Business as an Instrument for Societal Change: In Conversation with the Dalai Lama is the result of two decades of research and dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other leaders in business, government, science and education. Author Sander Tideman, a lawyer and banker who has maintained a friendship with the Dalai Lama over all these years, presents a practical framework and methodology to develop a new kind of leadership � one fit to repurpose the business world and tackle escalating social, economic and environmental needs.

The Dalai Lama rarely speaks directly on the topics of business, leadership and economics. Yet in the dialogues recounted here, his wisdom � combined with key insights from business and public leaders � creates a unified shift towards a consciousness of interconnectedness, offering profound insights for practitioners and general readers alike.

Tideman unites the scientific worldviews of physics, neuroscience and economics with the positive psychology of human relationships, and ancient spiritual wisdom, to formulate practical business leadership solutions. While recognizing the need for change in external structures and governance, Tideman highlights the importance of opening our minds, and connecting inner and outer spirituality. At the same time, he focuses on concrete practices for winning the hearts and minds of employees, customers, communities, and society at large, while addressing deep-rooted problems such as extreme social inequality and continued financial collapses.

At the heart of this book lies the journey to discover our shared purpose. This ignites new sources of value creation for the organization, customers and society, which Tideman terms �triple value�. We can achieve triple value by aligning societal and business needs, based on the fundamental reality of interconnection.

Business as an Instrument for Societal Change: In Conversation with the Dalai Lama is a readable and intelligent exploration of how leaders can actually help to shape a sustainable global economy by embracing innate human and humane behavior. It is also Tideman�s fascinating personal journey, which brought him to question the underlying motivations and goals of businesses leadership and to seek a new paradigm for a more sustainable approach. Reflecting Tideman�s sharp perceptions and infused with the Dalai Lama�s unmistakable joy, this book has the power to change your way of thinking.

Business as an Instrument for Societal Change: In Conversation with the Dalai Lama, Sander Tideman, Greenleaf Publishing, Paperback, 289 pp, $22.95

Sander Tideman is a Senior Research Associate at the Business & Society Center of Rotterdam School Management, Erasmus University, Senior Fellow at Garrison Institute in New York, and Chairman of Education of the Heart. Sander has co-authored many articles and books, including Doing Business in China, Sustainable Development in Central Asia, Buddhist Economics; Mind over Matter; and Towards a New Paradigm in Leadership of Business and Economics.


His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 to a peasant family in northeastern Tibet and was recognized at the age of two as the reincarnation of his predecessor, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The world's foremost Buddhist leader, he travels extensively, speaking eloquently in favor of ecumenical understanding , kindness and compassion, respect for the environment, and above all, world peace.

Chapter						Page
		Figures and tables				xi
		Foreword by H.H, the Dalai Lama				xii
		Foreword by Anders Ferguson				xiv
		Acknowledgments				xix
		Introductory quotations from the Dalai Lama				xxi
		Introduction				1
		Inspiration for new perspectives				3
		Different paradigm for business and economics				4
		The shared purpose between business and society				6
	Part 1	Compassion or competition
		1.	The Buddha and the banker			11
			1.1	Meeting the Dalai Lama		12
			1.2	Encountering economic theory		14
			1.3	Finding purpose in economic development		16
			1.4	Becoming a banker in China		17
			1.5	Business in Tibet		18
			1.6	Reconnecting with the Dalai Lama		20
			1.7	Sustainable development in Mongolia		22
			1.8	Roller-coaster banking		25
			1.9	The invisible heart of the market?		28
			1.10	Maximising money or meaning?		29
			1.11	Compassion or competition?		30
		2.	First dialogue: Compassion or Competition (Amsterdam, 1999)			33
			2.1	The rise of socially responsible business		36
			2.2	Toward the triple bottom line		38
			2.3	The increasing role of civil society		41
			2.4	Widening the perspective; business needs ethics		46
			2.5	The benefits of compassion in business		47
			2.6	Changing the rules of the game		50
			2.7	Compassionate economics		54
			2.8	How to create responsible markets?		57
			2.9	What can you do as an individual?		60
	Part 2	Designing an economy that works for everyone
		3.	On the path of purpose			67
			3.1	Times of change		68
			3.2	Maximizing meaning		69
			3.3	If it has benefits, then do it		70
			3.4	Spirit in Business		73
			3.5	Revolution in the science of the mind		75
			3.6	Motivational systems		78
			3.7	Money and happiness		82
			3.8	Gross national happiness		83
			3.9	Designing an economy that works for everyone		87
		4.	Second dialogue: Designing an Economy that Works for Everyone (Irvine, California, 2004)			91
			4.1	The role of technology: cure or curse?		97
			4.2	The global responsibility of business		98
			4.3	Leadership and organizational change		101
			4.4	The role of women in business		105
			4.5	The role of management education		107
			4.6	What can you do as an individual?		109
	Part 3	Leadership for a sustainable world
		5.	Shared purpose in business			115
			5.1	Emotional intelligence and system change		116
			5.2	Positive psychology in leadership		117
			5.3	Executive coaching for bankers		118
			5.4	Unilever: examples of sustainable business transformation		120
			5.5	Ben & Jerry's green ice cream		122
			5.6	Turning misery into markets: Medtronic and DSM		124
			5.7	The hidden driver of success		126
			5.8	The purpose gap		127
			5.9	The science of transformation		130
			5.10	Bodhisattva leadership		132
			5.11	Global meltdown		135
		6.	Third dialogue: Leadership for a Sustainable World (The Hague, 2009)			139
			6.1	Learning from the financial crisis		142
			6.2	Creating a sustainable economy: where does the leadership come?		146
			6.3	Is money leading us?		148
			6.4	Global well-being: learning from the East		151
			6.5	Leadership from science: the promise of neuro-economics		153
			6.6	What can you do as an individual?		156
	Part 4	Education of the heart
		7.	Living shared purpose			163
			7.1	The "how" of change		164
			7.2	Looking at the new reality with outdated concepts		166
			7.3	Compassionate competition		167
			7.4	High-performance sustainable teams		169
			7.5	High-performance sustainable organizations		172
			7.6	The role of management education		174
			7.7	Education of the heart: toward a new educational paradigm		176
			7.8	Beyond religion: the sustainable-relational mind		177
		8.	Fourth dialogue: Education of the Heart (Rotterdam, 2014)			181
			8.1	What does the "education of the heart" mean?		182
			8.2	Developing the "heart" in education and business		190
			8.3	Applying the education of the heart in practice		194
			8.4	Dealing with stress, grief and fatigue		197
		9.	Shared purpose: the case for societal leadership in business			203
			9.1	The changing context of business: new ways of thinking		204
				9.1.1	The economic system	205
				9.1.2	Mainstream economic ideology	208
			9.2	Shifts in organizational theory and practice		212
				9.2.1	Business sustainability is a process	215
				9.2.2	Creating shared value	218
				9.2.3	New performance indicators	219
			9.3	Leadership for triple value creation		224
				9.3.1	Toward a framework for triple value leadership	226
				9.3.2	Leadership mind-set development and purpose	231
				9.3.3	Connecting shared purpose to levels of complexity	236
				9.3.4	The practice of developing societal leadership	237
			9.4	Integrated leadership models		243
		10.	Six questions to develop shared purpose			247
		Concluding remarks				253
		Positive capitalism and the opportunity of mirror flourishing: the grammar of interconnection is the business discipline of our age Afterword by David Cooperrider				257
		Participants				277
		Bibliography				282
		About the author				290