Part 1: “A Clear Sense of Purpose” (Buddhism and Business)

Welcome back to Buddhist Solutions for Life's Problems where we talk about how to apply SGI Nietzschean Buddhism to the challenges of daily life. And welcome to part one of our mini season all about Buddhism and business. If you haven't listened to the intro yet, we recommend that you go back and do that. It's really brief and it will give you an overview of who we're talking to today and how the series is structured. Now let's jump into part one, which is all about how to develop a clear sense of purpose and responsibility when you're running a business, one that is so strong that it will let you defy all odds. We're going to hear the story of Luis Nieves, who is currently chairman emeritus of a company that he founded in 1990 called AUL. He continues to serve on several boards and committees while engaging in philanthropic work. In fact, the day that I called him, he was working on a new project together with his wife. Linda and I had purchased a dilapidated historic mansion downtown and a large piece of property. And we've refurbished it, completely ground up restoration, and we're giving it to the to the county for recovery, for folks that leave the jail and have some psychiatric problems, just people that have a hard time. And it's been our experience with family members to see what happens when they do get released, even for minor offenses. You know, they're released with a bottle of maybe pills or something, some prescription, and that's it. They're just out on the street. And these poor folks, you know, they've never been treated like human beings, honored as a human being. So there's nowhere for them to go. They wind up coming back 90 some percent of the time. So this program is a beautiful five star facility with a full staff, psychiatric support, counseling, good food. And there's going to be a place where people can be respected and honored as human beings. As you can hear, Lewis cares a lot about people. And he's one of the warmest people I've met. But let's start at the beginning of his journey, which is wild. Then we'll share some key takeaways for anyone trying to build a business right now. Lewis started practicing Buddhism in his 20s when he moved to California. Until then, he had been living on the East Coast with his widowed mother. His dad had passed away when he was 12 years old, which deeply affected Lewis and how he viewed his future. He was in his early 40s and a sudden car accident. And so the transience of life really affected me somehow very deeply. Because once when I realized that there is no guarantee in life, you can die at any time. You know, you start thinking, well, why work? Right? Because you could die. Or why go to school? Why get a great education? You know, what is happiness? I have many members of my family, some very wealthy, some very poor. Neither side in that way, look like they were happy, the older they got. And you just kind of get old, sick, and then, you know, pass away. This was on my mind. And I thought, well, I had flunked out of three universities, partied my way out. And so I thought, well, my poor mom, someday, you know, I, you know, I have to be a good son. So go West, young man. So Lewis decided to go to California where his sister was living to start a new life. Then one day he was picked up hitchhiking by a guy in a Hawaiian shirt who invited him to a Buddhist meeting. I thought, well, I'll go to a Buddhist meeting. I guess it's, you know, 1968. You never know what's gonna happen. Might be some girls there I can meet, you know. So I went to the meeting. I was very disappointed. I was sitting in back, watching it all, thinking, oh, these nice people. They're nice. Religion, forget about it. Right. But I had all these questions that I just described in my heart that I never spoke about. And a gentleman got up and gave an experience at this meeting, very hardworking guy, old guy. He said, I joined a little while ago, and I got me a brain tumor. He said, and I'm chatting, and my brain tumor done shrunk. And I'm gonna get rid of this brain too. I'll never forget it. Because sitting in the back of the room, his experience triggered something in my heart. I could see myself. I could see my own arrogance, thinking I'm so, you know, these people are, you know, got a lot of problems I don't have and all this stuff. Right. So I could see, actually ashamed of myself, something triggered. And so I thought, well, I could be that old guy that gave the experience. There's no guarantee in life. I could be him. And I knew that 95 or 98% of men who retire, do not have the resources and money to, you know, to fulfill their life. There's always anxiety there somehow. I knew that. And it's just kind of, so I thought, well, this is free. They're not asking for money, which I'd have. And they're not telling me to believe anything. For some reason, they want me to try this chanting for myself. It came across very clearly. So I said, sure, yeah, I'm gonna try it. So the next day, he started chanting for a few minutes each morning in the tiny room he was renting from a local family. And he hasn't stopped since. Initially, he said it was small changes he would see, like being in the right place at the right time, or getting rides to school while hitchhiking, or running into a girl he was hoping to meet but too shy to talk to in the library one day, who he went on to date for six months. But then bigger things started happening. And Lewis started to see a deeper shift on his outlook on life itself. After four months, I realized that when I did this in the morning and evening, even a little bit, my daily life was better. My sense of well-being, my attention in class, so many things were better when I did it as opposed to when I didn't do it. And I thought, well, it's just like exercising, right? Or practicing music, which, you know, that was my thing. When I practice two or three hours a day, frankly, for a long period of time, I won every contest. But when I stop