Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO's Quest for Meaning and Authenticity

by August Turak

August Turak is a successful entrepreneur, corporate executive, and award-winning author who attributes much of his success to living and working alongside the Trappist monks of Mepkin Abbey for seventeen years. As a frequent monastic guest, he learned firsthand from the monks as they grew an incredibly successful portfolio of businesses.

Service and selflessness are at the heart of the 1,500-year-old monastic tradition's remarkable business success. It is an ancient though immensely relevant economic model that preserves what is positive and productive about capitalism while transcending its ethical limitations and internal contradictions. Combining vivid case studies from his thirty-year business career with intimate portraits of the monks at work, Turak shows how Trappist principles can be successfully applied to a variety of secular business settings and to our personal lives as well. He demonstrates that monks and people like Warren Buffett are wildly successful not despite their high principles but because of them. Turak also introduces other "transformational organizations" that share the crucial monastic business strategies so critical for success.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Self Help, Psychology, Economics, Finance

200 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2013

About the author

AUGUST TURAK is a successful corporate executive, entrepreneur, award-winning author, speaker, and consultant. He is the founder of the educational nonprofit the August Turak Foundation (previously Self Knowledge Symposium Foundation).

His book, Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One Man’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity, uses 1000 years of Trappist business success and his own entrepreneurial experience to demonstrate the monks are not successful businessmen despite adhering to only the highest ethical values, but because they do.

An inspirational true story, Brother John: A Monk, a Pilgrim, and the Purpose of Life, combines Turak’s $100,000 Templeton Prize winning story with original oil paintings from award-winning artist, Glenn Harrington.

His new memoir, Not Less Than Everything: One Man’s Quest for Spiritual Enlightenment, reveals how August Turak overcame meaningless depression through a daring quest for life’s purpose. Through a series of wildly entertaining spiritual adventures and life lessons, Turak offers a powerful blueprint for a purposeful life. A life overflowing with joy, peace, and above all gratitude.

Turak has published many popular leadership articles for Forbes and been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Selling Magazine, the New York Times, and Business Week.

Turak writes and raises cattle on his seventy-five-acre farm outside Raleigh, NC.

Reviews

[Chris DeCleene · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for a closer examination of and deeper appreciation for the relationship of the monks' spiritual and business practices. Not that the author doesn't have those personally, but they didn't come through very well in the book. What gets closest to it are the stories he tells of the monks - the best parts of the book. The principles and lessons are very solid and encouraging. But it was more of a 'spiritual but not religious' take on business in general than an examination of how the fruit of good business grew from their deep religious life.

[Gail Welborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

***Be sure to check out the Mepkin Abbey tour link included in the review***

What do successful business principles have to do with God and Trappist monks? Quite a bit says August Turak, successful author, corporate executive and software entrepreneur in his tell all book, Business Secrets of the Trappist Mon. Where he explains why “mission, personal transformation and community” are the reasons he adopted the Mepkin Abbey’s business model after a seventeen year association with Brother John and Mepkin Abbey.

Turak frequented the Abbey as a monastic guest in need of spiritual refreshment. He adopted their dress and manner of living at those times and recognized their commitment to a special “…mission and management philosophy.” They practiced the Belgian Monks of St. Sixtus’s principle— “piety, not profit” and followed the rule of Saint Benedict—“to pray is to work.”

He describes their “monastic business model” as “service and selflessness” that for the monks was a “by-product of a life well lived.” He saw their 1,500-year-old economic model featured the positives…Full Review: http://www.examiner.com/list/business...

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! I am neither a business person or a monk. I am a stay-at-home mom who is home educating two daughters. This book will be required reading in their high school years. The personal insight and directed purpose of this book is fabulous! It is an introspective look at what makes people tick and everyone can benefit from what this man has learned on his journey. I would only argue with the author on one point. He maintains that these principles of business (or life, in my case) will work regardless of your faith in God. To some extent, this may be true. But, "faith alone," is not enough. We must have faith is something that actually has the power to affect the outcome. That is my personal bias. But I have recommended this book to any person I know who is trying to run a business of any kind. Our world would be a much better (and richer) place if more businesses were run this way.

