Robin Sharma

Long before his books reached corporate boardrooms and airport bookstores, Robin Sharma was a young lawyer who could not find satisfaction or peace in the work he had trained to do. Born in Mbale, Uganda, in 1965, he emigrated to Winnipeg when he was one year old and was raised in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. His family background was steeped in service and learning: his father was a physician, his mother a teacher, and his brother later became an ophthalmologist.

Sharma studied at Dalhousie University, where his education mixed the practical and the imaginative. He studied biology with a minor in romantic poetry, then completed a master’s degree in law. He first worked as a lawyer at a firm and later for the Department of Justice in Ottawa. Yet the legal career did not give him the sense of meaning he was looking for. That tension between outer achievement and inner restlessness became one of the central concerns of his writing.

He began writing at age 25 and self-published MegaLiving in 1994, a book focused on stress management and spirituality. His breakthrough came with The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, which he initially self-published in 1997 before it was picked up for wider distribution by HarperCollins. The book made him widely known and opened the way for a full-time writing career. He went on to publish many more titles, including Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Who Will Cry When You Die, The Leader Who Had No Title, The 5 AM Club, The Everyday Hero Manifesto, and The Wealth Money Can’t Buy.

Sharma’s books often return to a clear theme: success means little if it is not joined to self-command, purpose, service, and a well-lived inner life. His 2002 book The Saint, the Surfer, and the CEO follows Jack Valentine, an unhappy and underperforming man who, after an accident, receives final advice from his dying father. The advice comes in the form of three questions about whether one has lived wisely, served greatly, and loved well. Through the figures of a saint, a surfer, and a CEO, the story presents the kind of life audit that runs through much of Sharma’s work.

Beyond publishing, Sharma became a public speaker and founded Sharma Leadership International. CEOs and other corporate leaders have consulted him on employee motivation, and he has conducted trainings for companies including Nike, Microsoft, IBM, and FedEx. Organizations such as Yale University, Harvard Business School, and NASA have also called on him to speak. His words continue to connect with readers because they are direct, practical, and aimed at the daily choices behind achievement. As he puts it, “The swiftest way to triple your success is to double your investment in personal development.”