Dr. Keren Tsuk — Wisdom To Lead

As the saying goes, if you don’t have twenty minutes to practice meditation, practice for an hour.

Being mindful means that we must feel every emotion we experience in every moment, without disengaging and letting our emotions manage us.

This post highlights a written interview with Keren Tsuk, Ph.D. I sent her a few questions and she’s been kind enough to send me the responses. It’s my honor to bring forth her experiences in this short post. I’ve absolutely loved her answers which feel meditative to me.

Keren Tsuk, Ph.D., is a keynote speaker, consultant, and thought leader in 21st-century leadership sought-after speaker, As the founder and CEO of consulting firm Wisdom To Lead, she specializes in the development of senior management teams and corporate leadership. Tsuk guides companies and senior management teams to reach their full potential using various techniques in the field of mindfulness. She is also the author of Mindfully Wise Leadership: The Secret of Today’s Leaders.

Connect with Keren: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

Please enjoy this conversation with Karen!

Nishant: What books—or even movies and documentaries—would you recommend to someone who wants to live a meaningful life? What books have you gifted the most, and why?

Keren: One book that had a deep impact on me was The Alchemist, about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who consults a Gypsy fortune-teller about the meaning of a recurring dream. The fortune-teller interprets the dream as a prophecy, telling the boy that he will discover a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. After Santiago sets out, he meets various people on his journey. From everyone, he learns something about the world, and, in particular, he learns how to realize his true self from a wise alchemist. As he progresses, his challenges increase. He needs to believe in himself and in the journey. The story demonstrates that to fulfill our calling in the world, we need to search within ourselves, while also being open and curious to the signs outside that help us find our path.

I truly believe that each of us has wisdom, and nobody can know about ourselves more than we each do. This is the reason I called my company Wisdom To Lead: In order to lead, we need to connect to the wisdom within ourselves.

What touched me most from this book is that even on our challenging paths, everyone has a present to bring to the world. This present is our unique quality and calling in the world.

In order to fulfill your calling, you will also need to find your unique path. While you move forward in life, and people around you will show you the way, give you signs, open doors for you, and connect you to the people you need to meet to fulfill yourself. They will teach you what you need to learn along the journey. And as you go in your path, you need to connect deeper to your inner self and overcome fears and distractions. And as we get closer to our treasure and fulfillment, the challenges get bigger and we may have to face our fears. However, this is a sign that we are on the right path. We need to dare to get out of our comfort zones to experience the meaningful lives we wish for ourselves.

Another meaningful book is: When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron, which teaches us how to handle uncertainty and adversity. When I read the book, it gave me a wider perspective on challenging situations and how to handle them. Each and every one of us goes through tough times especially today under pandemic conditions that are transforming the world. We are experiencing uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity. It looks like the uncertainty is here to stay. This is why being present and being able to navigate in uncertain and challenging times is a crucial skill that we need to embrace and nourish.

At the beginning of her book, Chodron shares a difficult experience she went through when her husband divorced her and her life fell apart. She felt a lot of anger and fear. However, this turning point brought her closer to her mission in life, as she encountered Buddhism and went on a path to become a teacher. In the end, she was thankful for the experience, and that is a major theme of the book—the idea that life is all beginnings and endings. Moreover, she talks about becoming familiar with fear and looking it right in the eye so that we can really come to terms with what we feel that we cannot address. This resonated with me so much; this is what being mindful truly means. Being mindful is to feel our various emotions without disconnecting from them, and choosing freely how to react instead of being managed by our own feelings and emotions. So, if I feel fearful right now, I will accept that — that part of me feels scared right now but I won’t let this fear paralyze me. Acknowledging fear allows us to keep on going toward our goals.

Continue reading “Dr. Keren Tsuk — Wisdom To Lead”

Payal Nanjiani: Globally Acclaimed Leadership Expert — Sharing Short Advice and Experiences

This post highlights a written interview with Payal Nanjiani. I sent her a few questions and she’s been kind enough to send me the responses. She and I connected on LinkedIn, and it’s my pleasure to bring forth her experiences in this short post.