[Juan Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. I admit when I first picked up this book I thought it was going to be a karate kid type of book. Something along the lines of "wax on, wax off". But I found the book very engaging and full of great advice. The book is about a business man who has a practice of visiting Trappist Monks and staying for days, months at a time. He learns the value of Chopping Wood and Carrying Water daily. It is the ability to stay present and stick to his principles instead of being dragged to the matrix that makes all the difference in his life.

1- If we want the business benefits that only authenticity can bestow, we must first become authentic individuals.
2- Maximum performance emerges from the peer pressure of a community working toward a common mission.
3 -Trust is the most powerful tool that a leader or organization can have, and that trust is directly proportional to selflessness
4- The best leaders realize that the more they focus on making other people successful, the more successful they become

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I am Roman Catholic; thus, St. Benedict, the father of Western monasticism, and I go way back, like before I went to graduate school and read Forbes for fun. In one sentence, this book can be summarized as work like the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance aka Trappist Monk and you will work daily for the glory of God and the good of the community. Most importantly, this book showcases the need for authentic leadership. There are four major components of authentic leadership: self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and an internalized moral perspective. That's like Rule of St. Benedict 101.

[Brandon LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read A LOT of business books in the last decade for various reasons. This is truly a unique voice and view in the space. I would recommend it to any organization or enterprise that wants to assess their purpose and how they are carrying it out. Well worth the read and worth returning to, both as a whole and in its component parts.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting, inspirational read. I would have liked a biography of Turek; I found the jumps in time and references to various jobs confusing at times. I wasn’t always sure what the main takeaway was meant to be, but the book gave me a lot of things to think about. I really enjoyed reading this!

[S.J. Reisner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philosophical food for thought

A good read. A great deal of food for thought. The principals are sound and I feel like they are applicable to all aspects of life, regardless your spiritual label or lack thereof.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Need a Monastic Retreat

Read this while fasting during Lent, and it fed my soul.
Going to recommend this to all my friends’ kids who are mostly in college. And, to my Life Group to be accountable for self awareness and authenticity.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Turak’s main ideas. But I thought some of his examples were kind of weak and a little scattered.

Worth reading, but don’t expect this book to change your life.

[Leslie Moellering · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. Never would have thought to apply the lessons from the monks to business the way the author does.

[Danielle Shroyer]

Came across this at the library and was so intrigued. It wasn’t unfortunately really what I expected, though I should have known from “business secrets” being in the title!

[Pablo Romero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinario libro para quien le interesa saber de cultura empresarial y fe.

[David Kinchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it" -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832

This quotation reprinted in August Turak's "Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO's Quest for Meaning and Authenticity" could serve as a summary of the monastic way of life and the secret to the monks' business success, writes Turak on Page 175 of a book that is both a memoir and a repository of information that can transform your life. It's also a moving account of his friendship with the Trappist monks at Mepkin Abbey.

In 1987, Wess Roberts published "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun," an unlikely source of business strategies that intrigued many people. I'm pretty sure that Jack Welch of G.E. was a big fan of this book.

Today you can even get an iPhone app: "The Art of Business" by Sun Tzu, the Chinese sage more famous for writing about the Art of War:

http://suntzutheart.com/,


I'm putting my literary money on Turak's book, based on his experiences since the late 1990s working with the monks of Our Lady of Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. The former estate of Henry and Clare Boothe Luce (Henry Luce was the co-founder of Time magazine and the founder of Life and Fortune magazines; his wife was a playwright, congresswoman and ambassador), the 3,132 acre property has been a second home to Turak for the past 17 years.

As a frequent monastic guest, he learned firsthand from the Trappist monks as they grew an incredibly successful portfolio of businesses. Combining prayer and work, including sorting the eggs from the thousands of hens on the site, Turak learned the principles of authenticity and customer service that made the abbey self-sustaining.

The part of Turak's book about gathering and sorting eggs resonated with the present reviewer, a son of the soil. Born in 1938 in Van Buren County, Mich., I spent my first 10 years on a farm where we had dairy cattle and thousands of hens that were very productive in egg-laying. We also grew produce that we sold at a roadside stand to tourists and locals.

Service and selflessness are at the heart of the 1,500-year-old monastic tradition’s remarkable business success. It is an ancient though immensely relevant economic model that preserves what is positive and productive about capitalism while transcending its ethical limitations and internal contradictions.

Combining case studies from his thirty-year business career with intimate portraits of the monks at work, Turak shows how Trappist principles can be successfully applied to a variety of secular business settings and to our personal lives as well. He demonstrates that monks and people like Warren Buffett are successful not despite of their high principles but because of them. Turak also introduces other “transformational organizations” that share the crucial monastic business strategies so critical for success.

Along with the business insights revealed by Turak are personal experiences from his own life, including the death of one of his brothers in a snowmobile accident and his own scary experience skydiving. I was particularly moved by his account of his friendship with Mepkin's youthful abbot Father Francis Kline and Father Francis' fight against a form of cancer called lymphoma. Finally sickened physically and mentally by the chemotherapy he was undergoing at Sloan-Kettering in New York City, Francis told the doctors he was going home.

Francis had been recruited from Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky, made famous by author Thomas Merton in "The Seven Storey Mountain" and other books. Merton (1915-1968) was an Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion.

I noticed right away that Turak's book didn't have an index. Usually, I rant and rave when an index-less book is sent to me; in this case, I have the sneaky feeling that Turak left off the index because he wanted people to read his book, not scan the index. A good choice, Augie! In a world of unread (and often unreadable) business books, August Turak's "Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks" stands out as a book that will be read and re-read.

More quotes from Goethe:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quote...

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

#GoodreadsGiveaway

Insightful and interesting read.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a time when the church mined the business shelf for wisdom on managing ministries, leadership and growing your church. In some circles, this is still the rage. August Turak appears to be attempting to do the reverse. Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks recounts Turak’s experience of working alongside the monks at the Mepkin monastery. For seventeen years, what he has learned from the brothers’ example, and that has helped him be a better, more successful CEO. Of course, the monks are not Turak’s only source of spiritual insight. He studied Zen Buddhism with some guy in West Virginia and apparently has watched the Devil wears Prada a lot. His association with Mepkin came through a connection he made the Self Knowledge Symposium (a group of college students he leads, where he shares his spiritual insights). He went for a weekend retreat after a student of his had been spending his time volunteering there. That began his long relationship with the monks.

So what is it exactly that Turak has learned from the monks? The content of this book is not significantly different from any other business self-help book. Turak attributes the monk’s success to: their commitment to quality, their commitment to community, their selfless service, loyalty, the opportunity their life together makes for personal transformation, integrity and their commitment to a higher purpose. Because Turak is writing for the widest possible audience, his appropriation of the monk’s insights are applied far beyond their particular Christian, monastic commitment. He wants to help business people translate monastic style commitment to their organizations.

What makes this book a fun read is Turak’s blend of monastery stories with stories of his own business success and challenges. His spiritual commitments (and personal commitments to running the SKS) has often meant that he has had to forgo opportunities. However these commitments served to pave the way to the particular shape of his success. Hearing his story is part of the fun and of course he makes you wish you knew a bunch of Trappist monks. The Trappist’s Benedictine heritage ensures their commitment to the sacredness of work, as one component of the spiritual life. So it seems natural that Turak can appropriate their insights and experience to the workplace.

