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Prof. Rao interviewed by BusinessInfoGuide

By Sue - BusinessInfoGuide.com
August 19, 2011
URL: http://businessinfoguide.com/interview-srikumar-rao-author-of-happiness-at-work/

Book Title:
Happiness at Work

Website URL:
www.cpminstitute.com

Social Media Links:
Twitter: @srikumarsrao
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Srikumar-Rao/69274639579
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/srikumar-rao/0/48/232

What is your book about?
Most persons live in the space of “There is too much to do and not enough time to do it all. This is not a pleasant place to live. It is much better to live in a world of radiant possibility where one comes alive everyday, derives deep meaning in what one does and finds joy in many activities each day.

What inspired you to write your book?
I have a doctorate in business from a top business school and other advanced degrees and was pretty successful in my career. However, I did not find work rejuvenating or meaningful and alternated between disliking it and hating it deeply. Further, as a practicing journalist I found that my situation was not uncommon. There were – and are – millions of people who are in the same boat.

This is a national – indeed global – tragedy. Happiness at Work is a book that has tested methods of solving this problem at an individual level. These methods are unconventional but they absolutely work!

How did you come to do what you’re doing today?
I started teaching a course called Creativity and Personal Mastery because it made me come alive. The course exploded by word of mouth and became one of the most sought after at many of the top business schools in the world. It was written up in every important business publication in north America and the UK.

Major corporations came to know about my work and found it relevant and brought it in house. And that is how it spread – almost entirely by word of mouth.

Can you describe a typical day in your life?
I spend a lot of time talking to people – alumni of my course, executives who want to reach a higher level of effectiveness, managers who want to develop their subordinates and the like. I write – articles and chapters that will go into my next book. I constantly think about what I can do to make my course more effective. And I speak – to groups as small as fifty and as large as several thousand.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
Those who have been through my program tell me that it has made a profound change in their lives. What gratifies me tremendously is that nearly a hundred persons have thanked me for improving their life. And these are people who have NOT taken my program. It is their husband/wife/partner who took it.

Are there any people and/or books that have inspired you along your journey?
Certainly! How can there not be? I have been inspired by great masters from several wisdom traditions. They are listed in the “Life Changing Books” section of the syllabus for my course. That syllabus is on my website at:
www.cpminstitute.com

Can you share some business tips for our readers?
Here are two tips that, by themselves if you really implement them, will change your life:

1) Whenever something happens to you that you feel is “bad”, don’t stick the “bad thing” label on it. Suffering begins immediately if you do. Simply label it descriptively and see if there are ways by which this could actually turn out to be a “good” thing. Merely thinking along these lines will open up avenues that you would not even have considered otherwise.

2) Don’t get hung up on goals. A goal is an outcome and outcomes are beyond your control. Actions are within your control. Once you have set a goal it establishes the direction you want to move. Thereafter forget about the goal completely and pour every fiber of your effort into action – the things you must do to achieve your goal.

Invest in the process, not the outcome.

Can you share something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
I am so happy doing what I do that many envy me. But, for a long time, I was actually quite unhappy at work. In fact, so unhappy that I devised my course to get me out of that state!

Is there anything else you would like to add?
Have a superlatively great day, EVERY day. That is the ONLY way to live!!

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