Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO's Quest for Meaning and Authenticity (Columbia Business School Publishing)

A gentleman on LinkedIn made reference to this book as being the 2nd most inspiring book he had ever read. He commented that he had read more than a 1000 books so I thought it was worth a read. I am pleased that I accepted his suggestion. Making sense of the journey and the realization that we are here to serve rather than an entitlement will allow for the awareness to achieve greatness however you perceive it.

From my book review blog at:

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Via NetGalley, Columbia Business School Publishing provided me with a copy of this book for the purposes of reading and reviewing it. While I received it at no cost to myself, I am under no obligation to provide a positive review.

As a Customer Support Manager, I am always looking for better ways to serve our customers, and this book seemed at first glance to fit the bill. Admittedly, a portion of it involves decisions by people above my pay grade, but for the most part the concepts here are universal to all positions in a business.

Turak's premise in this book is very straight-forward: People are happier when focused on the service of others first. The vehicle he uses for his lesson is the time he has spent as a guest at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, observing the way they serve their community through various business ventures.

The Trappist tradition is over 1500 years old as, as the monks regularly reminded Turak, you have to trust the process. The abbey, while primarily populated with elderly gentlemen working just a few hours a day, manages to provide high quality products to their local community without focusing on advertising and being aggressive in their business. They trust that by doing the right thing day in and day out, through hard work, and taking care of their customers first and foremost, the rest of it will take care of itself. Furthermore, the monks develop a tremendous sense of community among themselves, and that sense of being part of something much bigger than themselves drives them even more.

The author has extensive experience in all levels of management over the last thirty-plus years, and while his involvement with Mepkin Abbey spans only seventeen years, he uses many examples from his past to show how putting the customer first has led to positive results. These examples are not always centered on businesses Turak has been involved in, but businesses he has encountered secondhand. Multiple times he uses the United States Marine Corps and Alcoholics Anonymous as examples of a sense of community and a sense of belonging being a driving force. In the case of AA, he shows that the participants become invested in helping others, not just themselves, and that is part of the recovery process.

In addition to business aspects, the author also makes the point that a life of service extends into the core of a person's life. Whether it be community service, volunteering, or just random acts of kindness, helping others will help ourselves.

There are a few times I believed Turak wandered a little too far off track with some of his examples, but he did eventually bring it all back to the primary point. Admittedly, Turak's message is nothing new. Among others, Zig Ziglar had a similar message when he said you can have anything you want in life by helping others get what they want. The delivery of the message is where Turak differs from others.

I actually found myself more fascinated with his discussions of monastic life than some of the teachings Turak was putting forward. In many ways that's because I was familiar with the message, and I wanted to learn more about the people and the process behind the message. However, that is due more to my familiarity with the message rather than a failure on Turak's part.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

After a successful career with large companies, Author August Turak decided to leave the corporate world for a more adventurous life as an entrepreneur. His transition was a material success. He created and sold two highly successful software businesses. But for him, the most important transition during this period came after going through a personal crisis and needing psychological and spiritual help.

He got what he needed and began a 20+ year relationship with the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance known to most of us as the Trappists. “Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEOs Quest for Meaning and Authenticity” captures Turak’s experience of living and working with these monks and details what he learned about the essence of authenticity and real success in life.

The Trappists are a monastic community who get their commonly known name from La Trappe Abbey in Normandy, France where their order began in the late 17th Century. They work only four hours a day and spend the rest of the day in solitary prayer, contemplation, and sacred reading. Turak was transformed personally and professionally by a Trappist community, Our Lady of Mepkin Abbey, in Charleston, South Carolina. These monks adhere to the arduous Rule of St. Benedict (prayer is a form of work and work is a form of prayer) which provides the transformational experience much like boot camp does for the Marines and the twelve-step program for AA and other programs dealing with addiction.

Self-sufficiency is essential to the Trappists. They make and sell beer, preserves, fruitcake and cheese to cover their community’s operating costs. They’re known for their business acumen and their emphasis on high quality products. Turak’s curiosity and mindfulness led him to look at the Trappists as case study in good business practices and achieving authenticity. Turak shares these “secrets” and methodologies which the Trappists have preserved and profited by for centuries. What was their business model? What were the key methodologies and secrets they used to create highly successful businesses? And what role did their approach to life play in their success?

He found that piety, not profit, is the mission of the Trappists. Piety comes from the Latin word for duty and “it applies to God, country, our fellow man and any noble undertaking that transcends our purely selfish motives.” Duty for the monks, contrary to contemporary fads, is the path to our ultimate purpose: being transformed from a selfish to a selfless person and authenticity. “True success is a by-product of a life well-lived.”

