Description
Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "Lean", is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.
Case Study for Application of Mythology in Modern Indian Management Practices
Index
Contents
1. Abstract ......................................................................................................10 2. Need for this study......................................................................................11 3. Methods used for Data Collection...............................................................12 4. Limitation of the study................................................................................13 5. Introduction ................................................................................................14 o Management practices in India .........................................................14 o Influence of Western culture in Indian management practice ............17 6. Mythology ..................................................................................................20 o Introduction ......................................................................................20 o Relevance to Management - Interpretation of Stories and Analysis...23
Employees and Consumers .......
Relationship between Leader and Emplo Managing of Organization and Employee ...............................75 practices..................................................................................87 7. Conclusion..................................................................................................95 8. Bibliography ...............................................................................................96
Abstract
Though, the term 'Indian Management Practice' is ambiguous, it refers to the managerial norms and conduct followed in the country with intention of optimum and smooth functioning of businesses and organizations. However, recent economic reports seem to accentuate the failure of traditional management practices in implementation. While corruption, lack of
implementation of rules and legal ambiguities are some of the many factors that contribute to this, the basic cause is the attitude. But before condemning or altering of the attitude, it is important to understand and trace back its development, which can be found in mythology.
Mythology is a collection of stories, rituals and symbols that a culture indulges in. It is considered to be ancient wisdom contemplating mainly about the life, its purpose and how it is meant to be lived through stories, rituals and symbols from which lessons can be derived and interpreted. It is important to know that mythology is essentially myth - that which is believed in to be true not universally, but culturally. This study focuses on the application of mythology in modern Indian management practices. Using stories and anecdotes from Indian mythology, the study explores the meaning, nature and purpose of organization, leader and society, through interpretations and analysis. Furthermore, it emphasizes on the relationship between the three and how it can be improved. The applicability of this approach is not only limited to business to management but to any aspect of life. The study ends with noting the management institutes and companies that already use mythology as a tool in their practices, while discussing the methods they employ and its result.
Need for this study
In the competitive business world today, management is an art (and a science) that needs to be practiced by an individual and the organization. While globalization has lead to a lot of western concepts and practices become a part of Indian management system, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the implementation has not been perfect.
Perhaps at these times, it is best to go back to the root cause - the mythology - to understand the current state and apply the lessons in management so as to bridge the gap between execution and implementation. Though mythology may seem an odd source to take management reference from, its importance and relevance cannot be ignored. Mythology is a collection of myths - stories, symbols and rituals that is believed or accepted by a culture (or a part of it), that one hears throughout his or her life. Thus mythology of a particular culture is to a great extent, the framework in which the psyche of culture develops. It is the psyche of that culture that affects the behaviour. In words of Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik, 'From Mythology comes belief and from belief comes behaviour'
In India, aspects of mythology - predominantly Hindu mythology - can be seen in daily life of most traditional or religious people. In this study, I am exploring the ways in which it can used to understand and be applied in management practice, the ways in which it has been already being used, where it is being used and how it helps.
Methods used for Data Collection
All of the data collected for this study is from a secondary source, given that most of stories from mythology have been passed down through history with different variations. The internet was mostly used for collection of stories and anecdotes from mythology. It was also used for getting the information about various personalities and institutions that are using mythology in management approach. Few books were also used as references. Most of the analysis and interpretations are done by reputed academics, philosophers and mythologist - Notably Devdutt Pattanaik. However, most of the analysis is self-evident while reading the stories.
Limitation of the study
One of the major limitations of the study is the subjectivity of analysis and interpretations of stories, symbols and rituals mentioned in the mythology as it is not completely based on concrete scientific and empirical data.
Though statistical facts or trends have been has been supported by a credible source as far as possible, it is generally based on observation and intuition. However, as the study focuses more on how mythology can be used in management than the current state of management in India, this factor does not affect the credibility of the study.
The accuracy of mythological elements also comes into question as there are many variations of the same story (even names). For the purpose of the study, at many instances, different versions have been accounted for and analyzed.
Lastly, time constraint and various other factors did not allow direct interaction with the personalities or institutions using this 'mythology in management' approach, thus making the collection of data only possible through secondary source.
Introduction
Management practices in India
While it is hard to pinpoint the exact way management is practiced in India, there is a macroscopic trend or trait that can be generalized to describe it. For centuries, Indians have been exposed to vrats (fasts) and upaays (solutions). Hence, at a deep cultural core, most Indians believe there is nothing rigid about life. Everything is manageable, solvable, everything has a work around.
Religious Indian books are full of vrats. It was one of the ways by which one believed one can work around any distressing and apparently insurmountable fate. The same thought exists behind the notion of upaay that is popular amongst astrologers. Astrology is supposed to reveal through the position of stars and planets the fate of man. If the revealed fate is not favourable, then the astrologer immediately offers to work around it by a gemstone, a mantra (spell), a pilgrimage, a prayer, a ritual with which the negative effects of a planet can be overcome.
This powerful cultural construct has its most popular manifestation in trait, colloquially termed as jugaad. It is the ability to get things done especially when the law and the rule are not favorable. A jugaadu is a highly networked and resourceful person who can weave his way through any system and get things done when the straight and narrow path is blocked. He is a critical component of one's team if one wants to succeed in India.
'Indian way' is commonly seen as trait of accommodating everything. For various things in life most Indians subscribe to jugaad and vrat and upaay, believing in bending fate. This could be argued as the reason why Indians can be such short-term thinkers at times, finding it difficult to plan for the distant future - like eradicating poverty by 2020 - while finding it easy to find jugaad for the immediate problems - like getting a driver's license made.
Evidently, the existence of jugaad can be seen as testimony to the fact why India system are largely inefficient and corrupt and why people are not upright about rules are not being rigid or universal. Nevertheless, it indicates that Indians have no qualms about bypassing the system to get their way.
While the ethics and legality of practicing jugaad is questionable. For many, jugaad is proof of Indian ingenuity and creativeness - a demonstration that Indians are not willing to accept fate and are willing to scurry a solution out of any problem. That is to say - If one has the will, there is always a jugaadu way.
So this leads to the question, does the system construct jugaad or does jugaad construct the system? Are Indians creative thinkers and therefore refuse to create linear logical systems? Or is it that they find linear systems tedious, demanding too much discipline and uprightness, hence turn to jugaad? The answer perhaps lies in the emotional nature of Indians that is responsible for both the inefficiency of the system as well as for the effective workarounds.
An example would be seen if one travel across India cannot rely on a postal address to find a person's house in a city. Postal addresses are logical - name of the city, the area, the road, the colony, the building, the flat. But structuring and locations of Indian cities are not logical. One has to perhaps ask the local pedestrian for directions. This is jugaad, albeit a minor form, that allows one to
overcome a situation that is not favored by logic. Situation may be different if one was in USA or a European country. Jugaad may not be possible or even needed as everything is comparatively well organized with roadmaps and street signs that there is little need to ask anyone. While today there are street signs and road maps in India too, large numbers of people still prefer asking people around them for directions, indicating the Indian comfort with people than with processes - with private emotions rather than with impersonal logic.
Psychologically seeing this trait, it can be said that Indians do not make a distinction in their professional and personal behaviour very easily. It is quite acceptable for professional friends to become personal friends asking for favors or to do jugaad. From an Indian point of view, there seems nothing wrong with taking advantage of one's role and position for a friend.
The Indian comfort with jugaad is the reason why Indian can be seem very tolerant to ineffective management systems (ineffective from western perspective) and sometimes even contributing to inefficiency. If one does not expect things to work through processes - one find innovative personal ways to get things done.
Thus the concept of jugaad can be seen as the underlying base for the traditional management model practiced in India.
Influence of Western culture in Indian management practice
"To make India modern was the White man's burden" - Devdutt Pattanaik
Since the advent of East India Company under Great Britain to India for business, India has been greatly exposed to the western culture. Through centuries of British rule and post-independence rise of globalization, traits of western culture seeped its way into various aspects of Indian way of living and thinking. While this caused amalgamation of the two cultures, it also led to the trend of defining and understanding life in a western way - Westernization. The reason for differences in culture and Westernization can be understood by understanding mythologies that governed the two cultures.
Both the Greek and Biblical ways assume there is only one life and one way to live life: individual achievement according to the Greeks and collective surrender for the Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hindu way, as in the Buddhist and Jain way, there are many lives. Everything is cyclical and repetitive. The only way to make sense of this merry-go-round is to step back and reflect on life.
It important to see how these cultures matter in the corporate world as all human beings are churned out cultures. Over time these cultures have mingled and merged with each other. Hence a little bit of all cultures lies within everyone.
Christianity didactically asks for rejection of man-made hierarchy, while embracing of community and surrendering to a higher reality before which all
are equal. This also is the underlying motif for Judaism, Islam and other Semitic cultures. Contextualism is constantly brought out in Hindu Mythology while the value of harmony (Tao), the need to organize flux through ritual and discipline is emphasized in Chinese culture. Greeks were known for its logical and individualistic behaviour, thus importance or prioritizing of those traits can be rooted to the Greek culture.
The Olympic motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius,' is Latin for 'Swifter, Higher, Stronger'. The roots of this ideal of continuous relentless improvement lies in the ancient Greek world, where the Olympic Games were a sacred ritual. It was believed that through participation, and especially through winning, the athlete reached the 'zone' that brought him closer to the gods. That was the whole point of the games - to be better than what one was, and break the assumed limitations imposed on man by the gods.
It is this ideal that governs businesses today and propels the desire to be bigger, grow faster, and ride up the value chain. Business models do have their roots in Western business practices which in turn have been shaped by ancient Greek ideals. Business leaders are heroes, like Ulysses and Heracles. They are expected to go where no one has gone before on great solitary adventures, creating new markets, penetrating old ones, fighting the demons of opposition and emerging triumphant. The whole point of the game is to win - to outlast the competition, to rise above mediocrity, to create new horizons, to shatter old boundaries. Little wonder then that the Greek god of business and trade was Hermes, who had wings on his sandals, always on the run.
So culturally speaking, from a western perspective which focus more on linear systematic thinking, the concept of jugaad have made Indians compulsive outof-the-box thinkers who to connect with the world at large, need to 'trained' to
be more in-the-box, more aligned to processes and develop respect for the rigidity of the system.
This is where it is commonly thought that most Indian management system 'fail' in being 'efficient' and 'effective'. The problem lies not in system but in understanding its cultural roots, established by ancient wisdom and mythology.
Mythology
Introduction
To know what the mythology reveals, it is important to understand the term mythology. For many people, especially those who veer towards the religious right, the word 'mythology' is anathema, a Western imposition to invalidate Indian beliefs. For a mythologist, like Devdutt Pattanaik, all beliefs are mythological as they are indifferent to rational thought - they make room for fantastic ideas like ocean of milk, flying horses, and virgin births.
However, Mythology must be distinguished from myth. Colloquially, myth is considered to be associated with falsehood, or lie. The word however is subjective truth that defines a culture. Mythology is the body of stories, symbols and rituals that communicates that subjective truth of a particular culture.
Different cultures have different subjective truths, hence different beliefs, and different myths. For example, Christianity and Islam believe in one life followed by an eternity in Heaven or Hell. Hindus and Jains and Sikhs and Buddhists believe in rebirth, one life followed by another, until one breaks free from the wheel of birth and death.
When myths and mythologies of cultures are compared with one another, there are bound to similarities and dissimilarities. Similarities reflect the humanity of a culture, dissimilarities its uniqueness. Hindus and Buddhists are similar in that they both believe in the wheel of rebirths but they are dissimilar in that only Hindus believe in the concept of eternal unchanging soul. Hindus and Muslims are similar in that they both accept God as being all-powerful, but they are
dissimilar in that Muslims believe in one life and one way of reaching God, by following the path revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
It is however difficult and to a degree pointless to see who is right. Believers think they are right and that outsiders - other cultures - are delusional. It is in a way of thinking and explaining things which is different from science, where the pursuit is for universal, de-contextual, objective knowledge that everyone has to agree with.
The oldest collections of myths in Hindu scriptures are known as Itihasas (histories) and Puranas (chronicles). In these documents narratives of gods, kings, and sages trace the history of India from the beginning of time to the prophecies of anarchy that will herald the end of the world.
In Hindu mythology, divinity is expressed in the form of three couples Brahma and Saraswati, Vishnu and Lakshmi, and finally Shiva and Shakti. The male half of this trinity is associated with verbs - Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves and Shiva destroys. The female half on the other hand is associated with nouns - Saraswati is knowledge, Lakshmi is wealth and Shakti is power. The gods are thus the creators, preservers and destroyers; they are the active subjects. The goddesses by contrast are that which is created, preserved or destroyed; they are the passive objects. While the goddesses are described as embodying wealth, knowledge and power, they themselves are never described as knowledgeable, wealthy or powerful.
What is often overlooked while looking at mythological images of gods and goddesses is that mythology is symbolic. Shiva does not represent a man and Shakti does not represent women. Shiva and Shakti are male and female forms that lend themselves to embody ideas. Ideas have no gender. But to
communicate them, they are often given various forms - sometimes animals, sometimes plant, sometimes geometrical patterns and sometimes human, where gender is used to further sub-divide ideas.
The point of mythology is to understand and interpret what the symbols, stories and rituals signify and how they can be applied - in personal and professional life.
Relevance to Management - Interpretation of Stories and Analysis
ORGANIZATION
Reason for its existence
In all the depiction of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, she is shown holding a pot in her hand. As Pots are not natural it can stated that they are manmade. Presence of pots indicates presence of humanity. At a philosophical level it can be stated that pots change humanity's relationship with nature. If the world and its resources are free for all, then whatever is collected in a pot belongs to the owner of the pot. The pot enables humans to turn natural resources into personal property.
Property is a human idea, an artificial construction, not a natural phenomenon. Animals do not own nature. They have territory that they defend with brute force. Another animal may lays claim to its territory and if the first animal is unable to fight back, there is no court where it can go to appeal. There are no courts in nature; no law except might is right, survival of the fittest. Animals need territory in order to survive - to get access to food. Animals do not create territory for self-actualization. Herein is the difference between animal and humans - territory and property, water in the river and water in a pot, food in a tree and food in a basket.
Organizations are pots which help in cultivating nature to suit and meet human needs for living. Living here does not only mean survival but also to prosper. Prosperity can be achieved having three things -
Lakshmi (Wealth)
It is very well understood and often explicitly stated that an organization exists to generate revenue and make profits. However, one cannot forget that those who generate revenue and make profits are humans - thus in need for material, intellectual and emotional nourishment.
In Indian mythology, this aspect of organization has been alleged in many stories with cows which need grass and protection and music and love. Thus if the organization is a cow, then milk is the wealth that flows out of it. Whole milk is the topline - revenue - and butter, the bottomline - profit. These are the metaphors by which Indian mythology communicates its ideas on wealth.
In India, wealth is considered auspicious. The image of the goddess Lakshmi, seated on a lotus, flanked by white elephants, holding a pot overflowing with gold, is placed in many temples, houses and institutes. Lakshmi's footprint, pointing inwards, is placed on the doorway of Hindu and Jain households during festival time. This is what people want - The flow of milk (wealth), preferably rich in butter (profit), flowing in their direction.
Saraswati (Knowledge)
In the great epics of India, Ramayana and Mahabharata, war ends not with celebration of materialistic victory but with transmission of knowledge -
In the Ramayana, Ravana lies mortally wounded on the battlefield and the monkeys are celebrating their victory, when Rama turns to his brother, Lakshmana, and says, "While Ravana was a brute, he was also a great scholar. Go to him quickly and request him to share whatever knowledge he can."
The obedient Lakshmana rushes to Ravana's side and whispers in his ears, "Demon king, all your life you have taken not given. Now the noble Rama gives you an opportunity to mend your ways. Share your vast wisdom. Do not let it die with you. For that you will be surely be blessed." Ravana responds by simply turning away. An angry Lakshmana goes back to Rama and says: "He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything." Rama looks at his brother and asks him softly, "Where did you stand while asking him for knowledge?" "Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly." Rama smiles places his bow on the ground and walks to where Ravana lies. Lakshmana watches in astonishment as his brother kneels at Ravana's feet. With palms joined, with extreme humility, Rama says, "Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I see you now as you are known across the world, as the wise son of Rishi Vishrava. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world." To Lakshmana surprise, Ravana opens his eyes and raises his arms to salute Rama, "If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things are actually good for you fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, Rama." With these words, Ravana dies.
There's similar knowledge transmission in the Mahabharata -
The war is over and the Kauravas are all dead. As the victorious Pandavas are about to assume control of Hastinapur, Krishna advises them to talk to Bhisma, their grand uncle, who lies mortally, wounded on the battlefield. As a result of a blessing, death would elude him for some time. "Make him talk until his last breath. Ask him questions. He has a lot to tell," says Krishna. Sure enough, when prompted, the dying Bhisma spends hours discussing various topics: history, geography, politics, economics, management, war, ethics, morality, sex, astronomy, metaphysics and spirituality. Bhisma's discourse is captured in the Shanti Parva (discussions of peace) and Anushasan Parva (discussions on discipline) that makes up a quarter of the Mahabharata. After listening to their grandsire, the Pandavas have a better understanding of the world, and this makes them better kings.
Both these stories draw attention to the value of knowledge. In triumph, it is easy to claim the material possessions of the defeated - the cows, the gold, the slaves, the palace, the kingdom etc. But it is not easy to claim one's knowledge. When someone dies, their knowledge and all the experience goes along with them. Knowledge does not outlive death.
Every day, an organization churns out vast amounts of knowledge. Every day, people leave organizations, taking their knowledge with them, knowledge which they probably acquired because they are part of the organization. They take with them knowledge of clients, markets, business processes, tricks of the trade. These may not be confidential information or patented information, but information that does give an organization that competitive edge.
Durga (Power)
But it would be very naïve to assume that as humans, one only seeks wealth and knowledge from an organization. Organizations create the framework that allow for various manifestations of power to emerge. They create bosses and subordinates, team members and team leaders, dotted line and solid line reporting?
The need for power is never explicitly stated perhaps because it is not tangible or measurable. Yet empowerment and disempowerment can make or break an organization making it perhaps more powerful than economic and intellectual resources.
In Hindu mythology, all that which can be transacted between two human beings takes in the form of three goddesses: Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, and Durga is Shakti, the goddess of power.
In many Indian scriptures and temples, Durga is shown killing of buffalo Mahish-Asura. Typically, this is perceived as good as she is killing what can be seen as a demon - a threat. So Durga then becomes a symbol of courage and bravery to protect ourselves from threats. Implicit in the idea of protection is the idea of fear. The existence of Durga presupposes that all humans are afraid, and hence are in need of security. For that one need power - weapons to make one feel safe.
Power then becomes the antidote to the poison of fear. In fact, it transforms itself into the currency of all emotions. Most workplace, the craving for wealth
and the control of information becomes manifestation of the underlying power games.
Organizations often forget that at the core of the human being is fear - fear of invalidation, fear of impermanence, fear of insignificance. It is this fear that propels one to be who they are. It influences their behavior. Emotion, not wealth or knowledge is what makes and breaks relationships.
As an employee, one does not only seek money or knowledge from his or her boss but also emotional comfort and a sense of security. Likewise, bosses seek respect, obedience, creativity, involvement from employees. Both sides seek power. This is transaction of power and the changing dynamics that propels one to create and work for an organization.
Structure of Organization
Raas Lila In the Bhagavat Purana, heaven is visualized as the Raas Lila. In the Raas Lila, Krishna plays the flute and the milkmaids dance around him.
The scene takes place at night (darkness), outside the village, in the forest which generally evokes fear. The milkmaids are away from the security of the village and family, and yet they feel safe and secure. They sing and dance around Krishna, who is neither their brother nor son nor husband. Neither law nor custom binds them. No one is obliged to be here. There is no duty or responsibility that binds them around Krishna. They do so of their own free will.
They do not feel threatened. They do not feel under pressure. There is perfect harmony. Everyone forms a circle - equidistant from Krishna; there is no jealousy and envy. Each one feels that Krishna is giving them complete attention as if being physically present in front of each of them. In fact, the moment they feel possessive about Krishna or believe he should love them more than others, Krishna disappears; the forest re-appears, brining with it the darkness and the fear.
Raas-Lila perhaps represents what ancient wisdom considered an ideal organization to be like. Every employee feels safe and secure. Everyone feels they are fully appreciated. Everyone is giving their best. No one is jealous or territorial. There is warmth and affection all around. No one feels exploited. There is perfect harmony. For this to happen, the boss must be Krishna.
By structure, one does not mean the physical configuration of various departments or personnel as that depends on the type and nature of the organization. Here, structure represents the relations between each aspect of organization.
EMPLOYEES AND CONSUMERS
Types of Employees
Shekchilli, Gangu Teli, Mitti ka Madhav and Raja Bhoj
In Indian folklore, there are four characters that most aptly describe various kind of personality seen in an organization - Shekchilli, Gangu Teli, Mitti ka Madhav (or Gobar ka Ganesh) and Raja Bhoj.
Shekchilli is a dreamer. He dreams high, thinking of all possibilities without making any effort to implement or execute them.
One day he gets a pot of milk from his master. He dreams of turning the milk into curds then churning it for butter and selling the butter and making some money and using that money to buy more milk and make more butter. And in time making and selling so much butter that he would not have to work. As he dreams of the possibilities, he stumbles and falls on the road. The pot of milk in his hand breaks and out pours all the milk into the ground.
Gangu Teli is the implementer. He does not dream at all. He likes to implement things. He calls himself a 'realist' and focuses on practical things like doing the task and measuring their effectiveness and efficiency. His name Teli suggests that he is an oil presser. Just as an oil presser uses force to push oil out of oilseeds, Gangu Teli uses pressure to get work out of his team.
The story goes that when the wall of the king's mountain-fort kept collapsing, the astrologer recommended the sacrifice of a woman and her newborn to appease the gods the mountain. The only person whose wife and child were
available for sacrifice - either voluntarily or under pressure - was that of Gangu Teli. He is the frontline warrior; he knows. When times are bad, he will be called upon to do the ultimate sacrifice. The buck stops with him as he stands in the market. He is therefore most valued in the immediate term. Since he knows that, he often suffers from an inflated self-importance.
Mitti ka Madhav (also known as Gobar ka Ganesh) is neither a dreamer like Shekchilli nor an implementer like Gangu Teli. He is what someone else wants to be. On his own, he is nothing. He is a reactive member of the team, doing whatever pleases others, with no mind or opinion of his own.
Lastly, there is Raja Bhoj, the ideal leader, a dreamer as well as implementer. He knows the importance of both and balances out to be the effective employee.
In a 2 x 2 Matrix, these personalities can be placed like -
High Dreaming capability Low Dreaming capability
Shekchilli Mitti ka Madhav
Low Implementing capability
Raja Bhoj Gangu Teli
High Implementing capability
Being Narada or Manthara The arrival of a sage called Narada in Hindu mythology always spells trouble. He would share very innocent information, or ask a very simple question, and provoke all kinds of base emotions from jealousy to rage to insecurity.
Once he went to the house of Kansa, dictator of Mathura, who knew that the eighth son of his sister would be his killer. Kansa would have killed his sister had his brother-in-law, Vasudev, not promised to handover the eighth child to Kansa. "Do you trust Vasudev?" asked Narada, "I mean, he may handover another child and claim he is the eighth; or he may handover his own child, say the seventh, and claim he is the eighth." Having sowed the seeds of doubt, Narada walked away plucking his lute and chanting, "Narayana, Narayana." Influenced by these words, Kansa killed each and every child his sister bore to ensure his safety. Another time, Narada went to the house of the five Pandava brothers who had a common wife called Draupadi, and told them the story of a nymph called Tilotamma. "Two demon brothers, Sunda and Upasunda, fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. She said she would marry the stronger of the two. So the two brothers fought to prove their strength. Since both were equally matched, they killed each other. Wonder which of you five is the strongest?" Hearing this the five Pandava brothers quickly put down rules that would govern the sharing of a wife; she would be with one brother exclusively for a year and return to him after spending four years with the other four brothers.