practicing, it just kind of goes away, right? You have to kind of restart. Same thing for working out. You have muscles, right? Stop it. You feel it. And so I feel the same thing. Something in my life is moving positively. And I began reading everything I could get my hands on from Ikeda Sensei. And he gave me hope. Everything I read, I felt hopeful as a lonely young man. I mean, I had no money, no prospects, really, living by myself in a dump. But, you know, everything. I also suffered from clinical depression. I would become depressed, paralyzing depression, where you can't move, get out of bed. It was just, you know, terrible. And then I couldn't hold a job because, as I mentioned, why work? And so I'd be depressed, or I'd work a job, and then it wouldn't make any sense anymore, or the guy would be taking advantage of me somehow. And I would just wouldn't go back in. Right. So it was pretty miserable kind of life. But nevertheless, despite that, when I chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, I felt the hope coming out of my life. And over time, the depression just went away. It dissipated. And I realized, wow, I'm not getting depressed anymore. I couldn't afford it. You know, the pills or counseling and all that stuff that normal people do, because I didn't have any money. I just had, you know, my practice. Keep in mind, this was 52 years before the Buddhist community had grown to be as big as it is today. And Lewis was one of the only people chanting in Napa. So he started sharing Buddhism with other people, many of whom laughed at him. But steadily, he noticed that over time, his life was improving. He was able to hold a job, and he was able to bring his mom, who was struggling with her health at the time, out to California to live near him. He also got married to the sister of a local girl that had started chanting with him. And soon enough, Lewis experienced a turning point in his practice. Having already seen a shift in his own life, and feeling better able to support his family, Lewis dove into studying the writings of Daisaku Ikeda and Nichiren Daishonin. And in them, he discovered a concept called karma into mission that really changed how he viewed his future. You know, President Ikeda told us, he said, you know, I have a mission. And it's my mission. You have a mission too. It's your mission. So we have to accomplish, you must accomplish your mission in life, right? And I would wonder, what does he mean? I believed him. Then he said, talking about the founder, Nichiren's writings, he said, your karma is your mission. Right? So I thought about that. I thought, well, what is my karma? Well, I'm poor. I'm real poor. I'm sick a lot. Can't hold a job. I mean, I'm scraping by. Right? And I can't finish my education because I have to work so much. Right? And, you know, people disparage me. I tell them about Buddhism, and they look at me and say, you know, come back someday. You know, I'm not going to listen to you. And I thought, well, that's my karma. So if the karma is our mission, I must make it opposite of what my karma is. And so I thought, well, I'm poor. Someday I have to be wealthy. I can't finish school. Someday I have to ensure that young people don't suffer the way I've suffered. I was not healthy. Someday I have to have robust health. And someday, I have to be in a position where I'm respected in society and can introduce anyone, no matter who they are, to this Buddhism, and they will listen. I will have their attention. And, you know, he said, you make these goals that are impossible. He said, I want you to make a vision. You have to make a vision of your life in the future. That is so even you don't think it can ever be accomplished. Right? He said, I want you to do it in detail. I want to pause here for a second to introduce the key takeaway from today's episode, which begins with this very turning point for Lewis. Buddhism teaches that developing a concrete vision that we are committed to, no matter what, is the starting point for any victory. It becomes a point to which we can always return, no matter what challenges we face along the way. This is especially relevant when constructing something new, be it a business or any other endeavor that requires a lot of effort. It requires effort and commitment. Consider this guidance from Ikeda when it comes to setting goals, which is from the book series, The New Human Revolution. He writes, When you're really dedicated and you take personal responsibility, you learn to know what the difficulties are and what you need to do to overcome them. Such a person is sure to have many constructive ideas as a matter of course. On the other hand, the fact that you're never able to come up with ideas or proposals, no matter how long you discuss it, means that you're not seriously committed to the goal. While at this point in the story, Lewis had not yet started his business, his desire to change his circumstances and base his effort on his Buddhist practice was so strong that it became a compass for him, which you'll see he needed once he was faced with the next set of challenges. After getting married, Lewis and his wife Linda gave birth to their daughter, who was unexpectedly born with severe health challenges. On top of this, around the same time that she was born, Lewis lost his job at the car dealership he was working at. As soon as she was born, my wife and I realized instantly that it is our karma, our life. She's not suffering, she's just a little girl, happy girl. But somehow we have to, again, change the situation, right? So I'm out of a job with no money, with no income, and no insurance with this little girl. But what do you do? You start working any job you can get to put food on the table. This period lasted a few years, and Lewis kept chanting to find help for his daughter. Then, one day, he got a call from a credit union asking for money that he owed, and the most unexpected thing happened. A lady called me. I owed her money from a credit union. It was $500. And I had had