I crafted a list of 10 life’s philosophical questions that I wanted to answer for myself. I thought—what would it look like if I ask the same set of questions to the best in the world from the different domain—so that I can learn from them—what they do, how they think on the same questions, and much more! 

Payal Nanjiani is a top leadership speaker and one of the world’s renowned leadership experts who to date has helped a million people and numerous organizations lead and succeed against all odds. Her work is embraced by Fortune 500 companies, large 0rganizations, government officials, and many celebrity CEOs. 

A former Human Resource Manager, Payal witnessed tremendous success in her early work life. When she moved to the United States of America in the summer of 2000, Payal was constantly reminded by friends and family that she is stepping into a land of opportunities where people are very successful. Excited for her new journey, she quickly rose to higher roles at her work. To learn more about her, visit page

This post highlights my conversation with Payal Nanjiani on such questions.

Connect with Payal: Website | LinkedIn | Instagram

Please enjoy this conversation with Payal!

Nishant: What books—or even movies and documentaries—would you recommend to someone who wants to live a meaningful life? What books have you gifted the most, and why?

Payal: The one book I most often recommend and re-read myself is Tough Times Never Last but Tough People do by  Dr. Robert Schuller. It was a book that was gifted to me by my father when I was in college and since then it’s helped me a lot in my own life. It’s a book that helps shape your leadership in crisis.

Nishant: You have interacted with many successful people over the years – what have you found are the most beneficial exercises that people really feel have changed their lives for the better?

Payal: If I was to name just one practice that I’ve found common across every successful leader I’ve interacted with, it is the practice of self-awareness. It just opens up the neuropathways of your brain and leads you to be accountable for your karma (actions).

Continue reading “Payal Nanjiani: Globally Acclaimed Leadership Expert — Sharing Short Advice and Experiences”

Erica Keswin—Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines Into Workplace Magic, Working with Executives and Leaders, Grounding Practices, and More (#171)

Good things happen when people connect”. Purpose has to be actualized in every day to day work.

Erica Keswin is a workplace strategist who has worked for the past twenty years with some of the most iconic brands in the world as a consultant, speaker, author, and professional dot-connector. Her bestselling book, Bring Your Human to Work: Ten Sure-Fire Ways to Design a Workplace That’s Good for People, Great for Business, and Just Might Change the World, was published by McGraw-Hill in the fall of 2018. Her second book, Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines Into Workplace Magic (McGraw-Hill), was published in January 2021 and made the Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly and USA Today best seller lists.

Erica’s work and insights can be seen in various media outlets, including Harvard Business Review, NY Post, Forbes, Huffington Post, O Magazine, Entrepreneur, Business Insider, Mogul, Conscious Company, Quartz, and Fast Company.

Recent keynotes, workshops, and webinars (virtual and IRL) include the American Red Cross, SXSW, TIAA, IBM, New York Times, HighTower Associates, AllianceBernstein, Standard Industries, Banfield Pet Hospital, and Radio Flyer. Erica was named one of Marshall Goldsmith’s Top 100 Coaches in 2020, as well as one of Business Insider’s most innovative coaches of 2020.

Please enjoy!

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher ,or on your favorite platform.

This podcast is brought to you by Newsletter. If you’d like to learn more about what I am reading, new documentaries, what I am learning new, recent podcast updates, things I am experimenting with, or anything —which I share extensively in my weekly short and sweet “Friday Newsletter”. No spam ever! I hate that too!

Connect with Erica:

Website | Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter

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Continue reading “Erica Keswin—Rituals Roadmap: The Human Way to Transform Everyday Routines Into Workplace Magic, Working with Executives and Leaders, Grounding Practices, and More (#171)”

Monique Russell — Short Advice, Experiences, and Wisdom From The Best In The World

I crafted a list of 10 life’s philosophical questions that I wanted to answer for myself. I thought—what would it look like if I ask the same set of questions to the best in the world from the different domain—so that I can learn from them—what they do, how they think on the same questions, and much more! 