He came, also, to understand that each of us has a “sacred duty to customers, employees, vendors, the local community and mankind.” He learned that it is in our self-interest to forget our self-interest by committing to a “high, overarching mission and management philosophy centered on service and selflessness…The ripple effects of service and selflessness are endless.”

Turak identifies the Trappist secrets as:
1. Always aim past the target.
2. Do all we do with a prayerful attitude.
3. Service and selflessness must become habitual and automatic.
4. Have the courage to “go first” with our vulnerability.
5. Have enough faith to trust the process.
6. Exhibit authenticity and sincerity.
7. Admit mistakes.

Key topics that flow from these secrets include: purpose, mission, meaningful work and passionate engagement, excellence, community and culture (stop managing individuals and start managing the culture), sacrifice (the leader must be willing to die a thousand deaths on the way to success), the monastic virtues of discernment and detachment, ethical standards (why good things happen for good people), the power of faith and trust (real leadership depends on persuasion and persuasion depends on trust), and the importance of self-knowledge. Examples of each are threaded throughout the book.

Joseph Campbell’s “The Heros Journey” - The Call; Resistance to the Call; The Desert Experience; Death and Rebirth; The Return to Help – is referenced in the book as a necessary journey to achieve authenticity. This journey is necessary for transformation – it unmasks us and reveals our true character.

“Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks” is inspirational and provocative. This book will resonate with those who seek meaningful success in business and life and want to achieve authenticity. It is an antidote to the selfishness and chaos we see in today’s world.

I don't own my own business, but I work. Recently, I have been reexamining my relationship to my work and my idea of vocation. I wanted to get another perspective on it. This book looked like it addressed some of these topics, so I got it. I could not put it down, because it really was what I was looking for. It got me out of a rut, by just opening my eyes to the nature of work and how choices in work can be a means of personal development and evolution. I am about to read it a second time, more slowly, so that I can take in the good points that the author made. That is a pretty good testament, because I wouldn't read it again if it weren't worth it.

A business book that actually mentions God (but shouldn't turn off atheists.) Examples that include both monks and Warren Buffet. Analogies using movies such as The Devil Wears Prada and The Matrix. An author whose hat Jagger 'borrowed' at a Rolling Stones concert. Observations such as "Money is just a mechanism for storing human time and energy and making it portable.." And a call to make profound a personal (and organizational) transformation for personal (and organizational) success. What more could you ask from summer reading?

Turak reminds us that our organizations can only succeed with the active support of staffers inside the company -- and influencers and decision-makers outside your company. Turak wisely advises us to nurtures relationships.

A GREAT BOOK!

After a successful career with large companies, Author August Turak decided to leave the corporate world for a more adventurous life as an entrepreneur. His transition was a material success. He created and sold two highly successful software businesses. But for him, the most important transition during this period came after going through a personal crisis and needing psychological and spiritual help.

He got what he needed and began a 20+ year relationship with the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance known to most of us as the Trappists. “Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEOs Quest for Meaning and Authenticity” captures Turak’s experience of living and working with these monks and details what he learned about the essence of authenticity and real success in life.

The Trappists are a monastic community who get their commonly known name from La Trappe Abbey in Normandy, France where their order began in the late 17th Century. They work only four hours a day and spend the rest of the day in solitary prayer, contemplation, and sacred reading. Turak was transformed personally and professionally by a Trappist community, Our Lady of Mepkin Abbey, in Charleston, South Carolina. These monks adhere to the arduous Rule of St. Benedict (prayer is a form of work and work is a form of prayer) which provides the transformational experience much like boot camp does for the Marines and the twelve-step program for AA and other programs dealing with addiction.

Self-sufficiency is essential to the Trappists. They make and sell beer, preserves, fruitcake and cheese to cover their community’s operating costs. They’re known for their business acumen and their emphasis on high quality products. Turak’s curiosity and mindfulness led him to look at the Trappists as case study in good business practices and achieving authenticity. Turak shares these “secrets” and methodologies which the Trappists have preserved and profited by for centuries. What was their business model? What were the key methodologies and secrets they used to create highly successful businesses? And what role did their approach to life play in their success?

He found that piety, not profit, is the mission of the Trappists. Piety comes from the Latin word for duty and “it applies to God, country, our fellow man and any noble undertaking that transcends our purely selfish motives.” Duty for the monks, contrary to contemporary fads, is the path to our ultimate purpose: being transformed from a selfish to a selfless person and authenticity. “True success is a by-product of a life well-lived.”

He came, also, to understand that each of us has a “sacred duty to customers, employees, vendors, the local community and mankind.” He learned that it is in our self-interest to forget our self-interest by committing to a “high, overarching mission and management philosophy centered on service and selflessness…The ripple effects of service and selflessness are endless.”