it. I had been working three jobs. And I said, you'll never see $500. It's never going to happen. So please stop calling. She said, what's the problem? I said, well, look, my wife is having a very difficult time. She's getting depressed all the time. She can't work. She's got this little girl, her daughter's crippled, and I'm working three jobs. So you'll never see it. She said, wait a second. My father is a high leader in the Shriner organization, and he's looking for a girl or child to sponsor. And just like that, Out of the Blues sponsored his daughter Margaret from that day forward until she was 18 years old. She got all of the care that she needed, including operations, braces, and casting. This gave Lewis hope that he could somehow have the career he had always dreamed of, based on the vision he had created years ago, even if it looked impossible. By this time, he was able to make enough money to survive by working in a restaurant and decided to make up a resume and go door to door on Market Street in San Francisco asking for a job. Most of the time, he was turned down. It was very humiliating. But, you know, I had to get a career going. And I had to make money. I'm not going to live like that anymore. I'm not going to go back to dealerships. So I saw a guy. He said it was Coca-Cola, a big vice president guy. And he said, well, what can I do for a job? He said, well, we only hire people with beverage experience. But here's a book. He gave me a book of headhunters. And he underlined a guy. He said, you go see him. Tell him I sent you. He'll fix up your resume and he won't charge you for it. Which I did. And I had a nice resume sending it out. Here's where the story starts to get really crazy. Now that Lewis had a resume and he continued to send them out, one day he got a call from a big insurance company starting an auto dealership and they invited him to do an interview. He says, I'm looking at your resume and, you know, you're perfect for this job. It's a big insurance company starting an auto dealership deal with a reinsurance and a lot of kind of technical. He said, you're going to be perfect for this. He says, you have to make it for an interview. I'm like, yeah. He said, can you be in Salt Lake City on Wednesday or something? Right. I'm like, OK, you know, I'm going to Salt Lake City. I got to be at the restaurant in 10 minutes. I'm never going to make Salt Lake City. So I showed up. And about a week later, the phone rings and it's him again. He says, look, I've been talking you up to my bosses and they really want to meet you and you didn't show up last time. And I got egg on my face. And so you got to make it to Dallas on Sunday. They're going to be there and they're looking forward. They really want to meet you. I hang up. I look around. I just can't. I'm never going to do it. And so I got to go to work. And so about a week later, the phone rings again. It's the same guy. He's like, look, we can't be doing this. OK, you're making me not only look bad, but my bosses are giving me a hard time. They're starting to make fun of me. He said, so there's a ticket waiting for you at the airport to get to Miami by Monday morning and go to this interview. Right. All I heard was ticket waiting. So Lewis put on the only suit he had, got on the plane and chanted all the way to Miami, not knowing what he was in for. We go to this beautiful restaurant, Crystal, Miami downtown. And his boss comes in, his business board chairman. He comes in and he says, does he speak English? Let's hear the accent. Let's hear the accent. I mean, this is horrible. Is the guy actually speak this way to another person who's interviewing for a job? But I had prayed so much. My life condition was so strong that I immediately realized that there's a very unhappy guy. He is very sad. I didn't take it personally. Two weeks after Lewis got home, he got a call with the job offer and a salary that was double what he needed. He and his wife were so happy, but he found that he had to work harder and smarter than everybody else to succeed at the company and that the person who hired him was unstable to the point that Lewis feared losing the job. Still, he continued to chant and focused on doing his best with a sense of appreciation. I didn't have the academic credentials all the other guys had. And, you know, no offense to anybody, they were like, you know, blonde hair, blue eyed boys and played golf a lot with the clock. If it wasn't for a crazy guy calling me from 3000 miles away, insisting that I go to this meeting, I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you today. So we don't know. You know, we go through it, we determine, we keep going in the face of no hope. In the face of the most difficult times of which we suffered, we have this vow that we made. And like a founder that I've shown in Nichiren said, lightning strikes from 10,000 miles afar. Right? That call, that guy, that crazy person, was the lightning from 3,000 miles astronauts that struck just like that. Right? We don't know. Eventually, Lewis proved himself and rose in the company to the point that continued growth would require relocating his family, which wasn't an option for him due to his daughter's care. So he decided it was time to resign and continue on the path to pursue his dreams. I realized one of the jobs or one of the projects was designing their new car service contract for dealers. Right? I had deep insight into how these products work because I helped design it. And I realized that the one thing, aspect of the industry at that time was that none of the underwriters or administrators wanted to touch used cars beyond a certain mileage because the risk, right? So driving around, I saw a lot of used car dealers. They're all over the place. And so I stopped in and talked to them. So I'd ask them, what, you know, what are you selling for warranties around here? They say, well, we're selling this one product which I knew was junk. It wasn't even a product. It wasn't even legal to sell. It was some goop