This post highlights my conversation with Monique Russell on such questions.

Monique Russell is an executive coach, leadership guru, communication expert, and the founder of Clear Communication Solutions. She comes from a long line of educators in her family. Keeping in line with her desire to be on the big stage, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism.  She went back for two Masters of Science, one in Public Relations and the other in Advertising.

She’s an excellent communication consultant and coach, that’s why she’s ready to guide you with her gifts so you too can be a confident and clear communicator. This is how Clear Communication Solutions was born.

Organizations like CDC, Google, Salesforce, Verizon, Equifax, OSHA, FEMA, Chambers of Commerce, business owners, and faith-based organizations trust her to help them foster courage, creativity, and leadership. You can too.

Connect with Monique: Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

Please enjoy this conversation with Monique!

Nishant Garg: What books—or even movies and documentaries—would you recommend to someone who want to live a meaningful life? What books have you gifted the most, and why?

Monique Russell: The Success Principles by Jack Canfield is a book I highly recommend to anyone who wants to live a meaningful life. I have gifted this book many times, and I remember when I first started reading it years ago — my mother and I actually read it together. I’d read out loud each chapter and when a concept was so deep we would simply start talking about it right away. It was so invigorating for both of us because as we read we were able to discuss the principles together. This book helps you to realize how much in control of your decisions and life you are. You are left feeling inspired and empowered to take responsibility for your life. Since then, my mother has become a certified Jack Canfield trainer and teaches the principles often. 

Nishant Garg: What does your first 60 to 90 minutes in the morning look like? What are your specific rituals on a regular basis?

Monique Russell: The morning is most important for me to prime my mind. Before I get out of bed I begin a practice of gratitude, thinking and saying all the things I am grateful for out loud. I start with my bed, my pillow, the good night’s sleep I had, my family, my health, and so on. Then, I execute my affirmations playlist that consists of 3 to 4 regular different sets of affirmations I listen to regularly. Sometimes I will repeat them or I will listen to it silently with my eyes closed. Then, I get up, make my bed, and take a shower. I drink 8 oz of water and take a multi-vitamin. Then, I make myself the first cup of tea. It used to be coffee, but I successfully transitioned to tea four years ago. I take my tea with me to my desk and pray. Then, I get out my journal and begin to free write. Once I am done with those steps, I am ready to start my work day. I look at the list of tasks from the night before if I wrote them out, and begin working whether I am coaching, training, being interviewed, or developing strategies for my clients. 

People often ask me how I can be so positive so early in the morning and this is why. By the time I meet with the first person in the day, I am literally on cloud 9. This morning routine is so important to me because if I jump into my day without prepping and priming my mind, I find that my frustration level heightens more easily. 

Nishant Garg: You have interacted with many successful people over the years — what have you found are the most beneficial exercises that people really feel have changed their lives for the better?

Monique Russell: The people I consider to be successful are those that have been able to work in their strength zones, build great relationships, and have time to enjoy life while being in a good financial position. When I assess and speak with some of these persons, I have observed 4 exercises that help them change their lives for the better:

  • An ability to implement daily discipline no matter how small the task is. They make their practice of discipline almost second nature like breathing.
  • Actively and intentionally nurture relationships. Nurturing their relationships is considered a critical business task and they treat it as such. This means proactively scheduling time to spend time with, connect and celebrate those that fill their cup, and vice versa.
  • Consistently engage in exercise or some form of physical activity. This could be walking, running, lifting weights, hiking, dancing, rock climbing etc.
  • Invest in their mind with therapy and/or coaching. Every one of these individuals had the realization that they were their biggest asset and as such, they invested in maximizing their mental capacity and faculties with facilitated thinking.
Continue reading “Monique Russell — Short Advice, Experiences, and Wisdom From The Best In The World”

Denise Shull — The Role of Emotions in Decision Making, Resolving Mental Blocks, Performance Coach to Professional Athletes, Understanding the Feelings, Experiencing Peak Performance, and More (#169)

“Every performance improvement anyone can want is on the other side of a better approach to the so-called negative emotions.”

