young stranger dressed in the attire of the sages really might be my long-lost friend Julian Mantle. Who else could have known all these details? I sat there silently, unsure of what to say next. Then I stood up and walked over to him.
“Julian it really is you isn’t it?” I said apologetically.
“Yes it is. And it’s really great to see you after all these years. That golf ball you gave me for my fiftieth really meant a lot to me.”
I was delighted to see him. We embraced as only old friends can and began to revisit memories of our glory days together. But, in the back of my mind, one thought still nagged me. I still couldn’t find a rational explanation for Julian’s amazing youthfulness.
Feeling my unease, Julian asked with his trademark flair, “A little curious to discover my beauty secrets?” his lips curving into a full grin.
“Stop teasing me, Julian. First you show up unannounced after all these years wearing that foolish-looking robe, bouncing rocks off my office window and scaring the daylights out of me on what has already been a stressful day. Then you stun me by telling me who you are and that you can offer me some priceless wisdom that will somehow save my bleeding company. And now you won’t even explain how you managed to knock years off the way you look. You’re walking a fine line, Julian,” I said in mock annoyance.
“After my heart attack, I decided to make some drastic changes. I’m sure you heard that I sold the mansion and the summer home and the rest of my toys.”
“At least you could have kept your Ferrari, Julian. That was such an amazing machine. I still remember seeing you fly around with that blonde bombshell you used to date in the passenger seat, her long hair waving through the wind.”
Julian smiled for an instant. “The one with those hot pink miniskirts?”
“That’s the one.”
Then he grew pensive and serious. “I had to cut every tie I had to my former world if I really wanted to get somewhere new. I loved the Ferrari, but I knew it had to go. Otherwise it would have been like trying to go on a sailing adventure but hoping to keep a little rope tied to the dock for security. It just wouldn’t work. So I sold everything that symbolized my hard-driving, ‘take-no-prisoners’ lifestyle and headed for India, a land I had always suspected was rich in knowledge and truth.”
Julian then described how he trekked across that vast country in search of information he could use to improve the way he worked and lived. Sometimes he traveled by train, sometimes by bicycle or by foot. He visited ancient temples and studied under respected teachers. He met others who were also searching for answers to life’s larger questions and made friendships that have lasted until this day. But during his first months in India, the wisdom he sought eluded him. Then, as he searched deeper and deeper, he began to hear whispers of a band of monks living high in the Himalayas.
According to legend, these sages, known only as the Great Sages of Sivana—Sivana meaning “oasis of enlightenment” in the language of their culture—had developed an extraordinary system that could be used to attain remarkable levels of personal and professional fulfillment. The only problem was that no one knew how to find these monks.
“Many people had tried to find them,” said Julian. “Business people searched for them to discover their deep insights for leadership in the world of commerce. Others sought them for their lessons on leadership in life. But the higher reaches of the Himalayas are deadly and many innocent lives were lost in pursuit of those elusive sages.”
Never one to be deterred from a challenge, Julian threw caution to the wind and started climbing himself, determined to find what he was looking for. For many days and nights, he climbed those majestic mountains, beginning first at the moderate foothills and progressing to steeper and steeper paths that he prayed would lead him to the home of the Great Sages. He told me that he used that time in solitude to reflect on what his life had been—and all that it could be.
“In the corporate world, I had been so busy being busy, I never had time to think about life. And yet reflection and contemplation are among the most important of all business skills. I’ve since realized that in this information-led world we live in, ideas are the commodity of success and the most effective people are the most effective thinkers,” Julian observed. “My time alone in those mountains was transformational. For the first time in my life, Peter, I began to develop a true sense of self and to understand who I really was.”
As he progressed on his trek, he grew weary and began to fear that he would succumb to the treacherous terrain as so many hopefilled adventurers before him. Then came a breakthrough. As he was traveling on a particularly steep path one sun-soaked morning, he caught a glimpse of another figure, dressed strangely in a long flowing red robe topped by a dark blue hood. It had taken him many days to reach this stage and Julian was astonished to see another person. As he was many miles away from civilization and still unsure where Sivana lay, he called out to his fellow traveler.
The figure refused to respond and accelerated along the path, not even giving Julian the courtesy of a backward glimpse. Soon the mysterious traveler was running at full speed, the red robe dancing gracefully like crisp cotton sheets hanging from a clothesline on a windy autumn day.
“Please, friend, I need your help to find Sivana. I’m looking for the sages,” yelled Julian. “I’ve been traveling for seven days with little food or water. I think I’m lost!”
The figure then stopped abruptly. As Julian approached, the traveler, whose face was hidden by the hood, remained strikingly still. Suddenly, a burst of sunlight struck the face, revealing that the traveler was a man. But the worldly-wise Julian Mantle had never seen a man quite like this one. Though he guessed he was in his late fifties, his olive complexion was supple and smooth. His body appeared strong and powerful and the man radiated vitality and vigor. And his eyes were so penetrating that Julian said he was forced to look away.
“It didn’t take me long to realize that I had found one of the elusive Sages of Sivana,” said Julian, clearly still excited by this discovery, despite the passage of time. “So I poured my heart out to him on that mountain. I told him why I was there and what I hoped to learn. I told him of my former life in the corporate world, of my heart attack and of my longing to find the secrets for true leadership in business and in life. I pleaded with him to take me to his people and to allow me to discover their wisdom for myself.”
After listening intently to Julian’s tale, the man put an arm on his shoulder and said gently, “If you truly have a heartfelt desire to learn the wisdom of a better way, then it is my duty to help you. I am indeed one of those sages you have come so far in search of. You are the first person to find us in many years. Congratulations. I admire your tenacity. You must have been quite a lawyer. If you like, you may come with me, as my guest, to our temple. It rests in a hidden part of this mountain region, still many hours away from here. My brothers and sisters will welcome you with open arms. We will work together to teach you the ancient principles and strategies that our ancestors have passed down through the ages.”
There was, however, one condition the sage imposed upon Julian. “Before I take you into our private world and share our collective knowledge, I must request one promise from you. Although we are isolated here in these magical mountains, we are acutely aware of the turmoil your world is in. Leaders of every sort are struggling to cope with the great transition and tremendous turbulence that this new era of business has brought with it. Competition has never been so fierce, the rate of change has never been so high and morale is plummeting as people struggle to find solid ground. With all this upheaval, people no longer have a sense of loyalty to their companies. They lack any connection to their work. Sadly, too many men and women fail to attach any meaning
