Bringing management lessons to Buddha

In Japan, where on-the-job training is often valued more than academic qualifications, an MBA is not an obvious step to career advancement – particularly if you are a Buddhist monk.

But Keisuke Matsumoto had a grander goal in sight when he decided to take a break from his job as a monk at Komyoji Temple in Tokyo and attend a one-year MBA programme in India.

Mr Matsumoto wanted to acquire management skills to help him realise his vision of transforming Japan’s Buddhist temples into something more relevant to modern Japanese society. The 32-year-old believes temples should be what Peter Drucker, the management consultant, called “change agents”, offering people a place where they can achieve their spiritual awakening.

“I wanted to change the world of Buddhism and in order to do that, you have to enter that world first,” he says....


Continue reading at Financial Times.

Another story on Matsumoto was featured earlier this year,

Japanese creating management model to attract Gen Y to Buddhist Temple