Moral Fiber - A Practical Guide to Living Our Values

by Shawn Vij

Moral fiber is the ultimate guidebook on how to create a thriving business and career while staying true to who you are and what you believe. Taking an innovative and secular approach to business Ethics, moral fiber shows us how living our values unlocks a more purposeful life and career.

This book helps us to re-discover the inherent core values, such as fairness, respect, compassion, and honesty, and then how to genuinely Act on them daily.

This practical guide is filled with tips, tales, and tools to identify and eliminate toxic behaviors and motivators, as well as priceless lessons from top industry leaders and powerful research from academics.

TESTIMONIALS

“[Shawn] shares with us how compassion, gratitude and wisdom opens our inner door, unlocking a more purposeful life and career.” — HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA

“Moral Fiber takes us on a beautiful journey of how capitalism and compassion must co-exist to improve our human condition.” — JOHN MACKEY, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, WHOLE FOODS MARKET

“At a time of great uncertainty, Moral Fiber is a welcome tonic and an authentic reminder of how having capitalism with compassion elevates us all.” — JENNIFER REINGOLD, FORMER MANAGEMENT WRITER, FORTUNE MAGAZINE, FAST COMPANY AND BUSINESSWEEK

“Moral Fiber drops us head-first into a world of awakening.” — THOMAS DONALDSON, PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ETHICS, WHARTON SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

“In Moral Fiber, Vij creatively shows us how our core values can be a key to personal happiness and professional success.” — HOWARD C. CUTLER, M.D., NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR OF THE ART OF HAPPINESS

Genres: Self Help, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Business

208 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2019

About the author

Shawn Vij is an accomplished business leader who has over 30 years of Industry and Consulting experience. He has worked in various leadership positions for Ford Motor Company, Ernst & Young, VISA, Deloitte Consulting, Microsoft, and Intel Corporation. He holds an MBA from Purdue University, an MS in Engineering from the University of Michigan and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Technological University. Shawn was raised in the US Midwest and now resides in the Pacific Northwest.

Reviews

[Alok Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moral Fiber is the summum bonum of all that Shawn Vij, a highly successful corporate personality, has learned from his experiences, his studies and his direct and indirect inspiration from Buddhism and His Holiness Dalai Lama. I liked the idea of such a book. Even reading Moral Fiber is a calming process. The book, unlike many other self-help books, does not seem hurried at all. Shawn has been composed in narrating his experience and then introducing the readers with his teachings in the context of his episodes from the past. He tells the readers about the 4 Ds that create trouble for oneself and others around - Deception, Detraction, Discrimination and Doubt. He also tells that one can win over all the problems and obstacles that prevent people from being good just by being true to oneself. In chapter 9, the 5-Step Guide to acting one's value is also noteworthy and commendable.
To conclude, I am sure that not only the ones in the corporate but anyone from any walk of life can make good use of this wonderful book by a global business leader Shawn Vij!

[Amit Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is very precise. It tells the readers that the book is about something which is entirely a new idea. Moral Fiber, as defined by Shawn in the book is a certain set of rules that guide us to lead our lives in a dignified but compassionate way. It forbids us from doing the things that ate against the basic human values. The language used in the book is very simple and effective. It conveys the message in a very plain and simplistic way. I am sure the book will impress many readers to live the best way possible. I commend Shawn Vij for this amazing publication.

[Yogita Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an exceptionally inspirational book, no doubt. Shawn has used his vast experience that earned in the corporates to write this book. He has further been refined and enlightened by the teachings of Buddhism. Moreover, his interactions with the Dalai Lama has further taken this book to a new level. However, the author has largely focused on corporate culture and how can one excel there. He has offered too little too late for the general readers who look for day to day advice that could better their life.

[Naman Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this work just after reading a novel and I realised that the work by Shawn is a quality and unconvenient self-help book that teaches the readers how to react and how to act. Inspired by the Buddhism's core ideas of self-improvement, Moral Fiber is an appreciable effort by the author who is vastly experienced in the corporate world and then moving towards self-realisation with the inspiration from The Dalai Lama and his discoveries in everyday life. I will recommend this book to all those who want to read something meaningful but different.

[Saket Niranjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

'It's not personal; it's just business.'
This was the mantra by which Shawn lived many years before he got in the sweet shadow of Dalai Lama, His Holiness, a global peace-leader. Shawn's personal transformation under Dalai Lama's guidance leads to this book that tells the readers how can one be true to one's core values even in the complex world of corporate. I liked this book and I will certainly recommend this plain-written, easy to understand and quality self-help book to everyone inside and outside the office.