I enjoyed this book but I am not sure what I will take from it. Secularizing the insights from the monastery means reducing the spiritual insights and religious commitments of the monks into something useful for everyone. There is something good about this, but it is also part of the ‘spiritual but not religious’ lowest-common-denominator impulse. The monks have a vocation. So do business people. They can learn from each other, but their distinctive call is their greatest gift to the world. I think Turak gets this, but when he talks about getting business’s to commit to their organization’s purpose, this will always be a different order of commitment to me than a Trappists commitment to God, community and prayer. The former may be worthwhile, but is temporal. the Godward life connects us to the Transcendent. I would have difficulty committing to my current organization (in the business world) with the same tenacity that monks devote themselves to God. I don’t think I should, even while I agree that commitment to a common purpose will lead to greater corporate success (in general).

I give this book four stars and think that if you like quasi-spiritual business books, you likely will love this one. I liked it. ;)

Thank you to Speakeasy for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a title that will stop you momentarily as you scan through a shelf of books. What do Trappist monks have to do with business? Is this some form of ecclesiastical wordplay?

Yet the world of work is key to the rule of St. Benedict and its motto "ora et labora" (pray and work). Here the author takes an insider's view of monastic life, acquired through a 17-year association as a frequent guest of the monks of Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, USA and weaves this in with business experiences and case studies to bring forth an interesting and fresh viewpoint.

The relatively-enclosed nature of a monastery reinforces the necessity of cooperation and community cohesion and this can in turn be an essential "corporate lubricant" that is often missing in many businesses. Some business gurus seek to flatten a corporate hierarchy yet even monastic life has a necessary hierarchy of sorts. Determination towards a common series of goals can have a rather cohesive, beneficial effect.

Egg production was the commercial powerhouse of the Abbey with over 40,000 hens literally sitting on a veritable production line, until they switched gears and moved to mushroom production after alleged controversial practices were highlighted by an animal welfare group in the late 2000s. Business is not so uncommon within religious orders either. Some brew beer, some sell preserves and other products yet a philosophy seems to be that they sell to live and not live to sell (meaning that profit is not their sole objective).

This is certainly not your typical business book. It is not dry and full of jargon, it is not full of positivity and rah-rah-you-can-do-it praise. It is a more personal storybook-style, albeit a little awkwardly written and defocussed in places - fortunately the subject is so different and engaging that these little niggles get overlooked. Whilst naturally this book does reflect deeply on religious matters it might be important for some to highlight that it does not seem to be promoting a specific religious agenda or advocating a given spiritual pathway. Irrespective of your religious viewpoint, or lack thereof, a path of certain "behaviour" can be quite interesting to examine.

There is a lot more to this book than just business. The reader gets a wonderful look behind-the-scenes at what can go on in a monastery and how some of the monks function. A sort of human interest look and even a general reader with no specific interest in business or religion may still gain rather a lot from this book if they just pick it up and plough through it. This reviewer was curiously sceptical as to whether this book could possibly work or not. Maybe there was some divine intervention for the author but this turned out to be surprisingly engaging, rather different and a bit of a good read to boot.

If you view this solely as a business book, consider reading it to get a possibly different series of opinions that may shape your future thinking and behaviour. If you are more open to a bit of a broader, general read then you might find yourself getting rather more out of it than you possibly imagined. This might be one of those better books you'd not ordinarily consider purchasing but once you have it in your hands you might not put it down for a long time!

Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks, written by August Turak and published by Columbia Business School Publishing. ISBN 9780231160629, 224 pages. Typical price: USD29.95. YYYY.

http://syndicate.darreningram.com/bus...

[Bert Edens · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my book review blog at:

http://kickinbooks.wordpress.com/2013...

Via NetGalley, Columbia Business School Publishing provided me with a copy of this book for the purposes of reading and reviewing it. While I received it at no cost to myself, I am under no obligation to provide a positive review.

As a Customer Support Manager, I am always looking for better ways to serve our customers, and this book seemed at first glance to fit the bill. Admittedly, a portion of it involves decisions by people above my pay grade, but for the most part the concepts here are universal to all positions in a business.