you put in the engine. And then they guarantee you'd sell a policy to the customer, and then the customer put this junk in the engine and transmission, and then they'd get a warranty on what they put in. It's stupid. Because it's a commercial product, it's already got a warranty. Davis realized right away that this was a market no one had touched yet. So he started chanting and racking his brain about what new product he could come up with that would serve customers who hadn't yet been served. I started noodling. I had about 40,000 data on 40,000 expired service contracts. I thought, well, fewer than half the people, this is my little research, fewer than half the people in the country could afford a new car, either credit or payment. They couldn't buy it. These companies spend billions, billions every year for advertising, but they're only going for less than half the market. So fewer than half the people can buy a new car, so they buy used cars. And there are twice as many used cars sold than new cars in this country. So I thought, there's an opportunity, a window. It just clicked. If these guys, this industry, giant industry, had something to offer their customers, they would sell it. Then nobody else is paying attention to them. So I figured I've got to come up with something. So I tacked all that data up on a wall in a spare bedroom upstairs. And I'm chanting, I'm thinking, and it had the year make and model, what broke, how much it cost to fix. It was overwhelming. And at that time, spreadsheets were like foreign language, and you're talking to me. So I really began chanting and praying, I thought, somewhere in this data is an answer. I don't know where it is. So how do you find it? Every day after, you know, for hours, sometimes a long time, longer than that, I would look at it, try to see what is the key, there's an answer here. So I'm chanting, and one morning, I don't know what time, it might have been like three in the morning, four, and something happened. I don't know how I could describe it. It's like, if you've ever seen this movie, The Beautiful Mind, right, Russell Crowe, right? And there's all this data flowing around and bing, bing, bing, you know, he sees it, that's what happened. And I got it, bang, it just fell into place. By the morning, I had a plan that I could offer a used car service contract for any year, any mileage car, for a reasonable price, pay the claims, and make a little bit of money. I saw this, this is like a massive market, nobody cared about it. Because he had no money to fund this on his own, he put together a business plan and set out to find funding. The only people I knew that really had money were big dealers. And I knew most of them because of my career. So I would go into like Mr. Dealer and say, Oh, Mr. Dealer, oh, hi, Lewis. Well, I have this idea, and he's such a successful businessman, I'm hoping maybe you would look at my little proposal and give me your impression. I was too shy to like pitch it. I must have called on over 100 dealers throughout Northern California. And in every case, they would say, well, you're out of your mind. It's never going to work, you know, I mean, you'll get killed, these are used cars, man, you know, three months, you know, you're done. And you don't have a deductible. I mean, you know, forget it, respectfully. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, I hear you. Thank you. And go on to the next one. This went on for several months, and finally, Lewis felt that he had reached the end of the road, both financially and emotionally. He was out of money, his daughter needed special leg braces that weren't covered by the Shriners. And so he decided he was just going to make one last call. I said, okay, well, this is really it. So I showed the guy my proposal, you know, he talked to me, and he said, he's looking through the proposal, and he said, wow, this looks pretty good. Can I be part of it? Sure. $51.49? He said, it's a deal. I said, well, I'll take on it. And so then I said that, well, can you give me a check today? He said, sure, how much do you want? I said, wow, that's great. So I get in the car, you know, go home, honey, we got shoes. We got rent, we got lights. The dealer also gave Lewis an office for three months where he could go in every day to call hundreds of underwriters across the country to continue to gain funding. Each day, Lewis would go in and make calls with not much luck. But finally, they found someone who could put them in business, provided that they could preload the claims reserve with $100,000, which Lewis again asked the car dealer for. By August 1990, he was in business. In the first three months, he sold only three contracts, making $75. Then the next month, he sold six, then 12, then 24, then 36, 80, 100, and 300. So I had dinner one evening with the guy from Marin that put me on the street with the dealer. And I asked them, I said, Tim, he didn't know this. I said, you know, you were the last chance. I said, you know, if you hadn't said yes, I'd have gotten home, but not much further. So why don't you say yes? He said, you know, when you were with the big company and you called on us, we never did anything with you, but we liked Lewis. And we would say, we're going to do something someday with Lewis because they like, we like Lewis. Right? Wow. So then I asked the other guy that put us on the street, why did you say yes? And he said, well, you reminded me of my son who died. Something about you that I could not refuse, no matter what. I was almost in tears. So, you know, we pursue our dream, the impossible dream, the one, you know, that he said so many years before, something you can never even accomplish, pursue it, and people will stand up if you don't quit for the sake of your mission. Within three years, he got a small office with three people, which was 500 square feet. Eventually, they expanded to a 6,000 square foot office across the street and then farther downtown to a 10,000 square foot office. Mystically, when we moved to the