I'm grateful to introduce Hitendra Wadhwa to the Purpose & Principles community. His writing and ideas are thought provoking and needed in the world today. Indeed, his essay on "How Would Lincoln Guide Our Nation Today?" really caught my attention and the conversation took off from there. Take a listen as Hitendra and I talk about his take on excellence in life and leadership.

Hitendra Wadhwa is Professor of Practice at Columbia Business School and founder of the Mentora Institute. He teaches Columbia's most popular MBA leadership class on Personal Leadership & Success. He also teaches MBA and Executive Education programs on Driving Strategic Impact and Leading from the Inside Out, and has received the Executive-MBA Commitment to Excellence Award, the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence, the Lear Award for Service to Students, and the Columbia Marketing Association Award for the Most Dynamic and Engaging Professor.

Hitendra’s mission is to codify and teach scientific principles of success in life and leadership. With a Ph.D. in Management Science from MIT and a lifelong study of the world’s mystic traditions, Hitendra brings a mathematician’s rigor and a truth-seeker’s spirit to some of today’s most vexing questions about authenticity, success, leadership, human potential, and more. His widely acclaimed research and teaching on leadership have been covered by Inc., Forbes, Fortune, CNN, Psychology Today, BBC World Service, Financial Times, and Wall Street Journal. His weekly webcast, Intersections, features acclaimed thought leaders and practitioners in the craft of leadership.

Hitendra’s Mentora Institute is at the forefront of creating a new model of leadership for the 21st century where executives achieve ever-growing Outer Impact through ever-deepening Inner Mastery. Through its digital learning platform, Mentora has created a pocket “flight simulator” for leadership that helps learners gain mastery in a wide range of leadership skills through MicroPracticeTM. His clients include Accenture, SAP, Pfizer, Tata Group, Ericsson, GE, Kraft Heinz, Siemens, a Big-4 Accounting Firm and Morgan Stanley.

In the past, Hitendra was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company and the CEO/founder of a Silicon Valley start-up, Paramark, which was twice recognized as a Top-100 Internet technology company by Technologic Partners/Venture Wire.