Turak’s premise in this book is very straight-forward: People are happier when focused on the service of others first. The vehicle he uses for his lesson is the time he has spent as a guest at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina, observing the way they serve their community through various business ventures.

The Trappist tradition is over 1500 years old as, as the monks regularly reminded Turak, you have to trust the process. The abbey, while primarily populated with elderly gentlemen working just a few hours a day, manages to provide high quality products to their local community without focusing on advertising and being aggressive in their business. They trust that by doing the right thing day in and day out, through hard work, and taking care of their customers first and foremost, the rest of it will take care of itself. Furthermore, the monks develop a tremendous sense of community among themselves, and that sense of being part of something much bigger than themselves drives them even more.

The author has extensive experience in all levels of management over the last thirty-plus years, and while his involvement with Mepkin Abbey spans only seventeen years, he uses many examples from his past to show how putting the customer first has led to positive results. These examples are not always centered on businesses Turak has been involved in, but businesses he has encountered secondhand. Multiple times he uses the United States Marine Corps and Alcoholics Anonymous as examples of a sense of community and a sense of belonging being a driving force. In the case of AA, he shows that the participants become invested in helping others, not just themselves, and that is part of the recovery process.

In addition to business aspects, the author also makes the point that a life of service extends into the core of a person’s life. Whether it be community service, volunteering, or just random acts of kindness, helping others will help ourselves.

There are a few times I believed Turak wandered a little too far off track with some of his examples, but he did eventually bring it all back to the primary point. Admittedly, Turak’s message is nothing new. Among others, Zig Ziglar had a similar message when he said you can have anything you want in life by helping others get what they want. The delivery of the message is where Turak differs from others.

I actually found myself more fascinated with his discussions of monastic life than some of the teachings Turak was putting forward. In many ways that’s because I was familiar with the message, and I wanted to learn more about the people and the process behind the message. However, that is due more to my familiarity with the message rather than a failure on Turak’s part.

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a freshman in college, I had the fortunate experience to hear August Turak speak on campus. At the time, I had no idea what an influence he would have on the next four years of my life.

Even though we haven't spoken in years, his recent book, Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks, continues to call me to the challenge of seeking the knowledge to lead a life worth living. It's not often that we have a chance for transformational experiences, and I wanted to share some of his message with you.

See my full review at https://www.knowmad.com/blog/transfor...

[Charmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Business success requires having the discipline to faithfully apply the right principles over a long period of time.

2. Self-knowledge instead is best achieved through encountering ourselves in real-life situations.

3. Purpose of every human life, is to be transformed from a selfish into a selfless person.

4. Money is just a mechanism for storing human time and energy and making it portable…how we utilize these scarce resources is the best way to divine our true priorities.

5. We must offer people the opportunity to satisfy this hunger for transformation.

6. Offering people transformative experiences.

7. Whatever we want from others, we must have the courage to offer first.

8. Under commit and over deliver – get in the habit of writing down every promise you make.

9. Excellence is not a choice, it is a habit.

10. Nothing builds trust better than anticipating your obligations and delivering on them without being asked.

[Chapter Chirp (Jessica)]

Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks: One CEO’s Quest for Meaning and Authenticity by August Turak is a book I wouldn’t normally gravitate towards, however, I was intrigued by the description so I gave it a go at reading. The book is filled with numerous stories that the author uses to intertwine monastic lessons and virtues with his own real stories of business and life. The principles of service and selflessness drive the stories in a way showing the magic one can achieve not only in business but also one’s everyday life. I was pleasantly surprised with how this read went. The only downside of the book was the feeling of slight disorganization in the way the stories were presented. It felt at times that the stories jumped around a bit leaving the reader wondering where in time we were. Other than this minute snag, I found this to be a book I genuinely believe many others could prosper from reading.
#GoodreadsGiveaway

[April Yamasaki]

I appreciate the way this author tells stories from his own experience in business and as a regular visitor to the Mepkin Abbey. His time spent living and working alongside the monks gave him a unique opportunity to observe their way of life and learn from them. Brother Robert, Father Malachy, Dom Francis Kline, and others lived faithfully, authentically, and successfully. I can see why Turak was drawn to them, and why he wrote this book to share what he learned.

