Recommendations for you
In this section, I share books, videos, and lessons that have inspired and enriched me. I want to make them available to you so we can continue growing together.
The 12 Principles of a Modern Day Gladiator
While on vacation, I finished reading The 12 Principles of the Modern Gladiator by Darioush Soudi and was deeply inspired by his teachings. The book reflects my own journey and the principles in my book, The Transformational Executive. Darioush addresses the mindset, discipline, and resilience needed to meet today's challenges—key qualities of transformational leadership. His practical and insightful approach offers valuable lessons for those seeking success while maintaining their authenticity. I had the opportunity to meet him at the Future Human event in Dubai, and I look forward to continuing to exchange ideas with him. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to unlock their inner gladiator and thrive in both business and life.
Buddhism for Busy People
“The Dalai Lama’s Cat” by David Michie is an accessible guide to the fundamental teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, ideal for those with busy lives. The author, a former successful executive, discovered that true happiness came not from fame or money, but from Buddhist practices.
Meditation: Simple techniques for finding mental clarity and inner peace.
Karma: The law of cause and effect, showing how our actions shape the future.
Bodhicitta: The compassionate wish to achieve enlightenment for the well-being of all.
Dharma: The Buddha’s teachings as a guide for an ethical and conscious life.
Compassion: A powerful tool for overcoming personal suffering and helping others.
The importance of a teacher: The need for a spiritual guide to deepen one’s practice.
I read this book at Kopan Monastery in Nepal, and I was deeply resonated with the story of Michie, who transformed her superficially successful life into one of true fulfillment through Buddhist practices.
Discovering True Joy
Recently, during a spiritual journey to the Himalayas, I read "Joy 24x7" by Sadhguru, a book that doesn't offer quick fixes for happiness, but rather invites us to explore our own happiness directly. During my time as a leader in the India, Middle East, and Africa region, I met Srinivasan Vijayaraghavan, who generously introduced me to Sadhguru, and it was through him that I discovered this book.
"Joy 24x7" is filled with short daily reflections that invite us to experience joy in a profound and accessible way. With Sadhguru's signature clarity and humor, this book is ideal for anyone seeking happiness, especially for leaders and entrepreneurs who understand that true happiness transforms not only their lives, but also that of their family, their company, and the world.
Lasting joy has the power to inspire positive change in every aspect of our lives, and Sadhguru's words motivate us to continually seek it.
A Yogi's Guide To Joy
I recently finished Sadhguru's book "Inner Engineering: A Yogi's Guide to Joy," which has profoundly impacted me both personally and professionally. This book offers wisdom and practical tools for personal growth, focusing on the relationship between body, mind, and emotions, and how these aspects influence our experiences.
Sadhguru argues that much of our suffering stems from an inability to manage our internal mechanisms and proposes practices such as Shambhavi Mahamudra Kriya to balance our inner world. A central concept of the book is to transcend the duality of life and cultivate a more balanced experience, where inner peace and joy are not dependent on external circumstances.
More than a self-help book, it has been an invitation to explore our inner potential and live from a new perspective. As we mentioned in previous posts, transformational leadership is based on personal development, as an effective leader not only manages tasks but also inspires and empowers their team.
The Game Changers
Awareness is key to mindfulness, and it's achieved by focusing on the present moment, on the sensations and feelings of our body. Practicing this helps us become more aware of what we eat, how we eat, and how it affects our health, weight, and well-being. We apply the same awareness to exercise, noting the benefits of a healthy routine.
At our company, we're holding a health contest, motivating everyone to improve their habits. It's incredible to see how many are committing to changing and taking care of their bodies.
Having traveled the world, I'm impressed by the number of people with unhealthy eating habits. I watched a documentary on Netflix called The Game Changers, which explores plant-based eating and its benefits, with testimonials and scientific evidence. It's an excellent way to reflect on how our dietary choices affect our health.
Flexibility, both in body and mind, is a key skill in leadership. Rigidity in the body is reflected in rigidity of mind, something I have personally experienced with my mostly plant-based diet.
What the Health
In this Netflix movie, filmmaker Kip Andersen discovers the secret to preventing and even reversing chronic disease and investigates why the nation's leading health organizations don't want people to know.
It was very interesting for me to see it, mainly because of the amount of information that comes out about how have a healthier life. Clearly both in the US and elsewhere there are powers and lobbies that are trying to make your business, but with a health-conscious approach to the way you eat and what you eat.
It is close a loop in the mind of a person aware of what is right or wrong to carry inside our body.
It is true that our body gets sick because of our mind, but it is also true that we need understand what we are eating and drinking in order to have a healthy body and a healthy mind that It will bring benefit in our work as private life.
One Second Ahead
This was my summer book this time and I really enjoyed reading it through the pages since it was very easy and enriching to go through them.
As we saw in my previous post, this book explains the existence of the two parts of our brain: the conscious and the unconscious and their corresponding functioning.
Rasmus Hougaard comes up with many ideas on how to have a better performance in your teams, in yourself and in your company using mindfulness as a basis and a more conscious way of interpreting moments due to the labor crisis that everyone is going through especially during these times.
Very good workplace techniques and mental strategies with some basic practices make this book a great job for anyone who is working in a company, leading a team or simply wants to improve. Highly recommended!
Think Like a Monk
A great experience going through the pages full of rich content on how to bring your life to a happier state when thinking and acting as a Buddhist monk does but applied to the Western world.
Jay explains how to work with your mind as a monk. Go from being constantly jumping from one thought to another, being multitasking, busy creating stress in ourselves, to a calmer life, more relaxed, more solid, more stable and happier as the mind of a monk.
It delves into certain key areas of a monk's mind, such as how to let go of certain emotions and welcoming others, how to grow and work with your purpose and ego, and how to develop a grateful heart. In most chapters there is a useful best practice related to the point of the book.
Vivid narration about the experiences of a monk in the Ashram but with a life in the Western world. I highly recommend it!
The Essence of Yoga
Why should yoga abhyasa be done? […] What are the reasons for and effects of the practice?”
These are just a few questions that Sri T. Krishnamacharya, the father of modern yoga, answers in his book “Yoga Makaranda (The essence of Yoga)” which was written in 1932.
This is a powerful free book left as a gift for all humanity and it is written in such a simple language so that, no matter whether you practice Yoga or not, you will be able to learn about this wonderful discipline that have good benefits for body, mind and soul.
The Playbook
This documentary overwhelmed me by the valuable and accurate lessons about leadership and motivation in life.
Each chapter features a new first-class sports coach, like Dawn Staley (picture), talking about their victories, losses and the life experiences they learned through their careers.
This original documentary series was co-produced by the NBA champion Lebron James.
Our Planet
This documentary series done by Netflix is a great piece of work to understand the power and fragility of our Planet, its beauty and how the human race is doing everything to destroy it.
As Sustainable leaders we should strive and work everyday in improving sustainability and protecting the planet against climate change.
Cowspiracy
Do you know that raising livestock produces more greenhouse gases than the emissions of the entire transportation sector?
This documentary film made by Netflix, is a must-see to understand the environmental degradation.
Are you ready to discover the secrets that nobody publish about the agricultural industry?
Seaspiracy
Almost a 71% of the planet is covered by water and a wide variety of animal and vegetal species live there maintaining a special balance with the world. So, what would happen if all the fishes disappeared tomorrow?
Seaspiracy is a documentary series by Netflix that shows us the impact that fishing without any control produces to the world and the importance of keeping the sealife safe to keep the planet healthy and well balanced.