“If you keep considering feelings your enemy, you are war with yourself. If you embrace your emotions as information, they become much more friendly. You actually reduce the odds of acting on them by making them explicit or conscious.”

Denise Shull is the CEO and Lead Performance Coach at the human performance and decision-making consultancy, The ReThink Group Inc. Leveraging her unique combination of expertise in Neuroeconomics and Modern Psychoanalysis she has developed The Shull Method™ a unique approach to mental skills which prioritizes emotion in the pursuit of peak performance and the resolution of psychological roadblocks.

After working at IBM, Ms. Shull’s Wall Street career began in 1994 when she traded at one of the first E-trading firms in Chicago. She moved to Schonfeld Securities before being invited to run a desk in NYC in 1997. She founded ReThink in 2003 and continued to trade financial futures through her membership at the Chicago Board of Trade through 2009.

Her 2012 book, Market Mind Games: A Radical Psychology of Investing, Trading and Risk has been reviewed as the “best of its genre” and a “veritable Rosetta Stone of trading psychology.” In 2015, Shull was invited to consult with the writers on Showtime’s drama BILLIONS and in 2016 Bloomberg Tradebook released the Trader Brain Exercise based on ReThink’s IP. In 2017, Shull and ReThink delivered HEADSx, a robust talent assessment tool used by select hedge funds to hire exceptional talent. In 2018, her work with Olympian Lindsey Jacobellis was featured in the New York Times.

A highly engaging speaker, Shull has delivered talks at NASCAR’s Hendrick MotorSports, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, MIT, US Ski and Snowboard Association, Harvard Business School, CFA Societies and Leaders in Sport among others. In 2019, Shull is featured on REAL VISION – the disruptive financial TV start-up. She has also appeared on CNBC’s Halftime Report and Squawk Box both in the US and Asia. FORBES, WSJ, FT, Bloomberg Markets, and New York Times’ Dealbook have run profiles on her while FOX Business, Bloomberg, Cavuto, PBS and The Discovery Channel have also invited her commentary.

She holds a Master of Arts in neuropsychoanalysis (1995) from The University of Chicago. Her thesis research, “The Neurobiology of Freud’s Theory of the Repetition Compulsion,” was republished in 2003 in the Annals of Modern Psychoanalysis and was cited in 2013 as one of the first papers written in neuropsychoanalysis. She is also a 2009 alumnus of Harvard’s Kennedy School Executive Education program, Investment Decisions and Behavioral Finance.

Get her book Market Mind Games: A Radical Psychology of Investing, Trading and Risk

Please enjoy!

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or on your favorite platform.

Also available to listen on YouTube

This podcast is brought to you by Newsletter. If you’d like to learn more about what I am reading, new documentaries, what I am learning new, recent podcast updates, things I am experimenting with, or anything —which I share extensively in my weekly short and sweet “Friday Newsletter”. No spam ever! I hate that too!

Connect with Denise:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Book: Market Mind Games: A Radical Psychology of Investing, Trading and Risk

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Continue reading “Denise Shull — The Role of Emotions in Decision Making, Resolving Mental Blocks, Performance Coach to Professional Athletes, Understanding the Feelings, Experiencing Peak Performance, and More (#169)”

Raj Sisodia on Wholeness and Healing, Spiritual Journey in the Himalayas, Mind Maps for Writing, Ayahuasca Experience, Feminine and Masculine Energy, Conscious Capitalism, and More (#159)

It is one thing to awaken. It is another thing to remain awake.

– Raj

Raj Sisodia was born in India and spent parts of his childhood in Barbados, California and Canada. He was educated as an electrical engineer from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS, Pilani). He pursued an MBA in Marketing from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai after which he earned a Ph.D. in Marketing and Business Policy from Columbia University.

Until 1998, he was the Director of Executive Programs and Associate Professor of Marketing at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. From 1985 to 1988, he was Assistant Professor of Marketing at Boston University.