In Kansa's case, Narada's intervention leads to serial infanticide. In the Pandava's case, Narada's intervention secures domestic bliss. Yet, at no point is Narada feared or shunned by any king or god. In fact his arrival is welcomed. His intervention is seen as something inherently good - though the
goodness is not immediately apparent. In Kansa's case, Kansa sees him as a well wisher. But by his intervention, Narada ensures that Vasudev, rather than handing over the prophesized eighth child as he initially planned to, takes the child to a safe house where he can grow up and return to kill the wicked king. Narada though a mischief-maker and quarrel-monger, has the good of people at heart.
But there are advisors whose intentions are otherwise. The most famous one of these is Manthara who poisons the ear of Kaikeyi, in the epic Ramayana, and influences the queen to demand the exile of Ram.
It was the commemoration of Ram to become king in Ayodhya. Everyone was busy in preparation of the ceremony. After helping with the preparation, Kaikeyi enters her room where she meets her servant, Manthara. Manthara did not like the idea of Ram being the king. She had to do something. While Kaikeyi was busy getting dressed, Manthara started praising Kaikeyi's biological son, Bharat. After that she asked a simple question 'Why shouldn't he get to be the king?' Though initially, baffled and enraged at this notion, Kaikeyi began to feel the same way hearing Manthara go on. She was even reminded by Manthara about the two boons granted by her husband Dashratha in a battle to ask for anything. 'Use them to make Bharat king and exile Ram to forest for 14 years'.
By following Manthara's advice, Kaikeyi destroys the household.
Mythology cautions one to notice of the advisor (employee) who sits beside the leader - is he or she like Narada or Manthara? If Narada, how does he see the leader - as Kansa or as a Pandava? These are difficult questions for a leader to
ask, but understanding and noticing this may be critical in the operation of organization
Sunahshepas
One of the several versions of the story goes that there was a king, sometime identified as a Harishchandra and sometime identified as Ambarisha, who had an attack of dropsy - his body swelled up with fluid. He prayed to Varuna, god of water, and said, "If I am cured, I will sacrifice my son." As soon as he said this, he was cured. His limbs became normal. His fingers and face were no longer bloated. "My sacrifice?" asked Varuna. Now that he was cured, the king found it hard to part with his son. So he called the wise men of his kingdom, and told them to find a way out. "How can I make Varuna happy without losing my son?" he asked. The wise men said a son is defined in many ways according to the scriptures: one is the son you produce biologically, another is the son who is adopted and finally there is another son that you can buy. Hearing this, the king said, "Go buy me a son." The wise men went around the kingdom, but no man was willing to sell their son. How can our king ask us to part with a son, they wondered. Who would do such a thing? After a long search, the wise men found a poor priest willing to sell his son 100 cows His name was Ajigarta. He said, "I have three sons. I will not sell my eldest son because he is very dear to me, and I cannot sell the youngest because he is dear to his mother. I will sell my middle son, Sunahshepa, because I have no choice. I am very poor and I need to feed my family." Thus Sunahshepa became the son of the king and was brought to the palace on a golden palanquin. He was quite excited until, after being fed and clothed and given gifts meant for princes, he was taken and tied to a sacrificial post. "You, Sunahshepa, are to be sacrificed to Varuna so that your father, the king, is free
of debt," said the wise men. Realizing his hopeless situation, Sunahshepa began to cry. The executioner was called to sacrifice the boy. "I will not sacrifice the boy, he is no criminal," said the executioner. The butcher was called to sacrifice the boy. "I will not sacrifice the boy, he is no animal," said the butcher. The priests were told to sacrifice the boy. "We will not sacrifice the boy. That is not part of our responsibilities," said the priests. Suddenly a voice rang across the sacrificial hall, "I will. I will. For 100 more cows." It was Ajigarta, Sunahshepa's father! Everybody was aghast and looked at the father, and said, "When you sold your son, your reason was poverty. What is your reason now?" "Why should I feel ashamed," said Ajigarta, "When the king is not ashamed to sacrifice one of his subjects to save his son." Watching his father move towards the chopping block, axe in hand, Sunahshepa realized he had no one he could turn to, neither father nor king. His fate was doomed.
Mythology shows how Sunahshepas are created when leaders refuse to make sacrifices.
It can be seen that there are many Sunahshepas in the corporate world. They are victims of greed, favouritism, politics etc. who are many times stripped of livelihood. These are employees who have faced exploitation at expense of someone else.
Qualities of Employee
Mythologies are abundant with stories in which certain qualities in a character help him or her to progress or achieve certain objective intentionally or unintentionally, directly or indirectly
Playing the fool
There once lived a great mathematician in a village outside Ujjain. He was often called by the local king to advice on matters related to the economy. His reputation has spread as far as Taxila in the North and Kanchi in the South. So it hurt him very much when the village headman told him, "You may be a great mathematician who advises the king on economic matters but your son does not know the value of gold or silver." The mathematician called his son and asked, "What is more valuable - gold or silver?" "Gold," said the son. "That is correct. Why is it then that the village headman makes fun of you, claims you do not know the value of gold or silver? He teases me every day. He mocks me before other village elders as a father who neglects his son. This hurts me. I feel everyone in the village is laughing behind my back because you do not know what is more valuable, gold or silver. Explain this to me, son." So the son of the mathematician told his father the reason why the village headman carried this impression. "Every day on my way to school, the village headman calls me to his house. There, in front of all village elders, he holds out a silver coin in one hand and a gold coin in other. He asks me to pick up the more valuable coin. I pick the silver coin. He laughs, the elders jeer, and everyone makes fun of me. And then I go to school. This happens every day. That is why they tell you I do not know the value of gold or silver."
The father was confused. His son knew the value of gold and silver, and yet when asked to choose between a gold coin and silver coin always picked the silver coin. "Why don't you pick up the gold coin?" he asked. In response, the son took the father to his room and showed him a box. In the box were at least a hundred silver coins. Turning to his father, the mathematician's son said, "The day I pick up the gold coin the game will stop. They will stop having fun and I will stop making money."
Mythology shows that how sometimes in life, playing the fool is crucial because one's seniors, peers, and even juniors like it. That is not to say one has to be act gullible but rather that one can allow others to win in one arena of the game, while winning in the other arena of the game. One has to choose which arena matters and which arenas do not.
At the root is the human desire to feel significant. To feel significant, one often has to demonstrate one is superior to others. This leads to people bragging and putting others down. Often this is an emotional need, one that can be quite annoying to onlookers but critical to the one indulging in it. Recognizing this need allows one to endure many an insufferable boss or client.
Beyond the price of milk
One day, Narada asked Vishnu, with a bit of hesitation, "Why do you insist that the image of Garuda be placed before you in your temples? Why not me? Am I not your greatest devotee?" Before Vishnu could reply a crash was heard outside the main gate of Vaikuntha. "What was that?" asked Vishnu. Narada turned to look in the direction of the sound. Garuda, Vishnu's hawk and vehicle, who usually investigated such events, was no where to be seen. "I have sent Garud on an errand. Can you find out what happened, Narada?" asked Vishnu.
Eager to please Vishnu, Narada ran out to investigate. "A milkmaid tripped and fell," he when he returned. "What was her name?" asked Vishnu. Narada ran out and after speaking to the maid, returned with the answer. "Sharada," he said. "Where was she going?" asked Vishnu. Narada ran out once again and after speaking to the maid, returned with the answer. "She was on her way to the market." "What caused her trip?" asked Vishnu. "Why did you not ask this question the last time I went?" said Narada irritably. He then ran out, spoke to the maid once again. "She was startled by a serpent that crossed her path," he said on his return. "Is the pot carrying broken?" asked Vishnu. "I don't know," snapped Narada. "Find out," said Vishnu. "Why?" asked Narad. "Find out, Narada. Maybe I would like to buy some milk," said Vishnu. With great reluctance, Narada stepped out of Vaikuntha and met the milkmaid. He returned looking rather pleased, "She broke one pot. But there is another one intact. And she is willing to sell the milk but at double price." "So how much should I pay her?" asked Vishnu? "Oh, I forgot to ask. I am so sorry," said Narada running out once again. "Do not bother. Let me send someone else," said Vishnu. Just then, Garuda flew in. He had no idea of what had transpired between Vishnu and Narada. Vishnu told Garuda, "I heard a crashing sound outside the main gate. Can you find out what happened?" As Garuda left, Vishnu winked at Narada and whispered, "Let us see how he fares." Garuda returned. "It is a milkmaid called Sharada. She was on her way to the market. On the way, a snake crossed her path. Startled she fell back and broke one of the two pots of milk she was carrying. Now she wonders how she will make enough money to pay for the broken pot and the spilt milk. I suggested she sell the milk to you. After all, you are married to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth."
"And the price of the milk?" asked Vishnu. Pat came Garud's reply, "Four copper coins. One actually but I think she hopes to make a handsome profit when dealing with God." Vishnu started to laugh. His eye caught Narada's and Narada understood at that instant why Garuda's statue and not his is always placed before the image of Vishnu in Vishnu temples.
By this story it can be seen Narada had behaved like a reactive subordinate very obedient, doing what the master told him to, leaving all thinking to the master. However, Garuda behaved like a proactive subordinate - anticipating all his master's moves and preparing for it. The 'ability to anticipate' made Garuda more efficient and effective and hence more valuable in the eyes of Vishnu. Ideal employees are like Garudas - they know what their bosses want even before the boss asks for it. For instance, they know that when their boss says, "Book me a ticket to Dubai," they are expected to make the hotel bookings, the car pickups, keep updating about all the appointments and reminders. They know what bills need to be processed at the first of the month, on the first Monday of every month, on the last day of every month. They know when the weekend parties have to be organized, when the stress levels shoots up, when the bosses are more relaxed. They are sensitive to the rhythms of the boss and the rituals that the boss follows. And all this comes from the 'ability to anticipate' which makes the employee not only reliable but effective.
LEADERS
Reason for his or her existence
Balancing of Nature and Culture
It is seen in the Puranas, that many Indras came and went but his wife, Sachi, like his kingdom, Svarga (Heaven), remained the same. The kingdom and queen are faithful to no one man. Whosoever lords over them becomes their master. An example is seen when the Pandavas handover control of their kingdom to the Kauravas, the Kauravas could do whatever they want wanted to the kingdom and the queen, as they pleased.
Mythology brings out a very important question - Why do kings exist? Is it to do as they please with their kingdom and their people or to govern the kingdom, ensure welfare of the land?
In traditional Indian philosophy, a king exists only to uphold dharma. For God, dharma is ensuring welfare of all living creatures. For a king, it is welfare of the all his subjects, from the strongest to the weakest.
This is with the belief that God's kingdom is the whole world. Nature, to be specific, is where all animals are given an equal chance - either with brains or brawns - to survive. However, in man's world, the definition of dharma was to provide for the weakest of men as the weakest of men cannot survive in the forest. So man 'tames' the forest. This cannot be done unless an ecosystem is destroyed.
This is brought out in the episode the burning of Khandavaprastha -
In the Mahabharata, however, Krishna advises the Pandavas to set a forest aflame. This forest, Khandavaprastha, is the share of property given to the Pandavas by their uncle when they demand their inheritance. As the trees burn, the animals and birds of the forest try to escape. Krishna instructs Arjuna to circle the forest on his chariot and shoot down every escaping bird and beast down. Hundreds of animals are thus massacred. The rest roasted alive. The serpents beg the rain-god, Indra, to come to their rescue. But again, on Krishna's advice, Arjuna uses his arrows to create a canopy over the forest preventing the water from dousing the flames. None are spared except an Asura called Maya on condition that he build for the Pandavas on the gutted land a magnificent city called Indraprastha, which goes on to become the greatest city in the world.
This may seem harsh, but it is important to understand that implicit in the idea of human culture is the destruction of nature. The same phenomena can be seen in management. Organization cannot be created without the utilization of resources, which need to 'taken' from society or nature. In both cases, the leader is person or the entity who needs to decide to what degree and how.
This role becomes more important and delicate when dealing with issue concerning humans.
Brutality v/s Humility
In the Ramayana, after Rama completes his education under Rishi Vasishtha, Vishwamitra storms into Dashratha's court and demands that Rama accompanies him to the forest and protects his hermitage from Rakshasas. Dashratha offers his army instead because Rama is just a boy. No, I want Rama, snarls Vishwamitra. With great reluctance, Dashratha lets Rama go. In the forest, Vishwamitra first directs Rama to shoot and kill the Rakshasa woman, Tadaka. But she is a woman, says Rama, remembering his lessons that informed him that women should never be harmed. Vishwamitra does not heed this argument. It does not matter that Tadaka is a woman; she threatens the well being of the hermitage and does not heed warnings, hence must be killed. Rama thus learns how all rules have to be contextualized. He therefore raises his bow and shoots Tadaka dead. Later, Vishwamitra takes Rama to the hermitage of Rishi Gautama. There Rama is shown a rock which was once Gautama's wife, Ahalya. Her husband found her in the arms of another man, Indra, king of the gods, and so he cursed her to
turn into a rock, explains Vishwamitra. Rama is then asked by the Rishi to place his foot on the rock. That touch turns the rock back into Ahalya and she rises to the heavens, purified as she was of all her sins. Rama realizes there how there are times when one has to strike and times when one has to forgive.
The killing of Tadaka and the rescue of Ahalya are two extreme events. One reeks of ruthlessness and demanded death and the other brims with compassion, requesting for life. With these two events, Ram's practical education which began with theoretical education was complete. By experiencing two extreme roles of a leader, Vishwamitra transformed the boy that was Ram into a man, one who is ready to take on the responsibility of leadership, one who is ready for marriage and kingship.
The education of Ram is the story of how leaders can be made. It draws attention to the power of a leader and explains in what situation this power can be used to take life and in what situation the same power can be used to give life. It demonstrates how there are situations when a manager is called upon to take a tough call and situations where the manager is expected to be compassionate. However, the story shows how this cannot be taught in theory - one has to live it. That is why Vishwamitra stormed into Dashratha's court and took Ram into the forest by force.
Vishwamitra, one must remember, is not an ordinary sage. He was once a king who through spiritual austerities became a Rishi. Thus he knows what a king is expected to do and what a king has to go through as he lives his role. That is why he insists on completing Ram's education to become a good leader.
Being the lion or the lion tamer
By the very definition of leader, it is assumed that given the authority, a leader had power over others and was meant to use this to govern them in a way so they follow his way. It be common to associate this aspect of leader to that of being a lion.
Leadership by fear is one of the most tried and tested ways. The most popular non-violent fear-inducing tool seen in management is the threat of sacking people. This is a common occurrence, when superior manager does not seem to get the employee to confirm with set norms. This dictatorial attitude is a sign of a lion growling.
But in ancient India, the king was expected to sit on a lion, not be a lion. His patron goddess, Durga, rode a lion, meaning she domesticated the king of the jungle. The message here is about human beings having the ability to overpower and outgrow the animal urge to dominate and frighten others into submission. The king was not expected to treat his people like animals who needed to be controlled by fear or force, or tamed by 'carrot and stick'. To treat people like animals and to behave like a lion is an act of de-humanization. A king was expected to help his subjects discover their humanity. Humans are the only animals who can empathize. The king was therefore expected to provoke his people into empathy, and in the process unlock their own hidden potential. To be the lion is to be the leader who frightens. To sit on the singh-asan (lionthrone) was to be a leader who inspires.
Legacy
Once upon a time there was a king was called Indradyumna and after a long reign he passed away and went to heaven, where he spent centuries, enjoying the rewards of his good deeds on earth. Then, one day, the gods told him, "Indradyumna, you have to go back to earth. You are no longer welcome in heaven." "Why?" asked a perplexed Indradyumna. "Because," said the gods, "No one on earth remembers your good deeds." "But how can that be?" wondered the king, "I spent all my life doing good deeds." "If," said the gods, "You can find at least one creature who remembers you for your good deeds then you can come back to heaven. Otherwise you will have to leave. That is the rule." Time flows differently on earth than in heaven. When Indradyumna reached earth, he realized that centuries had passed since his reign. The trees were different, the people were different, even his kingdom looked different. Who will remember me, he wondered. The buildings he built were all gone. The temples he built were no where to be seen. The people who were beneficiaries of his largesse were all dead. No one he met remembered any king called Indradyumna. Disheartened, Indradyumna went in search of the oldest man on earth. He found Rishi Markandeya. But the Rishi did not remember him. "There is an owl that is older than me," said the sage, "Go to him." Markandeya did as advised. He found was owl and asked him, "Do remember King Indradyumna?" and the owl said, "No, I do not remember such a king but ask the stork who is older than me." Even the stork did not remember. "But I know someone who is much older than me, who may know of King Indradyumna," said the stork, "He is an old tortoise who lives in a lake."
Indradyumna went to the tortoise that was very old and slow and tired. But, to Indradyumna's great relief, he did remember a king called Indradyumna. "He built this lake," said the tortoise. "But I never built this lake," said Indradyumna, rather bewildered by this piece of information. "This lake did not even exist when I was king." The tortoise explained, "My grandfather never lied. He told me that this king spent his entire life giving cows in charity, hundreds of thousands of cows." Indradyumna recollected that he had. He had been told that gifting cows assures one a place in heaven. Yes, it had, but only for temporarily. Now, where were his cows? Where were the people who he gave the cows? The tortoise continued, "As these cows left Indradyumna's city, they kicked up so much dust it created in a depression in the ground; when the rains came water collected this depression and turned it into a lake. Now that lake provides sustenance to innumerable plants and animals and worms and weeds and fishes and turtles and birds. So we remember the great King Indradyumna, whose act of charity resulted in a lake which for generations has been our home." Indradyumna was pleased to hear what the tortoise had to say. So were the gods who welcomed him back. As Indradyumna rose to heaven, the irony did not escape him: he was remembered on earth for a lake that was unconsciously created, and not for the cows that was consciously given. He benefited not from things he did, but from the impact of things he did.
This story draws attention to the notion of legacy. What the action of leader may not seem beneficial in short term, but in the long term. The addition positive impact of a manager's action in the benefit of organization is what would differentiate him from all others.
Extent of leadership
Mythology contains many stories about gods, kings and leaders in various forms from which many aspects of managerial leadership can be understood and applied. Equating a leader with the divine may seem blasphemous to many. But since ancient times, leaders, and especially kings have always been placed on a pedestal, higher than man but lower than God. This was seen in Egypt, where the pharaoh was called god-king. In France, he was called the Sun-king, the temporal representative of God, around whom the world moved. The king was the closest physical manifestation the common man had to God. That is why there were elaborate ceremonies associated with their ascension to the throne. The rituals elevated the man towards the heavens, after which he was expected to become less human and more divine, thinking less about his own pleasures and more about the happiness of others. In other words, rituals were supposed to make him Jahan-panah. His sphere of influence and concern extended beyond his family and friends to include everyone within his jurisdiction and even beyond.
Qualities of a Leader
Understanding the power of Observation
God may be an abstract concept but the common man needs a tangible form for this abstract concept. That is why, in ancient times, people represented their deities as rocks. That is why, when we travel across India, we find in shrines of local gods and goddesses, no elaborate imagery, just a rock smeared with turmeric or saffron or vermillion. But such imagery alone was thought too be impersonal. To make it personal, in many shrines, the rock is given eyes, large petal shaped eyes, usually of metal. They stare at the devotees constantly from the moment the door of the shrine is opened to the time the shrine is shut. In temples, the ritual that transforms an ordinary statue into a deity is called the `eye-bestowing ceremony'. Once the eye is given, or opened, the deity is established and alive. The murti (statue) becomes swarupa, the living image of the divine. One needs to understand the symbolic importance of the eyes.
With the appearance of the eye, the stone is believed to become sentient - it can sense, it can see, it can respond to the world in front of it. According to Devdutt Pattanaik, 'The eye-bestowing ritual tells us something very powerful about humans, about the devotees who establish the deity. We want to be seen. We want our gods to observe us, know us, and understand us. Without eyes, how can they know our pain, our aspirations and our issues? We constantly ask God to open his eyes, see our suffering and even shed tears for us, empathizing with our situation.'
A leader is supposed to be like that village god or goddess - he or she must have eyes that observes the team and understands them for who they really are.
The Mahabharata tells the story of a kingdom where the royal couple has no eyes. The king Dhritarashtra is blind and his queen, Gandhari, is blindfolded. The result: children who feel unobserved. The father cannot see; the mother chooses not the see. The children grow up with a warped value system. Since no one is seeing them, they feel they can get away with anything. As a result the law of the jungle reigns supreme in the kingdom of Dhritarashtra. A woman was publicly disrobed and lands were grabbed by force.
A leader must see his people. He must recognize them for who they are, rather than what he wants them to be. Mythology shows through stories what happens when leaders don't have eyes - or rather when they see only themselves. If that is the case, their eyes see only their own vision of the world. They do not realize there are others around them with other visions of life. This lack of eyes strips them of all empathy. For them, everything is measured and valued against vision they alone have. Those who align with their vision are good; those fail to do so are bad.
The ability to recognize and nurture talent is important in leaders of their respective organizations. Some leaders recognize talent but do not know what do with it. Others, envious of talent, reject or ignore them deliberately. The character Karna in the Mahabharata is a case in point. Karna was always seen as a charioteer's son and never as a great archer by the Pandavas. It was only Duryodhana who saw Karna's talent but used him unfortunately for his villainous goals. Mahabharata show what happens to talented people who are rejected by the mainstream - they end up in the wrong hands. And in rage and frustration, they end up doing the undesirable.
In the Upanishads, it is said that it is an observer who creates an observation. It is one's attention that creates the world around him or her. Thus it is the eyes of the village deity that creates the village around him. Likewise, it is the eyes of the leader or manager that creates an organization around him or her.
It is important to understand that the eyes do not represent sight, in the literal sense. It is not so much about sight as it is about attention - attention to people around. A Manager needs to ask himself - Do he or she see what the employees see? Does he or she try and align his or her own vision to others or does he or she simply impose his or her own vision onto them?
Prioritizing Knowledge
It is said that Vishnu keeps Saraswati on his tongue. This makes Lakshmi jealous. She rushes towards him and plants herself in his heart. Vishnu knows that the fickle Lakshmi will leave as soon as Saraswati leaves his tongue. Thus to sustain Lakshmi, he needs Saraswati. Good leaders know that to sustain their business they constantly need to inspire, motivate people and at the same time,
invent new products and services that will delight the customer. It can be said that, Lakshmi will come into the company where Saraswati thrives.
Knowledge management systems, databases, research documents, patents are all tangible forms of Saraswati. A good manager focuses on them, rather than on account books. He or She ensures the Saraswati that is generated within the organisation constantly. In other words, by being Brahma who creates Saraswati, he remains Vishnu who sustains Lakshmi. However, with knowledge and wealth, comes power and arrogance. The belief then is that one is invincible and is capable of doing anything. When this happens, the organisation becomes naked and bloodthirsty Kali - provoking the manager to act rashly and indiscriminately, indifferent to all rules of conduct, thus making him or her think that he or she is above the law.
A good leader or manager recognises this problem rapidly and becomes Shiva. He has to destroy the rising ego and arrogance that blinds good judgement. He shuts his eyes and lies still, allowing the Goddess to dance on him but refusing to respond to her. Only then the Goddess becomes Gauri— dressed in green, she becomes maternal and affectionate, and with gentleness she requests Shiva to open his eyes and become Shankar, the benevolent, boon-bestowing, wise ascetic. Through mythology, the scriptures show how a good leader has to be fully sensitive to the corrupting influence of power — and try hard not to succumb to it.