bank, my office was looking directly into this little room I used to rent when I was a starving student. It was right there, maybe 15 feet away. So I was upstairs looking at it, and I see where I used to live on peanut butter and jelly. The whole thing had changed. Here's what I found most encouraging about the story. Lewis never lost sight of his purpose. He didn't let the success go to his head, even though he was making a lot more money. He continued to be himself, and he didn't let go of the purpose that he had decided on in the very beginning. When I asked him what his vision was for the company, this is what he shared. Even though it was a little office, 500 square feet, two people, three people, I determined that this is going to be a company that will demonstrate what world peace looks like in business. What does world peace, what does the application of the Acadian peace philosophy look like? In people, in a very tough business, very competitive, very few, it's as competitive and cutthroat as any industry in America, would my mentor, would he be happy coming into this building, or this business, I didn't have a building at the time. So what do you do? I determined that no woman that works here will ever have to worry about a child breaking a leg, missing work, taking care of sick children, because it's a job, no. No one who ever works here is going to have to worry about making a decent wage and be supported in their endeavors, it's not going to happen. And every person that works here is a respected and honored person, and demonstrate that to them, how thanking them every day, expressing appreciation, practically speaking, I couldn't do their jobs. I wasn't even capable enough to do half the things that they did every day. So for that, they must be appreciated and honored. And same for our customers. People call in with a claim, of course, if it's a valid claim, but if it's not a valid claim, or we cannot pay the terms of the contract, how do you say no? You say no, I got no, or do you say no, I wish I could help. What else can I do? Maybe I can do some of this for you, extend a rental car, pay for the inspection that they're not supposed to, you know, we're not supposed to pay for the, you know, what can I do? Because I want to pay the claim, right? And that's a foundation of culture. This is a culture of peace. Yeah, people don't worry. If people don't fit in this culture, they can't fit. The culture moves them out. So the reason for growth and success wasn't because of product, because we had many people come up and try to compete. The mantra was, oh, we're going to be better than AUL, you know, we're going to get more. And that was sort of the theme in the industry, right? But the reason they couldn't touch us wasn't because the product, it's a great product, but because of who we are. Let's pause here for a second to address a couple of questions that definitely came up in conversations I've had about this episode, which were that often after achieving success or wealth, the worst parts of human nature do come out. How can we ensure to stick to our values under pressure amidst competition or other trying circumstances? And finally, can you be Buddhist and also pursue financial wealth? I took all these questions to Steve Saperstein, who you met in the introduction to the episode and who has been practicing Buddhism and running a business for a long time. Steve helped me understand that it's not money itself that's evil, but what we do with money and how it balances out with the other treasures we accumulate in our lives. Here's Steve. Buddhism talks about three treasures. There's the treasure of the storehouse, which is money and material possessions and so on. There is the treasure of the body, which is a health and so on. And then there's treasure of the heart, which is relationships, basically. So, you know, all the treasures are important. Okay. I remember when I started practicing at 24, I felt like I didn't have too much of any treasures. You know, I had no money, I had no energy, and I had not great relationships even with my parents. That's so great. Okay. And as I started to practice, you know, and study, you know, the guidance of the mentor, President Ikeda, and glean from his wisdom, I started to develop myself. And then there's a concept in Buddhism called Eshofuni, or the oneness of person and the environment. As you grow, your environment changes. So, you know, if you're feeling not so great, your environment may not be so great. Even you could be in a great place, but it doesn't really shine for you. On the other hand, if you're feeling like amazing, even if you're in not such a great place, you can bring the atmosphere of that place up a lot. So the idea is, is to keep working on yourself, developing yourself, and the three treasures will start to grow. Okay. Now, Buddhism does put more emphasis, the most emphasis on the treasures of the heart, of course. Okay. Relationships are the most important, okay, and really lead to the most happiness. So Buddhism sort of like is a balance, it creates like a balance of just the right amount of material benefit, okay, just great health, okay, and amazing relationships. And the thing about money, money does save lives too. Money builds hospitals and, and, you know, enables people to have education and so on. So there's many, it comes up with the vaccines, you know, so many good things that money can do. Of course, money does a lot of bad things too. So as Buddhists, we try to use our money in the most positive, positive way. He also shared that it's important not to compare yourself to others, even to competitors, but to measure yourself against yourself each day and continue to pursue your path according to your values, which is something that chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo each morning can help you do. Sure. You can learn from your competitors, what they do and what they don't do, but it's not going to frustrate you if you're measuring yourself to yourself, that