Part 2: “Never Giving Up” (Buddhism and Business)

Welcome to the Yet, we recommend that you go back and do that. It's really brief and will give you an overview of who we're talking to today and how the series is structured. Now let's jump into part two, which is about what never giving up actually means. Maybe you're in a work situation where you don't feel valued or you aren't being treated well.

Or maybe you don't feel able to advance on your career path and you can't figure out why. Growing up Buddhist, I always heard that never giving up is the key to victory. But what does that actually mean? Let's start with Steve Saperstein's answer to this question. As a reminder, Steve has been practicing Buddhism for many decades and is helping us through this series. In a difficult work situation, what does it mean to never give up?

It doesn't mean that you never give up on a specific job because you may hate it and you may go to something, but never give up on yourself. Okay, that's the real point. Okay, because within yourself are all the answers to your career, your profession, your relationships. Everything is within yourself. And the chanting is like mining for the gold. You're mining for and it's those difficult situations that make you dig deeper.

In other words, chanting gives you the tools to be able to dig deeper into yourself to bring out the amazing benefits, the amazing wisdom, courage, confidence. Now let's hear the story of Mitika Kera, who currently works at a large international firm supporting multinational companies.

Her journey has been long, and it required exactly the kind of digging that Steve just described. When Mithika first encountered Buddhism, she was still living in India where she grew up. Someone had introduced her mom to the practice, who said, I'm not interested, but I think my younger daughter will be.

I had just graduated from my undergrad at the time. And so I went to a meeting and like the philosophy really like touched my life in a way that I was like, wow, I think my life was looking for this forever. I just And so I was like a fish that took to water and I just really got into the practice very That could help her figure out how to

And that was something that always really bothered me how there the parallel exists, but no one seemed to like address it. And so that was one of the prime reasons that I started practicing because the Buddhist philosophy started to like speak. and explain some things that were so unexplained for me. And so, you know, I just wanted to change that. You know, I wanted to change that in the world that, you know, no matter what race, what your, you know, background is economic.

orientation everyone has the same rights. That was really important to me. One of her first benefits from chanting was gaining clarity on her career path, and she eventually moved to the United States, where she got a job at the firm that she currently works at and also pursued her MBA. And so as I moved into corporate America I just wanted to bring those ideals. into my, you know, work life because at the end of the day we're all human beings and we deserve to be treated equally.

She told me that her prayer was to find a career path that would help her engage in a humanistic culture in her workplace, and that the job she's currently in feels like it's exactly that. Essentially I work with multinational companies that have presence outside of the US, so in multiple jurisdictions.

And you know, helping the company move their operations from one country to the other, or really, you know, understanding how a business functions from all the different aspects, be it marketing, finance, R and D. and what is really driving the value in the business.

But workplace culture is not only about the work that you actually do. It's also about your experience within the company, and this can be a source of suffering for a lot of people. When I first heard Mithika describe her vision of a humanistic workplace, I was curious to understand how she was able to experience that kind of environment in what is traditionally known as a very large, competitive and demanding world.

Most people I know who work in such environments cite burnout, pressure, and competition as their daily experience. not humanism and fulfillment. So let's dig a little bit more into Medika's story to figure out how she arrived at where she is, as she's been at the company for over twelve years now. When she first started, it wasn't easy.

the time I was definitely like, you know, just figuring out working, you know, just straight out of college, figuring out how to work in corporate America'cause culturally it was different from like what I had done before. I was also like new in America, learning the culture, meeting new people. But being excited about her Buddhist practice and newly immersed in the philosophy of the Bible. Mitika decided that she wanted to bring her Buddhist values to work.

One thing that I love about the practice is that it teaches you how to, you know, be a good human being. And no matter where you go, you take those principles with you. And so I wanted to bring them with me to work every day. Here's where the story starts to get interesting. What if your personality makes your dream hard? The end goal in a firm like the one Mitika works in is to eventually make partner, which requires one to actively seek out opportunities to climb the ramp.

It's a difficult process because, you know, it's a competitive organization and it's really like a diff like if you think of it like, you know, owning a business. Where you know you start from the bottom, which is like the uh at the associate level, and then you move your way up to making partner. Not everybody makes it. And so it's a small percent a very small percentage of the people who start out actually make partner because a lot of people drop off because of work life balance.

issues or just wanting to do something different. And then it's a few percentage of the people like if I look at the class that I started with, it's a very small percentage of those folks that are still around within the organization even. And then it's like this whole journey of really proving yourself, but also becoming the kind of person that, you know, clients would want to work with. By nature, Mitika is a pretty shy person, and this is where her story really begins.

From a young age she was always introverted and quiet, but in order to be successful at work, she knew she would have to change that. I knew that I had to engage in like... Changing that aspect of myself and really challenging myself to become a you know, a more outgoing I would have to challenge some aspects of my life that I had didn't have the courage to challenge until that point. And I think one such thing was really Find my voice.

Because Mitica often didn't speak up or advocate for herself, she missed a lot of opportunities. A few years ago, I reached a roadblock in my career where I was trying to get to the next level, but I wasn't able to because you know a lot of the feedback I received was that I wasn't visible enough. People didn't know me enough, people didn't.