[Sima Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the books that you pick up and put down only after reading it completely. The book will offer you many things at once - but you can easily understand all the things as the author has made it easier for the readers to understand what he has been saying. Shawn is an experienced corporate leader and also a realised human being who has been inspired by the teachings of Buddha and the words of The Dalai Lama. This book is an offering of many things that will make one's life simple and beautiful and also rewarding.

[S Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a short, simple, certain and wonderful book of motivation that one can read. Though a bit inclined upon the corporate well-being, Shawn has fused this book with facts, ideas, philosophy and psychology in such a way that it has become a book to go for self-hel and way to lead a happy, satisfied and purposeful life for everyone. The foreword by His Holiness Dalali Lama gives an insight in Shawn Vij's accomplishments and his book. There is a clear impression of Buddhist philosophy on the book.

[Avdhesh Anand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strongly recommended! Shawn Vij's book offers valuable insights into professional growth and personal growth with a caveat that you don't have to compromise with your ethics and philosophy of life in order to achieve success in professional life. The book is also inspired by the core values of Buddhism that preaches compassion, kindness, truthfulness and honesty and more things that constitute human values. It's a very genuine attempt at creating the better version of human beings.

[Rahul Sikaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A perfect diet for the voracious readers who like to read books on life-motivation and self-help issues. Shawn has blended his corporate experience with his Buddhist realisations and offered the readers a combination that will help them understand their shortcomings and also find the best solutions to these.

[Abhishek Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moral Fiber is a guide to better living by acknowledging one's core values and living by these. I liked the way Shawn Vij, the author, has written this book in a simple manner - easy to understand and very easy to implement. He has identified the barriers and also told about the solutions. This is certainly one of the best self-help books I got my hands on 2019! Recommended for all those who want to understand the secrets to a better version of oneself. The foreword by Dalai Lama and Shawn's inclination towards Buddhism are also evident in the book.

[Bharat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only the inspiration from Dalai Lama's personality and teachings. Shawn Vij's own experiences and profile have also been instrumental throughout the work and one will have to admit it that Shawn's work has been written in a very passionate and truly selfless way. He doe put his experiences ahead but very carefully manages that his own personality had achievements do not take over the theme - that is awakening the real humane sanity in general people. I will recommend it to the readers at large.

[Abha Grover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shawn's book reminds us of the virtues and qualities that we already have within us. He tells his readers that we should not be very rigid professionally when it comes to save the personal values that we should have in our life, in order to be kind, compassionate and affectionate to others. I am sure that the readers will enjoy reading this book.

[Shyam Duggal · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book I can understand accomplishing something is not easy in life and only accomplish person can provide such type of advice. Shawn Vij is a recognised business leader who has worked in some prestigious companies.
He has written a book that is totally based on human psychology. How we react in on certain events? What is the reason behind your laziness? Why you can not take a solid decision that can shape your life. The author has tried to provide answers to all these questions in detail.
A perfect guide to rediscovering yourself.

[Shivani Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shawn's book is there to remind you that you have to be a good human being as well, other than being an earning employee and a better business person. The book has many lessons, Shawn's own experiences and his mantras to make you feel better and act better. He identifies the fundamental errors that we mostly make and comes up with solutions for the same.

[Kulbhusan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shawn has done wonderfully. Outstanding work in the field of day to day motivation and business motivation. He has a very compassionate way of telling the story. Sometimes, it will melt your heart and at the same time, it will make you brave enough to strike harder in your life. After reading this book you will feel a different kind of energy that will always motivate you to stay tall and smell the coffee. Always reaming true to yourself and taking the side of justice.

[Ayush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shawn has done wonderfully! I am impressed with his choice of chapters and the way he has reached out to his readers. He has a compassionate way of letting the readers know his opinions and thoughts and I must say that it is very impactful. A little more focus on the general life of general people would have made it even more effective! Recommended and loved!

[Ravi Upadhyay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a very different self-help book because the author here claims that he has experienced these things in his life and so, you should either refrain from making the same mistakes as he made or do something that he did and could be useful. You will find the book interesting and wonderful as you read it.

