At the request of the board of directors, Chade-Meng Tan is stepping down as chairman of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute and will no longer hold any operational role with the organization following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior that occurred before the founding of the Institute.
Once the Board was made aware of the allegations, we asked Meng to step aside from his various roles within the organization and hired an independent third-party investigator to look into the matter. Meng fully cooperated with the investigation and has expressed remorse for his past conduct; however, we hold everyone associated with the organization to the highest standards of professionalism.
As an organization leading the mission of teaching mindfulness, empathy, compassion and wisdom, we make this announcement with deep humility. We will continue to learn from this experience and do our part to foster greater awareness and accountability across our organization, in our community and in the field as a whole.