What Forbes Writes About Geshe Michael Roach: Rethinking Success in Business and Life

In 2015, Forbes published an article featuring a unique approach to business and life by Geshe Michael Roach — a Buddhist monk, entrepreneur, and author of the bestseller The Diamond Cutter. His methods continue to inspire entrepreneurs around the world. Below is a summary of the key ideas from that article.

Contents

💡 From Conflict and Stress to Conscious Success
📚 A Book That Changed Her Mindset
🌍 Global Conflicts Reflect Business Thinking?
💎 The Yellow Diamond Story
🌱 How to Plant Seeds of Success
1. Define your goal clearly
2. Find someone with the same goal
3. Help them for one hour per week
4. Water the seed
⚖️ From Competition to Cooperation
💬 Final Thoughts from the Author
📚 Additional Resources

💡 From Conflict and Stress to Conscious Success

American coach and author Kathy Caprino begins with a simple insight:

“When our minds and hearts are full of conflict, doubt and resistance about what we’re doing, then the results we get from our work are also full of conflict, doubt and resistance.”

The foundation of success lies in how we think and what we feel about our work.

📚 A Book That Changed Her Mindset

Caprino shares that she read The Diamond Cutter by Geshe Michael Roach on a colleague’s recommendation:

“It was a powerful experience for me.”

The book tells the story of how Roach, after graduating from Princeton, spent 25 years in Tibetan monasteries and became the first American to receive the geshe (master’s) degree. He later helped build the jewelry company Andin International, which was sold to Warren Buffett.

🌍 Global Conflicts Reflect Business Thinking?

In the Forbes interview, Michael notes that while working with governments in the Middle East, China, Ukraine, and Russia, a common pattern emerged:

“I’m starting to doubt whether this competitive model even works.”

He explains that the “Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi” mindset fuels tension not only within offices, but also between nations.

💎 The Yellow Diamond Story

He shares a real business example:

“We were mistakenly sent 10,000 yellow diamonds instead of the white ones we ordered. It was a huge potential loss.”

But he had the idea to rebrand them as “golden diamonds”, which turned the loss into a profitable product. This led him to ask:

“Why did this idea pop into my head at that particular moment?”

The answer lies in “planting mental seeds.”

🌱 How to Plant Seeds of Success

The core idea of the Tibetan method: helping others is the key to helping yourself.

Geshe Michael outlines four steps to achieve your goals:

1. Define your goal clearly

“I want to move up in my company.”

2. Find someone with the same goal

Who else is seeking a promotion?

3. Help them for one hour per week

Yes — actively help someone else get promoted.

4. Water the seed

“Just think about the help you gave, and feel that it was the right thing.”

This final step activates the “mental seed” and accelerates results.

⚖️ From Competition to Cooperation

A key critique of traditional thinking:

“We believe there’s only one promotion available, so we must compete. But if everything is a result of my perception, I can create more opportunities by helping others.”