This series of post is inspired by a sermon delivered by a Thai monk, Luang Por Jarun. He taught his lay disciples how to make their boesses like them. In that way, they can do well in their career. The sermon by Luang Por Jarun are in yellow boxes. My comments are not coloured.

9. Uphold honesty, especially when it concerns money

On the surface level, it means that we should not steal or be dishonest in our work, especially when it concerns monetary transactions. For example, claiming reimbursement of expenditure. When we claim for reimbursement, we should not inflate our claims. Nor should we receive a kick back or bribe from suppliers. In short, we should uphold honesty.

When we reflect deeply, we realized that honesty comes in many ways. The time we spend working is paid for by the company. Therefore, we should try our best to work diligently and not be lazy. This is because skiving is also cheating.

At the end of the day, we want to look ourselves in the mirror and acknowledge truthfully that we do not owe our company or bosses anything. This is very important because we do not want bad Karma. If we are dishonest and “cheat” our company or bosses in any way, we owe them a karmic debt. That debt will be repayable in this life or the next one.

Therefore, someone who enjoys sleeping on his job or making false reimbursement claim, etc will end up becoming poor in the future or having a hard life.

Moreover, being honest and truthful will increase the trust of our bosses. That improves relationships and will naturally result in better career opportunities for us.

10. We should not hesitate or loathe reporting our work progress and work completion.

Reporting to someone can be challenging if our ego is huge. This can be a huge barrier in our relationships with bosses. Especially if our bosses do not inspire respect from us.

But if we think compassionately, we will understand that our bosses also report to someone else, be it the shareholders, fellow partners, or someone higher up. Therefore, managing us become part of their work.

When we are being difficult and refuse to report to them, we make their job more difficult. That isn’t a compassionate thing to do. Nor is there any goodwill in that kind of attitude. If we have that kind of heart during the day, it affects our meditation at night.

I also had experienced horrible bosses who seemed to dislike me for whatever reason. Instead of hating them in return, I consoled myself that it is not personal. They are just ignorant about karma. That makes me want to be compassionate towards them. With sincerity, respect and loving-kindness, I was able to win their friendship and trust over a period of time.

And if that doesn’t work, we can look for another job without acting rash. We continue to fulfill our duties honestly and leave the company without tarnishing our reputations.

11. Don’t shy away from challenges but look upon it as an opportunity to gain new knowledge

This advice is especially relevant today because technologies are upgrading very quickly. Artificial intelligence can make certain tasks redundant and we have to keep ourselves updated with new skills to remain relevant. This is not limited to individuals. Companies are also faced with similar challenges.

Therefore, clinging to old methods and ways will not help us. We need to keep our minds open and be keen to learn new things. Besides challenges from technological advancement, there are many challenges at work.

For example. challenges of working with difficult people. If we do not take it too personally, then such challenges are just something that we need to overcome. As Buddhists, we try to solve our problems ethically and kindly. If we succeed, we acquire skills to handle people skillfully.

The advice by Luang Por Jarun tells us to face challenges positively, and treat them as learning opportunities. If we follow this advice well, we become highly adaptive and flexible at work. We become a human resource that our bosses can deploy to any situation and challenge. In another word, we become that trusted employee, a right-hand man of our bosses. That is positive for our career.

To be continued.

May all be well and happy.