Career Advice May 7, 2010, 1:14PM EST

Q&A with Srikumar S. Rao

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For people who have not yet had the benefit of taking the class and/or doing the exercise, can you explain what you mean?

For the alternate reality exercise, I have people describe in detail something that is of concern to them right now—a work situation, a personal situation, it doesn't matter. They describe the reality that they are living in. What they don't recognize is that this isn't the reality, it is a reality. And it is one they have constructed. With the help of their teammates, I ask them to come up with one that is better and one that they can possibly believe at some level. Then I have them go out and live as if the alternate reality were their reality.

What if it's something that I don't believe?

It's okay for you to act as if it is true as long as you believe it could be. You should note the evidence that supports your alternate reality.

We are always looking for evidence that proves our current reality so I ask people to look for evidence that supports the alternate reality. They are surprised to find out how much evidence shows up to support the alternate reality. Once they start focusing on that, they are able to make the transition, and the alternate reality becomes the one they are living. And since the alternate reality is better than the one they were living, their life is improved.

There are certain things that are absolute. It's 90 degrees outside today. That's an objective, scientific measure. I can't create and alternate reality around that or create one where it's 60 degrees.

Do you have to experience 90 degrees as miserable? Or can you experience it as "this is an interesting situation— let me help my body react to that?"

You say you are not teaching people anything new. So how did you come to amass this collected wisdom?

I did my MBA in a top school in India, did my PhD in Columbia, got tired of corporate politics, and found that even though I was successful, I wasn't passionate about what I was doing. It was intellectually interesting, but much of the time I disliked it. And I realized what bothered me bothered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people.

All of my life I had read a lot of spiritual and mystical biographies. Somehow I had the conviction that I needed to figure out a way to make [all of what I had learned] applicable. Thinking about it made me come alive.

I took the teachings, stripped them of cultural context and religious baggage and adapted them so very intelligent people in a post-industrial economy could relate to this information.

Do you ever get resistance in corporate settings?

All the time!

So what do you do about that?

There are a lot of people who come in the first day with not chips on their shoulders but 2x4's. They think this is wishy-washy stuff and it's not going to work.

I tell them on the first day, "Don't waste your time wondering if it's true....If you push hard enough, all of these teachings will crumble."

What they don't recognize is that the models they are currently using are equally false. So here's what I say: Don't ask if what I am saying is right or wrong, good or bad, or true or false. Ask yourself, does this work for me in my life better than what I am presently using?

And if the answer is yes—and you are the sole judge—use it. If not, drop it and just acknowledge that it doesn't work for you and move on.

Most people are open to that approach. When they do the exercises with that approach, they experience amazing changes. They go from being skeptics to believers to evangelists.