In fact, the issue of happiness, and technologies role in either helping support or diminish it, came up recently at the Peace summit with the Dalai Lama, where one of the panels included eBay founder, Pierre Omidyar. The Dalai Lama spoke of the danger of developing more affection for technological devices than people, and emphasized that all the external things we think will make us happy – money, fame, power – never do because it requires an inner shift. Pierre spoke of the ability of technology to help bring people together based on shared interests.

There was not the time in the panel to discuss this further. While I share many of the concerns that the Dalai Lama expressed, and even wrote a book that addressed some of these challenges, I think much is determined by how we relate to our gadgets and social media. Of course we can use these as distractions and feeding the ego; however, it seems also helpful to ask, Can we also engage with them in a way that is meaningful and leads to a quality life? If so, what might this look like?

Here is my take:

1) Have a Transparency of Being

“One of our core values is to be humble, so if someone applies who is really smart, talented and experienced, even if they could make an immediate impact to our bottom line, if the person is egotistical, we will not hire him or her; it’s not even a question.” ~ Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos

I am not one to tell every little detail about my life on Twitter or Facebook, as I like to keep some parts of my life private. However, to me there is a difference between posting what one is comfortable with, versus using social networks like Twitter in a way that is arrogant, and that tries to build up a particular persona that is not authentic.

We can, for example, fabricate certain experiences, and at the same time hide everything that does not support the image we want to promote — the image as the “always positive coach,” or the “all-knowing social media guru,” or “the hip music guy,” or whatever it is. As such, there is not a real a human being there, as much as there is a promotional persona that is never authentic because it is solely focused on building and reinforcing this image. This, I am pretty sure the Dalai Lama would say, is using social media in a way that will not lead to happiness.

2) Align Online and Offline Actions

“Making the world a better place should take the same focus as devising the next great widget.” ~ Larry Brilliant, former head of Google.org

The beauty of Twitter is that we can use it to learn more about facets of diverse people in the world, from following the Tweets of a technology CEO to someone like Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan. We can get glimpses into other worlds in which we previously had very little access, and from this understand that we all have similar hopes and fears, that we are more alike than different.

We can also use social media, however, such that our online actions are distinctly different than that of our offline ones. We can, for example, act like an asshole to ten people during the day, then do one kind act, and only tweet about the kind act. When offline and “no one is watching” we can treat the customer service representative from the phone company or the checker at the store with disdain and impatience, then go back to trying to appear cool and kind on Twitter.

As such, we have two distinct selves, the online one and the off-line one. In this we can be pretty sure happiness will be missed. The Dalai Lama, I am pretty sure, would suggest that every action, both online and offline, is important and impacts our level of happiness.

3) Act Beyond What May Benefit Ourselves

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” ~ The Dalai Lama

Lets face it. Both Twitter and Facebook can be a haven for self-promotion, with one post after another of people claiming if you just hire their services or buy their product you can have the best sex life, more money, or thousands of followers on Twitter.

While there is a place for promotion, studies suggest that happiness is found through doing what we think is right, no matter if we believe it will have any benefit to us or not. In fact, some of the greatest leaders in the world, from Nelson Mandela to Dalai Lama, are highly regarded because they have acted with concern for people beyond themselves. Focusing strictly on what we think will increase our reputation or bank account, we can pretty sure, will also not lead to happiness.

Conclusion

Social media like Twitter is growing fast, with time on social networking sites tripling in the last year, and in the process it is making us increasingly connected. However, like any communication tool, from a telephone to a TV, the real question is how it is being used, the quality of communication that is sent through it.

However, if we live mindlessly, we can cause misery no matter what we do, even if we never touch a cell phone or join a social network. And if we live mindfully, I do not see why we cannot support a more conscious world, no matter what channels of communication and technologies we choose to use. It has much more to do with us, and much less to do with whether we use or do not use Twitter.

Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Why the growing interest from so many varied areas? It may well be that in our increasingly hectic, interconnected world, it is becoming more difficult to survive without it. Mindfulness helps us, among other things, to do the following. . .

1) Be More Attuned and Less Reactive

“When players practice what is known as mindfulness–paying attention to what’s actually happening–not only do they play better and win more, they also become more attuned to each other.” — Phil Jackson, LA Laker coach who is the winningest coach in NBA finals history.

On many days someone will do something that ignites irritation in us; it could be a request by our boss, an action of our child, or an unkind remark by our partner. No matter the details, anger and frustration bubble up. The question, however, is whether we react mindlessly from this frustration (and usually create more difficulty as a result) or if we can be aware of what we are feeling, and relate to the frustration and the situation. Essentially, our level of mindfulness determines whether our emotions control us, usually resulting in statements and actions that we later regret, or if we can acknowledge what we are feeling, see the choices available to us, and consciously decide how best to respond in a given situation.