Applying situational Tactics
Vishnu is the preserver of cosmic order. This often involves battling Asuras (conventionally understood as 'demons'). Every battle involves a different demon and so Vishnu takes different forms for each battle.
When Hiranayaksha dragged the earth under the sea, Vishnu took the form of a boar, Varaha, plunged into the waters, gored the Asura to death, placed the earth on his snout and raised the earth back to the surface. This confrontation was highly physical. Hiranakashipu was a different kind of Asura. He obtained a boon that made him nearly invincible: he could not be killed either by a man or an animal, either in the day or in the night, neither inside a dwelling nor outside, neither on the ground or off the ground, neither with a weapon nor a tool. To kill this Asura, Vishnu transformed himself into Narasimha, a creature that was half lion and half human, neither man nor animal completely. He dragged the Asura at twilight, which is neither day nor night, to the threshold, which is neither inside a house nor outside, placing him on his thigh, which is neither on the ground nor off, and disemboweled him with his sharp claws, which are neither weapons nor tools. This complex confrontation was highly intellectual; a battle of wits.
Then there was Bali, an Asura, who was so noble and so generous that his realm expanded beyond the subterranean realms to include the earth and sky. To put him back in his place, where he belonged, Vishnu took the form of a dwarf, Vamana, and asked him for three paces of land. When Bali granted this wish, the dwarf turned into a giant and with two steps claimed the earth and sky, shoving Bali back to the nether regions with the third steps. This battle involved not so much defeating the opponent as it did of transforming oneself.
A study of these avatars of Vishnu indicates a clear shift in war tactic. From Varaha to Narasimha to Vamana there is a shift from brute force, to brain rather than brawn and finally an exercise in outgrowing rather than outwitting. The demons are becoming increasingly complex - Hiranayaksha is violent, Hiranakashipu is clever and there is no real fault in Bali; his goodness disturbs cosmic balance. Each one forces Vishnu to change, adapt, and evolve. There is no standard approach; each approach is customized. What is significant is the shift from animal to human, from strength to cunning, from external drive to internal drive. A good leader and a manager also need to apply different tactics and strategies when dealing with problems in an organization.
Seeing the bigger and the smaller picture
Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth. And she is a whimsical goddess. No one can catch her. No one can contain her. But there is one direction she always moves - towards Vishnu. So to get wealth in one's life, perhaps one has to be like Vishnu.
Vishnu is the custodian of the world. At times, he is shown reclining on the coils of a serpent. At times, he is shown riding a bird. While seated on the serpent, he has Sarpa-drishti, or the serpent's view - a narrow and short-termed view of things. When he is riding the bird, he has Garuda-drishti, or the bird's view - a broad and long-termed view of things. In other words, Vishnu looks at both the big picture and the tiny details. He has a strategic view of things, across the board and over a long period of time as well as a tactical view of things, highly specific and for a limited period. Both these views exist simultaneously. This is a quality that perhaps draws Lakshmi to Vishnu.
In Garuda-dhrishti, Vishnu has a universal view of things; he knows how the universe will wax and how it will eventually wane. But in Sarpa-dhrishti, he works as Ram or Krishna in a particular context in a particular way, trying to solve a particular issue. The tactical view matters as much as the strategic view.
Inspiring and creating gods
The Grama-devata or the Grama-devi is a local name of a god in a local legend, worshipped by people of that location. But people will identify Grama-devata or Grama-devi with a more mainstream god like Shiva, Vishnu or Devi. Thus the deity becomes a local manifestation of the universal divine. That is why the polytheism of Hinduism is also monotheism; there is unity in diversity even in the realm of the divine.
While the universal divine is associated with lofty ideas like spiritual moksha (spiritual liberation), the Grama-devata and the Grama-devi are associated with more immediate material needs like job, marriage and children. Together the universal divine and the local deities satisfy all the needs of the community.
The CEO of an organization is like the universal divine - involved but distant. One rarely seems him or her expect when making an annual tour or during meeting. The local manager, by contrast, is the Grama-devata, the local deity, serving the immediate needs of the market. It is the Grama-devata who watches over his team and to whom the team turns to when there is a crisis.
Talent management is all about creating local deities, who satisfy local needs without losing alignment with the universal divine. And there can be several layers of Grama-Devatas, like the many deities of Hinduism known as IshtaDevata, Kula-Devata, Graha-Devata, Grama-Devata who satisfy the varying
needs of the individual, the family, the household and the village. It is by efficiently focusing and delegating work to subordinate; a manager can function smoothly and meet the needs of the organization.
Becoming Vishnu
Vishnu's shankh or conch-shell trumpet is blown to announce his presence on a battlefield. In Vedic times, this instrument was used by commanders to rally their troops. Warriors also used this to demonstrate their stamina before their enemies for blowing a conch-shell trumpet was a measure of lung-power and mind control. Every warrior in the Mahabharata from Krishna to Arjuna had his very own conch-shell. One can view the conch-shell as an instrument of COMMUNICATION. The first rule of leadership is to be an effective communicator. A manager's team must know who he or she is - his or her capabilities, vision and what he or she expect them to do, why and how this will
help in achieving the final desired objective. The competition also needs to know that leader is powerful and they must avoid confrontation. Unless one communicates, nobody is aware of their presence. 'Blowing one's own trumpet' and getting the thoughts across is necessary if anything needs to get done.
Vishnu's chakra or discus which whirs round his index finger is both a weapon as well as a symbol of life that Vishnu sustains. As a weapon, it strikes a target, trims the unwanted and undesirable elements like an electric saw. One can view the chakra as a symbol of REVIEW. A good leader's job does not end with communicating what he desires and what he expects from his team. He reviews their progress regularly by organizing daily meetings, weekly meetings, and monthly meetings. In these meetings, he checks what has been done and what has not been done. He ensures that the team has not drifted from the goal. He discovers what has worked and what has not. He identifies new creative thoughts and anticipates possible hurdles. This he does again and again. By the process of repetition, with each review, things get trimmed thus making the vision gets sharper and clearer so as to let a new horizon of possibilities emerge.
To keep the team on track, the traditional method is to use the system of reward and punishment discretely. Vishnu's carrot and stick approach of leadership is represented through his mace or gada and his lotus or padma. The mace is like a teacher's ruler, to punish those who do not do what they are supposed to do. The lotus rich with nectar and pollen, which attracts bees and butterfly, is for those who do what they are supposed to do and more. One he uses to strike down the rule/law/system breakers, other one he uses to reward the rule/law/system followers. Thus he keeps his team on the straight and narrow, ensuring they achieve what they set out to achieve together. The one ensures that errors are not repeated. The other ensures that best practices are always followed.
Proof of optimal tool usage comes when Vishnu, the leader, creates Vaikuntha, an organization which is stable and harmonious, where every individual thrives, where the team works in alignment, and where organizational goals are achieved to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.
Seeing different point of views
In the forest, Ram met an old lady called Shabari who invited him to a meal in her house and offered him her meager fare: berries she had collected in the forest. Lakshmana who followed his brother was horrified to see the Shabari taking a bite of the berry before passing them on to her brother. Sometimes, she did not even pass the berry; she just threw it away. "How dare you give leftover food to my brother?" Lakshmana snarled. "Do you know who he is? He is Ram, king of Ayodhya!" An embarrassed Shabari threw herself at Ram's feet and apologized for her mistake. Ram, however, hugged the old lady affectionately and reprimanded Lakshmana, "She acted in good faith." He explained that Shabhari's intention was not to give Ram leftover food. She was only taking a tiny bite of the berry to make sure she offered her guest only the sweetest and most succulent of berries. In her world, it was not considered inappropriate from giving tasted berries to guests. Her biting the berry was a mark of caring, not a sign of insult.
Lakshmana had judged the situation from his point of view based on his past experience in the palace. He assumed Shabari was insulting Ram. Ram, however, refused to be colored by his past experience. He looked at the situation from Shabhari's point of view and deciphered what she was really up to.
Mythology shows that while everyone can see a situation from one's own point of view, a good leader has the ability to see things from other's point of view. A leader accepts that his view is not the only view - certainly not the whole view and there are many people whose point of view matter. Thus looking different point of views is not only crucial but beneficial for manager. When he is about to take a decision he asks: How will this be perceived by other departments? How will it be perceived by the shareholders? How will it be perceived by customers? How will it be perceived by the media?
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADER AND ORGANIZATION
The cow and the cow-herd
In the Vishnu Purana, the earth takes the form of a cow and weeps before Vishnu, her guardian. "My back is broken and my udders are sore," she says, "I find the burden of kings unbearable. Their greed and ambition knows no bounds."
In response, Vishnu descends on earth and sets about killing kings - first as Parashuram, then as Ram and finally as Krishna. According to mythology, the earth-cow must be protected at any cost. The killing of the cow or Go-hatya is the worst of sins. When the cow dies, there is neither milk nor butter - thus no food and no livelihood. It is the end of the world.
The massacre of Kurukshetra, described in the Mahabharata, has its roots in the complaint of the earth-cow. In the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata, a question raised by Draupadi - "Does a man who has gambled himself have the right to gamble his wife? Does a king have the right to gamble his kingdom? What gives the Pandavas, in general, and Yudhishtira, in particular, the right to gamble his kingdom?"
One often forgets that an organization is a set of people, an organism - like a cow that gives milk. But to give milk, the cow needs nutrition, and one has to be patient for the milk, allow it time to graze, ruminate and gestate. The cow needs also to be loved. Beating a cow does not generate more milk. Yet while some leaders get so obsessed with the milk that they milk the cow till 'back is broken and udders are sore', others get so obsessed with the cow - in taking care of people - that they forget to milk the cow.
If the kingdom (organization) is a cow that gives milk, then the king (leader or manager) is the cowherd. That is the traditional model explaining the relationship of a king and a kingdom (a leader and an organization) in Hindu mythology. The king takes care of the kingdom and the kingdom nourishes him. He defends the kingdom and the kingdom empowers him. A cowherd cannot exist without a cow and a cow isn't safe without a cowherd. It's a symbiotic relationship. This is the essence of a king's role to protect the cow, help it produce more calves, enable her to multiply and thrive, and in the process create more cowherds. This is growth - growth for the cow and growth for the cowherd. A manager should treat the organization with care and respect for it to grow and give out benefits.
Mythology shows that only a myopic leader makes the cow cry. The point is to make the cow joyfully provide copious quantities of butter-rich milk for as long
as possible. And a wise leader always ensures there is enough milk for the calf, the next generation of employees, for no cow lives forever.
Different avatars for different times
The various imagery of Vishnu can be seen as the different roles that need to be taken by a leader in an organization.
The sleeping Vishnu alludes to the latent leader within all people that has not yet expressed itself. This latent leader is awaiting self-discovery or that the leader is preparing to lead. Before starting any project, a leader is Narayana - still, contemplating, making plans, thinking, observing, analyzing, preparing but not acting. While some leaders do not believe in planning at all, taking the plunge and handling problems without preparation, others plan too much and remain Narayana, sleeping, never waking up.
When Narayana wakes up, he becomes Vishnu and sits alert on the hooded serpent at first and then when creation begins and plans start to get operational and resources start getting mobilized, he leaps on the back of his eagle, Garuda that travels above the skies and beneath the seas. Garuda holds a serpent (time) firmly in his talons - indicating the sense of urgency that every project demands.
But this is not enough. Different situations are associated with different problems, each of which demands a different solution. In Mythology, it is shown through Vishnu's avatars -
1.
When the project is about rescuing an organization that is on the brink of collapse, he becomes the sensitive fish, Matsya, who navigates the boat full of life and wisdom to safety.
2.
When the project needs brainstorming and cooperation between opposing even hostile factions is crucial, he becomes the stabilizing turtle, Kurma, which holds aloft the spindle that can be used to churn the ocean of life.
3.
When there are many ideas floating around but no base on which they can be applied or implemented, he becomes the boar, Varaha, plunging into the depths of the sea, getting his hands dirty, and bringing up the foundation (land or venture capital or regulatory changes), which can nurture all ideas.
4.
When rules are established but there are many finding ways to slip between the rules, he becomes the dreaded Narasimha, part man, part lion, outsmarting the smart troublemakers and preventing any disruption within the organization.
5.
When people refuse to respect their respective roles in society, and like Asura Bali choose to occupy even the earth and the sky, i.e. more than the space allotted to them, he becomes Vamana, the dwarf who transforms into a giant and shoves the king of Asuras back to the nether regions where he belongs.
6.
When people break the rules, he rises up in righteous outrage as Parashurama, who abandoned the peaceful ways of a priest by raising the axe and hacking the law breakers to death.
7.
When rules continue to be broken, he as Rama tries to become the model king, and by upholding the law even at the cost of personal happiness, inspires people to do the same.
8.
When rules are upheld only ceremonially and not in spirit, he becomes Krishna, bending and breaking and redefining rules, choosing to be kingmaker rather than king.
9.
When intervention is pointless and the best way is to provoke selfrealization in the organization, he becomes the ascetic Buddha.
10.
Finally, when the situation is beyond repair, then he comes as Kalki, riding a white horse and brandishing a sword, systematically breaking down the existing system and preparing for a new cycle - a new organization.
It is crucial to note that there is no one way to be Vishnu. The situation decides what he needs to be i.e. it all depends on the context.
Underlying this theme is the notion that everything is cyclical and impermanent in Mythology. Organizations have to change because the world around them is changing and with change, leaders have to change their way. They have to decide whether they are expected to be Narayana or Vishnu or Ram or Krishna or Kalki and act accordingly. Parashurama was successful in his time; Ram was successful in his time. Sometimes the same situation can have two different forms of intervention depending on what one aspires to achieve. Thus while Krishna provokes the Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra, his elder brother, Balrama, who was also Vishnu according to some scriptures, chooses not to fight. The manager has to adopt different roles depending on what the organizational needs.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADER AND EMPLOYEES
Between being Draupadi and Sita
Draupadi, the great heroine of the Mahabharata, never really chose her husbands. Her father, king of Panchala, had organized an archery contest and she was the prize. She thought she was marrying a Rishi with archery skills (the Pandavas were in disguise) and so it came as a pleasant surprise when the man who she married turned out to be a prince called Arjuna.
Just as Draupadi did not choose her husband, one does not get to choose his or her bosses. One has to find a way to work with the boss, not matter what for the sake of organizational progress. Failure to get along with bosses remains one of the main reasons for attrition. In Mythology parables, boss is considered to be like the husband and the subordinate or employee is like the wife. While it is sexist for it assumes a power play with the husband in a dominant position, but political correctness aside, `husband' and `wife' are functional role assignments that makes conceptual understanding easier. So while divorce is an option in the corporate world, it reeks of poor management skills, on the part of both, of the `husband' and the `wife'.
In deference to his mother's wishes, Arjuna agreed to share his wife with his four brothers. And so, Draupadi became the wife of the five Pandavas. The excuse given for this is that Arjuna obeyed his mother who, thinking her son had brought home a `fruit', asked him to share `it' with the brothers. But an implied reason for this is that the mother did not want a beautiful woman like Draupadi to spawn jealousy and rupture the bond between her five sons.
A talented individual in the corporate world, whether he likes it or not, does become a shared resource between many teams and many departments and it bodes him well to recognize he is a Draupadi with many `husbands' - all his superiors and colleagues. He has to manage all the `husbands' as Draupadi managed her five.
In the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, Satyabhama, wife of Krishna, asks Draupadi, 'Most women can barely manage to get control of one husband; you have managed to secure the affections of all five. What is your secret? Is it magic? Is it a spell?' Draupadi replied, It is not magic. It is not spell. It is hard work. I wake up before them and sleep after them, and spend every waking hour taking care of them, serving them, solving their problem, meeting all their needs, making sure they want nothing else. It is I who manage their affairs. It is I who manage their cows, their servants, their fields, their forests, their treasury and their wealth. It is I who take care of their mother, their guests, their friends and their sons. I do everything they ask me to do. I do things for them even before they ask for it. With me around, they don't have to worry about anything. I never nag or complain. That is how I have managed to earn their devotion and their affection.
Draupadi made her husbands dependent on her. She was the reliable one, consistently trustworthy. With her around, they had to worry about nothing. It was with her by their side, the Pandavas gathered the courage to ask the Kauravas for their half of the family property. In exchange Draupadi got what she wanted: absolute control over the Pandava household; no other woman (as each Pandava had many wives) was allowed to live in their palace or enter her kitchen. A successful subordinate is like a Draupadi, who ensures that the boss does exactly as he wishes - all the while making the boss feel it is his decision.
Each of Draupadi's husbands had a different personality: Yudhishtira was selfrighteous, Bhima was volatile, Arjuna was insecure, Nakula was narcissistic and Sahadeva was intellectual. The fact that each one was devoted to her indicates she was successful in being what each one of them wanted her to be. She could not have done this if she behaved the same way with each one. She clearly flexed her style repeatedly, behaving in five different ways for the five very different brothers.
The Virata Parva is the chapter describing the final year of the forest exile, when the Pandavas and their common wife had to live disguised as servants in the palace of king Virata. In it, one discovers how Draupadi used the different personalities of her husbands to her advantage.
Virata's lout of a brother-in-law, Kichaka, publicly abused Draupadi but Yudhishtira, witness to his wife's humiliation, refused to help. Be prudent, he said, we cannot risk discovery till the year is over. Draupadi was not angry with her first husband; he had behaved predictably. She went to another husband who would avenge her humiliation. Not her favorite, Arjuna, who would never disobey the elder brother, but to the powerful Bhima. Bhima would, when goaded enough, do whatever Draupadi asked him to do, even kill Kichaka, or drink the blood of the Kauravas, paying little heed to Yudhishtira, or other such rules of social propriety.
Predictably, bosses will not see Draupadi as the ideal subordinate. No one would want an intelligent, manipulative and powerful subordinate. People always prefer a subordinate like Sita - the faithful and submissive wife of Ram, who endures all silently and never speaks against her husband. Draupadi, unlike Sita, screams when abused, who demands vengeance, who publicly humiliates her husbands when they do not come to her aid and who does not shy away
from telling her five husbands they have failed to satisfy her, individually or collectively. By drawing up characteristics from both, an employee needs to be like Draupadi, but always behave like Sita.
Relationship with the silent staff
For eighteen days, the Kauravas and the Pandavas fought on the plains of Kurukshetra. Hundreds of soldiers were killed on either side. In the midst, of the massacre one hears a heart-warming tale. Arjuna, the chief archer of the Pandava army, rode on a chariot pulled by four white horses. His charioteer was Krishna. At one point, in the middle of the war, Krishna said, "We have to stop Arjuna. The horses are tired. They need to rest and be refreshed. Shoot your arrow into the ground and bring out some water so that I can bathe and water the horses. Keep the enemy at bay with a volley of arrows while I do so." Arjuna did as instructed. He shot an arrow into the ground, released water and created a small pond where Krishna was able to tend to the horses. Standing on the chariot, Arjuna shot arrows and kept the enemies at bay while the horses rested. Refreshed, they were able to pull the chariot once again with renewed vigour.
The horses pulling Arjuna's chariot did not ask to be refreshed. Krishna sensed their exhaustion and made resources available so that they could be comforted.
Horses are a crude metaphor for those who make one's life comfortable but who do not have much of a voice when it comes to their own comfort. Often one forgets the 'horses' that help one navigate through their daily lives. In every office, especially in India, there are a whole host of people who keep the office running - the office boy, the canteen boy, the security guard, the drivers, the peons. This is the silent support staff. They take care of the 'little things' that enable us to achieve the 'big things'. A simple study of how organizations treat this silent support staff is an indicator of leadership empathy. Empathy from leader towards employees is essential in smooth and clear function of the organization.
Astrology for Answers
The stories in Mythology do not always have a clear didactic moral message. Many times it needs to be derived and applied creatively to a situation. Rather than focusing on the accuracy and truthfulness of story, focusing on the point or the significance of the story may help one in improving knowledge and life. It is similar with astrology. Astrology can be useful - not the content of astrology but the structure of astrology.
Astrology too has its roots in mythology. In Hindu mythology, at a very basic level, it is thought that Devas are good and Asuras are bad. However there are shrines all over India dedicated to the Nava-Grahas, the nine gods of Indian astrology consisting of Devas; their guru, Brihaspati; two Asuras, namely Rahu and Ketu; and their guru, Shukra. In all prayers and rituals, the two `demons'
are acknowledged and included as equals. All Grahas matter whether they are good or bad as they formed a team and none could be excluded.
Each Graha had a particular characteristic and this could not be changed. Like the Grahas, every member of a manager's team had a peculiar characteristic that did not change no matter how many times they were counseled or trained. Some can be like Surya, the sun, radiant, glorious, and attention grabbing. Some can be like the moon or Chandra, highly emotional, with moods constantly waxing and waning. Some can be aggressive like Mars or Mangal. Some can be sharp, intelligent, good in communication, but slippery like Mercury or Budh. The Jupiters or Brihaspatis are the rational, scientific, evidence driven and boring. The Venus or Shukras are sensual, creative, intuitive, creative and crazy. The Saturns or Shanis are exasperating - brilliant but cynical, hence lacking sense of urgency, testing patience. The Rahus of the team are the people who hide things, block ideas, thus creating darkness and spreading confusion. The restless and nervous Ketus are the people have no sense of direction. Like Grahas, the manager has to work with the traits of his or her people - either enhance them or neutralize them as the situation demanded.
Just as the sky is divided into Nakshatras (lunar houses) and Rashis (solar houses or zodiac signs), the organization is divided into departments. The finance, HR, marketing, sales, research, service, housekeeping departments can be seen as starry constellations inhabited by the Grahas. Just as a Graha exerts its influence on the house it occupies, and by doing so influences a person's fate, manager's team members exerted their influence on their respective departments and thereby affected the overall working of the organization. For instance, if the cashier is a Brihaspati then everything can be done systematically and rationally, but if he is a Shurka then the work is associated
with great ingenuity. However, a Shani cashier never would do things on time while a Ketu cashier will always be nervous and restless.
However, the question can never be which Graha was good for a job as there is no fixed answer - it all depends on the outcome desired and the role a department has to play. There were times one needed a Rahu heading a department to hide the actual goings on and many times when one needs a very transparent Surya. Initially a manager may want his or her promotions and plans to be managed by an aggressive Mangal who can get things done. Later he may need a more sensitive Chandra, who understood the needs of the consumer.
It is the situation that makes a Grahagood or bad. Thus Manager should know that any judgement on a person may be contextual pertaining to that situation in time and space. He or she needs to focus on analyzing situations and fitting people to problem at hand.
In astrology, great value is given to the relative position of Grahas to each other. Sometimes a Graha can enhance the power of another Graha and sometimes they can negate each other and sometimes the entire combination had an overall positive or negative effect. This is called yog, an understanding of which can help in designing teams. Manager needs to know that homogeneity is not the most effective solution. For instance, a team full of creative Shukras or full of detached Shanis led to disaster. Heterogeneity was critical but careful attention has to be paid to inter-team dynamics. Like for ideas, a manager needed creative Shukras but for implementation he needs an organized Brihaspatis. For negotiations, the intelligent and sweet talking Budh can help but for crowd management teams a manager can rely only on powerful Mangals.
Success then was a combination of several factors. Firstly, it is the nature of the Graha. Secondly, it is the house that was occupied by the Graha. Thirdly, it is the relative position of the Grahas. Finally, and most importantly, the problem at hand and the outcome desired. It is important to remember that no team could solve all problems.
Much of his success depended on manager's power of observation - his or her sense of people, relationships and situation. He or she needs to become Indra, the god of the sky, the one with a hundred eyes. The observation helps determine the role and responsibility of each person. It helps in determine the team composition. As a manager, it is his or her responsibility to take calls know who had to be leader and when.
