Marc Lesser: "Know Yourself, Forget Yourself" | Authors at Google

Marc Lesser is the author of Know Yourself, Forget Yourself: Five Truths to Transform Your Work, Relationships, and Everyday Life and he stopped by Google headquarters recently to talk about the book.

Know Yourself, Forget Yourself

Published on Sep 30, 2013

Marc Lesser stopped by Google to chat about his new book "Know Yourself, Forget Yourself: Five Truths to Transform Your Work, Relationships, and Everyday Life"

Our brains seek order and resist the unexpected, inconsistent, and counter-intuitive. But life is more often paradoxical than predictable — which is why formulas for fulfillment and success often fail. Instead of fighting the tide of contradiction and confusion, Marc Lesser asserts, we can learn to understand and even embrace them using the simple tools he presents in these pages. Readers learn to master five core competencies:

• Know Yourself, Forget Yourself
• Be Confident, Question Everything
• Fight for Change, Accept What Is
• Embrace Emotion, Embody Equanimity
• Benefit Others, Benefit Yourself

The result is balance, a version of Buddhism's "middle way," which prompts understanding of what is required in any given moment and actions through which we skillfully "dance" with paradox in enriching and joyful ways. Bolstered by the latest in neuroscience, this guide is nuanced and direct, profound and practical.

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Marc Lesser is the CEO, founder and serves on the board of Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI). Marc is a long term Zen student and teacher. He is the author of Know Yourself, Forget Yourself, as well as Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less, and Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration; How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life.

He was the founder and former CEO of Brush Dance, a publisher of greeting cards, calendars and gift items, with spiritual themes and artwork. He spent 15 years taking Brush Dance from an idea in his garage to a multi-million dollar publishing company, with distribution throughout the U.S. and the world.

He facilitates retreats for CEO’s, business leaders, and management teams. Has been co-leading Company Time retreats for business leaders for the past 10 years.