2) Have Greater Focus

“You must be present to win.” — a sign in Las Vegas

Lets face it, multitasking has become something of an epidemic, even as studies increasingly reveal that when doing so we are not only less productive, but we also make more mistakes. The ability to bring our complete focus to whatever we are doing at a given time, be it a conversation with a friend or a project at work, goes a long way in determining the quality of that effort. Ten minutes of focused work, whether it is learning a new software or writing a report, often produces more results than an hour of unfocused, distracted work. Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, who has done some of the the most in-depth research on mindfulness and meditation, put it this way, “Attention is the key to learning, and meditation helps you voluntarily regulate it.”

3) Use Words More Effectively

“When walking, just walk; when eating, just eat; when talking, just talk.” — Zen saying

The Buddha said, “Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.” Native Americans have the saying, “Do not speak unless you can improve on silence.” Words, for most of us, are easy to spill out, but spoken without mindfulness they generally decrease the quality of an interaction. We have all likely been in meetings, for example, when numerous words and ideas filled the room, but they drained rather uplifted those present. As a result, we left the meeting completely worn out. Mindfulness asks us to focus more on the quality rather than the quantity of the words we speak. Our words then have more power, not because we say more of them, but because we speak from need versus habit or uncomfortableness.

4) Listen More Deeply

“The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.” — Zen teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh

How many conversations have we had, either by phone or in-person, when a person’s attention was only partially with us? Even if a person’s body was sitting directly across from us, we knew that his or her mind was elsewhere. At such times, words may be shared, ideas discussed, but there is often very little true listening occurring. When we do not listen deeply, we are essentially communicating to another person, “You don’t really deserve my full attention.” This, sadly, is more common than not today. Mindfulness involves giving someone our full attention, and showing up with our mind as well as our body. As a result, the people we communicate with may not always feel agreed with, but they will likely feel heard.

And All with No Budget . . .

Living in the present moment has no central headquarters, no marketing budget, no 3-year plan, and no PR firm to promote it, yet people are increasingly seeing its benefit. Words to describe it, whether it is called mindfulness or consciousness or something else, never quite do it justice, but we know it when it happens because we feel a greater sense of aliveness. This generally occurs not because anything particularly spectacular is happening around or to us, but arises instead due to the quality of attention that is arising from inside us.

It is likely, then, as most of our lifestyles keep speeding up, interest in living in the present will continue to increase. Though it is not a business with which we can invest, more people are discovering that it is an effort well worth the investment.

Wisdom 2.0 Interview with Gopi Kallayil

Soren: In corporate America, there is a great amount of competition, both to beat competitors and increase profits, but also often between employees of the company. From a spiritual perspective, there is no separation between companies or people – we are all the same. Do you find any conflict working in a corporation that, like all corporations, is focused on profit and beating competitors?

Gopi: I don’t see it as a conflict. There is a story in the Bhagavad-Gita where the warrior Arjuna looks across the battlefield and refuses to fight. He says, to the effect, “My friends and cousins are in the opposite side. I can’t battle them. I’m not going to fight.” And Krishna tells him, “You must. It is your duty in your role as a warrior. You need to go to battle and do so with honor.” His message is that this world is not to be avoided but engaged. Work is one area where we do that.

The challenge, of course, is to engage in the world without getting entangled in life — always seeking more money, power, or influence or spending much of your day in anger and frustration. We can of easily get lost in our work and lose perspective. Another metaphor that I grew up with in India is that of the beautiful lotus flower. It always floats on the top of the water, even through the roots are mired in the mud below. When water falls on a lotus leaf, it gently flows off like dewdrops. The message in the metaphor is that we can be involved in life and work without getting mired in it, always floating to the top, letting our problems roll off our self, without forgetting the spiritual realm as well.

What are some ways you try to engage work from this perspective?

For me, it is a function of my attitude. I don’t need to change the world. I only need to change the attitude with which I look at it. Change comes from within. For example, if I am managing a team that is having a great deal of challenges, where team members keep coming to me with problems, I can easily fall into the trap of thinking, “Why don’t these people solve their problems and stop coming to me? They are draining me; they should take care of their problems.” I can view it as an irritation.

Or I can have a different perspective and remind myself that I am their manager and coach. I have the opportunity to help them solve the problem and grow as professionals. With this changed outlook, when team members come to me, I am uplifted and energized by the opportunity to work with them. I see it as a privilege. In these two approaches, the conditions are the same, but I can have two very different responses. All I did was make that inner shift.

