January certainly got off to a great start for my novel The Buddhist CEO. I entered the book into its first book competition and to my delight it picked up three awards. It won first place for religious fiction, second place for leadership and also another second place in the biographical fiction category. Making for a good start to the year.
Several leadership organizations reached out to me in January and asked me to write leadership articles for them drawing on themes from the book. If you would like to read these articles the links are below.
An article written for Thought Leaders titled My CEO career - workplace culture my biggest lesson.
An article written for the Young Upstarts titled In Business treat yourself and others well.
An article written for Business Express titled Leading like a Buddhist CEO.
And for any Dutch readers of my blog this was published in the Netherlands by De Couterkant a Dutch News publication
I was delighted to be invited onto the American Banker Podcast hosted by Penny Crosman, to discuss how Buddhism might help promote a more compassionate and creative workplace culture. If you would like to listen to our 20 minute conversation click below.
I was invited along to give a presentation at my local library in Portlethen, a village near where I live. It was a splendid evening with a group of enthusiastic local people coming along to hear more about the book. It was great that so many local people turned out and they asked lots of great questions, which I enjoyed answering. If anyone that attended the evening is reading this can I just say many thanks for attending on the night. I enjoyed speaking with you all.
February is shaping up to be another exciting month for the book. I am booked to appear on four more podcasts to discuss the book.
People familiar with my blog know that I post a daily Zen poem on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I know that not everyone is on these social media platforms so below are what I feel are a couple of my best poems over the last week or so. The photos that accompany the poems are also my own photos. Links to my social media can be found on my website so feel free to follow me if you enjoy the poems. If not you will not miss out as I will include a few of them here on my blog updates
Morning meditation
As I sit zazen
I listen to the wind
Roaring down
From the north
The incense smoke
Gets sucked up the chimney
Perhaps it will
Permeate my village
With the Buddha’s teachings
The bell rings
I bow
Zazen Is peaceful
Like the morning sky
Thoughts drift lightly
To yesterday’s walk
Snowdrops
The first of the year
I welcomed these flowers
Like old friends
A sign
That spring is near
I stopped and
Admired their beauty
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you enjoyed the latest update. If you enjoyed the blog please consider purchasing a copy of my novel The Buddhist CEO from the shop tab above. Today I visit Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey for a few days. My next blog will be about that trip and what I learned from it. Until then goodbye.
