Scholar of The Art of War, Jim Gimian, shares how we can relate constructively to conflict and win without fighting.
In this episode, David and Jim have a conversation about:
- The classic Chinese text, The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
- The refined wisdom of understanding conflict
- ‘Taking Whole’: the concept of winning without fighting
- How leaders (and all people) can learn from The Art of War
- Past conflicts, karma, and vicious coincidence
- Being present for the opportunities that arrive
- Letting phenomena play rather than counteracting
- How the brain is hard-wired for bias and prediction
- Tapping into our natural connection to others
- Ruthlessly evaluating your biases & projections out of compassion for the bigger whole
- Realistically dealing with challenges without perpetuating aggression
About Jim Gimian:
James Gimian has been studying and teaching The Art of War (the Sun Tzu Bing Fa) since 1980. He served as the general editor of the best-selling translation The Art of War: The Denma Translation (2001) which received critical acclaim from military officers, business leaders, and Asian Studies scholars. Gimian followed that with The Rules of Victory: How to Transform Chaos and Conflict—Strategies from the Art of War (2008), co-authored with Barry Boyce.
Gimian has been presenting lessons from the Art of War to business and non-profit leaders in North America, Australia, and Europe since 1985. His work takes the form of seminars, leadership training programs, consulting, and coaching. The core of this work is presenting the text’s profound strategic thought in clear, simple, and accessible training that enables today’s leaders to employ these tools in their work and lives amidst the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain world.
Gimian has served in leadership roles in the magazine and book publishing industry since 1972, including stints at Shambhala Publications, publisher of Lion’s Roar magazine, and most recently founding publisher of Mindful magazine and Mindful.org, a media launch in 2012 that has grown to reach over 2 million people per month. Gimian also founded Trident Booksellers and Café in Boulder, Colorado in 1980, which continues to serve as an employee-owned community institution. He became a student of the Venerable Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche in the early 1970s and has continued the practice and study of the dharma since that time. Gimian currently serves as the Executive Director of the Foundation for a Mindful Society.
“The problem with complex systems to fix things is you never have time to go back and read the manual when shit hits the fan. That’s why this work has to be at the level of being, not at the level of learning tricks because they’re like bandages, they’re going to fall off. You’re only going to respond with whatever is integrated into your being as a way of seeing the world and acting and being in the world.“ –Jim Gimian
Photo via LightFieldStudios
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