Capitalism, today, has become a form of chaos that
functions. To fully engage and to try being in control in this market will make
one go crazy. The ultimate meaninglessness of this phenomenon is felt in times
of economic depressions where a sight of managers jumping out of their office
buildings is no rarity. Bubble and bursts aside, even a rumour in the market
can lead to its stability on fragile grounds.
A fairly new remedy practiced by western CEOs to counter
these occurrences and even push this economic system is by borrowing the
methods of the East - Buddhism. Buddhists stress the importance of tuning out
the worldly chaos and to meditate. Managers are using this method to
participate in the frenzy of markets without fully engaging themselves into it.
They say that sort of 'inner distancing' of the self allows them to speculate
all day and keeping their calm throughout. This is known as mindfulness.
The notion of ‘mindfulness at work’ is a new one. A search
on Amazon.com reveals that most books published on this matter are done so in
the current decade. What is striking that this is a being a made a business of.
Book are published as well as lectures and seminars are also conducted at
prestigious universities.
Harvard Business School professor William George has
collaborated with Buddhist meditation master Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche for a
conference on mindful leadership. This aims to introduce core Buddhist concepts
into Western leadership ideas to develop strong business leaders in today's world.
Google even has courses for its employees called "search inside
yourself" which teaches emotional intelligence through meditation.
Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc. was a practitioner of
Zen Buddhism. Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts and the 227th richest man in the
world, is also practicing Buddhist. Top performing Western companies such as
Deutsche Bank, Nike, Apple, Yahoo, and Google all have a 'quiet room' where
employees are encouraged to take time out from the stressful environment and
switch off for a bit.
What is interesting here is the switch of attitudes between
the East and the West. Eastern financial hubs are having a greater say in
today’s capitalism whereas western countries are swiftly adapting eastern
methods to cope with the stress and unpredictability of it. This merger of
spirituality/religion into the business world is surely going to a dawn an
altered method of business. The 2008 financial meltdown has indeed required new
ways to cope with the uncertainty. But the active implementation of this coping
mechanism signals that is more volatility to come and we better be prepared for
it.
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