So, you are saying that whatever your particular position, play it fully. See it as your unique role in the theater of life.

Yes. Play your role fully. Bring one hundred percent of yourself to the role. It also helps to realize that your self worth, your identity, need not come from your work. That is not who you are. There are these other parts of your self that are equally important – your family, your role in the community, , your personal passions, your inner work. Your life is larger than just your job.

However, this is often the first question people ask at parties. They want to know where you work and what position you hold.

The question I dislike the most at social gatherings is: “What do you do?” I often challenge the person with my response by saying, “I live joyously and consciously. That is what I do.” Of course, I know they are really asking about my job, and if I am at a business conference where that is relevant, I will engage at that level. However, I am usually more interested in the whole person and their passions rather than the narrow aspect of their self defined by their job title.

Many people who have lost their jobs recently are struggling with this. They are accustomed to going to parties and introducing themselves as someone who has a certain position at a company. Now that they no longer have that as an answer, they often feel less than they were, as if who they are has been decreased. It is very hard for them.

Twice in recent years I have been in between jobs. The last time it happened, I decided to take time off to reflect on the next phase of my professionals passions as I call it. I spent five months traveling to nine countries from Iceland to India to Bahrain to Zambia and climbing Kilimanjaro. During this time I asked myself questions like, “What does the next step of my career look like? What do I truly value?” I clarified and wrote down my values. Using this list, I asked myself, “What companies most reflect these values?” I came up with three names, and Google was on top of that list. When I came back to Silicon Valley, I was very focused on where I wanted to work — and had absolute clarity. I received offers from two of the companies and was in discussions with the third.

I think it is important to realize that during these transitions, we cannot always see the final destination. During the last transition in my life, I could not then imagine my current role. However, I could see the next step. I call this the “next ridge” process. It is a climbing metaphor. You can often only see the next ridge you need to get to. Then once you get to that ridge, you can see the ridge beyond it. Then when you get there, you can see the one after, and so forth till you finally get to the summit.

In your process, it seems like you took the time to both ask, “Where do I want to work,” but also did some inner work and asked, “What do I most value?”

Yes. A part of this I think is to see that whatever happens in your life, even the difficult circumstances also hold the gift of opportunities. Curiously, it was through the process of leaving my last job and traveling around the world that this next stage of my life developed. It wouldn’t have, had I stayed in that job. Often when adverse change is thrust on you, though it can be very disappointing and challenging at first, it can also be an opportunity to look inside, reflect, and to align with what matters to you and to then move forward from there.

Of course, depending on your situation, you may need to accept a job where there is not complete alignment. No matter what one’s situation is, I believe it helps to cultivate a sense of appreciation.

I also try to bring this sense of appreciation to other daily events. For example, there is a tendency in our busy lives to eat meals while looking at a computer screen or talking on the phone. Instead, I often leave my laptop at my desk, find a comfortable place to eat, and take time to enjoy my meal. I reflect on all the people it took to for the meal to appear in front of me– the farmers who grew it, the truckers who transported it, and the chefs who prepared it. Then I enjoy the food with a heightened sense of appreciation. In this way, I try to use daily events to help establish a greater sense of gratitude in my life. I think this is important no matter whether one is here at Google, some other company, or in between jobs. It helps to create a positive energy in one’s life. It does not mean that you will be assured of a perfect job, but I believe that the more grateful and happier you are, the more life will flow in positive ways.

Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Click here to view all the Wisdom 2.0 Interviews

Since Leo live sin Guam, this interview took place over the phone.

Interview with Leo Babauta

If I understand right, you started ZenHabits when you were in debt and going through a number of challenges, all while trying to raise 6 kids?

Actually, I started it after I had made some significant shifts in my life. For a number of years, I was quite out of shape, not eating well, working all the time, smoking consistently, and I had almost no time for my family. It was as if my life was upside down: all the things that truly mattered to me I had the least amount of time for. So I started to change my habits, the first of which was to stop smoking. I tried seven times to quit, and finally on the eight time I was able to do it.

“It was as if my life was upside down: all the things that truly mattered to me I had the least amount of time for.”

What was different on the eight time that was not the other seven?

I made a more concerted effort, and really studied how to change habits. I also joined an online forum on the topic, which helped give me some accountability, encouragement, and motivation. I began to see that through small shifts big habits could be changed. Then I started to implement these same techniques to other parts of my life.