you're challenging yourself. You set your goal and you do everything in your power, okay, to make that goal. What Steve shared reminded me of a dialogue that Daisaku Ikeda had with Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, which is the present day Panasonic. Matsushita, while not Buddhist, was a self-made entrepreneur who built one of Japan's largest electronic appliance manufacturing companies. He was curious about the growing Buddhist movement as well. And so he and Ikeda began a dialogue. To him, Ikeda explained, Buddhism attempts to achieve prosperity and peace in the world by establishing correct models and a correct philosophy in people's minds and encouraging them to transform themselves for the better. The real purpose of religion is not simply for individuals to achieve inner peace or salvation after death, but also to create actual peace in society through upholding true universal principles. This resonated with Matsushita, who in his own memoir, recounted an incident in 1964 when the Japanese economy was entering a downturn and more than 80% of his retailers and distributors were operating in the red. Many complained at the time, and Matsushita responded by acknowledging them for the role they played in the company's success, saying, We've forgotten the debt that we owe to you and have observed and evaluated conditions without taking that into account. This has been a source of error and weakness. I promise you that all that will change from now. Ikeda recounts that in fact, much of the blame did lay with retailers and distributors, but Mr. Matsushita accepted it as his own responsibility, which in turn moved others to take responsibility as well. Ikeda writes, When things go wrong, people usually blame one another, but that prevents self-reflection and makes it impossible to find the essential cause of the problem. And without knowing that, the situation cannot be truly improved. Mr. Matsushita's attitude of taking personal responsibility opened the eyes of everyone there and encouraged them to reflect on their own actions. Following the incident, Matsushita quickly put his determination into action. In a later dialogue, when Ikeda asked Matsushita what his motto in life was, he replied, Maintain a sincere heart, explaining that this indicates a clear-sighted attitude unclouded by selfishness and attempts to view things as they really are without bias or a preordained agenda. This honest, open-hearted spirit makes people sound, wise, and strong, connecting them to the fundamental underlying forces of the universe. I share all that because Lewis' story would soon take a turn that would test him to the limits, and had he not spent time solidifying his own heart, his purpose, and his values, he may not have made it out of the situation. In other words, sometimes the business world can be so cutthroat that without a strong sense of self and a practice to help you navigate it, you may not be able to move forward. gate through it, adversity can destroy you. Let's get back to the story. One day, Lewis's CFO, who was the original car dealer who had given him the money to start the company and then eventually became the CFO, told Lewis that he wanted to retire. So Lewis sought new investment to afford to retire him. A couple of years before he wanted to retire, he says, I never had a job so long. Okay, Tim, how much you need? He told me, okay, we'll get it. So I found these guys, private equity guys from New York, that reminded me of guys who used to hang around with when I was a kid. And so we valued the company. They bought in for 33%. And then Tim decided he's not going to retire. Okay, well, now we got these guys, right? And so every senior management meeting, every board meeting, I would really make sure that everyone asked their questions and paid attention to these guys. I tried to run it like an MBA challenge meeting. So it makes a statement, so for training for the staff, the senior staff, but they mistook that. In their mind, I was just a weak guy. They took the consideration that I showed them. It's like, I didn't know what I was doing, right? Very strange. But when they came in, you know, you sign all these documents about this thick, right? Due diligence, legal, the lawyers. One document signed was a change of control provision, right? So I'm asking my team, what does this mean, change of control provision? And so they, my guys and them all said the same thing. Well, that's necessary because minority shareholders have a right to protect their investment. If the CEO, you know, starts doing, you know, drugs, getting loaded, drinking, you know, company starts going to hell in a handbasket. They have a right to get another seat on the board, change the makeup of the board to where they're the majority that controls it. I said, well, that makes sense. It's not going to happen to me. I get it. Meanwhile, Lewis started looking for suitors to buy them out, since at this point they had already made a profit on their investment. This was in 2008. The big crash actually started December of 07, according to the economists and everybody else. Car business, we didn't start filling it until the spring. So this change of control provision is based on an EBITDA number, right? Earnings before interest taxes and depreciation, right? Sort of a key number, rule of thumb. There's different kinds of EBITDAs, but this is just a basic EBITDA number. And so I think it was March or something, I decided the crash was very apparent and I want to make some personnel changes. We got to get ready. I want to move this person here and this person there. And I think we can get through without losing people because there's a storm out there. Well, they said, oh, one of the documents you signed says that you can't make changes to key personnel without unanimous board decision. I said, okay, I get it. I signed it. But that's when I knew I'm going to find somebody to replace. They bid a lot of money and it was time for them to go. So March rules were out. So March