Genre: Non fiction
Pages: 208
Edition: Paperback, kindle
Publisher: Wiley
Publication year: 2019
RATING: ☆☆☆☆ (4/5)
About the author:
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| "Shawn Vij with the Dalai Lama" |
25 years of industry and consulting experience helped Shawn Vij to evolve as an accomplished business leader. He had the opportunity to serve apex positions to Ford Motor company, Ernst and Young, VISA, Deloitte consulting, Microsoft and Intel Corporation. His holds an MBA from Purdue University, an MS in Engineering from the University of Michigan and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Shawn now resides in the Pacific NorthWest.
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“Moral Fiber—a Practical Guide to Living Our Values” is a phenomenal book that challenges the notion that in order to succeed in business and survive in the corporate world, one must let go of their core values and morality. Shawn takes us through his own life experiences to establish the fact brick by brick—that good values like compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, honesty can ensure a fulfilling personal life as well as sky-high professional success. To climb up the ladder of the corporate world and accumulate wealth, we do not need to resort to ‘poisons’ (as the author calls it) like anger, greed and ignorance, nor do we need to constantly be a part of the toxic environment that some companies incubate within themselves. We can stick to our own set of ethical and compassionate ways of discharging duties and achieve higher levels of accomplishments.
The honesty and integrity of the
author is reflected largely in this book. He shares his own life story as to
when he finally realized that the ‘it’s not personal, it’s business’ mentality has
been gnawing at his pillar of ethics and pushing him to a very materialistically
successful but hollow lifestyle. Though he was earning money and positively influencing
the corporate crowd surrounding him, he was always having the feeling that
something was missing. Several incidents have been cited throughout the book to
elucidate the roots of the author’s realization of this trap he was slowly stepping
into. He quotes numerous business leaders and professors expert in their fields
( like management, human behaviour, economics, business analytics) to support his point and to provide adequate material
for the readers to delve deeper and grasp the concepts better. The author talks
about his meeting with the Dalai Lama, the encounter which led to a massive
turn in his personal and work life.
In all, the book offers the following:
- introduction
of the concept the author is trying to teach
- explanation
of why these concepts are needed to be understood
- the prerequisites
and probable results of the concept
- relation
of the concept to the experience of the author, both at personal and collaborative
levels
- a guide
of how the readers can apply the concept and instill it in their lives
The author defines the Moral Fiber as
follows:
“….our Moral Fiber is the
daily practice of knowing and acting on our core values. It is this ‘practice’
that will awaken us to be true to ourselves and give greater purpose to our lives
and the organizations we work for.”
The language of the book is lucid and
well-formulated. The author is keen enough to first lay out the foundation of
the point he is about to make, then make the point, simultaneously helping it
stand by adding extra details, and then leave the acceptance of the concept to
the hands of the readers by providing an universal take to the point and adding
a pinch of open-endedness. Being well-read and acquainted with the concepts he
has explained in the book, he doesn’t try to forcefully impose them onto the
readers. His logical reasonings and the backdrop that he offers to each concept
never lets the book be overly preachy. The book almost takes the form of a very
warm and open discussion about this ‘moral fiber’, where it seems all sorts of
varied opinions and allegations will be accepted because of the inclusiveness of
this whole thing. Having said that, there is also a severe lack of easy exercises
or assignments that the readers can take up individually to understand the worth
of this ‘moral fiber’. The book majorly talks about the author’s personal experiences,
and the last chapter talks about everyday people using this fiber to succeed.
But all of this happens without citing the success stories of author corporate leaders
on the same dais who might have had similar outputs by sticking to their core
values in their respective careers. The ‘practical
guide’ part of the book only comes up towards the very end of the book, and it could’ve
been highlighted more.
I’ll recommend this book not only to
wage-earning professionals, but to anyone who might be suffering from the leftover
dry remains of ethics in their lives. The book was an amazing journey for me,
and I want everyone to take this journey, and then decide for themselves as to
how they can utilize the book.
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