STRATEGIC STUDIES
The Tao of Leadership
2023
Being Strategic in the Real World - A Zhuge Liang Program
Karme Chöling, VT, USA.
July 14 (evening) - 16 (ends 6pm)
No requirements
Material fee: $35
With Eva Wong
About this workshop
We live in a real world. In the real world, we interact with people who have thoughts, feelings, open friendliness, and hidden agendas. In the real world, we move around in environments - be it the natural world of plants, animals, and elements, or the social world of ethnic diversity, community life, work environments, and government policies. In the real world, time does not wait.
Zhuge Liang’s success in political leadership, military campaigns, and social reforms is founded on his uncanny ability to observe the natural world and understand people’s thoughts and feelings, and use this information strategically.
What is offered in this workshop
This workshop is designed to introduce you to the strategies of:
• Observing the natural world skillfully and deducing its messages.
• Moving through and observing the social world discretely to gather information.
• Using your observations to design strategic plans of action.
• Using your observations to set “go or no-go” parameters in decision making.
• Learning how to take advantage of opportunities and execute your actions in a timely manner.
• Being street smart in both beneficial and aversive conditions.
What you will get out of this workshop
• Guidelines on how to apply the training acquired in this workshop to your work and personal life.
• Thought banners that will stimulate further investigative learning.
• Exercises and scenarios that will hone your skill in moving around your personal, work, and social world strategically.
• Part 1 of Eva Wong’s book Mastering the Art of Leadership and Strategy.
Observe the world to understand the world.
Nothing is inconsequential.
Scrutinize everything.
Make judgements after observation, not before.
Eva Wong is a translator of Chinese classics of strategy and a strategy consultant for business corporations, political leaders, and social movements.
Karme Chöling, VT, USA
July 16 (evening) – 19
With Eva Wong
Meditation is a strategic activity. In meditation, we encounter diverse thoughts arising in consciousness. Some are positive, some are negative, some are neutral, and some are even nonsensical. To be able to ally with positive thoughts, pacify negative thoughts, de-emphasize neutral thoughts, and minimize nonsensical thoughts is the mark of an intelligent and strategic meditator.
In this program, you will learn how to befriend positive thoughts, protect yourself from negative thoughts, and conserve spirit energy (shen) by minimizing neutral and nonsensical thoughts.
As a strategic meditator, we do not enter the field of consciousness and encounter our thoughts unprepared. Using qigong techniques, we will prepare our body strategically for meditation. Using Xiantianwujimen thought techniques, we will protect our spirit energy (shen) strategically during meditation.
Learn to meditate strategically - be still as a mountain, fluid as a river, powerful as a storm, and subtle as the wandering mists.
The Art of Strategic Cooperation and Team Building - A Zhuge Liang program
Karme Chöling, VT, USA.
July 19 (evening) - 21 (ends 6pm)
Material fee for those not registered in Being Strategic in the Real World: $35
With Eva Wong
About this workshop
Cooperation and team building are key to successful projects and enterprises. Without cooperation and good team dynamics, disharmony and dysfunction will occur. The results are failed initiatives, wasted time and resources, and most importantly, erosion of goodwill among people with good intentions.
Zhuge Liang was famous for working harmoniously and effectively with colleagues, friends, strangers, and even competitive rivals. His ability to strategically forge cooperation and build teams led to success in the face of overwhelming odds. What is offered in this workshop
Whether you are involved in business projects, volunteer-based charitable work, or just running day-to-day activities in an organization, cooperation and team building are the foundation of successful operations. You cannot always work with people you like, or with persons who share your ideals. How do you build a team and make sure that the members will cooperate with each other?
This workshop is designed to train you in the strategies of cooperation and team building among friends, co-workers, strangers, and competitors, so that personal differences, grudges, and rivalry can be set aside for the greater good.
Through presentations, tutorials, and work groups simulations, you will learn how to:
• Balance virtue and pragmatics while making cooperative commitments.
• Identify the nature of the cooperative activity needed to complete a project.
• Identify the skills and abilities that are needed to form an effective team.
• Work strategically with team members and partner organizations who are friendly, supportive, indifferent, or even hostile.
• Create a work environment that focuses on cooperation rather than competitive rivalry. What you will get out of this workshop
• Guidelines on how to balance virtue and pragmatics in cooperative activities.
• Guidelines on how to identify and design cooperative agreements.
• Tips on how to choose team members.
• Thought banners that will stimulate further investigation of how to cooperate strategically.
• Part 1 of Eva Wong’s book Mastering the Art of Leadership and Strategy.
Create an atmosphere of cooperation, not rivalry.
Successful teams lead to successful projects.
Eva Wong is a translator of Chinese classics of strategy and a strategy consultant for business corporations, political leaders, and social movements.