Guru a la Wall Street: Make Friends, Influence People and Make Tons of Moolah

Despite having Trinity church at one end, spirituality and Wall Street aren't your usual mix. But investment bankers have been flocking to a course taught at the Columbia Business School by business professor Srikumar Rao, who teaches how to be the most creative, ethical and vibrantly alive person one can possibly be.

Sound over-the-top for Master of the Universe wannabees? Yet Wall Street and corporate types who took the course, called Creativity and Personal Mastery, report a deep change in outlook that they say has given them an edge in business. They say they are more satisfied at work and are better team players, better relationship builders and better problem solvers. That may sound great in theory, but it's also good practice, because at a time of increasingly fierce competition in investment banking, a close relationship or a creative approach can win or lose a client.

"Dr. Rao's training results in students being better communicators, better team players and more confident in what they want to do and how they want to do it," says Mark Tercek, a managing director at Goldman Sachs and a guest speaker at the course, which is also taught at Long Island University and at London Business School. "These are skills that should make them more successful in their careers and on Wall Street."

Creativity and Personal Mastery (CPM) has been consistently oversubscribed at Columbia's business school. Rao, who first introduced his personal development theme at LIU in 1994, uses lectures, essays and exercises to make participants deeply examine their values, aspirations, thought patterns, strengths and weaknesses. Rao also injects a strong ethical vein into the curriculum, getting students to re-examine the meaning of success and leadership.

Lots of people conclude success isn't about just money and that true leaders have a commitment to making the world a better place that goes beyond the bottom line. So can such soft ideas resonate in a place like Wall Street? Or in C-suite corner offices?

Rao says that in recent years, he has seen not only more Wall Streeters in his course, but also a larger number of senior executives. "Somewhere along the line, you come to the realization that if you are not really passionate about what you are doing, if you are not fulfilled, you just can't carry on, and you get burned out very fast," Rao says. "So your option is either you get burned out or you dig deep into your wellspring to come out with a meaning which then infuses every part of your life."

http://www.iddmagazine.com/idd/NYTSStories/nytsstories.cfm?id=13118&issueDate=current”>Gaining the Edge[IDD Magazine]