ZenHabits started as a place for me to share what I was learning in this habit changing. However, I think what has really engaged people is that the site not only focuses on changing habits, but also on how to simplify one’s life. The “Zen” part of ZenHabits is on this simplicity. From Zen I have learned about the importance of mindfulness, focusing on one thing at a time, and not trying to multi-task. In fact, I think I have accomplished more the last three years with this approach than I did in the previous ten or fifteen trying to multi-task and do everything at once. I still catch myself multi-tasking at times and am by no means a master of this, but more and more I catch myself and refocus on doing one thing at a time.

“From Zen I have learned about the importance of mindfulness, focusing on one thing at a time, and not trying to multi-task.”

It seems counter-intuitive that doing one thing at a time with mindfulness actually helps one to accomplish more.

Yeah, this effort to juggle all these tasks at one time, which is so predominant in Western culture, I think people are just beginning to see turns out to not be that productive.

It is also very easy to become somewhat addicted to being in a constant state of rush and overwhelm.

Yes, and in some ways technology has amplified this; it has sped it up. Now we can have various tabs open in our browser, trying to write emails, engage in IMs, post on Twitter, all while we have a phone next to our ear trying to carry on an conversation. These are all amazing tools but they can easily lead to overwhelm if we are not careful.

So, how do you engage with sites like Twitter, where I know you are active? It is an incredible site for the posting and sharing of information, but it is also an endless stream of information.

I have only in the last six months been experimenting with Twitter and find it an amazing technology. I have actually learned a lot about myself while using it. I think it helps to know that one does not need to devour the entire stream of information; you can instead dip a foot in now and then.

So, with Twitter, I usually go on for 5-10 minutes intervals in a day. I will post something, read and respond to other posts, then get off. I may do this 2-3 times a day, so I engage in a focused way instead if trying to absorb all the information all the time.

“I think it helps to know that one does not need to devour the entire stream of information; you can instead dip a foot in now and then.”

I also do this with email. There is just no way that I can respond to all the email I get, so I respond selectively and do so only at certain times in a day.

Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Click here to view all the Wisdom 2.0 Interviews

Wisdom 2.0 Interview with Tony Hsieh

Paul: We know that when people are engaging and enthusiastic, people tend to want to do business with them. You are very skillful in sharing yourself in a way that feels authentic. Do you have anything to say to someone who is in a small business and wondering, “Can I do this? Can I really bring myself to the table in an authentic way and expect to succeed in our society?”

I think that is the only way you are going to succeed. Transparency is going to happen whether you embrace it or not, so you might as well embrace it. I think that is one way to develop a personal and emotional connection.

When someone does this, the person may not be liked by everyone, but the goal is not necessarily to have as many people like you as possible. One of the things about happiness is that you want to form meaningful connections with people. Those people who do resonate with your personality, those are the people you want to develop relationships with. I think people worry too much about bringing their personal selves into business, when I think the way to succeed in today’s world is to make your business more personal. Twitter is also a great way of doing that.

“I think people worry too much about bringing their personal selves into business, when I think the way to succeed in today’s world is to make your business more personal.”

Paul: You have said in the past that “your values are your brand.” Could you say more about that? How does that work in your daily life such that customers feel it?

Brand building today is so different than what it was 50 years ago. 50 years ago you could get a few marketing people in a small room and decide, “this is what our brand will be,” and then spend a lot of money on TV advertising — and that was your brand. If you as a consumer only had your neighbors to talk to, you had to believe what the TV was telling you. Today anyone, whether it is an employee or a customer, if they have a good or bad experience with your company they can blog about it or Twitter about it and it can be seen by millions of people. It’s what they say now that is your brand.

Soren: How do you support diversity here? In many places in the tech community, if you show up with a suite and tie, people often look at you like you are old school or past-tense. So, how do you support diversity in your culture such that a new norm is not created and if people want to dress in a suit and tie or with a bow tie, they feel free to do so?

Well, specifically, one of our core values is to “create fun and a little weirdness,” and that is one of our interview questions: we ask, “From a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you?” If you are a 1, you may be a little straight-laced for us; if you are a 10, you may be a little psychotic for us. But we really do not care what your answer is. Our fundamental belief is that everyone is a little weird, so it is really just a fun way of saying that we celebrate every one’s uniqueness and we want their true personalities to come out, whatever that is.

This comes across in our call center as well. One person may call two different times and get two different reps with very different personalities. One rep may be chatty and like to tell jokes and the other may connect in a completely different way, and that is fine too. We don’t dictate one way or another.

We also do not have scripts and call times. We really encourage our reps to develop personal and emotional relationship with our customers, one phone call at a time.

“We really encourage our reps to develop personal and emotional relationship with our customers, one phone call at a time.”