rules were out. And Tim, my CFO, the dealer, used to be a dealer, said, well, Lewis, you have busted through your change of control EBITDA calculation. You busted through it in December and you did it again in February. And you're probably going to do it again in March. He says, I haven't said anything because you're in the process of finding investors. And that moment I was scared to death. I was really scared because I was facing a traitor. CFO not to tell a CEO what's going on. I mean, that's his job. You're going to bust your change of control provision. You better do this. I would suggest that. But I don't know anything like that. And to do it for three months. So I'm facing a traitor. And so next call I get is from the investors in New York. And they're like, oh, Lewis, don't worry about it. It's all going to be good. You know, you don't have to sell anything. In fact, you know, we'll buy you out and then you don't ever have to work again in your life. And you have a great life and enjoy your family and all this stuff. I thought, well, this is a problem. By July, Lewis got a call from them saying that a board meeting was going to be held to nominate two people from their team to the board to change control of the board. Tim says, oh, I accept. And we're doing this because of your lack of leadership and your poor management. You're just driving the company into oblivion. And so we have to save the company. So what a traitor. I mean, during discovery at a later time, you find, I mean, you go through all the emails and communications. You find that Tim had been working with them quietly behind the scenes to undermine me and wait for the moment to strike. They had designed the accounting calculations to virtually ensure that the company at some point, as we continued growing, was going to crash that number. So Lewis put together a team of lawyers and advisors and they went to court. We had our first encounter. They filed for a stay and an injunction against me and the company so that they can take their rightful additional board seat. So I'm chanting a lot. Is this a very evil thing? This is a betrayal. And they hired a famous New York law firm, international law firm is famous for taking no prisoners. So we get in front of the judge. What's the problem here, gentlemen? You know, I said, well, your honor, Lewis is a smart guy. And he signed this. He knows what he signed. And after all, your honor, it's only one board seat. When the business comes out and grows under our guidance, the calculation will change and he'll get his board seat back. Right? We don't know what he's so upset about. It's simple. After which Lewis's lawyer argued, among other things, that their accounting methods were designed to ensure he would crash through the number and evidence would be provided as such. Now, usually the judges will take it under consideration, then they'll give you their decision. But not this guy. This guy said, I think there's more here than meets the eye. He says, I'm going to find four nieves today and we'll be seeing each other soon. The fight took a year and a half. And I was paying for everything. All right. So me and Jeehee own a shoe store and Jeehee sues me. Shoe store don't pay. I pay. You pay. I pay. Right. So it turns out that over time, they had recruited a few key managers in the company with promise of real money, big money bonuses and promotions. And besides, you know, you don't need that, Lewis. Anyway, you know, you guys are the ones who really run in this thing. They're just appealing to their lower natures quietly for a long time and making disparaging comments about me. Right. And so, you know, we simply chanted and chanted and chanted and getting guidance from friends. He was also studying the writings of Nichiren Daishonin consistently, which are letters that Nichiren wrote to his disciples in the 13th century, at a time when many of them faced betrayal, persecution and hatred for taking a Buddhist path that empowered the individual rather than hierarchical and provisional teachings that were popular at the time. One such disciple was Shijo Kingo, who was a samurai, doctor and landowner, and also known to have a hot temper. I asked Steve to tell me a little bit more about Shijo Kingo so we could better understand who Lewis was inspired by. As you study Shijo Kingo, one of the great qualities he had was his ability to seek a better way. Okay. And then in his seeking, he would get guidance from Nichiren Daishonin, the Buddha, but he would always adhere to the guidance. This is a great example, you know, of a practitioner, someone who is seeking to become really happy. And they get guidance and they take that guidance. And I'm going to give you some examples. So, you know, one sort of famous episode is, you know, in Japan, it was like a feudal system. So you had his lord, okay, was the major landowner and would parcel up the, divvy up the land to different farmers and samurai and so on. Anyway, this lord was not happy with Shijo Kingo. Okay. One reason is, is because he was, he was practicing Buddhism with Nichiren Daishonin. It became like a political thing. So he took Shijo Kingo land away. And needless to say, you know, with this hot temper, Shijo Kingo was so upset, you know, and he went to the Buddha, you know, and told Nichiren Daishonin. And he says, Shijo Kingo said, I'm going to sue my lord. You know, I'll go to the courts. And Nichiren Daishonin says, don't, don't sue. Don't go to court. Then as time went by, you know, the story goes that, you know, the lord got sick. And Shijo Kingo, being a doctor, was able to use his medical skills to basically save his lord. And because of that, he was granted much more land than he had before. Than he had before. Okay. So then, you know, think about it. If Shijo Kingo would have taken him to court, I think it would have been a whole different story. But he bit his tongue, you know, and he followed the advice of the Buddha and became tremendously victorious because of that. You know, our