Nevertheless, it is important for the manager to realize there was no great perfect horoscope with the perfect placement of Grahas. It was all contextual and it was all ever changing. Sometimes, despite all cautious moves, things went wrong. At those times, he or she needs to find someone always came up with an Upaay, that trick astrologers always have up their sleeve to counter the malevolent influence of any Graha to resolve any crisis.
This visualization of organization as the sky with fixed stars and floating Grahas, can help not only Managers from getting annoyed with the various people in the organization but in find a value in each one of them.
MANAGING OF ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEE
Importance and Consequences
Importance of Doorkeepers
It can be said that if Vishnu is the CEO, then his office is Vaikuntha, the ultimate paradise, a place where his every word is law and every wish a command. Anything that cannot be resolved elsewhere can only be resolved in Vaikuntha, making it a place where everybody would want to go to. Whether they are outsiders, from vendors to consumers, or kings of other kingdoms, who wish to explore opportunities, make alliances, settle disputes and manage threats, want to have an audience at Vaikuntha. Vishnu seems to welcomes all. At least he intends to.
It was in these times that great value was given to the position of the doorkeeper. Seated in the gatehouse, at the entrance of the king's citadel, it was his job to limit access to the king and filter out the undesirables. In time, these doorkeepers came to have a mythology of their own.
In a Shiva temple, for example, one is advised to acknowledge Nandi, the bull who sits before the deity, with a touch, or maybe an offering of flowers, and only then enter the main shrine. It is believed that it is important being in Nandi's good books, since he is always with Shiva and Shiva listens to whatever Nandi has to say.
Vishnu's Vaikuntha has two doorkeepers: Jaya and Vijaya. In art, they are visualized as looking exactly like Vishnu, perhaps as a reminder that one's
impression of the CEO, leader or manager often emerges from one's impression of his doorkeepers.
However, looking carefully at the images of Jaya and Vijaya in a traditional Vaishnava temple such as the temple of Tirupati Balaji in Andhra Pradesh, one will notice that while they look like Vishnu, holding a conch-shell and a discus, and a mace, but they usually do not hold a lotus. They also usually sport fangs like dogs or serpents. Thus the doorkeepers, while apparently like Vishnu (but not him), are not as welcoming - they are stern, keeping the unworthy out.
The story goes that once the four boy sages known as the Sanat Kumars went to Vaikuntha to meet Vishnu. But they were stopped at the door by Jaya and Vijaya on grounds that Vishnu was sleeping. The Sanat Kumars tried entering Vaikuntha three times and each time they were stopped on the same grounds. Since they looked like boys, the Sanat Kumars concluded that Jaya and Vijaya were not taking them seriously. They felt that they were not welcomed in Vaikuntha.
In fact they were convinced that the two were humouring the four of them. Annoyed, they cursed the doorkeepers that they would lose their exalted position and be reborn on earth as much hated demons known as Hiranayaksha and Hiranakashipu. The demon-like fangs of Jaya and Vijaya, say artisans, are a reminder of how scary they appeared to the boy-sages.
It is best that an aspiring leader or manager keep in mind that he or she has many Jayas and Vijayas of his own in the organization - be it the gatekeeper who lets in the cars or the receptionist in the lobby who shows in the guests or the secretary in the outer office who checks the appointments or the executive
assistant who churns out all the key documents just before the meeting or the admin-boy who serves tea to guests.
As seen from the story, each one of them has the power to make an impression about the leader depending on how they treat an outsider, be it a customer or visitor. It is this 'moment of truth' that makes or breaks an organization's image. A good manager needs to sensitive to this and must communicate the importance of 'Organizational image' to other - all the Jayas and Vijayas of the organization.
This is crucial as on earth, in Kali-yuga, the curse of the boy-sages may fall not on the doorkeepers but directly on the leader within Vaikuntha.
Managing Shiva
According to the Shiva Purana, Daksha-Prajapati sought worthy grooms for his many daughters, men of substance, gods who helped life on earth, like Indra, the rain-god or Agni, the fire-god. He was quite horrified therefore when his youngest daughter, Sati, of her own free will, chose a hermit as a husband - a naked, ash-smeared ascetic called Shiva who had dogs and ghosts as his
companions and who lived atop a snow-clad mountain. Upset that his daughter had married against his will, and that too to a person so unconventional, he broke all relations with her. When he decided to perform a grand yagna, he invited all his daughters and sons-in-law to the ceremony, but not Shiva or Sati.
The corporate world consist of many Daksha-Prajapatis, who in their eagerness to create collaborative working environments that work towards the corporate goal, include only 'appropriate grooms' in the team i.e. the people whose energies match theirs and who align to their way of working. They do not willingly let a Shiva in - the maverick, the iconoclast, the one who thinks differently, who seems condescending, cold, distant and at times even bizarre.
Daksha-Prajapati rejected Shiva because Shiva did not fit his definition of a god. Shiva here can be misunderstood for a contrarian - people who oppose for the sake of opposing or for a rebel or for an attention-seeker or someone who thinks he is too good to align with an existing way of being. But from another view point, Shiva simply marches to the beat of a different drummer. When he walks around smeared with ash, he is not mocking the gold-bedecked, silk-clad Vishnu. He is indifferent to worldly parameters of appropriateness.
The story goes that when Daksha-Prajapati refused to invite Shiva to his yagna, Sati flew into such a rage that she burnt herself to death in protest and disrupted the entire ceremony. A great confrontation followed where DakshaPrajapati and his guests saw the fury and power of Shiva. An uneasy peace was finally restored, with Daksha-Prajapati begging for forgiveness and Shiva withdrawing into his cave. No one was in doubt of Shiva's might anymore but it seemed too explosive to handle.
Like shown in Mythology, it is only in crisis that the value of a Shiva is realized. Crisis emerges when conventional ways of working and assumed solutions fail to deliver. When problems turn out to be out of the ordinary, one needs unconventional thinking or some who is unconventional in thinking - one needs a Shiva. A Shiva is the kind of person who can brings a fresh new perspective. He may innovate but not deliver. He may not as tuned as an entrepreneur to the value of his wisdom; or he may simply find the process of convincing others of the solution too much of an effort.
A crisis arose when the demon-king Taraka assumed power; the gods with all their conventional weapons were unable to destroy him. A warlord was needed, one who was fathered by Shiva. But before Shiva could father this great warrior, he had to be enchanted by a woman. For that he had to be made to open his eyes. So the gods used the standard solution - Kama, god of lust, was asked to shoot the arrow of desire into Shiva's heart. The plan backfired. Shiva found the effects of the arrow a disturbance; he simply opened his third-eye and set Kama aflame.
Many of us believe that we can recruit anyone into the team with promises of great pay packets and pompous designations. But such transactions do not work with a Shiva, he does not need money, he does not need his ego to be propped with high flying titles. That is what is most exasperating about a Shiva. He does not subscribe to any conventional pattern of thinking. To get him on board one needs a different approach.
The gods turned to Shakti, the Goddess, who took birth as Gauri, a mountain princess (or Kamakshi). She connected with Shiva not by arousing his senses or appeasing his ego, but by simply demonstrating her determination - she meditated on him without eating or sleeping, forcing him to appear before her. She then appealed to his compassion and surrendered to his wisdom. "Marry me," she said. He agreed, not even knowing what being a husband means, such was indifference to worldly ways. As wife, Gauri slowly initiated Shiva in the ways of the householder - gradually unlocking his power for the benefit of the world. Thanks to her, the gods got the divine warlord Kartikeya who helped them destroy Taraka.
With Gauri by his side, Shiva became Shankara. While as Shiva, he was silent and still, with both eyes firmly shut, as Shankara, he spoke and danced, and opened his eyes. He heard the cries of his devotees and responded to them. He became the benevolent easy-to-please boon-giver. He was no longer distant.
As seen, Gauri realized that while many people followed Shiva, he was no leader. He could not be expected to collaborate with the team or motivate people or drive them towards a goal. He was raw energy, neither positive nor
negative, with no opinion either way. Realizing this, rakshasa like Ravana exploited both his power and his innocence until Gauri came along. Gauri succeeded where Daksha-Prajapati and Kama had failed.
From a managerial perspective, Daksha-Prajapati is the authoritarian who demands alignment to a system. Kama is a friend, an enchanter, a charmer, who convinces one to willingly become part of the system. However, Gauri out here is a person who realized that force fitting or seducing Shiva into a system would only lead to disaster - eventually he would withdraw or create havoc. Therefore, even though she was his wife, she allowed Shiva to remain the wandering mendicant he was. Without changing his core personality, she was able to channel his genius for the benefit of the world through understanding, determination, perseverance and intelligence.
It can be said that everyone is a Shiva to a great extent, who function best when allowed to be oneself. However, over time one needs to become Shankaras, gradually getting drawn into the system, connecting and working with others, becoming part of teams and common visions. Some Shankaras even become Vishnus - totally assimilated to the ways of the world. A good leader is the one who knows the value of diversity, needs to ensure that his organization has the whole range of people - many Vishnus, a large number of Shankaras and a few Shivas.
Differentiating between Sudama and Arjuna
A good leader needs to be sensitive to the people he or she is leading. Often, he needs to understand the 'unstated needs' of others and help them in fulfilling it. There are two stories in Mythology which show this -
Krishna had a childhood friend called Sudama. While Krishna grew up to be a great warrior and lord of the city of Dwaraka, Sudama remained a poor priest. Desperate for some wealth, Sudama paid Krishna a visit in Dwaraka. But on reaching there he felt too embarrassed to ask for anything. He simply gave his friend a packet of puffed rice, which was all he could afford, and claimed he just wanted to see his old friend. Krishna sensed his friend's need and very silently ensured that when Sudama returned home he found his house overflowing with wealth, much to his delight and surprise.
In the Mahabharata, Krishna had another friend called Arjuna, who had to fight a great war against his cousins. Just before the fight, Arjuna lost his
nerves. The thought of killing his own relatives, however justified, horrified him. He did not know what to do. He creatively started stating the ethical and moral dilemmas in killing and in war. It was here that Krishna sang the song now known as the Bhagavad Gita. The words of the song addressed Arjuna's core issues, cleared his mind, clarified his doubts, enabled him to raise his bow and fight the enemy with conviction.
Neither Sudama nor Arjuna was explicit about what they wanted. But Krishna sensed what they needed. More importantly, Krishna knew what to give to whom wealth to Sudama and wisdom to Arjuna. When employees approach a leader, they come expecting to receive something - sometimes it is something that cannot be explicitly stated. It needs to understand that it is often embarrassing for people to openly admit that they are having issues. A leader has to be sensitive enough to figure out what exactly they are seeking and respond accordingly.
Strategies and Methods
The story of Shiva becoming Shankar shows the importance of managing particular employees in an organization. However, this story can also be seen to from a marketing perspective communicating the idea of effective and innovative persuasion.
When all the gods, Devas and Asuras realized that unless Shiva gets married, the world would be destroyed, the question on everyone's mind was - How does one get an ascetic like Shiva to change his mind?
This question is similar in asking - How does one get a consumer to buy his or her product? How does one get the employee to stick to his or her company? Every customer - external or internal - is actually Shiva, with the power to destroy the organizational product or service through indifference. The solution likes in the method employed in opening their eyes - not the third eye of detachment, but the two eyes of interest.
The most common approach is the Kama approach. Kama is the love-god who shoots arrows that will spawn desire in the heart of hermits. Throughoutmythology, Kama is sent by Devas to seduce Rishis like Vishwamitra with Apsaras (nymph) like Menaka. This approach means stirring the most primal instincts of man - hunger, greed, lust.
Applying it in management, this Kama approach works when one visualizes the customer as a Rishi who aspires to be a Deva, constantly craving for the next best deal. Arrows shot by Kama are the metaphor for incentives, discounts or perks. Like Apsara, they offer instant gratification, and if the customer takes it, then the approach is considered successful.
However, this approach is can only be effective in short term. Sooner or later, there will be another Apsara in the market - a competitor offering a lower price or a higher pay packet. The Rishi (customer) who was seduced by one can easily be seduced by another as lust can never create loyalty.
Kamakshi is the name given to Parvati, princess of the mountains, in South India. In the East, the name given to her is Kamakhya. She holds all the symbols of Kama - the parrot, the sugarcane, the lotus flower - but while there are no temples dedicated to the love-god, Kamakshi is worshipped as the Goddess. She is the one who got Shiva to marry her.
In the Kamakshi approach, one visualizes the target not as Deva, a common god, but as Maha-Deva or God, (spelt with a capital G). The difference is that this God refused to be fall for Kama's tactics - he opened his third eye and reduced Kama to ashes. But it is important to remember that in the end, he did marry - not an Apsara, but Kamakshi, she who contains Kama in her glance.
Kamakshi's approach was radically different from Kama's as she appealed not the base instinct of Shiva but to his higher instincts - his head and his heart. Conventional thinking is that the world thrives when there is discontentment, that desire fuels market growth. But Kamakshi thought differently.
Kamakshi knew that Shiva was beyond lust - no dance or seduction would arouse him. She wondered if there was anything else beside self-gratification that would make him open his eyes and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that beneath the indifference there lurked infinite compassion. She decided to tap into it. She wanted Shiva not to reject human imperfection but to be tolerant of it. She demonstrated her intention by subjecting herself to great
penance, standing on one foot and meditating, fasting, not sleeping, immersing herself for days in cold river water, and exposing herself to the elements. Eventually, sensing her integrity, shaken by her determination, Shiva came to her and agreed to do whatever she asked of him. `Be my husband,' she said. Shiva could not say no. Kamakshi wanted him to marry neither for her pleasure, nor for his, but to save the world from destruction. Kamakshi thus got Shiva to open his eyes not in lust, but in love.
While Kama thinks of Shiva as a prey to be struck down by an arrow, Kamakshi approaches Shiva with awe and reverence. Kama believes in instant gratification but Kamakshi thinks of lifelong loyalty. In the Kama approach, the focus is on lust (price / incentive) rather than the bride (product / organization) or the groom (consumer / employee). In the Kamakshi approach, focus is firmly on the bride and the groom.
A good manager needs to ask what the groom seeks in the first place. Answering this, he needs to ask what does the bride (product) actually offer and why. It is important to know if there be a true wedlock between the two - bride and groom otherwise it just a casual affair that would fade away with time. This means actually looking at the soul of Shiva, not just his senses. This could be done by less focus on trimming the cost and more on consumer insights and employee feedback.
Cynics will argue in business it all comes down to money. However to capture the soul of the market, one cannot look only at tangible cues - Loyalty and branding go beyond the monetary value of the organization. It can only be sensed and always remain abstract. Mythology shows that by falling into the Kama-trap reduces Maha-Deva into Deva. One may loose out on attracting and retaining customers or employees in the long term.
Management Institutes applying mythology in their business practices
Introduction
In post modern world (1990 and beyond), the art of Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in Government. As the concept of applying mythology in management is relatively new, few personalities and institutes are setting new trends through by focusing on how the complexities of the modern management system can take lessons from our Indian scriptures - Be it the Arthasashtra or the Ramayana or the Mahabharata, they are a store house of management knowledge and wisdom. These companies show the relevance of the lessons from the scriptures in the 21st century as paradigms of management implicit in them are not objects of archives but living lessons for generations to come, without over sighting the fact that they at best supplement or support existing principles for practices of management
Many university professors have acknowledged this method of learning management and are using it to teach students. Lessons of Hindu epics Ramayana have formed part of teaching on leadership, management and governance at prestigious institutions like the Wharton Business School of the USA, the Indian Business School of Hyderabad and many Indian Institutes of Management. Professor Rajeshwar Upadhyaya, for instance, has included examples from Ramayana and other Hindu epics in a course on "Leadership lessons from world literature" that he has taught as a member of the visiting faculty at the Wharton School and the Indian School of Business.
"Students of business and administration can learn a lot from the Indian epics," says Prof C Panduranga Bhatta of IIM, Calcutta, in his research paper on "Management of Power: Lessons from the Ramayana", published in a book on Leadership and Power Ethical Explorations published by the Oxford University Press. Dr Jinesh Panchali of the Indian Institute of Capital Markets agrees. "In India, governance has been extensively discussed in our epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Kautilya's Arthasashtra highlighting the relationship between society, polity and business," he pointed out in a paper on 'Corporate Ownership and Performance' read at the Seventh Capital Markets Conference held in Mumbai. There are many modern management concepts such as E.Q., MBO, Kaizen, strategic planning, organizing principles and etc where its origin can be traced from Valmiki's Ramayana," he asserts.
While this approach in understanding management is picking up a pace, one company which pioneers in apply mythology in management is Future Group, India's largest retail company. "Indians are led by emotions, unlike people in the West, who are driven by reason," says Kishore Biyani, chairman of the Future Group. . "Not all the Western management models of standard operating procedure fit us. So the question was - How do we create management practices that are grounded in our rich repository of stories and rituals?" The ideation and implementation this approach can be single-handedly credited to Devdutt Pattanaik, whose designation is 'Chief Belief Officer' in the company.
Though a medical doctor by education and now a leadership consultant by profession, he is a mythologist by passion. He has written and lectured extensively on the nature of sacred stories, symbols and rituals and their relevance in modern times. Pattanaik is confident about the benefits of this approach for company's future. "I'd like to design a new framework for management based on ideas that emerge from Indian mythology. My job, after
all, is to align beliefs. Once belief enters, business will happen. It has to happen," he says.
Sanjay Jog, the Chief People Officer in Future Group's says: "People are always asking about whether these methods have boosted profits or helped attract more business, but that's not the point. The day we measure everything in terms of money, that's the day we cease to have soul."
Method or technique of application
The Vikram & Vetal Training Method
One of the methods developed by Future group for training employees is called 'The Vikram& Vetal Method of Training', which is based on a collection of Sanskrit tales known as Vetal-pachisi, the twenty five tales of the ghost. It is gradually becoming the preferred method of training in Future Group.
The tales speak of a king, Vikramaditya, who is asked by a sorcerer to fetch him a ghost from a crematorium. The only way to fetch a ghost is to keep one's mouth shut while transporting the ghost back. But the ghost is very clever and determined to escape; he tells the king a story and at the end of it asks a question. "Answer the question, Vikramaditya!" he challenges the king, "If you keep your mouth shut despite knowing the answer your head will burst into a thousand pieces. If you don't know the answer, then you are not fit to be a king. You might as well take me to the sorcerer who will use me to destroy you."
The structure of the tales clearly follows the case study method of teaching management. A case study is a story of a problem faced by a company. Management students who try to solve the company's problem are doing what the Vetal is asking Vikramaditya to do - solve the puzzle, answer the riddle, prove that he is worthy of being a king. For a king or a leader or a CEO, is a problem solver, the one who can take a call when faced with a tricky situation.
Indians have not realized the wisdom of their traditional stories - they were used by teachers to transform boys into men. Today, they typically refer to these tales, rather patronizingly, as children's tales, and never look beyond its
entertainment value. But Kishore Biyani, the CEO of Future Group has been a great believer of storytelling in general and Indian tales in particular. He has been pushing his team to think in this direction, which has finally fructified in this training method.
In the 'Vikram& Vetal method of training' followed at the Future Learning and Development centers, the trainer is not supposed to answer questions. He does not give gyaan (knowledge). He is a Vetal, a ghost, who has nothing to do with the business. The imagery of hanging upside town is a metaphor for having a topsy-turvy view of all things. He questions everything, and provokes the students into insight. The trainers believe that knowledge works best when taken, rather than given. Thus the king has to come to the ghost; the ghost must never go to the king.
In fact, the training room is like a smashan bhumi, the crematorium, where the king has to come to fetch the ghost. A crematorium is chosen as it is not a productive space - those who attend the training session are not generating business on the shop floor. This is to acknowledge that the training room is not a revenue generating space. However, if the Vetal in the crematorium is able to provoke the students into becoming Vikramadityas, then those who return to the kingdom (organization) from the crematorium will be great kings (leaders), people who can take brilliant revenue-generating and loss-preventing calls in the retail environment.
Fundamental to the 'Vikram& Vetal method of training' is the core Future group value of respect for people. The tendency in many training methods is treat people, especially the floor staff, as empty vessels into which knowledge has to be poured and once poured, will be retained forever. This approach does not respect the intelligence and imagination of the participants. A lot of
learning, especially in the retail space, is common sense emerging from a sensitive eye. Training is supposed to invoke this common sense and harness the sensitive eye.
One needs to be trained not to be like Arjuna (those who keep shooting arrows of arguments, but never do anything) or like Bhima (those who find glory in absolute obedience and refuse to think) or like Duryodhana (those who pretend to understand but do not deliver), but to be like Sahadeva (who knows all answers but speaks only when asked) and like Vikramaditya (the wise king who could take calls).
Another application of mythology is in rituals followed. Sanjay Jog, Chief People Officer of Future Group, says that relationships at an Indian workplace are of utmost importance, as is the joint family.
"So we created a definition of a store manager as a karta, or the head of a joint family," Jog says. "We told the store managers that their jobs were to create happiness, for both the employees and the customers, and to look out for the interests of the family as a whole. At every store opening, we have a ceremony appointing the karta, with his/her spouse and employees present. Almost every manager I have seen is in tears by the end of the ceremony, even the highly educated, hard-bitten ones. Rituals such as these may appear small, but they foster a sense of community."
Result
When asked about the effectiveness of this mythology based management approach towards business, Jog stated that 'fables and tales from mythological texts succinctly explain a theoretical sounding management concept, something that a 20-page case study from the Harvard Business Review would labour to get across.'
"Biyani has great intuition about the intuitive sense of India. What I have is a vocabulary. We clicked because our understanding of Indian-ness matched," says Pattanaik, who believes that Indian businesses are aping the west by putting too much emphasis on "processes" over intuition and culture. "You cannot standardize a smile. Similarly, you cannot standardize service for a country as diverse as India," he adds.
The diversity of India—in terms of religion, culture and economic power —is something that the Future Group tracks closely and, thereby, profits from. That is why a Big Bazaar store in Sangli (Southern Maharashtra) organizes a kumkum ceremony for its women clientele. Another store in Mumbai Central is the only store in that stocks burqas as the area has a significant Muslim population catchment. The store organizes an iftaar party during the holy month of Ramzan.
"Women in Northern India would hate it if a shop-floor assistant stared over their shoulder or tried to help them. On the other hand, a maami in Tamil Nadu would probably love it if a sales person tagged along holding her shopping cart," says Jog. "One system, one process doesn't work for the country. Therefore, it makes sense to work on beliefs and culture."
The problem of looking result is that one assumes to look for tangible evidence to be compared and analyzed. But it is important to remember that the notion behind this approach goes beyond monetary profits. It is used to get people to understand and apply the management in their personal and work life by using wisdom and knowledge derived from mythology, so as to better themselves and the organization. Stories have the power of communicating ideas, concepts and philosophies not just in an entertaining way but in a retainable way, from which lessons can be deduced. Devdutt Pattanaik believes that people are more inclined to apply the lessons, if told in a story form. He gives an example by telling of the age-old tale of Kalia the snake.
Legend has it that Kalia the snake lived in a lake outside Mathura. The snake was so venomous that it poisoned the whole lake. When Krishna subdues the snake and asks him why he is afraid to move, Kalia says that he is afraid of being eaten up by Garuda the eagle, who is hovering outside. So, Krishna assures Kalia safe passage and all's well again.
Pattanaik narrated this story and interpreted it as a case for change management. Kalia does not move because he is afraid to leave the familiarity of his comfort zone, and ends up poisoning the whole lake. So, it's important he moves.
Moral of the story - Change might be tough and scary, but if one does not, he or she will take everybody down with him or her. "When Pattanaik narrated the story, the rationale for change management was clear to every person in the organization," says Jog.
