The transformation of desire happens when we become less concerned about the fulfillment of our own desires and more concerned about the fulfillment of others. We find, paradoxically, that it is the very pathway to fulfilling our own. The positive cycle of desire works because the primary thing being imitated is the gift of self.

Stalk your greatest desire. When you find it, let all of your lesser desires be transformed so that they serve the greatest one.

When competitive rivalries flared up within his company, he gave each employee clearly defined and independent tasks so they didn’t compete with one another for the same responsibilities. This is important in a start-up environment where roles are often fluid. A company in which people are evaluated based on clear performance objectives—not their p

While we fight for equality in the areas that do matter—for fundamental human and civil rights, or for the freedom for each person to pursue their thick desires (in the United States, this is called the “the pursuit of happiness”)—we also begin fighting for equality in areas that do not matter, our thin desires: to make as much money as someone els

Despite consumerism’s many problems, it channels rivalry and desires into places where the negative effects accrue primarily to the people who indulge their thin desires.

The health of an organization is directly proportional to the speed at which truth travels within it.

Desires are discerned, not decided. Discernment exists in the liminal space between what’s now and what’s next. Transcendent leaders create that space in their own lives, and in the lives of the people around them.

Transcendent leadership does not limit itself to the immediate layer of reality but pushes beyond it to find something more meaningful.

One approach I recommend for uncovering thick desires—the one I’ll focus on here—involves taking the time to listen to the most deeply fulfilling experiences of your colleagues’ (or partners’, or friends’, or classmates’) lives, and sharing your own with them. The more we understand one another’s stories of meaningful achievement, the more effectiv