[Ruchi Patel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tagline of the book caught my attention that is “A practical guide to living our values”. The book has been forwarded by The Dalai Lama so I was very curious to read it. The book belongs to self help genre. I have read many books from this genre but this one seemed different. I will briefly summarise the concept. The book is based on author’s experiences or true events. The book starts with how the author met His Holiness. And the life turned upside down. The journey from crushing the soul to being true to your self has been perfectly described in nine chapters. There are number of concepts and theories but among them I like Caging ourselves. That explains us how and why we loose our values. The other concept I liked the most is how we create toxic environments. I liked how the concept has been explained with 4 Ds. That way it is easily understandable. I liked the book. I am going to re read and use it as a journal. All the concepts have been explained well with stories and examples. Content has been sorted out well with paragraphs and bullet points. That way it’s easily understandable. Writing shows that the author has done a good research and then penned down this entire book. Overall good one.

[Deepika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moral Fiber is a practical guide to solve the puzzles of your life that often comes with the corporate sector. The complexity of the modern world has transformed everything and people are only running behind blind success.
The book has tried to figure out the loopholes where we are lacking and tries to settle it down. How life can be balanced between success and purpose. How it can be balanced between career and respect.
I really liked the concept and ideas of the book.

[Gaurav Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book opens with an introduction to the cause of The Dalai Lama and an introduction to the book's content by the author himself. Shawn has mainly shared his experiences as a leading business person with his readers - but, he begins right from the beginning and he goes on explaining that there are a few compromises that people must not make and keep their moral fiber alive in them. The book is good for business persons, workers and corporate life-living people.

[Mugdha Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shawn's book is an impressive book that offers an insight into the corporate world and the values that we have been losing constantly. His focus, however, is on corporate motivation in terms of maintaining ethics inside the glassdoors of office environment. However, the book will be useful t anyone who reads it,

[Shivani Verma · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a lot of self-help books available but they rarely help us achieve what we want in life. I always believed that lessons of such book are just theoretical and most of them cannot be applied to real life.
This book changed my perception of self-help books and has helped me a lot in my life.

The book starts with the meeting of the author with His Holiness The Dalai Lama, and how that one meeting helped him change his life. Not every day you come across such people, who have changed their lives and are also willing to help you change yours. People mostly believe in making them successful, but the author, through this book, also tries to help everyone.

Stuck in between the capitalist society and trying to find a balance between professional and private life, this book is a journey of a man who in the end achieves it all.

The book takes you an adventure to help you understand yourself better. It helped me to learn moral values, how do we lose these values inner busy lives, how to analyse all the problems that come in your life and tackle them without going against your principles of life.
What I got to learn from this book is how important principles are in your life and without them, a man is just hollow from the inside. No matter what you have in life, having something dignified to stand by is the most important.

This book is ideal for people who are in the corporate world or readers who are above 21.
A must-read for everyone who feels lost in their corporate lives needs a big change in their lives, want to learn more about handling clients.

This isn’t just another book, this is a mixture of life lessons and tips on achieving real happiness in life.

[Amarkant Shiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book! I enjoyed reading it because the book keeps you engaged. It is based primarily on the experiences of the author himself and it lets you learn from that. Incidents, lessons, meetings, conducts... many past memories of the author form this book with a little extracts from the Buddhist philosophy.

[Ambika Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author has focused largely on how to get the most out of one's professional life and career... though there is very much for the general readers as well, it is mainly for the corporate professionals who want to make their careers soar higher by adopting the virtues of intellect that Buddha preaches and experiences that Shawn Vij has shared. You are going to like it like many have done... however, you should have a basic understanding of spiritual aspects in life before you master this book...

[Harsh Tiwari · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book that is not like other motivational titles I have read in my reading hours. As the very title suggests, it's more of a practical guide that you can use in your life to manage the way you handle yourself in public life. It's titled towards the corporate readers a bit more than it should have been. Nevertheless, the book is still very useful and you will love reading and recommending it.

[Rahul Srivastava · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book consists of meaningful ideas.

[Deepan Maitra · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Moral Fiber—a Practical Guide to Living Our Values” is a phenomenal book that challenges the notion that in order to succeed in business and survive in the corporate world, one must let go of their core values and morality. Shawn takes us through his own life experiences to establish the fact brick by brick—that good values like compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, honesty can ensure a fulfilling personal life as well as sky-high professional success. To climb up the ladder of the corporate world and accumulate wealth, we do not need to resort to ‘poisons’ (as the author calls it) like anger, greed and ignorance, nor do we need to constantly be a part of the toxic environment that some companies incubate within themselves. We can stick to our own set of ethical and compassionate ways of discharging duties and achieve higher levels of accomplishments.