Conclusion
Though this is a new upcoming trend in many management institutes, critics might argue that workplaces, worldwide, are moving towards becoming secular environs, antiseptic offices, which, in a perfect world, should be as far away as possible from religion and mythology. While these points may seem valid or reason at first, one needs to remember a couple of points. Firstly, it's not a perfect world so new innovative ways should be welcomed. Secondly, this approach is just being practiced in India - it has already been used by Multinational companies from last century. Nike is the name of the Greek goddess of strength, speed and victory. Apollo, Amazon, Delphi, Mars, Odyssey and Olympus are a few brands that are named after popular mythological characters. The Future Group and other university are simply taking mythology to another level.
However, Devdutt Pattanaik stresses that these are not only parable with morals to be drawn from them, but simply ways in which people can see themselves, and their roles in their organizations. He believes that in some cases, the courses may also have practical benefits - ad agencies, for example, can use them to understand consumer behavior.
Everyone is exposed to mythology in form of stories, symbol or ritual in their lifetime. Thus this can be a perfect tool to be used in understanding people and how to work with them - which is the very definition of management.
Bibliography
WEBSITES
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BOOKS
• Pattanaik, Devdutt. Jaya - An Illustrated Retelling of The Mahabharata.
Penguin India, 2010. Print.
• Pattanaik, Devdutt. Myth = Mithya : a Handbook of Hindu Mythology.
New Delhi, India: Penguin India, 2006. Print.
doc_676822082.docx
Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "Lean", is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Working from the perspective of the customer who consumes a product or service, "value" is defined as any action or process that a customer would be willing to pay for.
Case Study for Application of Mythology in Modern Indian Management Practices
Index
Contents
1. Abstract ......................................................................................................10 2. Need for this study......................................................................................11 3. Methods used for Data Collection...............................................................12 4. Limitation of the study................................................................................13 5. Introduction ................................................................................................14 o Management practices in India .........................................................14 o Influence of Western culture in Indian management practice ............17 6. Mythology ..................................................................................................20 o Introduction ......................................................................................20 o Relevance to Management - Interpretation of Stories and Analysis...23
Employees and Consumers .......
Relationship between Leader and Emplo Managing of Organization and Employee ...............................75 practices..................................................................................87 7. Conclusion..................................................................................................95 8. Bibliography ...............................................................................................96
Abstract
Though, the term 'Indian Management Practice' is ambiguous, it refers to the managerial norms and conduct followed in the country with intention of optimum and smooth functioning of businesses and organizations. However, recent economic reports seem to accentuate the failure of traditional management practices in implementation. While corruption, lack of
implementation of rules and legal ambiguities are some of the many factors that contribute to this, the basic cause is the attitude. But before condemning or altering of the attitude, it is important to understand and trace back its development, which can be found in mythology.
Mythology is a collection of stories, rituals and symbols that a culture indulges in. It is considered to be ancient wisdom contemplating mainly about the life, its purpose and how it is meant to be lived through stories, rituals and symbols from which lessons can be derived and interpreted. It is important to know that mythology is essentially myth - that which is believed in to be true not universally, but culturally. This study focuses on the application of mythology in modern Indian management practices. Using stories and anecdotes from Indian mythology, the study explores the meaning, nature and purpose of organization, leader and society, through interpretations and analysis. Furthermore, it emphasizes on the relationship between the three and how it can be improved. The applicability of this approach is not only limited to business to management but to any aspect of life. The study ends with noting the management institutes and companies that already use mythology as a tool in their practices, while discussing the methods they employ and its result.
Need for this study
In the competitive business world today, management is an art (and a science) that needs to be practiced by an individual and the organization. While globalization has lead to a lot of western concepts and practices become a part of Indian management system, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the implementation has not been perfect.
Perhaps at these times, it is best to go back to the root cause - the mythology - to understand the current state and apply the lessons in management so as to bridge the gap between execution and implementation. Though mythology may seem an odd source to take management reference from, its importance and relevance cannot be ignored. Mythology is a collection of myths - stories, symbols and rituals that is believed or accepted by a culture (or a part of it), that one hears throughout his or her life. Thus mythology of a particular culture is to a great extent, the framework in which the psyche of culture develops. It is the psyche of that culture that affects the behaviour. In words of Mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik, 'From Mythology comes belief and from belief comes behaviour'
In India, aspects of mythology - predominantly Hindu mythology - can be seen in daily life of most traditional or religious people. In this study, I am exploring the ways in which it can used to understand and be applied in management practice, the ways in which it has been already being used, where it is being used and how it helps.
Methods used for Data Collection
All of the data collected for this study is from a secondary source, given that most of stories from mythology have been passed down through history with different variations. The internet was mostly used for collection of stories and anecdotes from mythology. It was also used for getting the information about various personalities and institutions that are using mythology in management approach. Few books were also used as references. Most of the analysis and interpretations are done by reputed academics, philosophers and mythologist - Notably Devdutt Pattanaik. However, most of the analysis is self-evident while reading the stories.
Limitation of the study
One of the major limitations of the study is the subjectivity of analysis and interpretations of stories, symbols and rituals mentioned in the mythology as it is not completely based on concrete scientific and empirical data.
Though statistical facts or trends have been has been supported by a credible source as far as possible, it is generally based on observation and intuition. However, as the study focuses more on how mythology can be used in management than the current state of management in India, this factor does not affect the credibility of the study.
The accuracy of mythological elements also comes into question as there are many variations of the same story (even names). For the purpose of the study, at many instances, different versions have been accounted for and analyzed.
Lastly, time constraint and various other factors did not allow direct interaction with the personalities or institutions using this 'mythology in management' approach, thus making the collection of data only possible through secondary source.
Introduction
Management practices in India
While it is hard to pinpoint the exact way management is practiced in India, there is a macroscopic trend or trait that can be generalized to describe it. For centuries, Indians have been exposed to vrats (fasts) and upaays (solutions). Hence, at a deep cultural core, most Indians believe there is nothing rigid about life. Everything is manageable, solvable, everything has a work around.
Religious Indian books are full of vrats. It was one of the ways by which one believed one can work around any distressing and apparently insurmountable fate. The same thought exists behind the notion of upaay that is popular amongst astrologers. Astrology is supposed to reveal through the position of stars and planets the fate of man. If the revealed fate is not favourable, then the astrologer immediately offers to work around it by a gemstone, a mantra (spell), a pilgrimage, a prayer, a ritual with which the negative effects of a planet can be overcome.
This powerful cultural construct has its most popular manifestation in trait, colloquially termed as jugaad. It is the ability to get things done especially when the law and the rule are not favorable. A jugaadu is a highly networked and resourceful person who can weave his way through any system and get things done when the straight and narrow path is blocked. He is a critical component of one's team if one wants to succeed in India.
'Indian way' is commonly seen as trait of accommodating everything. For various things in life most Indians subscribe to jugaad and vrat and upaay, believing in bending fate. This could be argued as the reason why Indians can be such short-term thinkers at times, finding it difficult to plan for the distant future - like eradicating poverty by 2020 - while finding it easy to find jugaad for the immediate problems - like getting a driver's license made.
Evidently, the existence of jugaad can be seen as testimony to the fact why India system are largely inefficient and corrupt and why people are not upright about rules are not being rigid or universal. Nevertheless, it indicates that Indians have no qualms about bypassing the system to get their way.
While the ethics and legality of practicing jugaad is questionable. For many, jugaad is proof of Indian ingenuity and creativeness - a demonstration that Indians are not willing to accept fate and are willing to scurry a solution out of any problem. That is to say - If one has the will, there is always a jugaadu way.
So this leads to the question, does the system construct jugaad or does jugaad construct the system? Are Indians creative thinkers and therefore refuse to create linear logical systems? Or is it that they find linear systems tedious, demanding too much discipline and uprightness, hence turn to jugaad? The answer perhaps lies in the emotional nature of Indians that is responsible for both the inefficiency of the system as well as for the effective workarounds.
An example would be seen if one travel across India cannot rely on a postal address to find a person's house in a city. Postal addresses are logical - name of the city, the area, the road, the colony, the building, the flat. But structuring and locations of Indian cities are not logical. One has to perhaps ask the local pedestrian for directions. This is jugaad, albeit a minor form, that allows one to
overcome a situation that is not favored by logic. Situation may be different if one was in USA or a European country. Jugaad may not be possible or even needed as everything is comparatively well organized with roadmaps and street signs that there is little need to ask anyone. While today there are street signs and road maps in India too, large numbers of people still prefer asking people around them for directions, indicating the Indian comfort with people than with processes - with private emotions rather than with impersonal logic.
Psychologically seeing this trait, it can be said that Indians do not make a distinction in their professional and personal behaviour very easily. It is quite acceptable for professional friends to become personal friends asking for favors or to do jugaad. From an Indian point of view, there seems nothing wrong with taking advantage of one's role and position for a friend.
The Indian comfort with jugaad is the reason why Indian can be seem very tolerant to ineffective management systems (ineffective from western perspective) and sometimes even contributing to inefficiency. If one does not expect things to work through processes - one find innovative personal ways to get things done.
Thus the concept of jugaad can be seen as the underlying base for the traditional management model practiced in India.
Influence of Western culture in Indian management practice
"To make India modern was the White man's burden" - Devdutt Pattanaik
Since the advent of East India Company under Great Britain to India for business, India has been greatly exposed to the western culture. Through centuries of British rule and post-independence rise of globalization, traits of western culture seeped its way into various aspects of Indian way of living and thinking. While this caused amalgamation of the two cultures, it also led to the trend of defining and understanding life in a western way - Westernization. The reason for differences in culture and Westernization can be understood by understanding mythologies that governed the two cultures.
Both the Greek and Biblical ways assume there is only one life and one way to live life: individual achievement according to the Greeks and collective surrender for the Jews, Christians and Muslims. In the Hindu way, as in the Buddhist and Jain way, there are many lives. Everything is cyclical and repetitive. The only way to make sense of this merry-go-round is to step back and reflect on life.
It important to see how these cultures matter in the corporate world as all human beings are churned out cultures. Over time these cultures have mingled and merged with each other. Hence a little bit of all cultures lies within everyone.
Christianity didactically asks for rejection of man-made hierarchy, while embracing of community and surrendering to a higher reality before which all
are equal. This also is the underlying motif for Judaism, Islam and other Semitic cultures. Contextualism is constantly brought out in Hindu Mythology while the value of harmony (Tao), the need to organize flux through ritual and discipline is emphasized in Chinese culture. Greeks were known for its logical and individualistic behaviour, thus importance or prioritizing of those traits can be rooted to the Greek culture.
The Olympic motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius,' is Latin for 'Swifter, Higher, Stronger'. The roots of this ideal of continuous relentless improvement lies in the ancient Greek world, where the Olympic Games were a sacred ritual. It was believed that through participation, and especially through winning, the athlete reached the 'zone' that brought him closer to the gods. That was the whole point of the games - to be better than what one was, and break the assumed limitations imposed on man by the gods.
It is this ideal that governs businesses today and propels the desire to be bigger, grow faster, and ride up the value chain. Business models do have their roots in Western business practices which in turn have been shaped by ancient Greek ideals. Business leaders are heroes, like Ulysses and Heracles. They are expected to go where no one has gone before on great solitary adventures, creating new markets, penetrating old ones, fighting the demons of opposition and emerging triumphant. The whole point of the game is to win - to outlast the competition, to rise above mediocrity, to create new horizons, to shatter old boundaries. Little wonder then that the Greek god of business and trade was Hermes, who had wings on his sandals, always on the run.
So culturally speaking, from a western perspective which focus more on linear systematic thinking, the concept of jugaad have made Indians compulsive outof-the-box thinkers who to connect with the world at large, need to 'trained' to
be more in-the-box, more aligned to processes and develop respect for the rigidity of the system.
This is where it is commonly thought that most Indian management system 'fail' in being 'efficient' and 'effective'. The problem lies not in system but in understanding its cultural roots, established by ancient wisdom and mythology.
Mythology
Introduction
To know what the mythology reveals, it is important to understand the term mythology. For many people, especially those who veer towards the religious right, the word 'mythology' is anathema, a Western imposition to invalidate Indian beliefs. For a mythologist, like Devdutt Pattanaik, all beliefs are mythological as they are indifferent to rational thought - they make room for fantastic ideas like ocean of milk, flying horses, and virgin births.
However, Mythology must be distinguished from myth. Colloquially, myth is considered to be associated with falsehood, or lie. The word however is subjective truth that defines a culture. Mythology is the body of stories, symbols and rituals that communicates that subjective truth of a particular culture.
Different cultures have different subjective truths, hence different beliefs, and different myths. For example, Christianity and Islam believe in one life followed by an eternity in Heaven or Hell. Hindus and Jains and Sikhs and Buddhists believe in rebirth, one life followed by another, until one breaks free from the wheel of birth and death.
When myths and mythologies of cultures are compared with one another, there are bound to similarities and dissimilarities. Similarities reflect the humanity of a culture, dissimilarities its uniqueness. Hindus and Buddhists are similar in that they both believe in the wheel of rebirths but they are dissimilar in that only Hindus believe in the concept of eternal unchanging soul. Hindus and Muslims are similar in that they both accept God as being all-powerful, but they are
dissimilar in that Muslims believe in one life and one way of reaching God, by following the path revealed to the prophet Muhammad.
It is however difficult and to a degree pointless to see who is right. Believers think they are right and that outsiders - other cultures - are delusional. It is in a way of thinking and explaining things which is different from science, where the pursuit is for universal, de-contextual, objective knowledge that everyone has to agree with.
The oldest collections of myths in Hindu scriptures are known as Itihasas (histories) and Puranas (chronicles). In these documents narratives of gods, kings, and sages trace the history of India from the beginning of time to the prophecies of anarchy that will herald the end of the world.
In Hindu mythology, divinity is expressed in the form of three couples Brahma and Saraswati, Vishnu and Lakshmi, and finally Shiva and Shakti. The male half of this trinity is associated with verbs - Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves and Shiva destroys. The female half on the other hand is associated with nouns - Saraswati is knowledge, Lakshmi is wealth and Shakti is power. The gods are thus the creators, preservers and destroyers; they are the active subjects. The goddesses by contrast are that which is created, preserved or destroyed; they are the passive objects. While the goddesses are described as embodying wealth, knowledge and power, they themselves are never described as knowledgeable, wealthy or powerful.
What is often overlooked while looking at mythological images of gods and goddesses is that mythology is symbolic. Shiva does not represent a man and Shakti does not represent women. Shiva and Shakti are male and female forms that lend themselves to embody ideas. Ideas have no gender. But to
communicate them, they are often given various forms - sometimes animals, sometimes plant, sometimes geometrical patterns and sometimes human, where gender is used to further sub-divide ideas.
The point of mythology is to understand and interpret what the symbols, stories and rituals signify and how they can be applied - in personal and professional life.
Relevance to Management - Interpretation of Stories and Analysis
ORGANIZATION
Reason for its existence
In all the depiction of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, she is shown holding a pot in her hand. As Pots are not natural it can stated that they are manmade. Presence of pots indicates presence of humanity. At a philosophical level it can be stated that pots change humanity's relationship with nature. If the world and its resources are free for all, then whatever is collected in a pot belongs to the owner of the pot. The pot enables humans to turn natural resources into personal property.
Property is a human idea, an artificial construction, not a natural phenomenon. Animals do not own nature. They have territory that they defend with brute force. Another animal may lays claim to its territory and if the first animal is unable to fight back, there is no court where it can go to appeal. There are no courts in nature; no law except might is right, survival of the fittest. Animals need territory in order to survive - to get access to food. Animals do not create territory for self-actualization. Herein is the difference between animal and humans - territory and property, water in the river and water in a pot, food in a tree and food in a basket.
Organizations are pots which help in cultivating nature to suit and meet human needs for living. Living here does not only mean survival but also to prosper. Prosperity can be achieved having three things -
Lakshmi (Wealth)
It is very well understood and often explicitly stated that an organization exists to generate revenue and make profits. However, one cannot forget that those who generate revenue and make profits are humans - thus in need for material, intellectual and emotional nourishment.
In Indian mythology, this aspect of organization has been alleged in many stories with cows which need grass and protection and music and love. Thus if the organization is a cow, then milk is the wealth that flows out of it. Whole milk is the topline - revenue - and butter, the bottomline - profit. These are the metaphors by which Indian mythology communicates its ideas on wealth.
In India, wealth is considered auspicious. The image of the goddess Lakshmi, seated on a lotus, flanked by white elephants, holding a pot overflowing with gold, is placed in many temples, houses and institutes. Lakshmi's footprint, pointing inwards, is placed on the doorway of Hindu and Jain households during festival time. This is what people want - The flow of milk (wealth), preferably rich in butter (profit), flowing in their direction.
Saraswati (Knowledge)
In the great epics of India, Ramayana and Mahabharata, war ends not with celebration of materialistic victory but with transmission of knowledge -
In the Ramayana, Ravana lies mortally wounded on the battlefield and the monkeys are celebrating their victory, when Rama turns to his brother, Lakshmana, and says, "While Ravana was a brute, he was also a great scholar. Go to him quickly and request him to share whatever knowledge he can."
The obedient Lakshmana rushes to Ravana's side and whispers in his ears, "Demon king, all your life you have taken not given. Now the noble Rama gives you an opportunity to mend your ways. Share your vast wisdom. Do not let it die with you. For that you will be surely be blessed." Ravana responds by simply turning away. An angry Lakshmana goes back to Rama and says: "He is as arrogant as he always was, too proud to share anything." Rama looks at his brother and asks him softly, "Where did you stand while asking him for knowledge?" "Next to his head so that I hear what he had to say clearly." Rama smiles places his bow on the ground and walks to where Ravana lies. Lakshmana watches in astonishment as his brother kneels at Ravana's feet. With palms joined, with extreme humility, Rama says, "Lord of Lanka, you abducted my wife, a terrible crime for which I have been forced to punish you. Now, you are no more my enemy. I see you now as you are known across the world, as the wise son of Rishi Vishrava. I bow to you and request you to share your wisdom with me. Please do that for if you die without doing so, all your wisdom will be lost forever to the world." To Lakshmana surprise, Ravana opens his eyes and raises his arms to salute Rama, "If only I had more time as your teacher than as your enemy. Standing at my feet as a student should, unlike your rude younger brother, you are a worthy recipient of my knowledge. I have very little time so I cannot share much but let me tell you one important lesson I have learnt in my life. Things that are bad for you seduce you easily; you run towards them impatiently. But things are actually good for you fail to attract you; you shun them creatively, finding powerful excuses to justify your procrastination. That is why I was impatient to abduct Sita but avoided meeting you. This is the wisdom of my life, Rama." With these words, Ravana dies.
There's similar knowledge transmission in the Mahabharata -
The war is over and the Kauravas are all dead. As the victorious Pandavas are about to assume control of Hastinapur, Krishna advises them to talk to Bhisma, their grand uncle, who lies mortally, wounded on the battlefield. As a result of a blessing, death would elude him for some time. "Make him talk until his last breath. Ask him questions. He has a lot to tell," says Krishna. Sure enough, when prompted, the dying Bhisma spends hours discussing various topics: history, geography, politics, economics, management, war, ethics, morality, sex, astronomy, metaphysics and spirituality. Bhisma's discourse is captured in the Shanti Parva (discussions of peace) and Anushasan Parva (discussions on discipline) that makes up a quarter of the Mahabharata. After listening to their grandsire, the Pandavas have a better understanding of the world, and this makes them better kings.
Both these stories draw attention to the value of knowledge. In triumph, it is easy to claim the material possessions of the defeated - the cows, the gold, the slaves, the palace, the kingdom etc. But it is not easy to claim one's knowledge. When someone dies, their knowledge and all the experience goes along with them. Knowledge does not outlive death.
Every day, an organization churns out vast amounts of knowledge. Every day, people leave organizations, taking their knowledge with them, knowledge which they probably acquired because they are part of the organization. They take with them knowledge of clients, markets, business processes, tricks of the trade. These may not be confidential information or patented information, but information that does give an organization that competitive edge.
Durga (Power)
But it would be very naïve to assume that as humans, one only seeks wealth and knowledge from an organization. Organizations create the framework that allow for various manifestations of power to emerge. They create bosses and subordinates, team members and team leaders, dotted line and solid line reporting?
The need for power is never explicitly stated perhaps because it is not tangible or measurable. Yet empowerment and disempowerment can make or break an organization making it perhaps more powerful than economic and intellectual resources.
In Hindu mythology, all that which can be transacted between two human beings takes in the form of three goddesses: Lakshmi, Saraswati and Durga. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, and Durga is Shakti, the goddess of power.
In many Indian scriptures and temples, Durga is shown killing of buffalo Mahish-Asura. Typically, this is perceived as good as she is killing what can be seen as a demon - a threat. So Durga then becomes a symbol of courage and bravery to protect ourselves from threats. Implicit in the idea of protection is the idea of fear. The existence of Durga presupposes that all humans are afraid, and hence are in need of security. For that one need power - weapons to make one feel safe.
Power then becomes the antidote to the poison of fear. In fact, it transforms itself into the currency of all emotions. Most workplace, the craving for wealth
and the control of information becomes manifestation of the underlying power games.
Organizations often forget that at the core of the human being is fear - fear of invalidation, fear of impermanence, fear of insignificance. It is this fear that propels one to be who they are. It influences their behavior. Emotion, not wealth or knowledge is what makes and breaks relationships.
As an employee, one does not only seek money or knowledge from his or her boss but also emotional comfort and a sense of security. Likewise, bosses seek respect, obedience, creativity, involvement from employees. Both sides seek power. This is transaction of power and the changing dynamics that propels one to create and work for an organization.
Structure of Organization
Raas Lila In the Bhagavat Purana, heaven is visualized as the Raas Lila. In the Raas Lila, Krishna plays the flute and the milkmaids dance around him.
The scene takes place at night (darkness), outside the village, in the forest which generally evokes fear. The milkmaids are away from the security of the village and family, and yet they feel safe and secure. They sing and dance around Krishna, who is neither their brother nor son nor husband. Neither law nor custom binds them. No one is obliged to be here. There is no duty or responsibility that binds them around Krishna. They do so of their own free will.
They do not feel threatened. They do not feel under pressure. There is perfect harmony. Everyone forms a circle - equidistant from Krishna; there is no jealousy and envy. Each one feels that Krishna is giving them complete attention as if being physically present in front of each of them. In fact, the moment they feel possessive about Krishna or believe he should love them more than others, Krishna disappears; the forest re-appears, brining with it the darkness and the fear.
Raas-Lila perhaps represents what ancient wisdom considered an ideal organization to be like. Every employee feels safe and secure. Everyone feels they are fully appreciated. Everyone is giving their best. No one is jealous or territorial. There is warmth and affection all around. No one feels exploited. There is perfect harmony. For this to happen, the boss must be Krishna.
By structure, one does not mean the physical configuration of various departments or personnel as that depends on the type and nature of the organization. Here, structure represents the relations between each aspect of organization.
EMPLOYEES AND CONSUMERS
Types of Employees
Shekchilli, Gangu Teli, Mitti ka Madhav and Raja Bhoj
In Indian folklore, there are four characters that most aptly describe various kind of personality seen in an organization - Shekchilli, Gangu Teli, Mitti ka Madhav (or Gobar ka Ganesh) and Raja Bhoj.
Shekchilli is a dreamer. He dreams high, thinking of all possibilities without making any effort to implement or execute them.
One day he gets a pot of milk from his master. He dreams of turning the milk into curds then churning it for butter and selling the butter and making some money and using that money to buy more milk and make more butter. And in time making and selling so much butter that he would not have to work. As he dreams of the possibilities, he stumbles and falls on the road. The pot of milk in his hand breaks and out pours all the milk into the ground.
Gangu Teli is the implementer. He does not dream at all. He likes to implement things. He calls himself a 'realist' and focuses on practical things like doing the task and measuring their effectiveness and efficiency. His name Teli suggests that he is an oil presser. Just as an oil presser uses force to push oil out of oilseeds, Gangu Teli uses pressure to get work out of his team.
