The ancient Indian philosopher Nagarjuna argued that the self has no fixed, independent existence — it arises relationally, through connection with others. That sounds abstract until you sit with what it means for a leader on a Friday afternoon, wrapping up a week. Leadership guru Jim Collins found in his 'Good to Great' research that the highest-performing executives shared an unusual trait: they credited their results outward (to teams, circumstances, luck) and their failures inward. Not as a performance of humility, but because they genuinely understood their success as relational — it wasn't really 'theirs' alone. Nagarjuna would have nodded. When you head home to your family tonight, try carrying the same lens: your clarity, your focus, your wins this week — they were co-created. Who specifically made them possible, and have you told them?

When you achieved something meaningful this week, what's the story you told yourself about how it happened — and whose contribution did that story leave out?

Drawing from Indian Philosophy (Madhyamaka Buddhism) combined with Leadership Theory — Nagarjuna (Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, ~2nd century CE) and Jim Collins (Good to Great, 2001)