage, in every home, one finds ex-plosions of anger.To respond to thisanger with more anger only fuels theflames.We do not put out fire by fan-ning the flames.We have to smoth-

er the fire. Similarly, we donot put out fires of anger byadding more fire to them.Wecan douse the fire of angerwith love.

Rather than add one moreangry voice to a dispute, weshould add the balm of sweet-ness to cool down the tempersof others.Rather than add to thevibrations of the atmosphere withan angry thought, we should sendloving thoughts to cleanse the at-mosphere. It takes a lot of energy to

respond withanger. The re-sponse tends todeplete and drainus. But if we useour energy to re-spond lovingly,we not only

bring harmony to the situation, weare energised by that love.When weact lovingly, we are opening the doorfor God’s love to flow through us.We are energised and boosted by godly love.

The next time we find ourselvesin a situation, in which an injusticeis taking place, we can practise responding with love instead of anger.We can note the effect our positiveresponse has both on the situationand on our well-being.There isenough anger in the world. Let usbring harmony and peace to theworld.Let us overcome violence withlove. This will have a ripple effect.Soon, our environment, our com-munity, and our society will becomea haven of peace in this world. Spir-itual Pearls for Enlightened Living;Radiance Publishers ■

SQ Matters Replace AngerWith Love

IT TAKES A LOT OF ENERGY TO

RESPOND WITH ANGER. THE

RESPONSE TENDS TO DEPLETE

AND DRAIN US. BUT IF WE USE

OUR ENERGY TO RESPOND

LOVINGLY, WE BRING

HARMONY TO THE SITUATION

Resentment is like takingpoison and waiting forthe other person to die

— Malachy McCourt

IMAGES©CORBIS

Give Everyone A Chance

Give Everyone A Chance

*sptbgB270512/ /03/K/1*

*sptbgB270512/ /03/K/1*sptbgB270512/1R1/03/K/1

*sptbgB270512/ /03/Y/1*

*sptbgB270512/ /03/Y/1*sptbgB270512/1R1/03/Y/1

*sptbgB270512/ /03/M/1*

*sptbgB270512/ /03/M/1*sptbgB270512/1R1/03/M/1

*sptbgB270512/ /03/C/1*

*sptbgB270512/ /03/C/1*sptbgB270512/1R1/03/C/1

The Times of India