August Turak is a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, award winning writer, and author of Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity (Columbia Business School Publishing).

He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Selling Magazine, the New York Times, and Business Week, and is a popular leadership contributor at Forbes. And, he rocks! Just ask my friend Jeff Sanders.

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Augie, as his friends call him, shares how he defines career, leadership, and business success. Simply put, at the center of a great business and a great life is service and selflessness.

In today’s episode, August shares:

• What the monastic tradition brings to the table that 21st century businesses need to examine
• What applying the monastic model looks like for organizations and the importance of satisfying your customers’ and employees’ desire for transformation
• How even when you think someone is un-coachable, you’re probably wrong
• Why and how selflessness should be at the heart of your organization and life
• The three kinds of Transformation and the distinction between each

Some of my takeaways from our conversation include:

• The task of leadership is not to make me successful but to make other people successful
• It is in my self-interest to forget my self interest
• The less I worry about money, the more money I make
• Great leaders share values and attitudes, as opposed to skills and knowledge

Have You Heard About Podcaster Academy?

Podcaster Academy, a new online course taught by Read to Lead Podcast creator and host Jeff Brown, launches in February 2014. It has been especially created to enable you to learn the key insights, techniques and habits Jeff has spent the last 25-plus years mastering. Weekly modules will include:

• Crafting an Effective Open and Close for your Podcast
• Interviewing the Pros like a Pro
• Taking your Listener from “Fly on the Wall” to Conversation Participant
•  Monetizing Your Podcast: The Pretty Good, The Good and The Really Good

Plus, each student will participate in up to four, 30-minute one-on-one coaching sessions with Jeff. These sessions alone are worth the cost of the course ($497), but when you’re one of the first 25 students to register, you get all this and more for just $297.

You must act fast though, as we have no idea how long these 25 spots will be available. Just visit the Podcaster Academy website to learn more and to register now.

Resources from August

Pick up a copy of Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity (Columbia Business School Publishing) today (affiliate link). If you just can’t wait to get it, it’s available for the Kindle as well.

Books August Recommends

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Crime and Punishment (Illustrated) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

And plenty of Russian literature

Connecting with August

If you enjoyed this episode, let August know by sending him a tweet to @AugustTurak.

You can find August on the web at AugustTurak.com. 

Please consider rating the podcast with 5 stars and leaving a one- or two-sentence review in iTunes.  This helps tremendously in bringing the podcast to the attention of others. I am mentioning the names of all who rate the podcast with 5 stars in future episodes. You can also rate and review the podcast on Stitcher.

We encourage you to join the Read to Lead Nation on Facebook.  It’s a community of like-minded leaders and leader-to-be, as well as fans of the Read to Lead Podcast.

You can tell your friends on Twitter about your love of reading and our new podcast by simply clicking this link and sharing the tweet you’ll find at the other end.

And, by all means, if you know someone you think would benefit, please spread the word by using the share buttons below and up top.

Finally, thanks for listening and remember, “Leaders read and readers lead.”

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