Don't Figure It Out, Find Out
by August Turak
Check out these articles on why Indonesian entrepreneurs are thriving and Silicon Valley crushed Boston’s Route 128 on its way to becoming the entrepreneurial Mecca of the US. The short answer is community.
Lou Mobley, my mentor, and founder of the IBM Executive School insisted that most keys to success lie outside the four walls of our business. It is the COO’s job to run the company, but the CEO’s job to mesh strategy with the ever changing outside world. The higher up in the organization you go the more important external factors are. And the earlier you realize this the higher you will get. As I wrote in my article for Forbes.com, Business Secrets of the Trappists, 99% of the...
Lou Mobley, my mentor, and founder of the IBM Executive School insisted that most keys to success lie outside the four walls of our business. It is the COO’s job to run the company, but the CEO’s job to mesh strategy with the ever changing outside world. The higher up in the organization you go the more important external factors are. And the earlier you realize this the higher you will get. As I wrote in my article for Forbes.com, Business Secrets of the Trappists, 99% of the...
Welcome NPR Listeners!
by August Turak
In case you missed the show, listen to the archive on Conscious Capitalism.
A little back ground on August Turak:
August is an award winning author, entrepreneur, and corporate executive. His primary focus is to demonstrate through examples and case studies that the more an organization is built around service and selflessness the more its people will be passionate, its culture creative, its customers delighted, and its bottom line profitable. Service and selflessness means understanding, internalizing and then acting upon the simple notion that it is in our own self interest to forget our self interest. The organizations that embody these principals are termed “Transformational Organizations.” Turak develops specific strategies and tactics to show leaders how to create Transformational Organizations that achieve these breath...
A little back ground on August Turak:
August is an award winning author, entrepreneur, and corporate executive. His primary focus is to demonstrate through examples and case studies that the more an organization is built around service and selflessness the more its people will be passionate, its culture creative, its customers delighted, and its bottom line profitable. Service and selflessness means understanding, internalizing and then acting upon the simple notion that it is in our own self interest to forget our self interest. The organizations that embody these principals are termed “Transformational Organizations.” Turak develops specific strategies and tactics to show leaders how to create Transformational Organizations that achieve these breath...
Turak on NPR – Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins
by August Turak
Mike Collins interviewed Mr. Turak, August 27 on NPR's Charlotte Talks.
Listen to the archive!
Turak applies his transformational model of Service and Selflessness to our current economic woes and charts a new way out. Find out why the secret lies in transcending capitalism not destroying it, and learn and how to apply these lessons to your own life and career with dramatic results.
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Don't figure it out, Find out by reading more: Read Turak’s article Business Secrets of the Trappists on Forbes.com to explore how to lead all the competing factions of one’s brain, one’s self! Read Faith, Trial, and Transformation on 7th...
Don't figure it out, Find out by reading more: Read Turak’s article Business Secrets of the Trappists on Forbes.com to explore how to lead all the competing factions of one’s brain, one’s self! Read Faith, Trial, and Transformation on 7th...
4 Steps to Make Change Happen: Overcoming Resistance to Change
by August Turak
The main reason why transformation fails is because organizations are very resistant to change, especially in organizations where powerful executives have their own interests and territory. How do you overcome that?
Try to be compassionate - Put yourself in the other persons shoes;
Have a plan for getting initial buy-in (include contingencies);
Minimize your risks;
Measure results with hard data.
First of all we try to be compassionate. All resistance to change is not rooted in hard-headedness and vested self-interest. Genetics teaches that the vast majority of “change” called “mutations” is actually harmful to the organism. Only a tiny few lead to evolutionary breakthroughs. We are all genetically programmed to be conservative as a result. Historically, the vast majority of political and social change led...
War Story 3: Don’t Figure It Out, Find Out
by August Turak
Eating Humble Pie on the Road to Success
When I was an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, I was invited to take a graduate course at a professor’s home with students many years my senior. One day the word “anthropomorphic” came up. Ignorant of its meaning, I fashioned a phony question I thought would force our professor to reveal the meaning of anthropomorphic by using the term in another context. Instead she just smiled and said, “August, why don’t you just ask me what anthropomorphic means?”
The room erupted into laughter, my face burned, and I decided right then and there to never again hide my ignorance. My philosophy became that if I don’t know I ask. In other words I decided that humility is...
