Dr. Deepak Chopra

Work can be stressful.

Pressure to boost top and bottom lines shapes companies and partnerships with unrelenting force. For many people, finding a work-life balance is like catching bats with a mousetrap: a lot of activity, very little result.

To Dr. Deepak Chopra the stresses and pressures of 2003 represent a local and global challenge and opportunity for workers and companies alike.

Chopra discusses his book The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence (Harmony House; $25) at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 2692 Madison Road, Norwood at 7 p.m. Friday.

He discussed the book and the impact of stress on companies and people with Enquirer reporter John Eckberg.

Question: University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson has shown that meditation decreases stress and depression, boosts the immune system and increases concentration and happiness. If it is so beneficial, why aren't more people meditative or prayerful?

Answer: I think we get caught up with the idea that success is so important and that happiness is around the corner if we only have a little more of something. That in the end the premise becomes that if you have enough money and enough things, you'll be happy. It turns out to be a false premise.

The more successful people become, the more their stress increases. It's walking on a treadmill: you never get anywhere in terms of inner fulfillment. The premise doesn't change. The promise is a part of our culture now: advertising, media, the whole cultural mindset is based on a false notion.

Q: Does that apply to companies as well: never enough profits, never enough dividends, share prices that are never high enough?

A: Yeah, yeah and it also is in medicine that if we could just fix this one thing we would be healthy. We are such an action-oriented society that we think that the more violent our actions are, the more successful we think we will be.

We have a war called terrorism. We have a war on drugs. We have a war on cancer. We have a war on poverty. We have a war on everything. Our bodies become a battleground for the war games we play out in our minds. We do not think in terms of creative solutions.

Q: Are more people coming to your appearances with these topics in mind or is it just that the issue is getting more attention these days?

A: It's not either. My audience is so self-selected. They have sort of followed my own evolution and their own evolution. We've grown up together. Our deeper questions are: How can we heal the environment? How can we create a new cultural mindset? How can we address issues like social injustice, lack of economic freedom in poor countries? How can we resolve conflict without the violence we see?

We see in our own lives an immense improvement and want to share that with others. Alliance for the New Humanity (www.anhglobal.org) is an organization, a network of peace cells throughout the world that we are in the process of linking.

We are inviting people to be the changes, like Mahatma Gandhi used to say. If you want change, you have to be part of the change. If you want peace in the world, you have to be at peace with yourself.

Q: I can just see one blue-suited executive after another scratching their heads at this point: what's any of this have to do with my top line? What's any of this have to do with the bottom line?

A: Well, it has a lot to do with having heart attacks, with getting into a messy divorce, with having kids on drugs and not coming home at night, with quality of life. I now teach leadership at the Kellogg School of Management, one of the best business schools in the country.

We get CEOs from all over the country. We get political leaders from many other countries. It's one of the most successful courses.

I tell them the following thing: I say, "Look you guys, you want to make more money." That's all you care about. I will show you how to make more money. That's how I start.

We go into what influences the bottom line, how investor loyalty, employee loyalty and customer loyalty are all linked. And how to cultivate that loyalty. Investor satisfaction and employee satisfaction are inseparably linked. Employees are a lot more important than customers because if employees are happy, they'll do a good job. So how do we cultivate that?

It's a step-by-step process. It's not easy but it is one of the more successful courses and I've done it at the Harvard Business School as well. The times are right.

If we could reach a critical mass of conscious leaders, then we will have a great opportunity.

Q: I read that you've taken up golf. Why do so many stressed-out people take up such a stressful game and believe it's a strategy to reduce stress?

A: I know. It's amazing. And in four hours you get to know everybody and actually know the intimate details of their life just by watching them play the game of golf. It's such a beautiful game, actually.

It's a perfect example of mind/body coordination and how your mind and your emotions influence everything. It's also a game that teaches meditation, mindfulness, attention and even moments of transcendence.

E-mail jeckberg@enquirer.com