The story goes that when the wall of the king's mountain-fort kept collapsing, the astrologer recommended the sacrifice of a woman and her newborn to appease the gods the mountain. The only person whose wife and child were
available for sacrifice - either voluntarily or under pressure - was that of Gangu Teli. He is the frontline warrior; he knows. When times are bad, he will be called upon to do the ultimate sacrifice. The buck stops with him as he stands in the market. He is therefore most valued in the immediate term. Since he knows that, he often suffers from an inflated self-importance.
Mitti ka Madhav (also known as Gobar ka Ganesh) is neither a dreamer like Shekchilli nor an implementer like Gangu Teli. He is what someone else wants to be. On his own, he is nothing. He is a reactive member of the team, doing whatever pleases others, with no mind or opinion of his own.
Lastly, there is Raja Bhoj, the ideal leader, a dreamer as well as implementer. He knows the importance of both and balances out to be the effective employee.
In a 2 x 2 Matrix, these personalities can be placed like -
High Dreaming capability Low Dreaming capability
Shekchilli Mitti ka Madhav
Low Implementing capability
Raja Bhoj Gangu Teli
High Implementing capability
Being Narada or Manthara The arrival of a sage called Narada in Hindu mythology always spells trouble. He would share very innocent information, or ask a very simple question, and provoke all kinds of base emotions from jealousy to rage to insecurity.
Once he went to the house of Kansa, dictator of Mathura, who knew that the eighth son of his sister would be his killer. Kansa would have killed his sister had his brother-in-law, Vasudev, not promised to handover the eighth child to Kansa. "Do you trust Vasudev?" asked Narada, "I mean, he may handover another child and claim he is the eighth; or he may handover his own child, say the seventh, and claim he is the eighth." Having sowed the seeds of doubt, Narada walked away plucking his lute and chanting, "Narayana, Narayana." Influenced by these words, Kansa killed each and every child his sister bore to ensure his safety. Another time, Narada went to the house of the five Pandava brothers who had a common wife called Draupadi, and told them the story of a nymph called Tilotamma. "Two demon brothers, Sunda and Upasunda, fell in love with her and wanted to marry her. She said she would marry the stronger of the two. So the two brothers fought to prove their strength. Since both were equally matched, they killed each other. Wonder which of you five is the strongest?" Hearing this the five Pandava brothers quickly put down rules that would govern the sharing of a wife; she would be with one brother exclusively for a year and return to him after spending four years with the other four brothers.
In Kansa's case, Narada's intervention leads to serial infanticide. In the Pandava's case, Narada's intervention secures domestic bliss. Yet, at no point is Narada feared or shunned by any king or god. In fact his arrival is welcomed. His intervention is seen as something inherently good - though the
goodness is not immediately apparent. In Kansa's case, Kansa sees him as a well wisher. But by his intervention, Narada ensures that Vasudev, rather than handing over the prophesized eighth child as he initially planned to, takes the child to a safe house where he can grow up and return to kill the wicked king. Narada though a mischief-maker and quarrel-monger, has the good of people at heart.
But there are advisors whose intentions are otherwise. The most famous one of these is Manthara who poisons the ear of Kaikeyi, in the epic Ramayana, and influences the queen to demand the exile of Ram.
It was the commemoration of Ram to become king in Ayodhya. Everyone was busy in preparation of the ceremony. After helping with the preparation, Kaikeyi enters her room where she meets her servant, Manthara. Manthara did not like the idea of Ram being the king. She had to do something. While Kaikeyi was busy getting dressed, Manthara started praising Kaikeyi's biological son, Bharat. After that she asked a simple question 'Why shouldn't he get to be the king?' Though initially, baffled and enraged at this notion, Kaikeyi began to feel the same way hearing Manthara go on. She was even reminded by Manthara about the two boons granted by her husband Dashratha in a battle to ask for anything. 'Use them to make Bharat king and exile Ram to forest for 14 years'.
By following Manthara's advice, Kaikeyi destroys the household.
Mythology cautions one to notice of the advisor (employee) who sits beside the leader - is he or she like Narada or Manthara? If Narada, how does he see the leader - as Kansa or as a Pandava? These are difficult questions for a leader to
ask, but understanding and noticing this may be critical in the operation of organization
Sunahshepas
One of the several versions of the story goes that there was a king, sometime identified as a Harishchandra and sometime identified as Ambarisha, who had an attack of dropsy - his body swelled up with fluid. He prayed to Varuna, god of water, and said, "If I am cured, I will sacrifice my son." As soon as he said this, he was cured. His limbs became normal. His fingers and face were no longer bloated. "My sacrifice?" asked Varuna. Now that he was cured, the king found it hard to part with his son. So he called the wise men of his kingdom, and told them to find a way out. "How can I make Varuna happy without losing my son?" he asked. The wise men said a son is defined in many ways according to the scriptures: one is the son you produce biologically, another is the son who is adopted and finally there is another son that you can buy. Hearing this, the king said, "Go buy me a son." The wise men went around the kingdom, but no man was willing to sell their son. How can our king ask us to part with a son, they wondered. Who would do such a thing? After a long search, the wise men found a poor priest willing to sell his son 100 cows His name was Ajigarta. He said, "I have three sons. I will not sell my eldest son because he is very dear to me, and I cannot sell the youngest because he is dear to his mother. I will sell my middle son, Sunahshepa, because I have no choice. I am very poor and I need to feed my family." Thus Sunahshepa became the son of the king and was brought to the palace on a golden palanquin. He was quite excited until, after being fed and clothed and given gifts meant for princes, he was taken and tied to a sacrificial post. "You, Sunahshepa, are to be sacrificed to Varuna so that your father, the king, is free
of debt," said the wise men. Realizing his hopeless situation, Sunahshepa began to cry. The executioner was called to sacrifice the boy. "I will not sacrifice the boy, he is no criminal," said the executioner. The butcher was called to sacrifice the boy. "I will not sacrifice the boy, he is no animal," said the butcher. The priests were told to sacrifice the boy. "We will not sacrifice the boy. That is not part of our responsibilities," said the priests. Suddenly a voice rang across the sacrificial hall, "I will. I will. For 100 more cows." It was Ajigarta, Sunahshepa's father! Everybody was aghast and looked at the father, and said, "When you sold your son, your reason was poverty. What is your reason now?" "Why should I feel ashamed," said Ajigarta, "When the king is not ashamed to sacrifice one of his subjects to save his son." Watching his father move towards the chopping block, axe in hand, Sunahshepa realized he had no one he could turn to, neither father nor king. His fate was doomed.
Mythology shows how Sunahshepas are created when leaders refuse to make sacrifices.
It can be seen that there are many Sunahshepas in the corporate world. They are victims of greed, favouritism, politics etc. who are many times stripped of livelihood. These are employees who have faced exploitation at expense of someone else.
Qualities of Employee
Mythologies are abundant with stories in which certain qualities in a character help him or her to progress or achieve certain objective intentionally or unintentionally, directly or indirectly
Playing the fool
There once lived a great mathematician in a village outside Ujjain. He was often called by the local king to advice on matters related to the economy. His reputation has spread as far as Taxila in the North and Kanchi in the South. So it hurt him very much when the village headman told him, "You may be a great mathematician who advises the king on economic matters but your son does not know the value of gold or silver." The mathematician called his son and asked, "What is more valuable - gold or silver?" "Gold," said the son. "That is correct. Why is it then that the village headman makes fun of you, claims you do not know the value of gold or silver? He teases me every day. He mocks me before other village elders as a father who neglects his son. This hurts me. I feel everyone in the village is laughing behind my back because you do not know what is more valuable, gold or silver. Explain this to me, son." So the son of the mathematician told his father the reason why the village headman carried this impression. "Every day on my way to school, the village headman calls me to his house. There, in front of all village elders, he holds out a silver coin in one hand and a gold coin in other. He asks me to pick up the more valuable coin. I pick the silver coin. He laughs, the elders jeer, and everyone makes fun of me. And then I go to school. This happens every day. That is why they tell you I do not know the value of gold or silver."
The father was confused. His son knew the value of gold and silver, and yet when asked to choose between a gold coin and silver coin always picked the silver coin. "Why don't you pick up the gold coin?" he asked. In response, the son took the father to his room and showed him a box. In the box were at least a hundred silver coins. Turning to his father, the mathematician's son said, "The day I pick up the gold coin the game will stop. They will stop having fun and I will stop making money."
Mythology shows that how sometimes in life, playing the fool is crucial because one's seniors, peers, and even juniors like it. That is not to say one has to be act gullible but rather that one can allow others to win in one arena of the game, while winning in the other arena of the game. One has to choose which arena matters and which arenas do not.
At the root is the human desire to feel significant. To feel significant, one often has to demonstrate one is superior to others. This leads to people bragging and putting others down. Often this is an emotional need, one that can be quite annoying to onlookers but critical to the one indulging in it. Recognizing this need allows one to endure many an insufferable boss or client.
Beyond the price of milk
One day, Narada asked Vishnu, with a bit of hesitation, "Why do you insist that the image of Garuda be placed before you in your temples? Why not me? Am I not your greatest devotee?" Before Vishnu could reply a crash was heard outside the main gate of Vaikuntha. "What was that?" asked Vishnu. Narada turned to look in the direction of the sound. Garuda, Vishnu's hawk and vehicle, who usually investigated such events, was no where to be seen. "I have sent Garud on an errand. Can you find out what happened, Narada?" asked Vishnu.
Eager to please Vishnu, Narada ran out to investigate. "A milkmaid tripped and fell," he when he returned. "What was her name?" asked Vishnu. Narada ran out and after speaking to the maid, returned with the answer. "Sharada," he said. "Where was she going?" asked Vishnu. Narada ran out once again and after speaking to the maid, returned with the answer. "She was on her way to the market." "What caused her trip?" asked Vishnu. "Why did you not ask this question the last time I went?" said Narada irritably. He then ran out, spoke to the maid once again. "She was startled by a serpent that crossed her path," he said on his return. "Is the pot carrying broken?" asked Vishnu. "I don't know," snapped Narada. "Find out," said Vishnu. "Why?" asked Narad. "Find out, Narada. Maybe I would like to buy some milk," said Vishnu. With great reluctance, Narada stepped out of Vaikuntha and met the milkmaid. He returned looking rather pleased, "She broke one pot. But there is another one intact. And she is willing to sell the milk but at double price." "So how much should I pay her?" asked Vishnu? "Oh, I forgot to ask. I am so sorry," said Narada running out once again. "Do not bother. Let me send someone else," said Vishnu. Just then, Garuda flew in. He had no idea of what had transpired between Vishnu and Narada. Vishnu told Garuda, "I heard a crashing sound outside the main gate. Can you find out what happened?" As Garuda left, Vishnu winked at Narada and whispered, "Let us see how he fares." Garuda returned. "It is a milkmaid called Sharada. She was on her way to the market. On the way, a snake crossed her path. Startled she fell back and broke one of the two pots of milk she was carrying. Now she wonders how she will make enough money to pay for the broken pot and the spilt milk. I suggested she sell the milk to you. After all, you are married to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth."
"And the price of the milk?" asked Vishnu. Pat came Garud's reply, "Four copper coins. One actually but I think she hopes to make a handsome profit when dealing with God." Vishnu started to laugh. His eye caught Narada's and Narada understood at that instant why Garuda's statue and not his is always placed before the image of Vishnu in Vishnu temples.
By this story it can be seen Narada had behaved like a reactive subordinate very obedient, doing what the master told him to, leaving all thinking to the master. However, Garuda behaved like a proactive subordinate - anticipating all his master's moves and preparing for it. The 'ability to anticipate' made Garuda more efficient and effective and hence more valuable in the eyes of Vishnu. Ideal employees are like Garudas - they know what their bosses want even before the boss asks for it. For instance, they know that when their boss says, "Book me a ticket to Dubai," they are expected to make the hotel bookings, the car pickups, keep updating about all the appointments and reminders. They know what bills need to be processed at the first of the month, on the first Monday of every month, on the last day of every month. They know when the weekend parties have to be organized, when the stress levels shoots up, when the bosses are more relaxed. They are sensitive to the rhythms of the boss and the rituals that the boss follows. And all this comes from the 'ability to anticipate' which makes the employee not only reliable but effective.
LEADERS
Reason for his or her existence
Balancing of Nature and Culture
It is seen in the Puranas, that many Indras came and went but his wife, Sachi, like his kingdom, Svarga (Heaven), remained the same. The kingdom and queen are faithful to no one man. Whosoever lords over them becomes their master. An example is seen when the Pandavas handover control of their kingdom to the Kauravas, the Kauravas could do whatever they want wanted to the kingdom and the queen, as they pleased.
Mythology brings out a very important question - Why do kings exist? Is it to do as they please with their kingdom and their people or to govern the kingdom, ensure welfare of the land?
In traditional Indian philosophy, a king exists only to uphold dharma. For God, dharma is ensuring welfare of all living creatures. For a king, it is welfare of the all his subjects, from the strongest to the weakest.
This is with the belief that God's kingdom is the whole world. Nature, to be specific, is where all animals are given an equal chance - either with brains or brawns - to survive. However, in man's world, the definition of dharma was to provide for the weakest of men as the weakest of men cannot survive in the forest. So man 'tames' the forest. This cannot be done unless an ecosystem is destroyed.
This is brought out in the episode the burning of Khandavaprastha -
In the Mahabharata, however, Krishna advises the Pandavas to set a forest aflame. This forest, Khandavaprastha, is the share of property given to the Pandavas by their uncle when they demand their inheritance. As the trees burn, the animals and birds of the forest try to escape. Krishna instructs Arjuna to circle the forest on his chariot and shoot down every escaping bird and beast down. Hundreds of animals are thus massacred. The rest roasted alive. The serpents beg the rain-god, Indra, to come to their rescue. But again, on Krishna's advice, Arjuna uses his arrows to create a canopy over the forest preventing the water from dousing the flames. None are spared except an Asura called Maya on condition that he build for the Pandavas on the gutted land a magnificent city called Indraprastha, which goes on to become the greatest city in the world.
This may seem harsh, but it is important to understand that implicit in the idea of human culture is the destruction of nature. The same phenomena can be seen in management. Organization cannot be created without the utilization of resources, which need to 'taken' from society or nature. In both cases, the leader is person or the entity who needs to decide to what degree and how.
This role becomes more important and delicate when dealing with issue concerning humans.
Brutality v/s Humility
In the Ramayana, after Rama completes his education under Rishi Vasishtha, Vishwamitra storms into Dashratha's court and demands that Rama accompanies him to the forest and protects his hermitage from Rakshasas. Dashratha offers his army instead because Rama is just a boy. No, I want Rama, snarls Vishwamitra. With great reluctance, Dashratha lets Rama go. In the forest, Vishwamitra first directs Rama to shoot and kill the Rakshasa woman, Tadaka. But she is a woman, says Rama, remembering his lessons that informed him that women should never be harmed. Vishwamitra does not heed this argument. It does not matter that Tadaka is a woman; she threatens the well being of the hermitage and does not heed warnings, hence must be killed. Rama thus learns how all rules have to be contextualized. He therefore raises his bow and shoots Tadaka dead. Later, Vishwamitra takes Rama to the hermitage of Rishi Gautama. There Rama is shown a rock which was once Gautama's wife, Ahalya. Her husband found her in the arms of another man, Indra, king of the gods, and so he cursed her to
turn into a rock, explains Vishwamitra. Rama is then asked by the Rishi to place his foot on the rock. That touch turns the rock back into Ahalya and she rises to the heavens, purified as she was of all her sins. Rama realizes there how there are times when one has to strike and times when one has to forgive.
The killing of Tadaka and the rescue of Ahalya are two extreme events. One reeks of ruthlessness and demanded death and the other brims with compassion, requesting for life. With these two events, Ram's practical education which began with theoretical education was complete. By experiencing two extreme roles of a leader, Vishwamitra transformed the boy that was Ram into a man, one who is ready to take on the responsibility of leadership, one who is ready for marriage and kingship.
The education of Ram is the story of how leaders can be made. It draws attention to the power of a leader and explains in what situation this power can be used to take life and in what situation the same power can be used to give life. It demonstrates how there are situations when a manager is called upon to take a tough call and situations where the manager is expected to be compassionate. However, the story shows how this cannot be taught in theory - one has to live it. That is why Vishwamitra stormed into Dashratha's court and took Ram into the forest by force.
Vishwamitra, one must remember, is not an ordinary sage. He was once a king who through spiritual austerities became a Rishi. Thus he knows what a king is expected to do and what a king has to go through as he lives his role. That is why he insists on completing Ram's education to become a good leader.
Being the lion or the lion tamer
By the very definition of leader, it is assumed that given the authority, a leader had power over others and was meant to use this to govern them in a way so they follow his way. It be common to associate this aspect of leader to that of being a lion.
Leadership by fear is one of the most tried and tested ways. The most popular non-violent fear-inducing tool seen in management is the threat of sacking people. This is a common occurrence, when superior manager does not seem to get the employee to confirm with set norms. This dictatorial attitude is a sign of a lion growling.
But in ancient India, the king was expected to sit on a lion, not be a lion. His patron goddess, Durga, rode a lion, meaning she domesticated the king of the jungle. The message here is about human beings having the ability to overpower and outgrow the animal urge to dominate and frighten others into submission. The king was not expected to treat his people like animals who needed to be controlled by fear or force, or tamed by 'carrot and stick'. To treat people like animals and to behave like a lion is an act of de-humanization. A king was expected to help his subjects discover their humanity. Humans are the only animals who can empathize. The king was therefore expected to provoke his people into empathy, and in the process unlock their own hidden potential. To be the lion is to be the leader who frightens. To sit on the singh-asan (lionthrone) was to be a leader who inspires.
Legacy
Once upon a time there was a king was called Indradyumna and after a long reign he passed away and went to heaven, where he spent centuries, enjoying the rewards of his good deeds on earth. Then, one day, the gods told him, "Indradyumna, you have to go back to earth. You are no longer welcome in heaven." "Why?" asked a perplexed Indradyumna. "Because," said the gods, "No one on earth remembers your good deeds." "But how can that be?" wondered the king, "I spent all my life doing good deeds." "If," said the gods, "You can find at least one creature who remembers you for your good deeds then you can come back to heaven. Otherwise you will have to leave. That is the rule." Time flows differently on earth than in heaven. When Indradyumna reached earth, he realized that centuries had passed since his reign. The trees were different, the people were different, even his kingdom looked different. Who will remember me, he wondered. The buildings he built were all gone. The temples he built were no where to be seen. The people who were beneficiaries of his largesse were all dead. No one he met remembered any king called Indradyumna. Disheartened, Indradyumna went in search of the oldest man on earth. He found Rishi Markandeya. But the Rishi did not remember him. "There is an owl that is older than me," said the sage, "Go to him." Markandeya did as advised. He found was owl and asked him, "Do remember King Indradyumna?" and the owl said, "No, I do not remember such a king but ask the stork who is older than me." Even the stork did not remember. "But I know someone who is much older than me, who may know of King Indradyumna," said the stork, "He is an old tortoise who lives in a lake."
Indradyumna went to the tortoise that was very old and slow and tired. But, to Indradyumna's great relief, he did remember a king called Indradyumna. "He built this lake," said the tortoise. "But I never built this lake," said Indradyumna, rather bewildered by this piece of information. "This lake did not even exist when I was king." The tortoise explained, "My grandfather never lied. He told me that this king spent his entire life giving cows in charity, hundreds of thousands of cows." Indradyumna recollected that he had. He had been told that gifting cows assures one a place in heaven. Yes, it had, but only for temporarily. Now, where were his cows? Where were the people who he gave the cows? The tortoise continued, "As these cows left Indradyumna's city, they kicked up so much dust it created in a depression in the ground; when the rains came water collected this depression and turned it into a lake. Now that lake provides sustenance to innumerable plants and animals and worms and weeds and fishes and turtles and birds. So we remember the great King Indradyumna, whose act of charity resulted in a lake which for generations has been our home." Indradyumna was pleased to hear what the tortoise had to say. So were the gods who welcomed him back. As Indradyumna rose to heaven, the irony did not escape him: he was remembered on earth for a lake that was unconsciously created, and not for the cows that was consciously given. He benefited not from things he did, but from the impact of things he did.
This story draws attention to the notion of legacy. What the action of leader may not seem beneficial in short term, but in the long term. The addition positive impact of a manager's action in the benefit of organization is what would differentiate him from all others.
Extent of leadership
Mythology contains many stories about gods, kings and leaders in various forms from which many aspects of managerial leadership can be understood and applied. Equating a leader with the divine may seem blasphemous to many. But since ancient times, leaders, and especially kings have always been placed on a pedestal, higher than man but lower than God. This was seen in Egypt, where the pharaoh was called god-king. In France, he was called the Sun-king, the temporal representative of God, around whom the world moved. The king was the closest physical manifestation the common man had to God. That is why there were elaborate ceremonies associated with their ascension to the throne. The rituals elevated the man towards the heavens, after which he was expected to become less human and more divine, thinking less about his own pleasures and more about the happiness of others. In other words, rituals were supposed to make him Jahan-panah. His sphere of influence and concern extended beyond his family and friends to include everyone within his jurisdiction and even beyond.
Qualities of a Leader
Understanding the power of Observation
God may be an abstract concept but the common man needs a tangible form for this abstract concept. That is why, in ancient times, people represented their deities as rocks. That is why, when we travel across India, we find in shrines of local gods and goddesses, no elaborate imagery, just a rock smeared with turmeric or saffron or vermillion. But such imagery alone was thought too be impersonal. To make it personal, in many shrines, the rock is given eyes, large petal shaped eyes, usually of metal. They stare at the devotees constantly from the moment the door of the shrine is opened to the time the shrine is shut. In temples, the ritual that transforms an ordinary statue into a deity is called the `eye-bestowing ceremony'. Once the eye is given, or opened, the deity is established and alive. The murti (statue) becomes swarupa, the living image of the divine. One needs to understand the symbolic importance of the eyes.
With the appearance of the eye, the stone is believed to become sentient - it can sense, it can see, it can respond to the world in front of it. According to Devdutt Pattanaik, 'The eye-bestowing ritual tells us something very powerful about humans, about the devotees who establish the deity. We want to be seen. We want our gods to observe us, know us, and understand us. Without eyes, how can they know our pain, our aspirations and our issues? We constantly ask God to open his eyes, see our suffering and even shed tears for us, empathizing with our situation.'
A leader is supposed to be like that village god or goddess - he or she must have eyes that observes the team and understands them for who they really are.
The Mahabharata tells the story of a kingdom where the royal couple has no eyes. The king Dhritarashtra is blind and his queen, Gandhari, is blindfolded. The result: children who feel unobserved. The father cannot see; the mother chooses not the see. The children grow up with a warped value system. Since no one is seeing them, they feel they can get away with anything. As a result the law of the jungle reigns supreme in the kingdom of Dhritarashtra. A woman was publicly disrobed and lands were grabbed by force.
A leader must see his people. He must recognize them for who they are, rather than what he wants them to be. Mythology shows through stories what happens when leaders don't have eyes - or rather when they see only themselves. If that is the case, their eyes see only their own vision of the world. They do not realize there are others around them with other visions of life. This lack of eyes strips them of all empathy. For them, everything is measured and valued against vision they alone have. Those who align with their vision are good; those fail to do so are bad.
The ability to recognize and nurture talent is important in leaders of their respective organizations. Some leaders recognize talent but do not know what do with it. Others, envious of talent, reject or ignore them deliberately. The character Karna in the Mahabharata is a case in point. Karna was always seen as a charioteer's son and never as a great archer by the Pandavas. It was only Duryodhana who saw Karna's talent but used him unfortunately for his villainous goals. Mahabharata show what happens to talented people who are rejected by the mainstream - they end up in the wrong hands. And in rage and frustration, they end up doing the undesirable.
