The Seat of the Soul - Gary Zukav

Started reading this book because Oprah had said something along the lines of this book being the second most impt book next to the Bible, to her.

This book is essentially a New Age spiritualism book, and I feel that its ideas have a lot of similarities with Buddhism concepts. in a nutshell, the key idea here is that humans' end goal is to evolve beyond the five-sensory world into a more spiritual one, which can only be possible if one connects more deeply with one's soul.

I think that many of the concepts that the author talks about do contradict each other somewhat, and he tends to talk in very absolute terms, which makes me feel uncomfortable as I'm really not sure where he is getting his ideas from or on what basis he derives them.

Anyway, I do find certain concepts rather appealing, and I've put down the top three here.

Karma being generated with intention. I intuitively am drawn to the idea of karma, and that there is ultimately a chain effect to the things that we do. The author goes further and says that mere thought is sufficient to generate good and bad karma. Hence we need to be careful what kind of thoughts we seed and cultivate. This certainly sounds really Buddhist. While I'm not sure whether mere thought itself immediately creates karma, I do think that thoughts ultimately seep into one's personality; it is difficult to be a person of good character if one predominantly thinks badly of other people.

Addictions in life. I think this also stems from the Buddhist concept of "fixation". We are often addicted to all kinds of wants that we crave to fulfill, esp material ones. These cravings are bottomless pits, although I do think that there is some joy to be had in succumbing to them once in a while :p I'm not ready to lead an ascetic life. Notwithstanding, I do think that I need to guard against having too much of them - they do point to deeper issues that need to be thought through and addressed.

Power. I think instinctively, I often find myself drawn to "power" in the aggressive and ostentatious way (think macho movies, Vin Diesel, fast cars, etc). However, the true power that the book talks about is a different kind: an alignment with love, clarity, understanding, compassion, and being strong enough that one needs not harm other beings to demonstrate one's "power". Based on my interpretation, it seems to be an inner peace, acceptance and awareness of things. I intuitively seem to understand that this "authentic power" means, but I'm unable to put it into words properly. I also think that this authentic form of power goes against the more traditional and "masculinised" form of power. I will need time to understand this point much better, as I observe myself in various situations and how I react to issues.

How to Act like a CEO - D.A. Benton

An enjoyable read. Was trying to recall the reasons why I felt like I wanted to become a CEO in the future, see if my imaginings about the job gels somewhat with what the reality demands, and to see if I am indeed slowly making my way there. I think I am indeed building some necessary skills, but the key issue now is that I might not have the depth of expertise and corporate experience that are critical to climbing the corporate ladder. This is something that I need to think about.

In the meantime, key learning points!

• Self reflection/ awareness are absolutely critical to getting to the top job. This enables one to continually improve, and is also important because there are very few people who will tell you your flaws/ mistakes when you get to the top.
  
• CEOs need to envision. Some say they spend 70% of their time envisioning. They need to show the company (the leadership team, the officers, the stakeholders, customers, shareholders) the "destination". In addition, they need to see opportunities and pitfalls where no one else can. This is something I don't spend enough time on, but I'm getting better. The key is to leave the operational details to the team - let them take ownership of it, and then set aside time religiously to think. I find going to all sorts of places - the library, the nearby cafe, or even hidden corners in the building, very effective.
  
• To do this, they need to have access to a vast array of information - social, political, technological, economical, ecological, etc. To obtain these, they need to constantly gather information from people, especially from gurus, mentors and teammates on the ground. From all these, they need to connect the dots and "see around corners".
• They then need to communicate this vision all the time, repeating it to people all over the place so that it permeates the organisation. This has to be done in short words, short sentences, and with no buzzwords.
• 9 out of 10 decisions are based on judgement, instinct, following your heart and going for it. This is interesting. Although I also think that to be this good, one has to build up a wealth of experience and knowledge - which comes from working darn hard, clocking the right experiences and reading like crazy.
• You need the inventor, builder, and operator on your team. As CEO, you can't be all three. This sounds a lot like LKY's team.
• Keep track all that's going on, but delegate the decision. Define the what, but leave the how to team. Lack of operations focus looks like a lack of interest! Let people fail, hold them accountable, but don't jeopardise their career. I think I have been doing both. I'm using a zero-inbox rule currently (although there is constantly a backlog of about 8-10 emails at any point in time), which helps greatly in ensuring that I know exactly what goes on in my team, even if I delegated the decision.
  
• Control the resources. My training so far has given me good skills in managing manpower resources - I try to ensure that the workload is manageable by the team. However, I think I need more training in financial management. Perhaps a CFA will be useful?
  
• Be a constant questioner.
• Praise people but realise they rely on different things. Job security, public recognition, material rewards, being seen as the expert.
• And I think this is one of the most most important points. Act like a CEO even when you don't feel like it, and project the right image and messages at every opportunity. The team looks at you to take bearings for their level of energy, optimism and drive. This takes a lot of practice and is not "natural". In addition, learn calmness. Look like you have all the time in the world when dealing with problems and talking to people. Need to practice this a bit more. Just did a friend's personality test and it suggests that my intensity could unnerve some people!
  

A really good read and serves as an inspiration for me at this point of time in my career.