Partners, Competition and Internal Efficiency: Managing conflict in a modern organization has an amazing number of ties to central themes of Zen, “Art of War” and book of change (Tao de Ching).They are all about understanding yourself, your organization, your strengths, weaknesses and synergizing with others to achieve positive outcomes. Collectively these things have a direct correlation to an annual company S.W.O.T review (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats). Furthermore, these attributes and approaches mimic an employee’s annual performance review. In Applied Zen workshops we go through approaches to company S.W.O.T. which include: company self analysis, analyzing competition, and partnering for best case strategic outcomes.

All above methods (old and new) are about changing base behavior, beliefs and approaches. These are core values, and are far more important than putting band-aids on problems, or approaching things with simply a behavior change. In regard to ancient philosophies, they of course must be interpreted, and applied, using case studies in a context that matches modern corporate world – but lessons are most definitely there!

Continuing to train ones skills and undergo development both in-house and outside your company is essential.

As ancient samurai saying says: “Continually sharpen sword or it will go blunt!”

By Jason Armstrong, Ph.D. Copyright 2005.

* SMALL SUPPLY - We recommend U.S. Rare Coins of highest quality for date that you can afford. These are always hardest to find, most desirable collector coins and have historically been top market performers. In our opinion, these coins are always in demand by collectors and will be easiest coins to liquidate later, and turn best profits.

* STRONG PERFORMANCE HISTORY - Take time to review price history of any rare coin you purchase. Rare coins that have a good history of 200% to 300% price increases during recent bull markets, usually offer your an excellent profit potential in next hot market. While past performance is no guarantee of future value, undesirable coins are losers in any market. It is of utmost importantance to remember that each rare coin must stand on value of its own individual merit related to grade, price, eye appeal, and rarity.

* GENUINELY RARE - Finally, we recommend you acquire a selection of Genuinely Rare United States coins. There are fundamentally two ways to determine a coin's rarity. That is "Condition Rarity" and "Absolute Rarity." Condition Rarity is a coin that is rare in higher grades. Some coins are common in worn, circulated grades, yet there could be only five coins known to exist in higher mint-state grades of MS-63 to MS-65. Absolute Rarity is a coin that is rare in any grade. These are truly desirable gold coins that are hard to locate and acquire in all grades. These few coins that are Absolutely Rare in any grade are "Blue Chip Recommendations" of U.S. Rare Coin Market.