In the Upanishads, it is said that it is an observer who creates an observation. It is one's attention that creates the world around him or her. Thus it is the eyes of the village deity that creates the village around him. Likewise, it is the eyes of the leader or manager that creates an organization around him or her.
It is important to understand that the eyes do not represent sight, in the literal sense. It is not so much about sight as it is about attention - attention to people around. A Manager needs to ask himself - Do he or she see what the employees see? Does he or she try and align his or her own vision to others or does he or she simply impose his or her own vision onto them?
Prioritizing Knowledge
It is said that Vishnu keeps Saraswati on his tongue. This makes Lakshmi jealous. She rushes towards him and plants herself in his heart. Vishnu knows that the fickle Lakshmi will leave as soon as Saraswati leaves his tongue. Thus to sustain Lakshmi, he needs Saraswati. Good leaders know that to sustain their business they constantly need to inspire, motivate people and at the same time,
invent new products and services that will delight the customer. It can be said that, Lakshmi will come into the company where Saraswati thrives.
Knowledge management systems, databases, research documents, patents are all tangible forms of Saraswati. A good manager focuses on them, rather than on account books. He or She ensures the Saraswati that is generated within the organisation constantly. In other words, by being Brahma who creates Saraswati, he remains Vishnu who sustains Lakshmi. However, with knowledge and wealth, comes power and arrogance. The belief then is that one is invincible and is capable of doing anything. When this happens, the organisation becomes naked and bloodthirsty Kali - provoking the manager to act rashly and indiscriminately, indifferent to all rules of conduct, thus making him or her think that he or she is above the law.
A good leader or manager recognises this problem rapidly and becomes Shiva. He has to destroy the rising ego and arrogance that blinds good judgement. He shuts his eyes and lies still, allowing the Goddess to dance on him but refusing to respond to her. Only then the Goddess becomes Gauri— dressed in green, she becomes maternal and affectionate, and with gentleness she requests Shiva to open his eyes and become Shankar, the benevolent, boon-bestowing, wise ascetic. Through mythology, the scriptures show how a good leader has to be fully sensitive to the corrupting influence of power — and try hard not to succumb to it.
Applying situational Tactics
Vishnu is the preserver of cosmic order. This often involves battling Asuras (conventionally understood as 'demons'). Every battle involves a different demon and so Vishnu takes different forms for each battle.
When Hiranayaksha dragged the earth under the sea, Vishnu took the form of a boar, Varaha, plunged into the waters, gored the Asura to death, placed the earth on his snout and raised the earth back to the surface. This confrontation was highly physical. Hiranakashipu was a different kind of Asura. He obtained a boon that made him nearly invincible: he could not be killed either by a man or an animal, either in the day or in the night, neither inside a dwelling nor outside, neither on the ground or off the ground, neither with a weapon nor a tool. To kill this Asura, Vishnu transformed himself into Narasimha, a creature that was half lion and half human, neither man nor animal completely. He dragged the Asura at twilight, which is neither day nor night, to the threshold, which is neither inside a house nor outside, placing him on his thigh, which is neither on the ground nor off, and disemboweled him with his sharp claws, which are neither weapons nor tools. This complex confrontation was highly intellectual; a battle of wits.
Then there was Bali, an Asura, who was so noble and so generous that his realm expanded beyond the subterranean realms to include the earth and sky. To put him back in his place, where he belonged, Vishnu took the form of a dwarf, Vamana, and asked him for three paces of land. When Bali granted this wish, the dwarf turned into a giant and with two steps claimed the earth and sky, shoving Bali back to the nether regions with the third steps. This battle involved not so much defeating the opponent as it did of transforming oneself.
A study of these avatars of Vishnu indicates a clear shift in war tactic. From Varaha to Narasimha to Vamana there is a shift from brute force, to brain rather than brawn and finally an exercise in outgrowing rather than outwitting. The demons are becoming increasingly complex - Hiranayaksha is violent, Hiranakashipu is clever and there is no real fault in Bali; his goodness disturbs cosmic balance. Each one forces Vishnu to change, adapt, and evolve. There is no standard approach; each approach is customized. What is significant is the shift from animal to human, from strength to cunning, from external drive to internal drive. A good leader and a manager also need to apply different tactics and strategies when dealing with problems in an organization.
Seeing the bigger and the smaller picture
Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth. And she is a whimsical goddess. No one can catch her. No one can contain her. But there is one direction she always moves - towards Vishnu. So to get wealth in one's life, perhaps one has to be like Vishnu.
Vishnu is the custodian of the world. At times, he is shown reclining on the coils of a serpent. At times, he is shown riding a bird. While seated on the serpent, he has Sarpa-drishti, or the serpent's view - a narrow and short-termed view of things. When he is riding the bird, he has Garuda-drishti, or the bird's view - a broad and long-termed view of things. In other words, Vishnu looks at both the big picture and the tiny details. He has a strategic view of things, across the board and over a long period of time as well as a tactical view of things, highly specific and for a limited period. Both these views exist simultaneously. This is a quality that perhaps draws Lakshmi to Vishnu.
In Garuda-dhrishti, Vishnu has a universal view of things; he knows how the universe will wax and how it will eventually wane. But in Sarpa-dhrishti, he works as Ram or Krishna in a particular context in a particular way, trying to solve a particular issue. The tactical view matters as much as the strategic view.
Inspiring and creating gods
The Grama-devata or the Grama-devi is a local name of a god in a local legend, worshipped by people of that location. But people will identify Grama-devata or Grama-devi with a more mainstream god like Shiva, Vishnu or Devi. Thus the deity becomes a local manifestation of the universal divine. That is why the polytheism of Hinduism is also monotheism; there is unity in diversity even in the realm of the divine.
While the universal divine is associated with lofty ideas like spiritual moksha (spiritual liberation), the Grama-devata and the Grama-devi are associated with more immediate material needs like job, marriage and children. Together the universal divine and the local deities satisfy all the needs of the community.
The CEO of an organization is like the universal divine - involved but distant. One rarely seems him or her expect when making an annual tour or during meeting. The local manager, by contrast, is the Grama-devata, the local deity, serving the immediate needs of the market. It is the Grama-devata who watches over his team and to whom the team turns to when there is a crisis.
Talent management is all about creating local deities, who satisfy local needs without losing alignment with the universal divine. And there can be several layers of Grama-Devatas, like the many deities of Hinduism known as IshtaDevata, Kula-Devata, Graha-Devata, Grama-Devata who satisfy the varying
needs of the individual, the family, the household and the village. It is by efficiently focusing and delegating work to subordinate; a manager can function smoothly and meet the needs of the organization.
Becoming Vishnu
Vishnu's shankh or conch-shell trumpet is blown to announce his presence on a battlefield. In Vedic times, this instrument was used by commanders to rally their troops. Warriors also used this to demonstrate their stamina before their enemies for blowing a conch-shell trumpet was a measure of lung-power and mind control. Every warrior in the Mahabharata from Krishna to Arjuna had his very own conch-shell. One can view the conch-shell as an instrument of COMMUNICATION. The first rule of leadership is to be an effective communicator. A manager's team must know who he or she is - his or her capabilities, vision and what he or she expect them to do, why and how this will
help in achieving the final desired objective. The competition also needs to know that leader is powerful and they must avoid confrontation. Unless one communicates, nobody is aware of their presence. 'Blowing one's own trumpet' and getting the thoughts across is necessary if anything needs to get done.
Vishnu's chakra or discus which whirs round his index finger is both a weapon as well as a symbol of life that Vishnu sustains. As a weapon, it strikes a target, trims the unwanted and undesirable elements like an electric saw. One can view the chakra as a symbol of REVIEW. A good leader's job does not end with communicating what he desires and what he expects from his team. He reviews their progress regularly by organizing daily meetings, weekly meetings, and monthly meetings. In these meetings, he checks what has been done and what has not been done. He ensures that the team has not drifted from the goal. He discovers what has worked and what has not. He identifies new creative thoughts and anticipates possible hurdles. This he does again and again. By the process of repetition, with each review, things get trimmed thus making the vision gets sharper and clearer so as to let a new horizon of possibilities emerge.
To keep the team on track, the traditional method is to use the system of reward and punishment discretely. Vishnu's carrot and stick approach of leadership is represented through his mace or gada and his lotus or padma. The mace is like a teacher's ruler, to punish those who do not do what they are supposed to do. The lotus rich with nectar and pollen, which attracts bees and butterfly, is for those who do what they are supposed to do and more. One he uses to strike down the rule/law/system breakers, other one he uses to reward the rule/law/system followers. Thus he keeps his team on the straight and narrow, ensuring they achieve what they set out to achieve together. The one ensures that errors are not repeated. The other ensures that best practices are always followed.
Proof of optimal tool usage comes when Vishnu, the leader, creates Vaikuntha, an organization which is stable and harmonious, where every individual thrives, where the team works in alignment, and where organizational goals are achieved to the satisfaction of all stakeholders.
Seeing different point of views
In the forest, Ram met an old lady called Shabari who invited him to a meal in her house and offered him her meager fare: berries she had collected in the forest. Lakshmana who followed his brother was horrified to see the Shabari taking a bite of the berry before passing them on to her brother. Sometimes, she did not even pass the berry; she just threw it away. "How dare you give leftover food to my brother?" Lakshmana snarled. "Do you know who he is? He is Ram, king of Ayodhya!" An embarrassed Shabari threw herself at Ram's feet and apologized for her mistake. Ram, however, hugged the old lady affectionately and reprimanded Lakshmana, "She acted in good faith." He explained that Shabhari's intention was not to give Ram leftover food. She was only taking a tiny bite of the berry to make sure she offered her guest only the sweetest and most succulent of berries. In her world, it was not considered inappropriate from giving tasted berries to guests. Her biting the berry was a mark of caring, not a sign of insult.
Lakshmana had judged the situation from his point of view based on his past experience in the palace. He assumed Shabari was insulting Ram. Ram, however, refused to be colored by his past experience. He looked at the situation from Shabhari's point of view and deciphered what she was really up to.
Mythology shows that while everyone can see a situation from one's own point of view, a good leader has the ability to see things from other's point of view. A leader accepts that his view is not the only view - certainly not the whole view and there are many people whose point of view matter. Thus looking different point of views is not only crucial but beneficial for manager. When he is about to take a decision he asks: How will this be perceived by other departments? How will it be perceived by the shareholders? How will it be perceived by customers? How will it be perceived by the media?
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADER AND ORGANIZATION
The cow and the cow-herd
In the Vishnu Purana, the earth takes the form of a cow and weeps before Vishnu, her guardian. "My back is broken and my udders are sore," she says, "I find the burden of kings unbearable. Their greed and ambition knows no bounds."
In response, Vishnu descends on earth and sets about killing kings - first as Parashuram, then as Ram and finally as Krishna. According to mythology, the earth-cow must be protected at any cost. The killing of the cow or Go-hatya is the worst of sins. When the cow dies, there is neither milk nor butter - thus no food and no livelihood. It is the end of the world.
The massacre of Kurukshetra, described in the Mahabharata, has its roots in the complaint of the earth-cow. In the great Indian epic, the Mahabharata, a question raised by Draupadi - "Does a man who has gambled himself have the right to gamble his wife? Does a king have the right to gamble his kingdom? What gives the Pandavas, in general, and Yudhishtira, in particular, the right to gamble his kingdom?"
One often forgets that an organization is a set of people, an organism - like a cow that gives milk. But to give milk, the cow needs nutrition, and one has to be patient for the milk, allow it time to graze, ruminate and gestate. The cow needs also to be loved. Beating a cow does not generate more milk. Yet while some leaders get so obsessed with the milk that they milk the cow till 'back is broken and udders are sore', others get so obsessed with the cow - in taking care of people - that they forget to milk the cow.
If the kingdom (organization) is a cow that gives milk, then the king (leader or manager) is the cowherd. That is the traditional model explaining the relationship of a king and a kingdom (a leader and an organization) in Hindu mythology. The king takes care of the kingdom and the kingdom nourishes him. He defends the kingdom and the kingdom empowers him. A cowherd cannot exist without a cow and a cow isn't safe without a cowherd. It's a symbiotic relationship. This is the essence of a king's role to protect the cow, help it produce more calves, enable her to multiply and thrive, and in the process create more cowherds. This is growth - growth for the cow and growth for the cowherd. A manager should treat the organization with care and respect for it to grow and give out benefits.
Mythology shows that only a myopic leader makes the cow cry. The point is to make the cow joyfully provide copious quantities of butter-rich milk for as long
as possible. And a wise leader always ensures there is enough milk for the calf, the next generation of employees, for no cow lives forever.
Different avatars for different times
The various imagery of Vishnu can be seen as the different roles that need to be taken by a leader in an organization.
The sleeping Vishnu alludes to the latent leader within all people that has not yet expressed itself. This latent leader is awaiting self-discovery or that the leader is preparing to lead. Before starting any project, a leader is Narayana - still, contemplating, making plans, thinking, observing, analyzing, preparing but not acting. While some leaders do not believe in planning at all, taking the plunge and handling problems without preparation, others plan too much and remain Narayana, sleeping, never waking up.
When Narayana wakes up, he becomes Vishnu and sits alert on the hooded serpent at first and then when creation begins and plans start to get operational and resources start getting mobilized, he leaps on the back of his eagle, Garuda that travels above the skies and beneath the seas. Garuda holds a serpent (time) firmly in his talons - indicating the sense of urgency that every project demands.
But this is not enough. Different situations are associated with different problems, each of which demands a different solution. In Mythology, it is shown through Vishnu's avatars -
1.
When the project is about rescuing an organization that is on the brink of collapse, he becomes the sensitive fish, Matsya, who navigates the boat full of life and wisdom to safety.
2.
When the project needs brainstorming and cooperation between opposing even hostile factions is crucial, he becomes the stabilizing turtle, Kurma, which holds aloft the spindle that can be used to churn the ocean of life.
3.
When there are many ideas floating around but no base on which they can be applied or implemented, he becomes the boar, Varaha, plunging into the depths of the sea, getting his hands dirty, and bringing up the foundation (land or venture capital or regulatory changes), which can nurture all ideas.
4.
When rules are established but there are many finding ways to slip between the rules, he becomes the dreaded Narasimha, part man, part lion, outsmarting the smart troublemakers and preventing any disruption within the organization.
5.
When people refuse to respect their respective roles in society, and like Asura Bali choose to occupy even the earth and the sky, i.e. more than the space allotted to them, he becomes Vamana, the dwarf who transforms into a giant and shoves the king of Asuras back to the nether regions where he belongs.
6.
When people break the rules, he rises up in righteous outrage as Parashurama, who abandoned the peaceful ways of a priest by raising the axe and hacking the law breakers to death.
7.
When rules continue to be broken, he as Rama tries to become the model king, and by upholding the law even at the cost of personal happiness, inspires people to do the same.
8.
When rules are upheld only ceremonially and not in spirit, he becomes Krishna, bending and breaking and redefining rules, choosing to be kingmaker rather than king.
9.
When intervention is pointless and the best way is to provoke selfrealization in the organization, he becomes the ascetic Buddha.
10.
Finally, when the situation is beyond repair, then he comes as Kalki, riding a white horse and brandishing a sword, systematically breaking down the existing system and preparing for a new cycle - a new organization.
It is crucial to note that there is no one way to be Vishnu. The situation decides what he needs to be i.e. it all depends on the context.
Underlying this theme is the notion that everything is cyclical and impermanent in Mythology. Organizations have to change because the world around them is changing and with change, leaders have to change their way. They have to decide whether they are expected to be Narayana or Vishnu or Ram or Krishna or Kalki and act accordingly. Parashurama was successful in his time; Ram was successful in his time. Sometimes the same situation can have two different forms of intervention depending on what one aspires to achieve. Thus while Krishna provokes the Mahabharata war at Kurukshetra, his elder brother, Balrama, who was also Vishnu according to some scriptures, chooses not to fight. The manager has to adopt different roles depending on what the organizational needs.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEADER AND EMPLOYEES
Between being Draupadi and Sita
Draupadi, the great heroine of the Mahabharata, never really chose her husbands. Her father, king of Panchala, had organized an archery contest and she was the prize. She thought she was marrying a Rishi with archery skills (the Pandavas were in disguise) and so it came as a pleasant surprise when the man who she married turned out to be a prince called Arjuna.
Just as Draupadi did not choose her husband, one does not get to choose his or her bosses. One has to find a way to work with the boss, not matter what for the sake of organizational progress. Failure to get along with bosses remains one of the main reasons for attrition. In Mythology parables, boss is considered to be like the husband and the subordinate or employee is like the wife. While it is sexist for it assumes a power play with the husband in a dominant position, but political correctness aside, `husband' and `wife' are functional role assignments that makes conceptual understanding easier. So while divorce is an option in the corporate world, it reeks of poor management skills, on the part of both, of the `husband' and the `wife'.
In deference to his mother's wishes, Arjuna agreed to share his wife with his four brothers. And so, Draupadi became the wife of the five Pandavas. The excuse given for this is that Arjuna obeyed his mother who, thinking her son had brought home a `fruit', asked him to share `it' with the brothers. But an implied reason for this is that the mother did not want a beautiful woman like Draupadi to spawn jealousy and rupture the bond between her five sons.
A talented individual in the corporate world, whether he likes it or not, does become a shared resource between many teams and many departments and it bodes him well to recognize he is a Draupadi with many `husbands' - all his superiors and colleagues. He has to manage all the `husbands' as Draupadi managed her five.
In the Vana Parva of the Mahabharata, Satyabhama, wife of Krishna, asks Draupadi, 'Most women can barely manage to get control of one husband; you have managed to secure the affections of all five. What is your secret? Is it magic? Is it a spell?' Draupadi replied, It is not magic. It is not spell. It is hard work. I wake up before them and sleep after them, and spend every waking hour taking care of them, serving them, solving their problem, meeting all their needs, making sure they want nothing else. It is I who manage their affairs. It is I who manage their cows, their servants, their fields, their forests, their treasury and their wealth. It is I who take care of their mother, their guests, their friends and their sons. I do everything they ask me to do. I do things for them even before they ask for it. With me around, they don't have to worry about anything. I never nag or complain. That is how I have managed to earn their devotion and their affection.
Draupadi made her husbands dependent on her. She was the reliable one, consistently trustworthy. With her around, they had to worry about nothing. It was with her by their side, the Pandavas gathered the courage to ask the Kauravas for their half of the family property. In exchange Draupadi got what she wanted: absolute control over the Pandava household; no other woman (as each Pandava had many wives) was allowed to live in their palace or enter her kitchen. A successful subordinate is like a Draupadi, who ensures that the boss does exactly as he wishes - all the while making the boss feel it is his decision.
Each of Draupadi's husbands had a different personality: Yudhishtira was selfrighteous, Bhima was volatile, Arjuna was insecure, Nakula was narcissistic and Sahadeva was intellectual. The fact that each one was devoted to her indicates she was successful in being what each one of them wanted her to be. She could not have done this if she behaved the same way with each one. She clearly flexed her style repeatedly, behaving in five different ways for the five very different brothers.
The Virata Parva is the chapter describing the final year of the forest exile, when the Pandavas and their common wife had to live disguised as servants in the palace of king Virata. In it, one discovers how Draupadi used the different personalities of her husbands to her advantage.
Virata's lout of a brother-in-law, Kichaka, publicly abused Draupadi but Yudhishtira, witness to his wife's humiliation, refused to help. Be prudent, he said, we cannot risk discovery till the year is over. Draupadi was not angry with her first husband; he had behaved predictably. She went to another husband who would avenge her humiliation. Not her favorite, Arjuna, who would never disobey the elder brother, but to the powerful Bhima. Bhima would, when goaded enough, do whatever Draupadi asked him to do, even kill Kichaka, or drink the blood of the Kauravas, paying little heed to Yudhishtira, or other such rules of social propriety.
Predictably, bosses will not see Draupadi as the ideal subordinate. No one would want an intelligent, manipulative and powerful subordinate. People always prefer a subordinate like Sita - the faithful and submissive wife of Ram, who endures all silently and never speaks against her husband. Draupadi, unlike Sita, screams when abused, who demands vengeance, who publicly humiliates her husbands when they do not come to her aid and who does not shy away
from telling her five husbands they have failed to satisfy her, individually or collectively. By drawing up characteristics from both, an employee needs to be like Draupadi, but always behave like Sita.
Relationship with the silent staff
For eighteen days, the Kauravas and the Pandavas fought on the plains of Kurukshetra. Hundreds of soldiers were killed on either side. In the midst, of the massacre one hears a heart-warming tale. Arjuna, the chief archer of the Pandava army, rode on a chariot pulled by four white horses. His charioteer was Krishna. At one point, in the middle of the war, Krishna said, "We have to stop Arjuna. The horses are tired. They need to rest and be refreshed. Shoot your arrow into the ground and bring out some water so that I can bathe and water the horses. Keep the enemy at bay with a volley of arrows while I do so." Arjuna did as instructed. He shot an arrow into the ground, released water and created a small pond where Krishna was able to tend to the horses. Standing on the chariot, Arjuna shot arrows and kept the enemies at bay while the horses rested. Refreshed, they were able to pull the chariot once again with renewed vigour.
The horses pulling Arjuna's chariot did not ask to be refreshed. Krishna sensed their exhaustion and made resources available so that they could be comforted.
Horses are a crude metaphor for those who make one's life comfortable but who do not have much of a voice when it comes to their own comfort. Often one forgets the 'horses' that help one navigate through their daily lives. In every office, especially in India, there are a whole host of people who keep the office running - the office boy, the canteen boy, the security guard, the drivers, the peons. This is the silent support staff. They take care of the 'little things' that enable us to achieve the 'big things'. A simple study of how organizations treat this silent support staff is an indicator of leadership empathy. Empathy from leader towards employees is essential in smooth and clear function of the organization.
Astrology for Answers
The stories in Mythology do not always have a clear didactic moral message. Many times it needs to be derived and applied creatively to a situation. Rather than focusing on the accuracy and truthfulness of story, focusing on the point or the significance of the story may help one in improving knowledge and life. It is similar with astrology. Astrology can be useful - not the content of astrology but the structure of astrology.
Astrology too has its roots in mythology. In Hindu mythology, at a very basic level, it is thought that Devas are good and Asuras are bad. However there are shrines all over India dedicated to the Nava-Grahas, the nine gods of Indian astrology consisting of Devas; their guru, Brihaspati; two Asuras, namely Rahu and Ketu; and their guru, Shukra. In all prayers and rituals, the two `demons'
are acknowledged and included as equals. All Grahas matter whether they are good or bad as they formed a team and none could be excluded.
Each Graha had a particular characteristic and this could not be changed. Like the Grahas, every member of a manager's team had a peculiar characteristic that did not change no matter how many times they were counseled or trained. Some can be like Surya, the sun, radiant, glorious, and attention grabbing. Some can be like the moon or Chandra, highly emotional, with moods constantly waxing and waning. Some can be aggressive like Mars or Mangal. Some can be sharp, intelligent, good in communication, but slippery like Mercury or Budh. The Jupiters or Brihaspatis are the rational, scientific, evidence driven and boring. The Venus or Shukras are sensual, creative, intuitive, creative and crazy. The Saturns or Shanis are exasperating - brilliant but cynical, hence lacking sense of urgency, testing patience. The Rahus of the team are the people who hide things, block ideas, thus creating darkness and spreading confusion. The restless and nervous Ketus are the people have no sense of direction. Like Grahas, the manager has to work with the traits of his or her people - either enhance them or neutralize them as the situation demanded.