When I was an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, I was invited to take a graduate course at a professor’s home with students many years my senior. One day the word “anthropomorphic” came up. Ignorant of its meaning, I fashioned a phony question I thought would force our professor to reveal the meaning of anthropomorphic by using the term in another context. Instead she just smiled and said, “August, why don’t you just ask me what anthropomorphic means?”
The room erupted into laughter, my face burned, and I decided right then and there to never again hide my ignorance. My philosophy became that if I don’t know I ask. In other words I decided that humility is...
Zentrepreneur – Full Video
by August Turak
Zentrepreneur: Making Meaning and Money
[video width=510" height="382" src="http://augustturak.com/wp-content/video/zentrepreneur_full_v02.flv"]
Business Secrets of the Trappists Lecture - Full Video
by August Turak
[video width="510" height="383" src="http://augustturak.com/wp-content/video/duke_bsot_full_may2010.flv"][/video]
Click above to watch the full video of August Turak's Business Secrets of the Trappists lecture at Duke University.
Return to Event Page
Click above to watch the full video of August Turak's Business Secrets of the Trappists lecture at Duke University.
Return to Event Page
August Turak Hosts Empowerment Hour
by August Turak
The Gift of Gump: Forrest Gump, Bubba, and the Secret to Success.
Listen as August Turak hosted Empowerment Hour with Joel Wiggins. Turak met Joel Wiggins when they were both invited to speak at a recent TEDxTriangle event. Find out how that encounter led to August hosting the show in Joel's absence.
In the first segment, Turak details the six lessons that make Forrest Gump so successful despite his short comings.
Next, Turak applies these lessons to his own success and expands on examples from Forrest Gump.
Finally, Turak takes things a step further and tells us all how to begin to apply these lessons in our own lives by taking small steps... and the most important step is finding others that share our same...
Listen as August Turak hosted Empowerment Hour with Joel Wiggins. Turak met Joel Wiggins when they were both invited to speak at a recent TEDxTriangle event. Find out how that encounter led to August hosting the show in Joel's absence.
In the first segment, Turak details the six lessons that make Forrest Gump so successful despite his short comings.
Next, Turak applies these lessons to his own success and expands on examples from Forrest Gump.
Finally, Turak takes things a step further and tells us all how to begin to apply these lessons in our own lives by taking small steps... and the most important step is finding others that share our same...
An Acorn to An Oak in 10 Years
by August Turak
Behind the Scenes...
We recently captured some behind the scenes video of our very own August Turak giving a tour of his garden. In the middle of the garden tour, Turak began to rap about how important results are to business and personal transformation. Then Chris Leithe asked about the "old oak tree," and that led to this wonderfully humorous metaphor of our dedication toward continued growth. We liked it so much during filming that we wanted to share it. We call it: A Transformational Metaphor of Our Results Driven Dedication to Help People.
We recently captured some behind the scenes video of our very own August Turak giving a tour of his garden. In the middle of the garden tour, Turak began to rap about how important results are to business and personal transformation. Then Chris Leithe asked about the "old oak tree," and that led to this wonderfully humorous metaphor of our dedication toward continued growth. We liked it so much during filming that we wanted to share it. We call it: A Transformational Metaphor of Our Results Driven Dedication to Help People.
Turak’s Interview on Empowerment Hour
by August Turak
Don’t miss this provocative interview of August Turak on the award-winning radio show, Empowerment Hour, with Joel Wiggins! Listen in as Turak shares the leadership secrets from the IBM Executive School he absorbed as the protégé to the legendary founder and first director of the IBM Executive School, Louis R. Mobley. Lessons he later used to build his own super successful company.
War Story 2: Scavenger Hunts, Scamps, and Guerrilla Marketing
by August Turak
I made my bones in guerrilla marketing when I was just 11. I was at summer camp when the powers that be announced a scavenger hunt. There were 100 items on the list from bottle caps to paper clips, and the first camper to deliver them all was slated for a couple dozen candy bars. However, when the list was handed out, I didn’t join the mad rush for the door that immediately ensued. Instead, I gathered the other boys who shared my cabin and suggested we divide the list, win the contest, and split the candy bars. In no time flat I presented all 100 items to a group of stunned and unsuspecting camp administrators. And a few minutes...