The honesty and integrity of the author is reflected largely in this book. He shares his own life story as to when he finally realized that the ‘it’s not personal, it’s business’ mentality has been gnawing at his pillar of ethics and pushing him to a very materialistically successful but hollow lifestyle. Though he was earning money and positively influencing the corporate crowd surrounding him, he was always having the feeling that something was missing. Several incidents have been cited throughout the book to elucidate the roots of the author’s realization of this trap he was slowly stepping into. He quotes numerous business leaders and professors expert in their fields ( like management, human behaviour, economics, business analytics) to support his point and to provide adequate material for the readers to delve deeper and grasp the concepts better. The author talks about his meeting with the Dalai Lama, the encounter which led to a massive turn in his personal and work life.

In all, the book offers the following:

• introduction of the concept the author is trying to teach
• explanation of why these concepts are needed to be understood
• the prerequisites and probable results of the concept
• relation of the concept to the experience of the author, both at personal and collaborative levels
• a guide of how the readers can apply the concept and instill it in their lives

The author defines the Moral Fiber as follows:
“….our Moral Fiber is the daily practice of knowing and acting on our core values. It is this ‘practice’ that will awaken us to be true to ourselves and give greater purpose to our lives and the organizations we work for.”

The language of the book is lucid and well-formulated. The author is keen enough to first lay out the foundation of the point he is about to make, then make the point, simultaneously helping it stand by adding extra details, and then leave the acceptance of the concept to the hands of the readers by providing an universal take to the point and adding a pinch of open-endedness. Being well-read and acquainted with the concepts he has explained in the book, he doesn’t try to forcefully impose them onto the readers. His logical reasonings and the backdrop that he offers to each concept never lets the book be overly preachy. The book almost takes the form of a very warm and open discussion about this ‘moral fiber’, where it seems all sorts of varied opinions and allegations will be accepted because of the inclusiveness of this whole thing. Having said that, there is also a severe lack of easy exercises or assignments that the readers can take up individually to understand the worth of this ‘moral fiber’. The book majorly talks about the author’s personal experiences, and the last chapter talks about everyday people using this fiber to succeed. But all of this happens without citing the success stories of author corporate leaders on the same dais who might have had similar outputs by sticking to their core values in their respective careers. The ‘practical guide’ part of the book only comes up towards the very end of the book, and it could’ve been highlighted more.

I’ll recommend this book not only to wage-earning professionals, but to anyone who might be suffering from the leftover dry remains of ethics in their lives. The book was an amazing journey for me, and I want everyone to take this journey, and then decide for themselves as to how they can utilize the book.


Disclaimer: This review is in lieu of a review copy


Originally published on my own blog: https://deepansbookshelf.blogspot.com...

[Muthulakshmi Mahesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Encouraging read

- My review
“People who are self-aware will separate themselves rather than conform to people who make poor decisions, especially harmful or dangerous ones,”
• It is better to take decisions on our own self rather than getting requesting the other.
• Moral fiber is a self-help book that assists people to get an optimistic view of life.
• The author has described distinct tales in which each story comprises of hope.
• Every turning chapter seemed to have a value that will help us cope up with our existence.
• In the fast-moving world, we get humiliated so easily if we do not get what we wish.
• So in order to balance anger, greed, and ignorance, the elaborated writing helps us understand in the chapter caging ourselves.

- My view on this book
• This book is filled with positive thoughts and reading it will give us hope.
• The experience of the author has been conveyed in the book, it will help us to acknowledge the ways to tackle in our corporate lives

- What is interesting about this book?
• It is necessary to identify our values and act on our values to strengthen our moral fiber.
• This book is recommended for the people who are having work pressure in office, distressed, depressed. So this book is a must-read that will guide you on the right path.

[Simran · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is basically a self help book. We always dream of being successful but only some of them excels.. This book made me understand how to live life morally and achieve our goals in a proper manner. It is actually a practical guide to follow our life with positibe values. The book consists of 9 chapters and each of them are equally informative.
People of this generation are getting so busy day by day that they have no time for taking care of themselves , specially mental health. The book is basically inspired by the teachings of buddhism and a special mention of Dalai Lama adds grace to the book. The author has mostly tried to focus on business sector and it seems he has put all his experiences and knowledge in crafting this piece. I will definitely recommend this book to others as you are going to learn a lot from it.

[Ravi Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Idealised on the principles of Buddhism, and blessed by Dalaia Lama, the book has come up nicely with the wisdom of the ancient society that you cannot altogether ignore. You may conjecture, nevertheless. However, the way Shawn has added his own experiences as an employee in the book is worth reading and learning. Do enjoy this book that teaches you the value of core values in your life.