Soren: A lot of people have lost their jobs today, and are somewhat mixed. A part of them is disappointed they lost their job, but another part did not like their job in the first place. People are wondering, “where do I move from here?”

I had plenty of friends who lost jobs in the last tech crash in the 90s and if you ask to them today, most of them will say it was the best thing that ever happened to them, because it forced them to do what they should have been doing anyway. It goes back to that idea that we are often really bad at predicting what makes us happy, but I think the majority of the people who are losing their jobs now will look back a few years from now and view it as a good thing as it gave them the opportunity to find something that they were passionate about.

Soren: I know it may be shifting, but what would you say is your purpose right now?

For me it is researching this the science of happiness field, which is a relatively new field since most of psychology has focused on how to fix people who are not functioning properly rather than on how to get normal people, happier. Then figuring how best to spread that to the world.

Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Click here to view all the Wisdom 2.0 Interviews

We have clearly entered a new era in communication. Some years ago, we had a cell phone for phone calls, a computer for email and news, and a TV/VCR for watching shows and videos. Today, as long as we have a fairly new cell phone, we can access all these (along with Twitter updates, Facebook status updates, text messages, and much more) almost anywhere we go. As a result, most of us are almost never disconnected. The amount of information we consume in such a life can be both empowering — and devastating.

Though we will continue to seek quality content with which to fill our mind, to stay sane in this time we also need to know how to empty it. This need is reflected in the following Zen story:

A college professor once went to see a Zen master to learn more about Zen. When the professor met her, he told the Zen master everything he knew about Zen — all the scriptures he had read, all the knowledge he had, all the facts and figures he knew. He said that he would like her to tell him all of her knowledge so that he could know everything there is to know about Zen. The Zen master responded by asking the professor if he would like some tea. The professor said that he would.

The Zen master filled the professor’s cup with tea, and then continued to pour, making the tea overflow onto the table. The professor, watching the Zen master continue to pour tea even though his cup was full, yelled, “Stop! The cup is full. There is no room for more. Why do you keep pouring?”

To which the master responded, “Like this cup, your mind is full. How can I teach you about Zen unless you first empty your cup, empty your mind?”

We too can live with full mental cups, overwhelmed by the information in our lives. Below are some ways to help empty our mind in our technology-rich lives:

1) Do One Thing at a Time

This is challenging, particularly for those of us who tend to work with 7 or 8 browser tabs open at once. As soon as we get bored in one tab, we move to another (actually, you may have already done this a few times while reading this post.) However, according to David E. Meyer, director of the Brain, Cognition and Action Laboratory at the University of Michigan, not only do mistakes go up when we multi-task, but it also takes us longer to complete a task, compared to if we did each task sequentially.

The other choice we have involves putting our full attention on one activity (and yes, reading Twitter or Facebook updates is an activity, so doing that while attending to another task is two, not one, activities). It turns out that we can accomplish more by focusing on one item, such as composing an email, with our full attention than if we continually toggle back and forth between composing the email and reading Twitter or Facebook updates. There is power in our undivided attention.

2) Stay Fresh

The Zen teacher Suzuki Roshi said, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the experts, there are few.” Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, spoke to this same quality, when he said, “All the best things I did at Apple came from (a) not having money, and (b) not having done it before, ever. ”

These quotes speak to the power of approaching a task with a fresh, open mind. It is not that we need to have never before attempted a task, but it helps to inquire, “Are we taking this on with a clear, fresh mind open to possibilities or with one beaten down by a day of information overload?” The quality of attention in which we embark on a task greatly impacts it. In fact, the most important question is often not, “What are you doing?” but “What is the state of mind behind what you are doing?” For this freshness of mind, it helps to carefully choose the type of content we consume in our day, knowing that some leads to agitation while other information fosters clarity.

3) Begin and End Well

Many of us need to be connected via computer and cell for much of the day, but this need not be how we begin and end a day. When our first question on waking is, “I wonder who sent me an email while I was asleep?” and our last one before bed is, “I wonder if someone sent me an email in the few minutes since I last checked?” our system never really gets a rest.

Therefore, it can help to begin and end our day by making the first hour and last hour with practices that increase wellness and that focus our attention inwardly instead of externally. What one does in this time is up to that person, but many people find yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, or other awareness practices very helpful. Now, if you find yourself thinking, “there is no way I can set that time aside,” many people have discovered that this time helps them work with greater focus and effectiveness in the eight to ten hours they are connected and responding to messages. It is time spent that actually saves us time.

Stress 2.0 or Wisdom 2.0?

