How can Buddhist principles guide tough business decisions, build trust, and create a healthier workplace culture? In this episode, Glints co-founder Ying Cong shares real-life lessons from 11 years of leading a startup—navigating challenges from employee boundaries to co-founder conflicts—while staying grounded in his “inviolable principles.” His reflections show how mindfulness and compassion can be powerful tools in leadership and life.

🛑 Boundaries Build Respect – Why not treating employees as “family” can actually strengthen trust and fairness.

🗣️ Truth as a Leadership Asset – How radical honesty during crises kept the team united and loyal.

🤝 Compassion in Conflict – Using empathy and gratitude to resolve disagreements without breaking relationships.

#MindfulLeadership #BuddhistWisdom #StartupLessons #TruthAndTrust #DharmaInBusiness

About the Speaker:

👤 Ying Cong is a long-time meditator and the co-founder of Glints, a leading career platform in Southeast Asia. Over the past decade, he helped scale the company from an idea incubated by JFDI to a regional startup featured in major publications like The Straits Times and Yahoo News. As Glints’ former CTO and current machine learning engineer, he has worked on recommender systems, fraud detection, and data infrastructure—though he jokes that most of it is just “glorified data cleaning.”

His Dhamma journey began in his teenage years and continues to deepen through regular meditation, observing the precepts, and periods of monastic training in the Thai forest tradition. He is quietly exploring how to balance the responsibilities of lay life with the path of practice.

📄 Transcript: https://bit.ly/hol-ep-61

⏱ Timestamps

(00:00) – Introduction to Ying Cong and Glints

(00:46) – Why “treating employees like family” caused challenges

(02:34) – Setting healthy boundaries while staying compassionate

(03:34) – Listening deeply to uncover unspoken struggles

(05:24) – How personal connection creates meaning at work

(05:54) – Translating individual meaning into team culture

(07:04) – Leaders setting the tone for company culture

(08:13) – Avoiding the trap of hiring people just like you

(09:59) – Using “inviolable principles” as a leadership foundation

(10:38) – Close calls with breaking the precept on truthfulness

(12:14) – Learning to package truth wisely for investors

(13:02) – How truthfulness builds long-term trust with employees

(15:02) – Radical transparency during financial crisis kept the team together

(16:04) – Biggest co-founder disagreement: shutting down a business unit

(19:00) – Applying Buddhist wisdom to make difficult decisions

(20:14) – Compassion in execution: acknowledging effort and gratitude

(22:23) – Stepping down as CTO and learning from different roles

(23:26) – Final reflections and key takeaways

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Buddhist Youth Network, Lim Soon Kiat, Alvin Chan, Tan Key Seng, Soh Hwee Hoon, Geraldine Tay, Venerable You Guang, Wilson Ng, Diga, Joyce, Tan Jia Yee, Joanne, Suñña, Shuo Mei, Arif, Bernice, Wee Teck, Andrew Yam, Kan Rong Hui, Wei Li Quek, Shirley Shen, Ezra, Joanne Chan, Hsien Li Siaw, Gillian Ang, Wang Shiow Mei, Ong Chye Chye, Melvin, Yoke Kuen, Nai Kai Lee, Amelia Toh, Hannah Law, Shin Hui Chong, Dennis Lee

🙏 Sponsor us: https://handfulofleaves.life/support/

🎬 Editor: Aparajita Ghose – Website | YouTube

✍️ Transcribers: Hong Jiayi, Cheryl Cheah, Tan Si Jing, Bernice Bay

🎨 Visuals & Sound: Anton Thorne, Tan Pei Shan, Ang You Shan

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