Comments on Creativity and Personal Mastery

Here, in their own words, are various reactions to CPM.

Is there a bias here? Absolutely, there is. The students featured all got a great deal from the course and are active members of the CPM alumni community.

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I have had the rare privilege of speaking on "Business Ethics and the Infosys experience" at Prof. Rao's course on "Creativity and Personal Mastery" at Columbia Business School, on March 15, 2004. My experience at Columbia was unique in several ways. First, I was stunned by the credibility of Prof. Rao in the minds of his students. I was struck by his scholarship, the lucidity and simplicity of his message, the power of his articulation, and of course his walking the talk, when it came to the values he propounded in his class. Second, I was highly impressed by the sincerity and depth of interaction I had with his students, on the ethical issues that we confront in the corporate environment. Professor Rao's course is not just an ethics course; it is a forum for self-exploration. It forces corporate leaders to define their personal values and goals. N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies     I taught two classes for Professor Srikumar Rao at Columbia University. The only school where the students were close in quality was Yale, and after two classes at Columbia, I am most certain that Rao's class is number one based on my exposure. I have read the syllabus and talked with Professor Rao and the students, and I believe this a one of the most important classes they will take. I am convinced that I would have been better if had been exposed to a course like this when I was in school. Whoever takes this class will have an amazing head start in their career. It was an honor to teach such bright and earnest students and be exposed to the teaching philosophy of Professor Rao. Morton H. Meyerson, Chairman and CEO, 2M Companies, lnc.     Professor Rao's unique course helps students understand themselves, find their true purpose in life, and pursue it with serenity. Before I agreed to speak, I reviewed the class syllabus, which consists of an eclectic collection of readings and mind-broadening exercises. As a 46-year old lawyer, I was struck by how relevant it was to me: mixed in with ideas I had never even considered were lessons that I had only learned through years of hard knocks. I felt sorry that I had not been exposed to this material when I was starting out as an attorney. Professor Rao is an extraordinary and charismatic teacher. He has put together a course that is completely original and addresses an important need for Columbia's students. I heartily support him as a candidate for the Presidential Teaching Award. David D. Brown, IV, Chief of the Investment Protection Bureau, Office of the New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer     Creativity and Personal Mastery is incredibly powerful in changing students' lives. Through the lessons learned from the course an impact is felt in the lives of their families, their future places of work and their communities. CPM invites its' participants to go deep inside themselves to discover the spark of passion, the deep desire to make a difference in the world by contributing their unique talents and education in a positive way. Alex von Bidder, Managing Partner, the Four Seasons Restaurant     Creativity and Personal Mastery (CPM) is a course that is clearly focused on the values, needs and future of its students. Many MBA courses focus on creating great technicians. CPM is helping to create great leaders and (even more important) to create great people. Dr. Rao's course helps ensure that students have a clear view of who they are and what they want from life. CPM is a great step in helping graduates live a life that is both personally meaningful and makes a contribution to our world. Marshall Goldsmith, Marshall Goldsmith Partners, LLC     In my 41 years of teaching at the Graduate Business School, I have never been as impressed with any teacher as I have been with Professor Rao. The course syllabus presented both a lot of readings and exercises that I found most intriguing; further the assignments dealt with issues of business ethics, and the findings/research of behavioral economists, rather than only neo-orthodox economic theory. Srikumar's presentations are low key but usually build, with the help of videos, or small group discussions, and artful PP presentations of key ideas, to stimulating, thought-provoking ideas. I believe that Professor Srikumar Rao is helping his business students learn how “to think greatly of their functions”. James W. Kuhn, Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University     In light of the recent exposures of questionable ethical practices both in the public and private sector industries, Professor Rao through his course challenges students to examine and enquire into their assumptions about the world they experience and the world they have an interest in creating via their careers. He provides an opportunity for revealing perspectives on what they are thinking and considering as they move toward very important career considerations. Clearly this is much more than what most hope to find in a traditional academic setting, but answers to the ideal we all aspire to in the University environment. Francis Mancini, Assistant Dean, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University     