War Story 1: Fathers and Sons
by August Turak
It always helps to have a guru. When it comes to guerrilla marketing, I sat at the feet and very early in my career on the lap of a master: my old man. I grew up the oldest of eight in a 950 sq ft ranch house just outside Pittsburgh. The son of Slovak immigrants, my father was a born hustler, and when I remember my grandparents, I’m tempted to say it ran in the blood.
My Dad had the four essential ingredients every great guerrilla marketer must have: necessity, stinginess, a people orientation, and – most importantly — a true love of the game. Eight kids and the occasional dog produced a bumper crop of necessity. Exchanging favors is where...
My Dad had the four essential ingredients every great guerrilla marketer must have: necessity, stinginess, a people orientation, and – most importantly — a true love of the game. Eight kids and the occasional dog produced a bumper crop of necessity. Exchanging favors is where...
Faith, Trial, and Transformation on 7th Ave.
by August Turak
The Hero’s Journey in The Devil Wears Prada
When we try to use the power of transformation for earthly ends we risk straying into the Dark Side or what is called Black Magic. In Yoga, the mystical branch of Hinduism, gurus warn that with transformational development comes power and with power the temptation to use that power for selfish ends. My first teacher, Richard Rose, called this “exchanging a spiritual breakthrough for a lesser mental amazement.” This risk is real and I have some very humbling examples from my own life when I succumbed to the snares of the Dark Side for a while.
The movie The Devil Wears Prada is based on Joseph Campbell’s hero’s quest for transformation. The young heroine,...
When we try to use the power of transformation for earthly ends we risk straying into the Dark Side or what is called Black Magic. In Yoga, the mystical branch of Hinduism, gurus warn that with transformational development comes power and with power the temptation to use that power for selfish ends. My first teacher, Richard Rose, called this “exchanging a spiritual breakthrough for a lesser mental amazement.” This risk is real and I have some very humbling examples from my own life when I succumbed to the snares of the Dark Side for a while.
The movie The Devil Wears Prada is based on Joseph Campbell’s hero’s quest for transformation. The young heroine,...
Turak on A New Way to Handle Absolutely Everything
by August Turak
The Alchemy of Transformation:
Scrooge and the Purpose of Life.
August Turak was interviewed on A New Way to Handle Absolutely Everything with Elese Coit. The show is on the Internet, UpSnap Mobile Streaming, KWRM 106.9FM-HD3 in Seattle and on the Telstar Satellite Network.
Elese is an international radio show personality who hosts A New Way to Handle Absolutely Everything every Wednesday and Friday. Her show features the best of the self-development world.
To listen to Turak on the show, simply click here. and the podcasts are on iTunes here.
August Turak was interviewed on A New Way to Handle Absolutely Everything with Elese Coit. The show is on the Internet, UpSnap Mobile Streaming, KWRM 106.9FM-HD3 in Seattle and on the Telstar Satellite Network.
Elese is an international radio show personality who hosts A New Way to Handle Absolutely Everything every Wednesday and Friday. Her show features the best of the self-development world.
To listen to Turak on the show, simply click here. and the podcasts are on iTunes here.
Greenwich Leadership Forum
by August Turak
The Greenwich Leadership Forum ("GLF") is an organization providing a forum for business executives to explore how faith and religious principles can play an important role in their decision-making, while building and leading successful and ethically sound organizations. Based on Christian principles and Biblical teachings, GLF is an organization that welcomes men and women from all faith traditions.
In this Greenwich Leadership Forum event with David Miller, Director of Princeton University’s Faith and Work Initiative, Turak credits the spiritual business model of service and selflessness that he learned while living with Trappist monks for his worldly success, and teaches us how to do the same. Eventually the interview turns personal as Turak relives his own Dark Night of the Soul...
In this Greenwich Leadership Forum event with David Miller, Director of Princeton University’s Faith and Work Initiative, Turak credits the spiritual business model of service and selflessness that he learned while living with Trappist monks for his worldly success, and teaches us how to do the same. Eventually the interview turns personal as Turak relives his own Dark Night of the Soul...
Business Secrets of the Trappists Lecture at Duke University
by August Turak
Watch the full lecture.