Turak identifies the Trappist secrets as:
1. Always aim past the target.
2. Do all we do with a prayerful attitude.
3. Service and selflessness must become habitual and automatic.
4. Have the courage to “go first” with our vulnerability.
5. Have enough faith to trust the process.
6. Exhibit authenticity and sincerity.
7. Admit mistakes.

Key topics that flow from these secrets include: purpose, mission, meaningful work and passionate engagement, excellence, community and culture (stop managing individuals and start managing the culture), sacrifice (the leader must be willing to die a thousand deaths on the way to success), the monastic virtues of discernment and detachment, ethical standards (why good things happen for good people), the power of faith and trust (real leadership depends on persuasion and persuasion depends on trust), and the importance of self-knowledge. Examples of each are threaded throughout the book.

Joseph Campbell’s “The Heros Journey” - The Call; Resistance to the Call; The Desert Experience; Death and Rebirth; The Return to Help – is referenced in the book as a necessary journey to achieve authenticity. This journey is necessary for transformation – it unmasks us and reveals our true character.

“Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks” is inspirational and provocative. This book will resonate with those who seek meaningful success in business and life and want to achieve authenticity. It is an antidote to the selfishness and chaos we see in today’s world.

After a successful career with large companies, Author August Turak decided to leave the corporate world for a more adventurous life as an entrepreneur. His transition was a material success. He created and sold two highly successful software businesses. But for him, the most important transition during this period came after going through a personal crisis and needing psychological and spiritual help.

He got what he needed and began a 20+ year relationship with the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance known to most of us as the Trappists. “Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEOs Quest for Meaning and Authenticity” captures Turak’s experience of living and working with these monks and details what he learned about the essence of authenticity and real success in life.

The Trappists are a monastic community who get their commonly known name from La Trappe Abbey in Normandy, France where their order began in the late 17th Century. They work only four hours a day and spend the rest of the day in solitary prayer, contemplation, and sacred reading. Turak was transformed personally and professionally by a Trappist community, Our Lady of Mepkin Abbey, in Charleston, South Carolina. These monks adhere to the arduous Rule of St. Benedict (prayer is a form of work and work is a form of prayer) which provides the transformational experience much like boot camp does for the Marines and the twelve-step program for AA and other programs dealing with addiction.

Self-sufficiency is essential to the Trappists. They make and sell beer, preserves, fruitcake and cheese to cover their community’s operating costs. They’re known for their business acumen and their emphasis on high quality products. Turak’s curiosity and mindfulness led him to look at the Trappists as case study in good business practices and achieving authenticity. Turak shares these “secrets” and methodologies which the Trappists have preserved and profited by for centuries. What was their business model? What were the key methodologies and secrets they used to create highly successful businesses? And what role did their approach to life play in their success?

He found that piety, not profit, is the mission of the Trappists. Piety comes from the Latin word for duty and “it applies to God, country, our fellow man and any noble undertaking that transcends our purely selfish motives.” Duty for the monks, contrary to contemporary fads, is the path to our ultimate purpose: being transformed from a selfish to a selfless person and authenticity. “True success is a by-product of a life well-lived.”

He came, also, to understand that each of us has a “sacred duty to customers, employees, vendors, the local community and mankind.” He learned that it is in our self-interest to forget our self-interest by committing to a “high, overarching mission and management philosophy centered on service and selflessness…The ripple effects of service and selflessness are endless.”

Turak identifies the Trappist secrets as:
1. Always aim past the target.
2. Do all we do with a prayerful attitude.
3. Service and selflessness must become habitual and automatic.
4. Have the courage to “go first” with our vulnerability.
5. Have enough faith to trust the process.
6. Exhibit authenticity and sincerity.
7. Admit mistakes.

Key topics that flow from these secrets include: purpose, mission, meaningful work and passionate engagement, excellence, community and culture (stop managing individuals and start managing the culture), sacrifice (the leader must be willing to die a thousand deaths on the way to success), the monastic virtues of discernment and detachment, ethical standards (why good things happen for good people), the power of faith and trust (real leadership depends on persuasion and persuasion depends on trust), and the importance of self-knowledge. Examples of each are threaded throughout the book.

Joseph Campbell’s “The Heros Journey” - The Call; Resistance to the Call; The Desert Experience; Death and Rebirth; The Return to Help – is referenced in the book as a necessary journey to achieve authenticity. This journey is necessary for transformation – it unmasks us and reveals our true character.

“Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks” is inspirational and provocative. This book will resonate with those who seek meaningful success in business and life and want to achieve authenticity. It is an antidote to the selfishness and chaos we see in today’s world.

Great read, strongly recommend it.