He also spent 15 years at Bentley University as Trustee Professor of Marketing, Department Chair and founder/director of the Center for Marketing Technology. Raj is a trustee of Conscious Capitalism Inc. and a member of the board of directors of The Container Store. He has consulted with and taught executive programs for numerous companies, including AT&T, Nokia, LG, DPDHL, POSCO, Kraft Foods, Whole Foods Market, Tata, Siemens, Sprint, Volvo, IBM, Walmart, Rabobank, McDonalds and Southern California Edison.

Raj is an American citizen residing in Boston, Massachusetts. Raj has published ten books and over 100 academic articles. His work has been featured in the Wall Street journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe,CNBC and many other media outlets.

Please enjoy!

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or on your favorite platform.

Also, you can listen on YouTube

This podcast is brought to you by Newsletter. If you’d like to learn more about what I am reading, new documentaries, what I am learning new, recent podcast updates, things I am experimenting with, or anything —which I share extensively in my weekly short and sweet “Friday Newsletter”. No spam ever! I hate that too!

Connect with Raj:

Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Conscious Capitalism

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Book Mentioned:

People Mentioned:

Show Notes:

  • Could you tell us the meaning of your first name to our listeners?
  • Could you share one of your memorable childhood moments?
  • You lived abroad between the age of 7 and 12 and then moved back to India, how was the culture shock for you and how did you adapt to the changing environments?
  • Did you have a good relationship with your father?
  • Blend of Feminine and Masculine energy
  • You mentioned that your dad wanted to you to be something else. What was that?
  • How do you find the balance between loving and striving to have more in your own personal life and personal relationships?
  • What are the concrete practices you have in an everyday life to cultivate more of healthy masculinity and be more self aware and awakened?
  • You went for a shamanic experience, you also went to a silent retreat in upstate New York. And then you also went to a spiritual journey in the Himalayas. When was it? Could you double click on all of these experiences and share with us?
  • what does healing mean to now?
  • When you were going through the spiritual awakening and multiple dimensions of healing, what was your inner voice at that time? What were you telling yourself? Any self-talk that you remember?
  • What do you do in the first 60 to 90 minutes of your waking up in the morning?
  • Writing process
  • Could you give us a small concrete example of mind mapping that you have used recently in your writing?
  • Not everybody can have access to you and Michael Gelb. So could you tell us some resources on mind mapping that we can go and learn more about it?
  • You have coauthored a lot of your books with other amazing writers? So are there some principles, rules, structure, frameworks to write a book with another human being?
  • What did Michael tell you to just trust your instincts?
  • What do you mean by words coming from soul versus words coming from the consciousness?
  • Why Jag Sheth is your mentor and what qualities does he have that you seek him as your mentor?
  • what is the specific impact you want to leave on this world?
  • And, much more


The Nishant Garg Show:

This show is about helping you live a fulfilled life and my job on this show is to sit with the world class experts to extract the practices, routines and habits to help you live a fulfilled and abundant life. For any question, please contact me.

If you have enjoyed listening to my podcasts, please subscribe to the new podcast updates on Itunes please provide your reviews on Itunes which will really help me. Subscribe to the Newsletter. You won’t be spammed! I hate spams too! You will receive only one email every Friday on the latest published podcasts.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in growing this little show. I also love reading reviews! Instructions are: a)If you’re on an iPhone, simply scroll down to “Reviews” inside the Podcasts app. b) If you’re on a desktop, click on “Listen on Apple Podcasts” under “The Nishant Garg Show.” Once inside iTunes, click on “Ratings and Reviews” and you’re set.

Cindy Vuu — Meeting with Dalai Lama, Foundation of Happiness, Living a Good Life, Interdependence and Impermanence, and More (#155)

Cindy Vuu — Meeting with Dalai Lama, Foundation of Happiness, Living a Good Life, Interdependence and Impermanence, and More (#155)

The state of mind of the wine drinker has a lot more to do with the enjoyment of the wine than the wine itself.”

