The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide for Building Inner Excellence

Preface

ALTHOUGH I DIDN'T KNOW IT at the time, this book on inner excellence began on my first trip to India. I felt a calling to learn about spirituality, and where better to start than India? Sitting on an ashram, reading and studying deep ideas, and trying to meditate were jolting changes in paradigm for me, as were the hot days and cold showers. At times my head almost hurt as I tried to integrate what I was learning in the East with concepts from the West; the spiritual and academic were not blending easily. Gurus from Eastern traditions did research into the mind by focusing on the mental dynamics within their inner world; Western social science focused on understanding other people in the outer world. Both lines of inquiry were sincerely ...