corporate-ladder-climbing skills. Doesn't this seem a little ironic?My own interest in emotional intelligence (and focus in the book of that name) was on education; I feel there is a strong empirical case for helping childrens positive development via school-based programs in social and emotional learning (see www.casel.org for a recommended menu of such programs). While families, on average, have been doing a less effective job of helping children acquire life skills like self-awareness, emotional self-regulation, empathy and cooperation, these programs fit seamlessly into the school day and increase such abilities. They also reduce the incidence of perils like substance abuse, violence, unwanted teen pregnancies, and dropoutsand also seem to boost academic achievement.When I went on to write my next book, Working With Emotional Intelligence, I wanted to make a business case that the best performers were those people strong in these skills. My hope was that organizations would start including this range of skills in their training programsin other words, offer an adult education in social and emotional intelligence. That succeeded beyond my wildest dreamsthere's now a mini-industry in the business world that does just that. There may be some irony in thatbut this was also my strategic goal. Motivation aside, if people get better at these life skills, everyone benefits: The brain doesn't distinguish between being a more empathic manager and a more empathic father.There was another conference of cognitive scientists, Buddhist scholars and the Dalai Lama this past September at MIT. What do you think was the most productive thing that came out of it?Under the auspices of the Mind and Life Institute [www.mindandlife.org], that conference (which will be summarized in the paperback edition of Destructive Emotions, due out in April 2004) was intended to catalyze collaboration between expert meditation practitioners and cognitive neuroscientists (and other researchers). Nearly 800 professionals came (university faculty, grad students, postdocs, clinicians, scholars), with another 1,400 on the wait list. There are many research initiatives underway or in planning as a result. There will be a summer institute (on the model of the Cold Spring Harbor conferences) for graduate students and postdocs. And there is an active discussion among 400 or so researchers on a listserv (see mindandlife.org/ml.research.network.html to join the discussion).Can you say a little bit about your next project? What are you working on now?I'm working on an article (with Warren Bemis at Harvard's JFK School of Government) arguing for a culture of candor in organizations, to safeguard against groupthink, blind spots and the kind of collusions that led to the collapse of Enron and the other corporate scandals, unchecked pedophilia in the Catholic church, as well as the Columbia and Challenger shuttle accidents.Finally, I wonder what's it like to hang out with the Dalai Lama? Is it even possible to "hang out" with the Dalai Lama, or is he more formal than that?Unless you're far more fortunate than I, you don't "hang out" with the Dalai Lama these days. He's in such huge demand that his time is tightly guarded and closely scheduled. But when you're with him (as I've been in