Or that I wasn't really like, you know, bringing up points even though I had really good points to share. I just wouldn't share them. So people didn't know about it. And so I was at a deadlock. I just felt like I couldn't go any further. I was like So you know, if I don't change this aspect of my life, like I'm gonna be the reason why I don't succeed. Deep internal place. Yeah. Having grown up in India where you're always you defer to authority, you defer to the male member of the family.

You don't take the lead because you know, like my mother always told me, women are supposed to be seen, not heard. You know, that was the upbringing that I went through. And so naturally I brought that culture into work. So, you know, if there were some a senior person in the meeting, I would defer to them sharing their opinion because I felt like mine isn't as important.

So the first thing she decided to do was sincerely chant Nam Yohorengeo in order to find the courage to start being more proactive and vocal at work. And as I kept chanting that way, I began to notice not only was I being more courageous. But a lot of opportunities started coming my way. And so in those opportunities when I would fail or n again once again not speak up, I would always tell myself that, you know, the

Your prayer, you're getting these opportunities to really transform this aspect of your life. Now I just need to have the courage to do it. And so I really began to chant for like wisdom, courage to really break through this impact. And as I really I started to get a lot of opportunity to present at the end. And it just opened up an aspect of my life.

Coming out to these meetings because I began to notice I was no longer afraid, I was no longer second guessing myself, but I was just able to realize. Person on the other end is just a human being, and we all, you know, have the same emotions, we go through the same things in life. feel very similar. Every single day. Yeah.

I began to realize I wasn't a there were a whole lot of others who were also This led her to start getting involved with diversity and inclusion efforts within her firm, like the Women's Inclusion Network and a Pan-Asian Professional Support Network. The more involved she got, the more she realized that she wanted to take the lead in these efforts, and she also started getting involved with some nonprofits.

Currently, she serves on the board for a nonprofit which works with pan Asian professionals in the Philadelphia market. A lot of the work we were doing was like, you know, these surveys and trying to figure out like how many women and how many Pan Asians are actually in board and leadership positions. And if not, why not? Because we felt like, you know, it begins with creating the awareness.

Like if people are not aware, then there's not gonna be a change. And so then that was like, you know, bringing those discussions back into my workplace and having those discussions with, you know, leadership circles where it mattered. where we could bring about a change and thinking through like what did we need to do for our professionals internally in terms of coaching them or getting them these mentor relationships which they might not have but they might need.

And you know, one small example of that is like, you know, as Asians, when we get reviews from, you know, our seniors, we just don't push back. If we don't understand something or we disagree with something, we don't want to have that difficult conversation, right? Because we don't challenge authority just naturally, but you know, others do.

And so for us to be successful, we needed to push our own boundaries. And so it was like, you know, setting up simple sessions with like, you know, junior level people in the teams just to understand like how do you navigate a difficult conversation. What do you do when you're in that kind of situation to really help empower them to bring about a change individually as well?

And then, all of a sudden, something really strange and unexpected happened. Mitika started to physically lose her voice, almost as if being tested. She went to the doctor to discover that she had developed nodes on her voice box, one of which had hemorrhaged on her left vocal cord, making it difficult to speak at times. I was like I even when I wanted to speak up I didn't have a voice so I would go in. Like afraid. Time for her to find it. I remember And it was like a three-month job.

saw that I became much more Which was truly just the manifestation of that prayer. And so, you know, for me it was really trying to be. Power of my prince. And if I could transform the physical situation Then you know the other half of it was

For those who are wondering how you can chant Namyohorengykyo without a voice, Buddhism is all about the heart. While the practice is active and out loud, unlike meditation, For those who aren't able to chant out loud, they It's the heart that really counts. I wanted to transform that aspect of myself where I wanted to challenge speaking up.

And so I was really chanting to be able to find my voice and to be able to really use my voice to fight for justice at that time. I was like, you know, I just in every situation I want to have a voice that fights for justice. A few months later, when Mitika went back to the doctor, she was asked, What have you been doing? Your vocal cords are not showing any abnormalities and you don't need surgery.

She was blown away, but at the same time, Mitika knew that she had finally broken through something very deep.

When I asked Mitika if there is a Buddhist teaching that she feels like encapsulates her story or she holds on to, without hesitation she mentioned the dragon girl, also known as the Dragon King's daughter. You know, as I continued to like transform myself and really chant, it started to become very clear to me that Mission you know in Buddhism we say each person has their own And I realised that that was mine. Like I always say it's to be the dragon girl in corporate America.

In the Lotus Sutra. Drimination in society. And in the religious tenets and customs of the historical Buddha's time, because she was a girl, she was told she cannot attain anyone. But as the story in the Lotusutra game The eight-year-old Dragon Girl declared before all those assembled to hear the Buddha's teaching: Watch me attain Buddhahood, and then she attains Buddhahood in her present form. Of this story, Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda writes.

