Days before his death, Mahatma Gandhi wrote: “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much for you, try the following expedient:
Recall the face of the poorest and the most helpless person whom you may have seen and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [or her]. Will he [or she] be able to gain anything by it? Will it restore him [or her] to a control (or swarajaya) over their own life and destiny? Then you will find your doubts melting away."
We believe that Gandhi’s talisman is more relevant today, than ever before.Once a month, the team behind Project Mahatma presents their transformative insights. These insights are specifically targeted towards young, ambitious students, and are written, exclusively for The Talisman, by some of our favorite people in the world.
The Talisman brings you these brilliant insights in two forms:
1) A newsletter from some of the world’s most extraordinary minds. On board are 25 Stanford professors and graduates (Team Mahatma), alumni from the Wharton Business School, founders of the world’s top philanthropic organizations and more.
2) Monthly intimate chats with the world's most inspiring leaders. Some of our exclusive events are detailed below:
| Speaker | Bio | Video |
|---|---|---|
| Alexander Nemerov | Chair of Art and Art History Department at Stanford University | watch |
| Cynthia Lee | Stanford Computer Science Professor | watch |
| Shari Trewin | Dr. Shari Trewin heads IBM's accessibility and inclusion initiatives | watch |
| Pejman Nozad | Legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist, first investor in Dropbox and Doordash | watch |
| Stanford Professor Mehran Sahami | Legendary Stanford Computer Science professor, one of the first employees at Google | watch |
| Stanford Professor Laura Arillaga Andreessen | Among the most important leaders in global philanthropy, Stanford GSB legend | watch |
| Stanford Professor Michael Bernstein | One of the most prolific researchers in the Human Computer Interaction space | watch |
| Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures, Tom Kalil | Deputy Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy | watch |
| Stanford Professor Jerry Cain | Legendary Stanford Computer Science professor, one of the first employees at Facebook | not recorded |
| Magsaysay Award Winner Harish Hande | one of the world's most prominent social entrepreneurs | watch |
| Nand Kishore Chaudhary | The Founder of Jaipur Rugs, one of India's most incredible social enterprises | watch |
The Talisman is our labor of love. One that we hope will allow us to transform minds. At Talisman, we are fundamentally trying to build a community of learners , whose lives we can amplify. Entry to The Talisman is application-only . We want to ensure we admit people who love to learn, who will add to our community, and who will be able to extract the most value from our talks, our events and our experiences.
You can apply to The Talisman here. Please note that The Talisman costs USD 30 per month. Please feel free to reach out to our team at talisman@projectmahatma.com
You can read some our writings here , here and here.