-Cindy

Cindy Vuu is the CEO of an 8000 employees company Bitis, it’s a national heritage footwear brand in Vietnam. The brand is so well-known there that nearly all Vietnamese have likely worn Bitis shoes at some point in their lives. Cindy also is known for driving the successful comeback of company amidst the fierce foreign brand competition. Much of this comeback is attributed to the marketing campaign of the Bitis Hunter line in 2017. By collaborating with massive Vietnamese musical artist and promoting a message seeped in mindfulness and connection, the initiative transformed the brand back up to its current top spot as Vietnam’s #1 footwear company.   Cindy is passionate for shoes. She also loves to contribute & create a happy, loving, compassionate and green community.

Please enjoy!

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or on your favorite platform

This podcast is brought to you by Newsletter. If you’d like to learn more about what I am reading, new documentaries, what I am learning new, recent podcast updates, things I am experimenting with, or anything —which I share extensively in my weekly short and sweet “Friday Newsletter”. No spam ever! I hate that too!

Connect with Cindy:

Website | Instagram | Facebook

Download Audio:

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Book Mentioned:

People Mentioned:

Resources that helped me in the preparation

Show Notes:

  • How do you pronounce your name in Vietnamese?
  • When did he go to Canada to study and what subjects did you study?
  • Why do you recommend these two books – The Art of happiness and Old path white cloud?
  • Could you share a story of your struggle before reading the book – the art of happiness?
  • What did you learn or could you share any conversation with Dalai Lama? And, how did you meet him?
  • Would you mind describing the law of interdependence?
  • Could you describe impermanence and its role in the arena of Buddhism?
  • Your husband died and I’m sorry to hear that. Are you comfortable talking about what happened and how did you deal with the circumstances and grief process?
  • How do you practice unconditional love?
  • Do you have any advice to our listeners to practice unconditional love? How can we practice more of this?
  • Could you guide us about your journaling process? Is it based on some set of questions or free flow?
  • Difference between mindfulness and mindfulness meditation?
  • Could you tell us some of the resources on the internet or in the form of books to really get us started on meditation?
  • The holiness, Dalai Lama says that the purpose of life is to be happy. They have attained that level of enlightenment but for common people like you and me and others, how do we get to that level? Or how do we understand the basic foundation of happiness?
  • What makes a good life? What could be the basics of living a good life?
  • What is it like to live in Vietnam in terms of culture, society, food?
  • You are the CEO of a footwear brand company bitis. And you are talking about the challenges and the fun part. Could you share any example of your recent challenges in this company?
  • Being the CEO of a 8,000 employees company – how did you deal with your own mental health and state of mind during COVID?
  • What are your roles and responsibilities as the CEO? What does a normal day look like in your professional world?
  • What are the misconceptions that people have about the roles and responsibilities of a CEO of a successful company?
  • How do you deal with criticism and negative feedback?
  • What is the right way to give feedback?
  • and much more

The Nishant Garg Show:

This show is about helping you live a fulfilled life and my job on this show is to sit with the world class experts to extract the practices, routines and habits to help you live a fulfilled and abundant life. For any question, please contact me.

If you have enjoyed listening to my podcasts, please subscribe to the new podcast updates on Itunes please provide your reviews on Itunes which will really help me. Subscribe to the Newsletter. You won’t be spammed! I hate spams too! You will receive only one email every Friday on the latest published podcasts.

If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in growing this little show. I also love reading reviews! Instructions are: a)If you’re on an iPhone, simply scroll down to “Reviews” inside the Podcasts app. b) If you’re on a desktop, click on “Listen on Apple Podcasts” under “The Nishant Garg Show.” Once inside iTunes, click on “Ratings and Reviews” and you’re set.

Jeremy Hunter on The Quality of Life and Attention, Meaningful and Engaged Life, Why Moments Matter, Japan Bathing Culture, and More (#152)

“I tell my Japanese friends all the time, you can’t digitize a bathtub.”

“Use your daily life as a place of practice.”

“You cannot manage other people unless you manage yourself first.”