Genuine and sincere thanks to Professor Rao, the TAs and the members of this class. I’ll stop there because, quite frankly, words are inadequate to describe the nature of my gratitude…There was so much I liked, so much I benefited from…Every week Professor Rao had a few words of wisdom that inevitably stuck like glue…He just slipped these things in there and collectively they changed my life…limitless possibilities, endless excitement, these are the natural states of existence, not drudgery, not misery, not some finite line or direction seemingly imposed from without…One of my greatest joys these days is spreading the lessons I have learned from this class…I feel so good when I do that, I really do…To everyone: feel free to contact me at any time ever. I mean that. I know people say stuff like this all the time and never mean it. I mean it In the years since I took Professor Rao’s course, a day hasn’t gone by where I haven’t utilized the teachings. On several occasions, I have used strategies learned in his course to obtain employment that perfectly suited my requirements at the time. The results can be so powerful as to appear uncanny. The exercises and supplemental readings he exposed us to have led me to enhanced performance on the job through greater concentration and less emotional attachment to outcomes, and have dramatically improved my relationships with my family and friends in noticeable ways. I have spread many of the lessons learned in the class over the years and have watched the people close to me deal more effectively with life-threatening illness and daunting career and other personal challenges. Prof Rao’s work has really helped to put my life on the fast track toward the vision of life as an enjoyable ride that I had always believed while growing up, but that I had trouble holding onto as childhood ended. I remain eternally and wordlessly grateful Baron Leacock, JD 2004, Columbia Law School     All the exercises have blended together and now work in harmony…am in a much calmer, more natural space, particularly at work…fear is falling away…am more focused, even when extremely busy…CPM gave me tools that will serve me throughout my life…have seen changes in my relationships at work, with family and friends, all resulting in much more fulfilling engagement with more positive results…friends I have made in CPM are some of the closest I have ever made in my life with mutual trust and openness as the foundation…the tools and discipline of CPM set it apart from any other similar philosophy, course or seminar…change absolutely happens if exercises are done with discipline Randy Shuken, 2009, Group Head, Office of the CEO, MasterCard Worldwide, MBA Columbia Business School     Simply put, CPM changed my life…I understand the weight of my words and stand behind them 100%...prior to CPM I was really unhappy…not “depressed” unhappy, but unhappy in the sense that everything I thought was going to “make” me happy was false. I keep using the story of “look at all this stuff I have” and the accomplishments on my resume and I really thought that all these things would make me happy or give me a sense of worth and well-being. I could not have been more wrong!! My close friend remarked how much more relaxed, calm and happy I seem from when she initially met me…CPM is the real deal. My only regret is not having taken it earlier in my life…retreat was phenomenal…made so many great connections…I simply cannot stop smiling now and enjoy making others smile…I know that I can do anything I set my sight on…am just so much happier enjoying the process of whatever I am spending time on…a final Thank You to Professor Rao and everyone in the class! Mike Kendzierski, MBA, Columbia Business School, 2009; Business Development Executive, IBM Corporation     Huge success…exercises and tools gained from CPM are among the most valuable things I took away from Columbia Business School…got to know more people on a meaningful level through CPM than all the rest of my business school experience combined…retreat was the highlight…this type of sharing rarely occurs outside of extremely close and personal circles - if even there! – and certainly not in any business school environment I have experienced…certainly my most valuable course at Columbia and expect this to be one of the most valuable courses I will ever take…would like to extend a personal “Thank You” to Professor Rao Josh Guttman, Chief Operating Officer, Sphere (an AOL company), MBA, Columbia Business School – 2005     This is the only course that distances – by orders of magnitude – Columbia from other top business schools…Transformed and improved every aspect of my life – I met my wife because of what I learned in the course, started my company because of ideas it opened up… I had extended lunches, conversations or other get-togethers with 25 fellow participants during the program. I expect to keep in touch with every one of them for a very long time…I defined with extraordinary clarity my purpose in life, my career path and my major goals…I created the mental models that have already started to propel me along a trajectory of extraordinary fulfillment and success… I am amazed at how powerful the networking technique taught in CPM is…was able to establish friendly relations with top professionals in the country, persons who are normally unreachable. Joshua Klenoff, MBA 2003, Columbia Business School, CEO, GK Training

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