founder, Daishonin, says, you know, Shijo Kingo, become known as Shijo Kingo of the Hokage sect. Right. And so I felt the same way as fulfilling a mission. I always think, you know, if our mentor came in, he's going to be happy here. If we are a disciple, frankly, of a Kata sensei, then we have a mission. And we must be victorious in our mission. And the huge problems, part of it, but we have to win. So what happened is the end of the day, it came. So what you call motions and eliminates. The final argument is where the judge decides it's going to be a civil case with him or a criminal case. They're arguing why it should be a civil case. And we're arguing it needs to be a criminal case. Here's why. And so that was the end. That was going to be the last decision. The rest would have been history. We didn't have anything left. I spent everything. Every dime was gone. But that night, the judge posted the decision on the court website, and Lewis was shocked to see that they had won. We couldn't believe it. I got 13 criminal charges against them. Breach of fiduciary for Tim. Breach of fiduciary responsibility to Mr. Nieves. Breach of fiduciary responsibility to the corporation and other charges. Conspiracy and those other guys, they were part of it. So I could pursue 13 criminal charges against them. Angry as Lewis was, his lawyer advised him not to go to court to pursue the charges and make them pay. The lawyer said, no, don't go to court. Back in the company, they said, you know, revenge is a dish best served cold. This is what they told me. They said, we'll take care of it. You just make AOL spectacular because they need you. You've got to be there 100%. And we'll take care of the rest. I was struck by how similar this was to Shijo Kengo's story. And just like Kengo, Lewis focused entirely on rebuilding the company, with the lawyers working at a deal in which the investors' shares were converted to preferred shares, which meant they couldn't vote, and they were valued at November 2008, when they had made the original investment and the economy had crashed, with the caveat that if Lewis couldn't buy them out by April of two years later, they would get compound interest at a high rate on the shares, allowing them to make back their money. But Lewis did recover enough to buy them out by then. So while Lewis's story sounds unique, what's the takeaway here? In essence, Buddhism teaches that the negativity that can stop us from actualizing our dreams or our purpose, whether it's external, internal, or a combination of both, is something to be fought against constantly. And chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo can allow us to engage the wisdom and action to take the best steps forward. I feel that in business, it's so right on, that when you're full of conviction in what you have to do, in growing your business, and not being, letting the voices or the doubts feed into your decisions, then there's such a much greater chance of your business taking off. Okay, now this is a challenge, because every day there's going to be some negativity that's trying to seep in through consciousness. But I really believe that's exactly why Nichiren Daishonin inscribed the Gohonzon and gave us Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, so that we could develop a life condition that's not affected by the external environment. And the Gosho is full of those kind of tidbits of wisdom that you can glean from studying the Gosho. The same wisdom that was used in the 13th century is apropos for today's challenges. And you'll find that as you study the Gosho. So the combination of studying the Gosho, chanting, interacting with your fellow members, going to meetings, it all comes out as being victorious in those things that you choose to be victorious in, whether it's relationships, or business, or school, art, whatever. Eventually, Lewis worked to find people who could support the future of the company, which took him about six years. My criteria for leadership was to have someone who had a sense of appreciation, gratitude, and humility. Really, those three characteristics, never be a successful leader without them. And so one guy stood out. And so it was a safe exit for me. I found this group of families back east in Connecticut, been working together, immensely wealthy families, that really got what makes a great company and what we're doing. And then I shared also, I said, you know, my vision has always been to demonstrate what does world peace look like in business. In 2019, AUL won Napa's Large Business of the Year Award for its contributions to the local community, and the Nieves Foundation continues to engage in major philanthropy. In reading a bit about the company, I was so inspired to come across a 2020 article in which Elizabeth Gutierrez, whose staff at AUL, won Business Journal's Latino Business Leadership Award. In the interview, she shared that she started working there in 2001 as a customer service representative, and then moved up through senior accounts and is now an FP&A leader. Along the way, the company helped her pay for college and a master's degree. When asked who her most important mentor was, she said, my first mentor was my father. He instilled in me that hard work pays off. My second mentor was Luis Nieves, AUL Corp founder. He believed in me, and he taught me to be humble. And she continues to be mentored by the AUL Corp COO, who she also named. So today's takeaway is that if you identify a sense of purpose that you believe in with your whole heart, and chant to navigate every hurdle along the way, you can not only succeed in your endeavors, but create a culture that continues to foster that for everyone involved. But doing so also requires seriously believing in yourself. In part two of the series, we'll hear the story of a young woman struggling to find her place and voice in a competitive corporate environment, and how she used her Buddhist practice to learn how to believe in herself exactly as she was. Transcribed by https://otter.ai