-Jeremy

Jeremy Hunter, PhD is the great-grandson of a sumo wrestler. He serves as the Founding Director of the Executive Mind Leadership Institute as well as Associate Professor of Practice at the Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management. For over a decade, he has helped leaders develop themselves while retaining their humanity in the face of monumental change and challenge. He created and teaches The Executive Mind, a series of demanding and transformative executive education programs. They are dedicated to Drucker’s assertion that “You cannot manage other people unless you manage yourself first.”

He co-leads the Leading Mindfully Executive Education program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He has designed and led leadership development programs for a wide variety of organizations, including Fortune 200 aerospace, Fortune 50 banking and finance, accounting, the arts and civic non-profits. Program impacts have lead to both positive professional, personal and financial outcomes for participants. Past participants have worked to create a “culture of calm” resulting in more effective team performance as well as creating better firm-wide solutions. They were better able to focus on their priorities, connect with team members, and focus on larger strategic priorities. They learned to control emotions they previously thought not possible to do. For example, better-managed reactions with a volatile client saved an aerospace executive an estimated $700,000 in unexercised contract clauses. Participants also reported a higher quality of sleep as well as greater peace of mind and enhanced ability to enjoy their lives.

Hunter has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times and National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. He has been voted Professor of the Year five times. His work is informed by the experience of living day-to-day for 17 years with a potentially terminal illness. When faced with the need for life-saving surgery more than a dozen former students came forward as organ donors.

Dr. Hunter received his Ph.D. from University of Chicago, under the direction of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He also holds a degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and in East Asian Studies from Wittenberg University. He relishes Chinese dumplings and obsesses about modern architecture. He and his wife and son dutifully serve two housecats who live in Los Angeles. He is a contributor to Mindful.com, He was featured in the article “Why Mindfulness Matters.”

Please enjoy!

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or on your favorite platform

This podcast is brought to you by Newsletter. If you’d like to learn more about what I am reading, new documentaries, what I am learning new, recent podcast updates, things I am experimenting with, or anything —which I share extensively in my weekly short and sweet “Friday Newsletter”. No spam ever! I hate that too!

Connect with Jeremy:

Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Ted Talk: How to Change your Future

Download Audio:

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Book Mentioned: The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto

People Mentioned:

Show Notes:

  • What is your connection with Japan?
  • What does it feel like to be in Japan?
  • Japan as a culture has incorporated beauty and aesthetic.
  • You mentioned about the qualities that you see in Japan. What are those qualities, if you could name some of them and what differentiates between living in Japan versus living in different parts of the world?
  • Real tension between how do you ground yourself in your reality when a digital reality can take you anywhere
  • Asian parents have certain expectations from their children that you have to be successful, you have to be this way or that way. What was your relationship with your parents?
  • Could you describe what is bathing culture?
  • What do you feel after that hot bat in terms of psychological, physiological benefits?
  • What were studying in Japan in 1990s?
  • What does quality of life mean to you? How do you define it for yourself?
  • Could you paint this picture of your relationship with your son?
  • Did your parents and elders talk to you about present moment awareness?
  • At the age of nine, what kind of meditation you started with?
  • After you got diagnosed with terminal illness, what changes did you make after that in your inner and outer world to just move forward with positivity or something like that?
  • There is a certain gift in knowing at an early age that your time is finite and that really clarifies what is important and that goes back to attention.
  • What do you mean by escaping their life in the context of meditation?
  • What practices do you suggest or recommend to leaders and executives you work with?
  • Changing the narration and stories to create the desired outcome
  • Cultivate a relationship with what’s beautiful in your life and  intentionally look for sources of beauty
  • How did you personally learn to cultivate the art of looking the beauty or looking at the source of beauty in turbulent times?
  • what do you tell yourself during the times of fear? If so, what does your inner conversation sound like?
  • Cold shower benefits –  your nervous system needs a kind of periodic shock
  • What questions, what life philosophy questions would you encourage people to ask?
  • What is most important to you in the next phase of your life?
  • How have your personal relationship with your wife has changed or transformed or gotten better?
  • What would you say to your 18 year old about how to live life?
  • and much more

Resources that helped me in the interview preparation:

The Nishant Garg Show:

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