The founder of the worlds’ first Corporate Zen Centre, Peachland resident Allan Holender, will be meeting and signing the book that launched the global Zentrepreneurism movement 10 years ago on Saturday at the downtown Mosaic Book Store in Kelowna, 411 Bernard Ave., between noon and 3 p.m.
The Zentrepreneurism movement is about changing the way the world does business from one of power , corruption and greed to one of purpose, ethics, and profits with integrity.
The Corporate Zen Centre was founded by Holender with “in response to the growing outcry of global leaders for a change in the way the world does business.”
Holender noted that at his inaugural speech eight years ago, U.S. President Barak Obama said: “We need to change the way the White House and Wall Street do business from one of selfishness, corruption and greed to one of selflessness and integrity.”
He added that recently the Pope called for a “profoundly new way” of organizing global finance and business, calling for a new social and ethical dimension to capitalism and arguing the case for a new world political authority to help champion “the common good”.
Holender says there exists a window of opportunity for tremendous transformation. “The world of service coupled with entrepreneurial success has been building for the past 30 years. Only now has it begun to explode with great strides and creativity. We seek a life where our families, businesses, and our efforts merge into a single harmonious whole-and where we measure our success in more ways than just the balance of our bank accounts.”
Holender sees the The Corporate Zen Centre as bringing back the values in our lives that often get lost in the quest for success. “One does not have to be a Buddhist to benefit, as the success stories in his book have testified, but should simply be open to trying a powerful, compassionate, new way of doing things in the business world. Instead of the greedy, short-sighted business mentality of the past, we can move into areas that will improve the lives of many others and beyond, but still including, ourselves. With the ever-increasing value of service on the rise, one can actually achieve larger success in many cases, than if generosity and service were not creatively employed.
“It will be a multi-disciplinary, fully integrative centre, incorporating a new entrepreneurial model that has the opportunity with its partners to change the model of business learning from bottom line thinking to one that emphasizes the “blended bottom line”.
To join the global movement of Zentrepreneurism, go to their LinkedIn site www.linkedin.com/groups/4121734 .