Most of us are going to live increasingly connected or “2.0″ lives with cell phones, emails, and Facebook and Twitter accounts. That is not the question for many of us. The more pertinent question is, “Are we going to live Stress 2.0 or Wisdom 2.0?” We can either use the great technologies of our age or are they can use us. As the old saying goes, “The mind is a great slave, but a horrible master.” The same could be said about communications technologies such as cell phones and social networks: they are great tools when we use them; they are horrible masters when they use us.

If we are master or slave in part depends on our ability to not only fill our mind with content, but also to empty it — to move from asking, “How can I live constantly connected?” to, “How can I live creatively and consciously connected?”

Wisdom 2.0 Interview with Tony Hsieh

What are some of the teachings or writings that have influenced you, things that have framed how you approach Zappos and your life?

One of our core values here is “to pursue growth and learning,” and in the lobby is something called The Zappos library, where I have put books that have impacted me. Some of them are even required reading here. For me personally, for the past year or so I have been really influenced by this field called the “science of happiness.” One great book in this field is The Happiness Hypothesis; Peak is another great book.

When Zappos first started the main idea was, “Let’s sell a lot of shoes and be number one in that market.” We did that for the first few years, and then we all sat around one day and asked ourselves, “What do we want to be when we grow up? Do we just want to be about shoes or do we want to be about something more meaningful?”

We decided that we wanted the Zappos brand to be about the best customer service. The initial motivation for that was that we could sell more items beyond shoes, but a funny thing happened. We learned that having a higher purpose, which is not just about making the most profit, is actually good for business. Employees were happier and vendors came to visit more.

We also went through a process of asking our employees what our core ten committable values should be, and we developed them through a year-long process. We actually hire and fire people based on these core values. As an example, one of our core values is to be humble, so if someone applies who is really smart, talented and experienced, even if they could make an immediate impact to our bottom line, if the person is egotistical, we will not hire him or her; it’s not even a question.

“we learned that having a higher purpose, which is not just about making the most profit, is actually good for business.”

From a business perspective, if you have a greater vision beyond just profits or money — and that you can get employees to be happy about and believe in — and you combine that with a culture with committable core values, I think that is what will help grow businesses and brands in the long-term.

Pretty much all the research shows that people are pretty bad at predicting what will actually make them happy. They tend to think, “when I get x” or “when I achieve x” then I will be happy. The research shows that the most enduring happiness comes when you are a part of something bigger than yourself.

What ties everything together and really helps us achieve our greater purpose is that Zappos is about delivering happiness, whether it is to customers, employees, or spreading the gospel of the science of happiness.

And that can exist within a large corporate, growing organization?

Yeah, and I would say that is our greater purpose. It is not just about Zappos or our employees being happy; it is really about spreading happiness throughout the world.

And was there something in your life that initiated this interest or was it a gradual process of coming to this?

I think that it was a combination of a gradual process, and after selling LinkExchange, I didn’t have to work anymore, which forced me to think, “What do I really want to do?” Because it seemed kind of pointless to start another company just to make money.

“What ties everything together and really helps us achieve our greater purpose is that Zappos is about delivering happiness, whether it is to customers, employees, or spreading the gospel of the science of happiness.”

You got that experience fairly early in your life. A lot of people are still thinking that if I get to a certain place in life that is where real enjoyment comes.

Though it is not like my lifestyle changed a lot after the sale. All the stuff I bought, I could have bought prior to the sale just as easily. I think it is easy to get trapped in thinking, “Once I win the lottery,” then I can do all the things I want to do. But if you really sat down and make a list of all the things that you want to do, it’s actually not that expensive. At least it was not for me.

A lot of people are looking for greater purpose. People do not want to be miserable and they do not want to create more misery in the world, yet they find themselves in jobs and situations where they are not happy. They do not feel like they are making a contribution to themselves or the world. What do you think is the shift that can help?

I think the shift – and this comes from the research – is about being less “me” focused. When people are unhappy, they are generally focused on “This is what’s wrong with my life? Why is this happening to me?” How do I become happier?” It is kind of ironic, but if you actually focus on how to make other people happy, whether it is employees or friends, it actually ends up making yourself happier. If you are trying to chase happiness to benefit yourself, it may be harder to get to than if you go about it in what may seem counter-intuitive by focusing on others.

“It is kind of ironic, but if you actually focus on making other people happy, whether it is employees or friends, it ends up making yourself happier.”

With all the gadgets in our lives, we can easily be connected all the time, but often there is little purpose or focus in the emails we send or phone calls we make. How do you manage all the information in you life and make it purposeful?