Although I’m not in business like the author, I can identify with much of what he says about mission, personal transformation, service, community, and other lessons of Trappist business and spirituality. These are life lessons for business and beyond.

For my complete review see my website.

[Carolyn Kost · Rating 5 out of 5]

August Turak helps us to realize that it is not merely possible to achieve wholeness and reconciliation of our personal spiritual lives with our what we do in the workplace; it is imperative.

This is not a theological exercise in navel gazing. Turak draws upon observations gleaned through many years of participating in the practices of a Trappist Abbey and the universal archetype of the hero myth as he makes a convincing case for the necessity of having a lofty overarching mission that is worthy of being served, of being lived. Serving such a mission inspires us to sacrifice for our commitment to it and we, in turn, are transformed in service of the greater good.

This is a wonderful, thought-provoking and inspiring read for any organization, but for leaders, it is indispensable.

See also Parker Palmer's A Hidden Wholeness

[Fr. River · Rating 5 out of 5]

BUSINESS SECRETS OF THE TRAPPIST MONKS: ONE CEO'S QUEST FOR MEANING AND AUTHENCITY August Turak


This book is the journey of August Turak with the Trappist Monks of Mepkin Abbey. It is basically his journey of his own search for meaning and purpose in the business world.


He does and excellent job of bringing the mission of the monks into the business world. The main thing he emphasizes is self-less service--putting others before profits, and being trustworthy. If this was put into practice in business and government then our problems of homelessness, of health care, and lacking of food could be easily solved.


This book is a good read, and tells the story of the monks and of his journey with them in a great way.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

We’re seeing a trend in the modern business world...people are starting to argue that we’ve expanded too quickly for our own good. In Business Secrets of the Trappist Monks, August makes his arguments for why we need to slow down with what we’re doing. One of my favorite lines in the book is when he highlights the differences between qualitative and quantitative production and discusses the pros and cons of some of today’s most common business practices...and how we’ve strayed from the success of the past.

[Chelsea Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to sit in on a fascinating conversation that pits different styles of business against one another, but didn’t for fear that all of the language in the debate might go over your head? No longer will those of us who truly enjoy a good intellectual discussion be wary of the linguistic barriers that hurl terminology at us like a thesaurus. You’ll be able to understand all of August’s points while coming to your own conclusions about which model is best and what we really should do to make sure that we’re getting the most out of society today.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why does it seem that in today’s society, we keep finding out that people of the past had things right to begin with? This is yet another installment of the ongoing discussion that continues to remind us that sometimes, the fastest production that can make units in the most cost-effective way is not the best for business. August Turak’s book has no shame when it comes to calling out society today for the ways that we fail to do what needs to be done in ensuring customer satisfaction for the sake of “optimizing” our business practices. An inspiration to us all!

[Perry Bason · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’re looking for something that will spark conversation around the dinner table, look no further. August makes a case for why we need to get back to some of the most basic principles when it comes to making and marketing our products. He highlights key aspects of the business world and draws connections between modern-day success and long-standing practices that have been around for ages, tested by time to be proven effective.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes you think, and is definitely one that you’ll be excited to bring up with colleagues time and time again. One of my favorite things about August as an author is that he’s great at making people think in new ways-he doesn’t rehash tired arguments but proves that thinking for yourself is one of the most important qualities when it comes to crafting a well-written justification. This is a prime example of that creativity at work.

[Landon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turak gained business secrets from a most unique source: Trappist monks. Living and working along these monks allowed Turak to gain the previously unknown business secrets that allowed them to develop a successful business portfolio. Using personal stories and descriptions of his business accomplishments, Turak makes a connection with his readers. A great book full of important lessons and messages!