FOREWORD

In the wake of experiencing the magnificent Maha Kumbh Mela celebration on the Ganges River in the winter of 2013, Ram Nidumolu handed me the manuscript for this book and asked me to write the foreword. Initially, I was surprised. I’m a Caucasian from the United States. How can I comment on a business book imbued with timeless Indian wisdom?

But, then, I thought back to how miraculously connected I felt at the world’s largest festival that occurs every dozen years in India (smaller Kumbh Melas happen there approximately every three years). Kumbh Mela is fascinating not just because of its heritage but also because of what it can represent for our future.

Harvard University’s website notes that a temporary city is created every twelve years in Allahabad to house Kumbh Mela’s many pilgrims. “This city is laid out on a grid, constructed and deconstructed within a matter of weeks; within the grid, multiple aspects of contemporary urbanism come to fruition, including spatial zoning, an electricity grid, food and water distribution, physical infrastructure construction, mass vaccinations, public gathering spaces, and nighttime social events.”

I was amazed by how a temporary city for 100 million people could be constructed and well managed over the course of the two-month religious pilgrimage. I asked one of the organizers of Kumbh Mela how this marvel occurred, and he simply said, “When you tap into the underlying spiritual needs of people—especially in an organizational context—be prepared to experience magic.”

I have long been a believer in what I call karmic capitalism, the idea that eventually what goes around, comes around. This form of conscious capitalism recognizes the systemic effects—both organizationally and globally—of positive and negative intentions. What the world needs now are business leaders who recognize the ripple effect of their actions and decisions. Indian wisdom and philosophy are deeply rooted in the idea that we should evaluate the long-term, transformational effects of our influence rather than the short-term, transactional nature of how business usually operates.

One of the most valuable pieces of advice I ever received from a mentor was the suggestion that the more senior I was in an organization, the more I needed to think of myself as a role model. If you’re a parent, you behave differently when you show up for your kids with the mind-set that you are a role model.

Your legacy is how you show up in life. Great leaders realize that they are the emotional thermostats and the oversized mirrors for those they lead. That’s part of the reason I love this book so much. Ram has crafted a masterpiece not just for leading but also for living. If ever there was a book based on Gandhi’s famous quote “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” this is it.

One of my patron saints in business was Abraham Maslow, the humanist psychologist who created the iconic hierarchy of needs pyramid. Later in his life when he was studying the effect of positive psychology in companies, he coined the phrase psycho-hygiene to describe the intangible nature of what a healthy corporate culture provides its people. This is a book that will maximize the psychological health and hygiene of your organization and increase the probability of your peak performance. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

CHIP CONLEY, founder of Joie de Vivre
Hotels and author of Peak