Dharamshala: President of Central Tibetan Administration Dr Lobsang Sangay received a delegation of entrepreneurs and business leaders led by the Zuckerberg Institute at the Kashag Secretariat.

The 21-member business leaders from all around the world are in Dharamshala as part of the Zuckerberg Institute Leadership Retreat which includes a meeting with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, CTA leadership in addition to a focused study in workshops on Social Change, Buddhism, and Global Ethics with His Holiness’ translator, Geshe Lhakdor.

Over the 50-minute interaction with the group, President Dr Sangay discussed his leadership style in administrating the office of the elected President of the six million Tibetans and the inspiration that he constantly draws from the Buddhist principles of compassion, non-violence and equanimity.

Sharing some remarkable chapters from his personal life, the President talked about his journey from a small hamlet in the foothills of the Himalayas to the halls of Harvard University and ultimately to the highest office in the Tibetan Administration. He also shared the challenging episodes from his 8-year political life as the President and how he persevered with his can-do attitude and hard work. Throughout the driving force in all his endeavours have remained his commitment to serve the Tibetan people and the cause in accordance with the wishes and guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

“I learn a lot of lessons from interactions with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In one instance when His Holiness was teaching in Minnesota, he asked me what I learned from it. I replied saying that I have realised my problems to be less significant. To this, His Holiness said, ‘No, the problems remain the same but your perspective becomes holistic which is why your problems appear less significant or smaller”, President said as he recounted several other inspiring interactions with His Holiness.

Particularly on leadership, President Sangay said he’s learned and imbibed the advice of His Holiness.

“As His Holiness said to me, I realised that many leaders before me have faced the same problems that I have faced. Ultimately, at the emotional level, problems are always the same. In the past, many have solved and many haven’t. For centuries to come, leaders will face similar problems and while some will solve it and some won’t. Hence the perspective changes so this is how I look at it.”

Through the lively session, the delegates posed a series of questions on how they could contribute to the Tibetan cause. Further discussions ensued on the topic of the Middle Way Approach and CTA strategies towards its mission.

Dr Sangay replied, “No. 1, We have a philosophical strategy that is nonviolence and we lead our movement in the spirit of our values and principles. Second, the Karma in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy means action hence we are action-oriented. Our philosophy is nonviolence but it doesn’t mean we are inactive. We have to preserve our identity, culture, religion, language through school systems and curriculum. Then we have to build our own community in terms of financial and welfare stability. In the 60 years of exile, under the CTA leadership, we have been running our own schools, hospitals, monasteries and cultural centres. Our literacy rate is 94 per cent.”

In addition to addressing the questions, President Sangay also discussed His Holiness’ global initiatives for promoting compassionate social behaviour through the SEE Learning program and his efforts at bringing compassionate leadership in business sectors as well.

The delegation is led by Michael Littig, a co-founder and master teacher with Zuckerberg Institute.

Zuckerberg Institute, founded by Randi Zuckerberg, is an entrepreneur training network that provides accountability, educational, and action-oriented resources from masters and mentors who have built real billion-dollar businesses. They train entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinkers across all industry with the skills they need for success in this modern, fast-paced, rapidly changing business world.