Earlier this month I had the pleasure of interviewing Randy Nowell author of “Zen Meditation and Wisdom for a Better Life”. Transcription below, enjoy!
Randy can you tell me about your background and how you got involved with Zen?
There always seemed to be some sort of underlying difficulty in life i couldn’t understand and I didn’t know why things had to be so challenging. I had experienced various stages of life, marriage, divorce, remarriage, children, but I still felt something was missing and lacking. . back in 1995 i stumbled across a book “Zen physics – the science of death and the logic of reincarnation” by David Darling, and something in that resonated with me. I became very involved in learning Zen philosophy and Zen meditation. After 5-6 years I had an opportunity to become ordained as a Zen Priest at a Chinese temple. In 2001 I started the Arizona Zen Buddhist society to teach and to share. During that period I kept my career in automotive management.
What are you doing now?
I spent 5-6 years really engaged in the philosophical part of Zen teaching, teaching meditation to groups, speaking to business groups and church groups, other forums, and taught Zen to inmates in prison. I saw that Zen can integrate it with any life path, any religion, or even any business endeavor. Through meditation practice comes a greater understanding of the general Zen philosophy and the way the world works. How humans think, feel, our own limiters, faults and beliefs that hold us back. Once you have that insight you can release those fictional beliefs and great opportunities present themselves.
You mentioned meditation, do you feel meditation is important to Zen?
Absolutely, in some form a meditation practice is essential. It does not have to be the traditional seated meditation although that is what I teach. Some can achieve it by running, some by working, or any number of activities. All that is required is focused absorption, concentration, and awareness.
All the successful leaders i’ve come across, whether they realize it or not have some sort of meditation practice. Its what allows them to be laser focused on a desired outcome, meditation practice allows us to concentrate and achieve results.
Is there a specific story that you can share to paint a picture of this?
Sure, in addition to my career in automotive management, I have worked with small business owners coaching them to grow and improve their businesses. Last year I was working with the owner of a business that produced about $6 million in annual revenues and had a payroll of about 25 staff. The business owner knew that some of the staff were unhappy and therefore were not productive, but he couldn’t bring himself to confront the unhappy workers and get the situation resolved. Over the course of a dozen or so weekly coaching sessions, we explored human behavioral styles, communication techniques, and the motivators and demotivators that people in his company were encountering. All the while I was guiding the coaching sessions from a Zen philosophical perspective. After about the third month the business owner was able to call a meeting with his full staff, and have the crucial conversations that needed to happen in order to move beyond the struggles they had been facing. Once everything was out in the open, the owner was able to see that his own attachments and desires were blocking some of his staff from achieving their goals and with ongoing diligent work, most of the staff were able to work through their dissatisfaction and become productive once again. It was a win-win and it was guided by Zen philosophy.
Do business people have a hard time with Zen concepts?
As somebody progresses in their role, they are naturally developing greater cognitive ability and that lends itself to understanding Zen concepts. We can read books all day long but without having the mind ripe it doesn’t make sense at the experiential level. The greater someone’s leadership, understanding and communication abilities, the great there ability to understand Zen philosophy.
Is the business environment that is focused on profit, and thinks Zen is soft soft and weak open to the benefits of Zen?
Yes – I’ll tell you why. Many business people have perceived Zen as soft, and they thought that in business you have to be fast paced, ruthless, and profit driven. This seemed irreconcilable with Zen . But you can be even more successful as you start to understand people and help others. There was a saying if you want to be successful make the people around you successful. More people are realizing this is true. You can be incredibly successful and profitable at the same time you are practicing Zen, caring for others and the environment. There’s really no conflict between running a good profitable organization with Zen philosophy and more people are beginning to realize it. You don’t have to conquer or hurt people to be successful.
Why this moments in history more receptive?
With the internet anyone can learn just about anything at any time. There is more education and awareness in the world. People are becoming more understanding and willing to open their minds. It’s a perfect time for Zen and leadership.
Does the internet’s ability to connect like minded people contribute to this?
Significantly, we can now communicate instantaneously – for example through your blog you reach thousands of people. The ability to connect is significant reason why it makes sense to bring it all together right now.
Anything else you’d like to comment on Zen?
I think its an important time for people to realize Zen philosophy is not the sole property of any one group or religion. It’s an enlightened and intelligent way to live in the world today and is not exclusionary.
Where can someone find out more this form of Zen not attached to any religion?
The best place to start is my new book “Zen Meditation and Wisdom for a Better Life: A Gift to Busy People, Regardless of Religion”, it doesn’t talk about religious aspects of Zen or tie it to one group, but it teaches how busy people can incorporate Zen into their daily lives without giving up anything.
Tell more about “Zen Meditation and Wisdom for a Better Life: A Gift to Busy People, Regardless of Religion”? What motivated you to write it?
Every time i would talk about Zen to certain people “I’m a Christian can’t do that” “I’m not buddist”. I felt I need to get this important information to people without them feeling threatened, regardless of faith background. The Zen practice and lifestyle enhance anything you do in life, giving a more whole experience in living, I wanted to expose them to it. I decided to self publish it and you can find it on amazon using this link http://www.amazon.com/dp/1453606165/ref=cm_sw_su_dp.
What do you do now?
I’m a fulltime regional service field operations manager for Mazda North American Operations and I work helping car dealers be more success in service / parts – and helping people find ways to give customers a better experience. Still teach Zen in private lessons, reading and working on another book in the future. Doing more research into the connection between Zen and leadership. The new book will be more about integrating leadership with zen.
What drew you to ZenCEO?
Friend of mine was connected and saw the logo on Facebook and it resonated with me. When I say the tag line “Good Karma, Good Business” instantly was attracted to the idea. Thought it was great others out there are linking Zen, leadership, and business. Thought the online leadership workshops is a great way to reach alot of people. I felt the need to reach out to you and say others out here that feel the same way. Great thing you are doing.
What about all the companies out there that use Zen for marketing, like the popular Buddah bar?
Some of these industries adapt the word Zen and think its cool. It as nothing about Zen philosophy. When you use the idea of Zen and actually incorporate Zen Principles in what you do nothing wrong with that. Some purest and fundamentalist will be offended. But if they are truly Zen, they will open there minds and embrace the idea of good karma creating good business. Karma is doing the right things that lead people to be happier, karma is planting good seeds. There is nothing wrong with making money while spreading karma.
Thanks Randy! Please check out Randy’s book feel free to comment on what you think.