This highlights the fact that the Lotus Sutra is a scripture that opens the path to enlightenment for all people. eight. Now this is my fourth year as a director within the firm, so I'm trying to figure out like what's the next step? Like what do I really want? You know, and so as I've been really working towards that, I've been like Trying to fulfill my mission in corporate America. So it's like, you know, how can I bring that humanism that I was talking about?

to work every day. And so of course, you know, as I've gone through that journey, there has been a lot of challenges and one was just, you know, trying to propel myself or get myself ready to get to the next level, which is of course very hard to do. And so it was like, you know, really taking the feedback that I was getting from my coaches and my mentors within the organization. But then bringing that back home and trying to make sense of it from, you know, my Buddhist practice.

Like what does this really mean for me as a human being? And what is it in my life that I really need to challenge or transform to be able to achieve my dream? Because each one of us I think has a dream that we wanna fulfill. But we don't sometimes we don't know how. And for me it was like, you know, the gap between the reality and the dream was pretty significant. To close the gap, she's simply chanting to pave her own path and continuously take action based on it.

For example, to continue to advance in the company requires her to do things like become more visible in the organization or become a subject matter expert in a certain area. Instead of saying I don't know if I can do this, just saying yes. Yes, I will do it, and then really chanting to find my path to be successful at it. And so, you know, as opportunities started to come by through my prayer, I started to say yes to them and challenge them, even though I in that moment it was really scary.

And so that really made me become a much stronger, a more resilient, a more agile person, which is now getting me to become the kind of person I need to be to achieve my ultimate goal.

When I asked Mittica how she deals with being in a competitive environment, or even her own competitive nature, which must inevitably come out in pursuit of advancement in a hierarchical setting, she shared how Buddhist philosophy has helped her change the way she thinks about competition.

I do agree that, you know, like the environment like the work environment is competitive and everyone wants to, you know, move ahead as quickly as they can. But one thing that I began to realize was that, you know, I needed to changed the way I thought about being competitive and so for me one example was, you know, I was In a circumstance where I felt like I was being compared with others, you know, constantly and that, you know, because I didn't do this I wasn't as good as the other person.

And I really began to chant to really understand. what I needed to change about myself to not feel like I'm being compared with another person or not feel like I need to compare myself with a another person. But both of us through our unique qualities could both be successful. and achieve our own respective goals. And that again led me to the journey of really chanting for that other person and to embrace the other person instead of feeling like they were

enemy or they were the person that you know I had to win against. I had to win against my own tendencies that made me feel insecure that I wasn't as good as the other person. Because you know the whole concept in Buddhism is Different people bring different skills, you know, and different ideas and different creative thoughts into an organization or a team.

And so each person is unique and has the ability to achieve whatever they want through their own life. And so it was for me to respect that in the other person and really challenge. For that person's happiness, my happiness, and to for me to be able to embrace the other person rather than Now let's recap. First, we need to be able to solidify our purpose and goal, and chanting Namyohorengeo is a way to do that.

Second, once we have decided on what our goal or purpose is, we need a way to generate the wisdom and energy to stay clear about our path and perceive our environment and ourselves correctly. Here's Steve again describing how much he values his Gohonzon, which is the scroll to which we chant, as the place where he can continuously refine that process by himself. Michael Hunzen is in a room in my house.

And I consider it as the one place in the universe that I have that I can let it all hang out. I can chant and think, meditate, I can do all my my stuff right. It's like a cockpit for my life. I could if I'm if I'm Upset about something, or if I'm stressed out, I can just chant my heart's content until I'm calm, clear, and collected. And when I'm calm, clear, and collected, then the causes I make are so different than when I'm uptight or stressed or emotional.

It's a process, okay? And the process is just as enjoyable as getting the result, for sure. Because there's nothing greater for a human being than to see themselves grow. Mm. You know, because when you grow When another situation comes up that's difficult, you can handle it. And then you deal with that one and you grow more. And it's a fascinating thing, you know. So, you know, in other words, Buddhism teaches you that the greatest investment you can make is in yourself.

And that's what you're doing when you're chanting every morning and in the evening. You're investing in yourself. You're building yourself. You're developing yourself. So when you go into the world, there's no challenge that you can't meet head on. Steve's words reminded me of a quote from Ikeda that I find so helpful when it feels like the growth I'm seeking isn't coming fast enough or I'm in my own way. He writes.

Be patient and persevere, putting down solid roots and creating the cause for more fortunate circumstances to present themselves in the future. Faith is about putting down solid roots of happiness in the soil of our present reality. Eventually, sprouts will appear, and flowers will begin to bloom in beautiful profusion, signaling the arrival of a spring of victory and success.

At the same time, however, as Mitika's story exemplifies, the key to creating a shift in our environment is by Which is a little I'll leave you with one last passage from Ikeda before we move on to following. He writes, Wherever you work, don't be passive, but strive with the spirit that you are a person with an active role and responsibility.

If you do so, it will be challenging, but it will also be very rewarding. Moreover, nothing is more enjoyable than improving and developing yourself through your work. Regarding your workplace simply as a place where you earn is such a waste. In part three we're gonna be in Yeah, they're the lessons. With one final story, which is about purpose, conviction, never giving up, and Yeah.