A friend of the Dalai Lama for 30 years says this is the single biggest thing he's learned from him

On Monday, the Dalai Lama turned 80.

"Emotional Intelligence" author Daniel Goleman has been a friend of the leader of Tibetan Buddhism for 30 years.

He met him through Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman, and Goleman - then a science writer for the New York Times - helped arrange meetings between His Holiness and leading scientists.

Goleman drew on a series of conversations with the Dalai Lama for their new book, "A Force For Good: The Dalai Lama's Vision For Our World."

In a recent interview with Business Insider, Goleman recalled the biggest thing he's learned from knowing the religious icon for decades.

Here's his anecdote in full:

I think, bottom line, what I learned from the Dalai Lama is the potential of what a human being can be. He's my role model.

He teaches by his being and what he does.

[I remember] he was meeting with 20 CEOs in Vancouver. They met for two hours. They asked him questions, he gave them advice.

They'd hired a photographer to document the meeting. He's going around shooting from every angle, and at one point he ends up lying on the floor by the Dalai Lama, facing up at him with a big telephoto lens, and the Dalai Lama stops what he's saying, looks down, very amused, and says, "Oh, why don't you just take a nap while you're down there!"

At the end, the photographer posed everybody for a formal picture. As it starts breaking up, the Dalai Lama says to him, "Come over here." He hugs him close and they take a picture together

I've seen this time and again with him. He does not make distinctions based on power, role, status, fame, wealth. He doesn't care. He says we're all the same human beings. He really lives it.

That compassion in action that he's demonstrating - I think it's made me a little kinder in how I am with people.

"A Force for Good" is now available for purchase.