Book Review: Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks

Last updated on: November 17, 2013 at 12:10 pm by Greg Richardson

Book Review: Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks 2013-11-17T12:10:58-08:00 Greg Richardson

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Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks by August Turak will transform your appreciation of transformation.

I became the Strategic Monk as I seek balance that includes both being effective and being true to my deepest self. My own story includes practicing law, teaching, and getting things done as I do the inner work to explore and practice my own core values. My story includes connecting with the monks at New Camaldoli Hermitage and Monastery in Big Sur, California.

August Turak has a similar story. He describes making career decisions that appeared to pass on very rewarding opportunities because he was committed to a specific course of action and working relationships. He writes about what he has learned by spending time with the monks at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina.

Filled with practical examples from his own experience, Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks is more than August’s own story. Drawing on his own reading, reflection, and background with a variety of organizations, he describes how organizations can transform the people with whom they have contact.

His inspiration includes the bookmobile that introduced him to mythology in the third grade, The Devil Wears Prada, goat rodeos with Microsoft, conversations with monks while packing and delivering eggs, Alcoholics Anonymous, being in the front row of a Rolling Stones concert, IBM’s Executive School, his West Virginia hillbilly Zen master, the Rule of Benedict, and the Marine Corps.

“Life itself can actually be described as a longing for transformation. Every acorn longs to become an oak.”

Central to the lessons he describes from his own life are the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey. Through conversations and by example, they are people transformed in a transforming community.

I am still learning to apply the Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks.

How do you and your organization transform the lives of the people around you?

Where are you on your own hero’s journey?

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