Business Secrets of the Monastic Monks

August Turak joins Talking Business Now host Kelly Scanlon to discuss the business lessons he learned from the Trappist monks. Turak was a founding employee of MTV and the A&E Network. Later, he founded software companies that eventually sold to BMC Software for $150 million. He currently runs a not-for-profit called the Self-Knowledge Symposium Foundation. As a successful entrepreneur and award-winning author, Turak attributes much of his success to his 20-year stint as a frequent monastic guest of the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey. As a monastic guest, he lives and works alongside the monks sometimes for months at a time. In 1996, a skydiving accident triggered the emotional crisis or “Dark Night of the Soul” that sent Turak to Mepkin Abbey in search of the spiritual solace he so desperately needed and the monks so graciously provided. In 2004, at the encouragement of some former students, Turak decided to enter the John Templeton Foundation’s Power of Purpose essay contest. He had 3,500 words in which to answer the question: “What is the Purpose of Life?” He had never written anything for publication before, but his "Brother John" essay about an actual Christmas Eve encounter at Mepkin Abbey won the $100,000 grand prize. Later, he wrote an article for Forbes.com called "Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks." It went viral. As a result, he was invited to become a leadership contributor at Forbes. In addition, Columbia Business School Publishing asked Turak to turn his article into a book. That book, Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity, applies monastic principles to secular business. Turak’s latest book, Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim and the Purpose of Life, combines his Templeton Prize winning essay with the illustrations of the award-winning artist Glenn Harrington to offer an inspirational message of meaning and purpose. Connect with August Turak: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aturak Twitter: https://twitter.com/AugustTurak LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/augustturak/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices