My hope was that organizations would start including this range of skills in their training programs - in other words, offer an adult education in social and emotional intelligence.

The ability to handle stress increases with the practice of meditation. In a culture like ours in which inner, spiritual growth is totally neglected in favor of materialistic pursuits, we might have something to learn from the Hare Krishna devotees' meditational practices.

Empathy represents the foundation skill for all the social competencies important for work.

Buying phosphate-free soap allows you to say, 'My detergent doesn't have the harsh chemicals others do.' The question is, how are you washing with it? The very worst thing for the Earth about detergent is that we heat water to use it.

A prerequisite to empathy is simply paying attention to the person in pain.

I don't think focus is in itself ever a bad thing. But focus of the wrong kind, or managed poorly, can be.

Scheduling down time as part of your routine is hard but worth it, personally, even professionally.