I do not have a great answer: I am still challenged with managing my inbox. I try to take a step back, and ask, “How much time am spending on things that I am not really enjoying?” For example, if 20% of my inbox are emails that I do not enjoy dealing with, I try to find how can I delegate that to someone who may enjoy that. Others times, I may spend three hours on something, whether it is Twitter, text messaging, or email, but it does not feel like it because I am so into it.

So, do you have set times you do email? Do you have a schedule you follow or is it more organic?

It is more just what I am feeling. If I do not feel like dealing with Twitter or email for a day, then I won’t. I know if I try to force myself to deal with these when I do not feel like it, I usually get through half as much than if I wait for a time when I have the energy for it.

Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Click here to view all the Wisdom 2.0 Interviews

Wisdom 2.0 Interview with Gopi Kallayil (pt. 2)

At any company, there are decisions that need to be made – some projects get funded and others do not, one person gets promoted and another does not. These can easily create ego clashes and some level of conflict. As great is Google is, this no doubt happens here. How do address those issues when they come up?

Those things absolutely happen here, but comparatively speaking this is a very conscious company and people are generally much more collaborative. Having said that, there are often situations when you feel should something should have happened differently. You may think, “I was passed over for a promotion that I should have got.”

Some people think that they can escape such issues by going to live in a monastery or ashram, but I have been to many ashrams and seen that these issues follow you — you get upset when the director of the ashram did not promote you to be senior teacher! This is because these things do not exist outside of you; they exist inside you. You take them with you wherever you go, whether you are working at a corporation or living in an ashram.

“Some people think that they can escape such issues by going to live in a monastery or ashram, but I have been to many ashrams and seen that these issues follow you.”

For me, usually there is a period where I am upset or disappointed, but I know the one thing that I can control is how I respond. Increasingly, how I am choosing to respond by asking three questions: 1) What is the greater good that may come from this? 2) What is this trying to teach me?” and 3) How I can respond with grace, wisdom, and maturity so that six months later I can look back on it and know that I did the best thing possible?

Using the promotion example, this happened to me some time back. The promotion was not occurring in the timeframe I thought it should. I realized, however, that what I wanted more than the promotion was the opportunity to operate at the next level. So I said to myself, “No one is stopping me from working at that level. Assume that level and act that way.” I went ahead gave myself the promotion. I even took myself out for ice cream to celebrate. By doing this, I gave myself permission to move to that next level. Then a few months later, the actual promotion came through.

You went ahead and internally made the shift?

Yes. I acted internally as if I had been given permission to work at that level.

Are there ways that Google supports collaboration and teamwork so clashes are less likely?

Absolutely. It all starts with who we hire. One of the qualities we look for, which is very hard to define, is something we call Googliness. Often at the end of an interview, someone will say, “I really think we should bring her on because she is Googlee.”

One aspect of this is a very collaborative and non-hierarchical mode of operation. For example, I do not sit in a closed office. I sit in an open office with my team and there are beanbags and big stuffed toys around us. It is a fun and creative workspace. This way it promotes collaboration and open access. Even the CEO of the company has a small modest office. There is a sense of egalitarianism rather than the hierarchical structures you see in other institutions.

“One of the qualities we look for, which is very hard to define, is something we call Googliness. Often at the end of an interview, someone will say, ‘I really think we should bring her on because she is Googlee.’”

Sounds like the group wisdom is seen as more important than any wisdom of one individual.

Yes. We also share information freely, so everything is very, very transparent. Anyone in the company can see what I am working on and I can see the goals and projects of other teams. The senior leadership is also very accessible. There is no one “corridor of power” here like you have at other corporations. It is spread out. In some ways, it mirrors the Internet, which has no central place of power or hierarchy.

Anything else you would like to add about how to live what I call consciously connected or Wisdom 2.0 — to live with purpose in our day and age?

Yes, it is that this life, what you call Wisdom 2.0, is a very joyous life. Ultimately, people are seeking happiness, and going towards it is worth pursuing. It seems to be the one solution to all of our problems. It definitely changes your life.

I think it helps to integrate one’s life. For example, we tend to think, “I have my work life, then I have my family life, then I have my spiritual life,” but the same person with the same body shows up everywhere, so you cannot really separate them. So you might as well accept it and integrate all of this into your practice.

To not think, “Oh, I am at work, so I do not need to be conscious now. I can do that later,” but instead to say “Yes” to whatever life presents?

Exactly. I am a marketing guy, so if I had to put it in a few words it would be, “Say Yes to a conscious life.”

Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Click here to view all the Wisdom 2.0 Interviews

Wisdom 2.0 Interview with Gopi Kallayil

Soren: What are some ways you try to live consciously amidst your busy, constantly connected life? I’m guessing you get hundreds of emails a day working at Google.

Gopi: Yes. Google is an email-oriented culture, a meeting-oriented culture, and a collaboration-oriented culture. It is not easy to disconnect while working here, yet some times you need to do so in order to have some focused time and solve a big problem.

One thing I do is practice doing one thing at a time. There is a tendency to do too much at the same time and get very distracted, a tendency called continuous partial attention.  When I walk into a meeting, for example, I am often tempted to check and respond to email. However, when I look back I see that my time was actually not that productive. Therefore, I try not to answer emails in the middle of a meeting, unless there is a fire that cannot wait for an hour before it is put out.

The other thing I do is make appointments with myself. I block chunks of time in my calendar that read, “work block to finish project A.” For example, instead of responding to emails as they come, I will block out two hours for them and process hundreds of emails in one sitting.

“When I walk into a meeting, for example, I am often tempted to check and respond to email. However, when I look back I see that my time was actually not that productive.”

Do you have set inner practices you do on a daily basis or is it more of an intuitive process for you? Do you schedule time for a practice like yoga and meditation?

Yoga to me can be practiced all the time. In that sense, it is my inner practice from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. Every single moment of everyday, I try to be mindful, whether I am engaging with a janitor, a chef, an engineer, or a marketing colleague.

Having said that, I do set aside time. Every Thursday nothing comes in between me and an intense yoga practice I do. Every Monday at 5:30, I teach yoga here at Google. I also do a gratitude practice on my drive to work counting ten things that I am grateful for.

It is a little bit of both. I do set aside time, but every moment of every day is my inner work. To me, this is all a part of living with greater peace and happiness. I think this is the true path of life – what we might call self-realization or nirvana. And I want to channel all of my energy, including my work at Google, in that direction.

“Yoga to me can be practiced all the time. In that sense, it is my inner practice from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep.”

What are some of the challenges you hear from your colleagues who are attempting to live more consciously in this technology-rich time?

There are three challenges. First is the volume. I get around 500 emails a day. Each of these emails is an information fragment asking for my attention. My grandfather, who was a rice farmer in a small village called Chittilencheri in India, probably received between three to five information fragments in a day.  The postman would bring a single piece of mail once in two weeks and I remember that it was a day of excitement.  So volume is the first challenge.

The second challenge is that in this global environment, work is around the clock. There is no turning it off. For my grandfather, once the sun went down, the cattle were back in the shed and there was no plowing to be done, the rhythm of life changed. The rhythm here in Silicon Valley pulses and throbs 24/7.

The third challenge is that once you decide to work in the technology industry in Silicon Valley, there is no dial that you can turn and decide, “I want a little bit less of it.” If you sign up as I did to be a product marketing manager at Google, there is certain volume of responsibilities you are taking on and a certain pace at which you are expected to respond. You cannot regulate that very much. In other professions for example, a dentist could decide she will see fewer patients every Thursday or a pilot’s jobs ends when he  lands the plane and files his report. His work does not follow him around.  I think this is why some people I know have left a career in the tech industry and chosen to be schoolteachers or life coaches.

“If you sign up as I did to be a product marketing manager at Google, there is certain volume of responsibilities you are taking on and a certain pace at which you are expected to respond. You cannot regulate that very much.”

These are three challenges and I have to accept that “these are the conditions I am choosing to have,” and still ask, “In the midst of this, how can I be peaceful, happy, and content?”

It is understandable that people drop out, but it seems you have found that you can live this busy lifestyle and not have it take away from your spirit, enthusiasm, and life energy?

I would not say that I have mastered it. But here is how I choose to approach it. Rather than retract from it, I go towards it. I do this by saying, “I am so grateful to have so many meetings to go to and so many emails because it means I have an opportunity to have an impact.”

I have made peace with this in part because I derive great meaning from my work at Google. It is not just a job to me; I do not just do it for a paycheck. Our primary focus is making information freely available to all of humanity so anyone with a computer and Internet connection has full access to the same information.

“I have made peace with this in part because I derive great meaning from my work at Google. It is not just a job to me; I do not just do it for a paycheck.”

For example, my parents grew up without electricity or running water. When I visit Chittilencheri, my home village, it looks mostly the same. But there are a few computers with Internet connections. Now the kids in that village have almost the same access to information as kids do at Stanford or the Philips Academy. That leveling of the playing field is what Google is all about and that is what energizes me.

Click Below to Share on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc

Click here to view all the Wisdom 2.0 Interviews