The lecture was a huge success. Hundreds attended the Business Secrets of the Trappists lecture at Duke University, where August Turak explained his Forbes.com article by the same title. The standing room turnout was riveted by Turak’s call for personal and organizational transformation.
The lecture was a huge success. Hundreds attended the Business Secrets of the Trappists lecture at Duke University, where August Turak explained his Forbes.com article by the same title. The standing room turnout was riveted by Turak’s call for personal and organizational transformation.
Zentrepreneur: Making Meaning and Money
by August Turak
[video width="510" height="384" src="http://augustturak.com/wp-content/video/zentrepreneur_trailer_510x384.flv"][/video]
View the trailer above, or watch the full video here.
"What we all want is purpose and meaning in our lives and what we all fear is that we will not find that purpose and meaning in our life's work."
The North Carolina State University Self Knowledge Symposium, College of Management, and University Entrepreneurship Network presented August Turak: Zentrepreneur, Making Meaning and Money.
In this lecture Turak will draws on his experience as the protégé of Lou Mobley, the man who founded the IBM Executive School, 14 years working alongside the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey, and years studying under West Virginian Zen master, Richard Rose to describe just how personal transformation leads to success in business and life.
Click here to...
View the trailer above, or watch the full video here.
"What we all want is purpose and meaning in our lives and what we all fear is that we will not find that purpose and meaning in our life's work."
The North Carolina State University Self Knowledge Symposium, College of Management, and University Entrepreneurship Network presented August Turak: Zentrepreneur, Making Meaning and Money.
In this lecture Turak will draws on his experience as the protégé of Lou Mobley, the man who founded the IBM Executive School, 14 years working alongside the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey, and years studying under West Virginian Zen master, Richard Rose to describe just how personal transformation leads to success in business and life.
Click here to...
Golf In Hell
by August Turak
About ten years ago, I returned from a dream vacation in Bermuda severely depressed. It was my golf game. I had played three of the most beautiful courses in the world, but my scores were so bad that even now they are too painful to share. The culprit was “the shanks.” If you play golf, you probably just shook off a cold shiver, but for those who don’t, the shanks makes playing the game well nigh impossible. A shanked ball veers off to the right so quickly that it darn near ends up at a right angle to the target line. After a few shanks, a golfer’s confidence is gone. “Afraid to hit it,” he becomes tentative. The shank is...
August On NPR’s The State Of Things
by August Turak
Frank Stasio interviewed Turak on his award winning radio show The State of Things.
The first segment detailed Turak's decision at 21 to trade in his clunker of middle-class normality for a new identity as a full-time spiritual seeker and part-time carpet installer.
Next we meet Richard Rose, the wild, wonderful, West Virginia hillbilly and Zen Master that inspired this transformation, and Louis Mobley, Turak's mentor and founder of the IBM Executive School.
In Segment 3, Stasio hones in on The Business Secrets of the Trappists, Turak's controversial article on Forbes.com that challenged the most basic assumptions of corporate America. Turak also gave Stasio a peek at his upcoming article called The Transformational Organization that explains how every organization can tap into the...
The first segment detailed Turak's decision at 21 to trade in his clunker of middle-class normality for a new identity as a full-time spiritual seeker and part-time carpet installer.
Next we meet Richard Rose, the wild, wonderful, West Virginia hillbilly and Zen Master that inspired this transformation, and Louis Mobley, Turak's mentor and founder of the IBM Executive School.
In Segment 3, Stasio hones in on The Business Secrets of the Trappists, Turak's controversial article on Forbes.com that challenged the most basic assumptions of corporate America. Turak also gave Stasio a peek at his upcoming article called The Transformational Organization that explains how every organization can tap into the...
Why I Am So Controversial
by August Turak
I was invited to Hawaii a few years ago to give a series of lectures by a student of mine from Duke named Fred who was in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii. On the whole it was a very successful trip but one night while dining with Fred and his friends, his friends suddenly turned on me. Fred was far more surprised than I by the onslaught and flew to my defense. He said, “You just don’t like August’s personality. You got to get past his personal idiosyncrasies and listen to what he is saying."
Later, I thanked Fred for his passionate defense but then said, “Actually, I don’t agree with you. It is NOT my personality people object to....
Later, I thanked Fred for his passionate defense but then said, “Actually, I don’t agree with you. It is NOT my personality people object to....