Just as the sky is divided into Nakshatras (lunar houses) and Rashis (solar houses or zodiac signs), the organization is divided into departments. The finance, HR, marketing, sales, research, service, housekeeping departments can be seen as starry constellations inhabited by the Grahas. Just as a Graha exerts its influence on the house it occupies, and by doing so influences a person's fate, manager's team members exerted their influence on their respective departments and thereby affected the overall working of the organization. For instance, if the cashier is a Brihaspati then everything can be done systematically and rationally, but if he is a Shurka then the work is associated
with great ingenuity. However, a Shani cashier never would do things on time while a Ketu cashier will always be nervous and restless.
However, the question can never be which Graha was good for a job as there is no fixed answer - it all depends on the outcome desired and the role a department has to play. There were times one needed a Rahu heading a department to hide the actual goings on and many times when one needs a very transparent Surya. Initially a manager may want his or her promotions and plans to be managed by an aggressive Mangal who can get things done. Later he may need a more sensitive Chandra, who understood the needs of the consumer.
It is the situation that makes a Grahagood or bad. Thus Manager should know that any judgement on a person may be contextual pertaining to that situation in time and space. He or she needs to focus on analyzing situations and fitting people to problem at hand.
In astrology, great value is given to the relative position of Grahas to each other. Sometimes a Graha can enhance the power of another Graha and sometimes they can negate each other and sometimes the entire combination had an overall positive or negative effect. This is called yog, an understanding of which can help in designing teams. Manager needs to know that homogeneity is not the most effective solution. For instance, a team full of creative Shukras or full of detached Shanis led to disaster. Heterogeneity was critical but careful attention has to be paid to inter-team dynamics. Like for ideas, a manager needed creative Shukras but for implementation he needs an organized Brihaspatis. For negotiations, the intelligent and sweet talking Budh can help but for crowd management teams a manager can rely only on powerful Mangals.
Success then was a combination of several factors. Firstly, it is the nature of the Graha. Secondly, it is the house that was occupied by the Graha. Thirdly, it is the relative position of the Grahas. Finally, and most importantly, the problem at hand and the outcome desired. It is important to remember that no team could solve all problems.
Much of his success depended on manager's power of observation - his or her sense of people, relationships and situation. He or she needs to become Indra, the god of the sky, the one with a hundred eyes. The observation helps determine the role and responsibility of each person. It helps in determine the team composition. As a manager, it is his or her responsibility to take calls know who had to be leader and when.
Nevertheless, it is important for the manager to realize there was no great perfect horoscope with the perfect placement of Grahas. It was all contextual and it was all ever changing. Sometimes, despite all cautious moves, things went wrong. At those times, he or she needs to find someone always came up with an Upaay, that trick astrologers always have up their sleeve to counter the malevolent influence of any Graha to resolve any crisis.
This visualization of organization as the sky with fixed stars and floating Grahas, can help not only Managers from getting annoyed with the various people in the organization but in find a value in each one of them.
MANAGING OF ORGANIZATION AND EMPLOYEE
Importance and Consequences
Importance of Doorkeepers
It can be said that if Vishnu is the CEO, then his office is Vaikuntha, the ultimate paradise, a place where his every word is law and every wish a command. Anything that cannot be resolved elsewhere can only be resolved in Vaikuntha, making it a place where everybody would want to go to. Whether they are outsiders, from vendors to consumers, or kings of other kingdoms, who wish to explore opportunities, make alliances, settle disputes and manage threats, want to have an audience at Vaikuntha. Vishnu seems to welcomes all. At least he intends to.
It was in these times that great value was given to the position of the doorkeeper. Seated in the gatehouse, at the entrance of the king's citadel, it was his job to limit access to the king and filter out the undesirables. In time, these doorkeepers came to have a mythology of their own.
In a Shiva temple, for example, one is advised to acknowledge Nandi, the bull who sits before the deity, with a touch, or maybe an offering of flowers, and only then enter the main shrine. It is believed that it is important being in Nandi's good books, since he is always with Shiva and Shiva listens to whatever Nandi has to say.
Vishnu's Vaikuntha has two doorkeepers: Jaya and Vijaya. In art, they are visualized as looking exactly like Vishnu, perhaps as a reminder that one's
impression of the CEO, leader or manager often emerges from one's impression of his doorkeepers.
However, looking carefully at the images of Jaya and Vijaya in a traditional Vaishnava temple such as the temple of Tirupati Balaji in Andhra Pradesh, one will notice that while they look like Vishnu, holding a conch-shell and a discus, and a mace, but they usually do not hold a lotus. They also usually sport fangs like dogs or serpents. Thus the doorkeepers, while apparently like Vishnu (but not him), are not as welcoming - they are stern, keeping the unworthy out.
The story goes that once the four boy sages known as the Sanat Kumars went to Vaikuntha to meet Vishnu. But they were stopped at the door by Jaya and Vijaya on grounds that Vishnu was sleeping. The Sanat Kumars tried entering Vaikuntha three times and each time they were stopped on the same grounds. Since they looked like boys, the Sanat Kumars concluded that Jaya and Vijaya were not taking them seriously. They felt that they were not welcomed in Vaikuntha.
In fact they were convinced that the two were humouring the four of them. Annoyed, they cursed the doorkeepers that they would lose their exalted position and be reborn on earth as much hated demons known as Hiranayaksha and Hiranakashipu. The demon-like fangs of Jaya and Vijaya, say artisans, are a reminder of how scary they appeared to the boy-sages.
It is best that an aspiring leader or manager keep in mind that he or she has many Jayas and Vijayas of his own in the organization - be it the gatekeeper who lets in the cars or the receptionist in the lobby who shows in the guests or the secretary in the outer office who checks the appointments or the executive
assistant who churns out all the key documents just before the meeting or the admin-boy who serves tea to guests.
As seen from the story, each one of them has the power to make an impression about the leader depending on how they treat an outsider, be it a customer or visitor. It is this 'moment of truth' that makes or breaks an organization's image. A good manager needs to sensitive to this and must communicate the importance of 'Organizational image' to other - all the Jayas and Vijayas of the organization.
This is crucial as on earth, in Kali-yuga, the curse of the boy-sages may fall not on the doorkeepers but directly on the leader within Vaikuntha.
Managing Shiva
According to the Shiva Purana, Daksha-Prajapati sought worthy grooms for his many daughters, men of substance, gods who helped life on earth, like Indra, the rain-god or Agni, the fire-god. He was quite horrified therefore when his youngest daughter, Sati, of her own free will, chose a hermit as a husband - a naked, ash-smeared ascetic called Shiva who had dogs and ghosts as his
companions and who lived atop a snow-clad mountain. Upset that his daughter had married against his will, and that too to a person so unconventional, he broke all relations with her. When he decided to perform a grand yagna, he invited all his daughters and sons-in-law to the ceremony, but not Shiva or Sati.
The corporate world consist of many Daksha-Prajapatis, who in their eagerness to create collaborative working environments that work towards the corporate goal, include only 'appropriate grooms' in the team i.e. the people whose energies match theirs and who align to their way of working. They do not willingly let a Shiva in - the maverick, the iconoclast, the one who thinks differently, who seems condescending, cold, distant and at times even bizarre.
Daksha-Prajapati rejected Shiva because Shiva did not fit his definition of a god. Shiva here can be misunderstood for a contrarian - people who oppose for the sake of opposing or for a rebel or for an attention-seeker or someone who thinks he is too good to align with an existing way of being. But from another view point, Shiva simply marches to the beat of a different drummer. When he walks around smeared with ash, he is not mocking the gold-bedecked, silk-clad Vishnu. He is indifferent to worldly parameters of appropriateness.
The story goes that when Daksha-Prajapati refused to invite Shiva to his yagna, Sati flew into such a rage that she burnt herself to death in protest and disrupted the entire ceremony. A great confrontation followed where DakshaPrajapati and his guests saw the fury and power of Shiva. An uneasy peace was finally restored, with Daksha-Prajapati begging for forgiveness and Shiva withdrawing into his cave. No one was in doubt of Shiva's might anymore but it seemed too explosive to handle.
Like shown in Mythology, it is only in crisis that the value of a Shiva is realized. Crisis emerges when conventional ways of working and assumed solutions fail to deliver. When problems turn out to be out of the ordinary, one needs unconventional thinking or some who is unconventional in thinking - one needs a Shiva. A Shiva is the kind of person who can brings a fresh new perspective. He may innovate but not deliver. He may not as tuned as an entrepreneur to the value of his wisdom; or he may simply find the process of convincing others of the solution too much of an effort.
A crisis arose when the demon-king Taraka assumed power; the gods with all their conventional weapons were unable to destroy him. A warlord was needed, one who was fathered by Shiva. But before Shiva could father this great warrior, he had to be enchanted by a woman. For that he had to be made to open his eyes. So the gods used the standard solution - Kama, god of lust, was asked to shoot the arrow of desire into Shiva's heart. The plan backfired. Shiva found the effects of the arrow a disturbance; he simply opened his third-eye and set Kama aflame.
Many of us believe that we can recruit anyone into the team with promises of great pay packets and pompous designations. But such transactions do not work with a Shiva, he does not need money, he does not need his ego to be propped with high flying titles. That is what is most exasperating about a Shiva. He does not subscribe to any conventional pattern of thinking. To get him on board one needs a different approach.
The gods turned to Shakti, the Goddess, who took birth as Gauri, a mountain princess (or Kamakshi). She connected with Shiva not by arousing his senses or appeasing his ego, but by simply demonstrating her determination - she meditated on him without eating or sleeping, forcing him to appear before her. She then appealed to his compassion and surrendered to his wisdom. "Marry me," she said. He agreed, not even knowing what being a husband means, such was indifference to worldly ways. As wife, Gauri slowly initiated Shiva in the ways of the householder - gradually unlocking his power for the benefit of the world. Thanks to her, the gods got the divine warlord Kartikeya who helped them destroy Taraka.
With Gauri by his side, Shiva became Shankara. While as Shiva, he was silent and still, with both eyes firmly shut, as Shankara, he spoke and danced, and opened his eyes. He heard the cries of his devotees and responded to them. He became the benevolent easy-to-please boon-giver. He was no longer distant.
As seen, Gauri realized that while many people followed Shiva, he was no leader. He could not be expected to collaborate with the team or motivate people or drive them towards a goal. He was raw energy, neither positive nor
negative, with no opinion either way. Realizing this, rakshasa like Ravana exploited both his power and his innocence until Gauri came along. Gauri succeeded where Daksha-Prajapati and Kama had failed.
From a managerial perspective, Daksha-Prajapati is the authoritarian who demands alignment to a system. Kama is a friend, an enchanter, a charmer, who convinces one to willingly become part of the system. However, Gauri out here is a person who realized that force fitting or seducing Shiva into a system would only lead to disaster - eventually he would withdraw or create havoc. Therefore, even though she was his wife, she allowed Shiva to remain the wandering mendicant he was. Without changing his core personality, she was able to channel his genius for the benefit of the world through understanding, determination, perseverance and intelligence.
It can be said that everyone is a Shiva to a great extent, who function best when allowed to be oneself. However, over time one needs to become Shankaras, gradually getting drawn into the system, connecting and working with others, becoming part of teams and common visions. Some Shankaras even become Vishnus - totally assimilated to the ways of the world. A good leader is the one who knows the value of diversity, needs to ensure that his organization has the whole range of people - many Vishnus, a large number of Shankaras and a few Shivas.
Differentiating between Sudama and Arjuna
A good leader needs to be sensitive to the people he or she is leading. Often, he needs to understand the 'unstated needs' of others and help them in fulfilling it. There are two stories in Mythology which show this -
Krishna had a childhood friend called Sudama. While Krishna grew up to be a great warrior and lord of the city of Dwaraka, Sudama remained a poor priest. Desperate for some wealth, Sudama paid Krishna a visit in Dwaraka. But on reaching there he felt too embarrassed to ask for anything. He simply gave his friend a packet of puffed rice, which was all he could afford, and claimed he just wanted to see his old friend. Krishna sensed his friend's need and very silently ensured that when Sudama returned home he found his house overflowing with wealth, much to his delight and surprise.
In the Mahabharata, Krishna had another friend called Arjuna, who had to fight a great war against his cousins. Just before the fight, Arjuna lost his
nerves. The thought of killing his own relatives, however justified, horrified him. He did not know what to do. He creatively started stating the ethical and moral dilemmas in killing and in war. It was here that Krishna sang the song now known as the Bhagavad Gita. The words of the song addressed Arjuna's core issues, cleared his mind, clarified his doubts, enabled him to raise his bow and fight the enemy with conviction.
Neither Sudama nor Arjuna was explicit about what they wanted. But Krishna sensed what they needed. More importantly, Krishna knew what to give to whom wealth to Sudama and wisdom to Arjuna. When employees approach a leader, they come expecting to receive something - sometimes it is something that cannot be explicitly stated. It needs to understand that it is often embarrassing for people to openly admit that they are having issues. A leader has to be sensitive enough to figure out what exactly they are seeking and respond accordingly.
Strategies and Methods
The story of Shiva becoming Shankar shows the importance of managing particular employees in an organization. However, this story can also be seen to from a marketing perspective communicating the idea of effective and innovative persuasion.
When all the gods, Devas and Asuras realized that unless Shiva gets married, the world would be destroyed, the question on everyone's mind was - How does one get an ascetic like Shiva to change his mind?
This question is similar in asking - How does one get a consumer to buy his or her product? How does one get the employee to stick to his or her company? Every customer - external or internal - is actually Shiva, with the power to destroy the organizational product or service through indifference. The solution likes in the method employed in opening their eyes - not the third eye of detachment, but the two eyes of interest.
The most common approach is the Kama approach. Kama is the love-god who shoots arrows that will spawn desire in the heart of hermits. Throughoutmythology, Kama is sent by Devas to seduce Rishis like Vishwamitra with Apsaras (nymph) like Menaka. This approach means stirring the most primal instincts of man - hunger, greed, lust.
Applying it in management, this Kama approach works when one visualizes the customer as a Rishi who aspires to be a Deva, constantly craving for the next best deal. Arrows shot by Kama are the metaphor for incentives, discounts or perks. Like Apsara, they offer instant gratification, and if the customer takes it, then the approach is considered successful.
However, this approach is can only be effective in short term. Sooner or later, there will be another Apsara in the market - a competitor offering a lower price or a higher pay packet. The Rishi (customer) who was seduced by one can easily be seduced by another as lust can never create loyalty.
Kamakshi is the name given to Parvati, princess of the mountains, in South India. In the East, the name given to her is Kamakhya. She holds all the symbols of Kama - the parrot, the sugarcane, the lotus flower - but while there are no temples dedicated to the love-god, Kamakshi is worshipped as the Goddess. She is the one who got Shiva to marry her.
In the Kamakshi approach, one visualizes the target not as Deva, a common god, but as Maha-Deva or God, (spelt with a capital G). The difference is that this God refused to be fall for Kama's tactics - he opened his third eye and reduced Kama to ashes. But it is important to remember that in the end, he did marry - not an Apsara, but Kamakshi, she who contains Kama in her glance.
Kamakshi's approach was radically different from Kama's as she appealed not the base instinct of Shiva but to his higher instincts - his head and his heart. Conventional thinking is that the world thrives when there is discontentment, that desire fuels market growth. But Kamakshi thought differently.
Kamakshi knew that Shiva was beyond lust - no dance or seduction would arouse him. She wondered if there was anything else beside self-gratification that would make him open his eyes and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that beneath the indifference there lurked infinite compassion. She decided to tap into it. She wanted Shiva not to reject human imperfection but to be tolerant of it. She demonstrated her intention by subjecting herself to great
penance, standing on one foot and meditating, fasting, not sleeping, immersing herself for days in cold river water, and exposing herself to the elements. Eventually, sensing her integrity, shaken by her determination, Shiva came to her and agreed to do whatever she asked of him. `Be my husband,' she said. Shiva could not say no. Kamakshi wanted him to marry neither for her pleasure, nor for his, but to save the world from destruction. Kamakshi thus got Shiva to open his eyes not in lust, but in love.
While Kama thinks of Shiva as a prey to be struck down by an arrow, Kamakshi approaches Shiva with awe and reverence. Kama believes in instant gratification but Kamakshi thinks of lifelong loyalty. In the Kama approach, the focus is on lust (price / incentive) rather than the bride (product / organization) or the groom (consumer / employee). In the Kamakshi approach, focus is firmly on the bride and the groom.
A good manager needs to ask what the groom seeks in the first place. Answering this, he needs to ask what does the bride (product) actually offer and why. It is important to know if there be a true wedlock between the two - bride and groom otherwise it just a casual affair that would fade away with time. This means actually looking at the soul of Shiva, not just his senses. This could be done by less focus on trimming the cost and more on consumer insights and employee feedback.
Cynics will argue in business it all comes down to money. However to capture the soul of the market, one cannot look only at tangible cues - Loyalty and branding go beyond the monetary value of the organization. It can only be sensed and always remain abstract. Mythology shows that by falling into the Kama-trap reduces Maha-Deva into Deva. One may loose out on attracting and retaining customers or employees in the long term.
Management Institutes applying mythology in their business practices
Introduction
In post modern world (1990 and beyond), the art of Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in Government. As the concept of applying mythology in management is relatively new, few personalities and institutes are setting new trends through by focusing on how the complexities of the modern management system can take lessons from our Indian scriptures - Be it the Arthasashtra or the Ramayana or the Mahabharata, they are a store house of management knowledge and wisdom. These companies show the relevance of the lessons from the scriptures in the 21st century as paradigms of management implicit in them are not objects of archives but living lessons for generations to come, without over sighting the fact that they at best supplement or support existing principles for practices of management
Many university professors have acknowledged this method of learning management and are using it to teach students. Lessons of Hindu epics Ramayana have formed part of teaching on leadership, management and governance at prestigious institutions like the Wharton Business School of the USA, the Indian Business School of Hyderabad and many Indian Institutes of Management. Professor Rajeshwar Upadhyaya, for instance, has included examples from Ramayana and other Hindu epics in a course on "Leadership lessons from world literature" that he has taught as a member of the visiting faculty at the Wharton School and the Indian School of Business.
"Students of business and administration can learn a lot from the Indian epics," says Prof C Panduranga Bhatta of IIM, Calcutta, in his research paper on "Management of Power: Lessons from the Ramayana", published in a book on Leadership and Power Ethical Explorations published by the Oxford University Press. Dr Jinesh Panchali of the Indian Institute of Capital Markets agrees. "In India, governance has been extensively discussed in our epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Kautilya's Arthasashtra highlighting the relationship between society, polity and business," he pointed out in a paper on 'Corporate Ownership and Performance' read at the Seventh Capital Markets Conference held in Mumbai. There are many modern management concepts such as E.Q., MBO, Kaizen, strategic planning, organizing principles and etc where its origin can be traced from Valmiki's Ramayana," he asserts.
While this approach in understanding management is picking up a pace, one company which pioneers in apply mythology in management is Future Group, India's largest retail company. "Indians are led by emotions, unlike people in the West, who are driven by reason," says Kishore Biyani, chairman of the Future Group. . "Not all the Western management models of standard operating procedure fit us. So the question was - How do we create management practices that are grounded in our rich repository of stories and rituals?" The ideation and implementation this approach can be single-handedly credited to Devdutt Pattanaik, whose designation is 'Chief Belief Officer' in the company.
Though a medical doctor by education and now a leadership consultant by profession, he is a mythologist by passion. He has written and lectured extensively on the nature of sacred stories, symbols and rituals and their relevance in modern times. Pattanaik is confident about the benefits of this approach for company's future. "I'd like to design a new framework for management based on ideas that emerge from Indian mythology. My job, after
all, is to align beliefs. Once belief enters, business will happen. It has to happen," he says.
Sanjay Jog, the Chief People Officer in Future Group's says: "People are always asking about whether these methods have boosted profits or helped attract more business, but that's not the point. The day we measure everything in terms of money, that's the day we cease to have soul."
Method or technique of application
The Vikram & Vetal Training Method
One of the methods developed by Future group for training employees is called 'The Vikram& Vetal Method of Training', which is based on a collection of Sanskrit tales known as Vetal-pachisi, the twenty five tales of the ghost. It is gradually becoming the preferred method of training in Future Group.
The tales speak of a king, Vikramaditya, who is asked by a sorcerer to fetch him a ghost from a crematorium. The only way to fetch a ghost is to keep one's mouth shut while transporting the ghost back. But the ghost is very clever and determined to escape; he tells the king a story and at the end of it asks a question. "Answer the question, Vikramaditya!" he challenges the king, "If you keep your mouth shut despite knowing the answer your head will burst into a thousand pieces. If you don't know the answer, then you are not fit to be a king. You might as well take me to the sorcerer who will use me to destroy you."
The structure of the tales clearly follows the case study method of teaching management. A case study is a story of a problem faced by a company. Management students who try to solve the company's problem are doing what the Vetal is asking Vikramaditya to do - solve the puzzle, answer the riddle, prove that he is worthy of being a king. For a king or a leader or a CEO, is a problem solver, the one who can take a call when faced with a tricky situation.
Indians have not realized the wisdom of their traditional stories - they were used by teachers to transform boys into men. Today, they typically refer to these tales, rather patronizingly, as children's tales, and never look beyond its
entertainment value. But Kishore Biyani, the CEO of Future Group has been a great believer of storytelling in general and Indian tales in particular. He has been pushing his team to think in this direction, which has finally fructified in this training method.
In the 'Vikram& Vetal method of training' followed at the Future Learning and Development centers, the trainer is not supposed to answer questions. He does not give gyaan (knowledge). He is a Vetal, a ghost, who has nothing to do with the business. The imagery of hanging upside town is a metaphor for having a topsy-turvy view of all things. He questions everything, and provokes the students into insight. The trainers believe that knowledge works best when taken, rather than given. Thus the king has to come to the ghost; the ghost must never go to the king.
In fact, the training room is like a smashan bhumi, the crematorium, where the king has to come to fetch the ghost. A crematorium is chosen as it is not a productive space - those who attend the training session are not generating business on the shop floor. This is to acknowledge that the training room is not a revenue generating space. However, if the Vetal in the crematorium is able to provoke the students into becoming Vikramadityas, then those who return to the kingdom (organization) from the crematorium will be great kings (leaders), people who can take brilliant revenue-generating and loss-preventing calls in the retail environment.
Fundamental to the 'Vikram& Vetal method of training' is the core Future group value of respect for people. The tendency in many training methods is treat people, especially the floor staff, as empty vessels into which knowledge has to be poured and once poured, will be retained forever. This approach does not respect the intelligence and imagination of the participants. A lot of
learning, especially in the retail space, is common sense emerging from a sensitive eye. Training is supposed to invoke this common sense and harness the sensitive eye.
One needs to be trained not to be like Arjuna (those who keep shooting arrows of arguments, but never do anything) or like Bhima (those who find glory in absolute obedience and refuse to think) or like Duryodhana (those who pretend to understand but do not deliver), but to be like Sahadeva (who knows all answers but speaks only when asked) and like Vikramaditya (the wise king who could take calls).
Another application of mythology is in rituals followed. Sanjay Jog, Chief People Officer of Future Group, says that relationships at an Indian workplace are of utmost importance, as is the joint family.
"So we created a definition of a store manager as a karta, or the head of a joint family," Jog says. "We told the store managers that their jobs were to create happiness, for both the employees and the customers, and to look out for the interests of the family as a whole. At every store opening, we have a ceremony appointing the karta, with his/her spouse and employees present. Almost every manager I have seen is in tears by the end of the ceremony, even the highly educated, hard-bitten ones. Rituals such as these may appear small, but they foster a sense of community."
Result
When asked about the effectiveness of this mythology based management approach towards business, Jog stated that 'fables and tales from mythological texts succinctly explain a theoretical sounding management concept, something that a 20-page case study from the Harvard Business Review would labour to get across.'
"Biyani has great intuition about the intuitive sense of India. What I have is a vocabulary. We clicked because our understanding of Indian-ness matched," says Pattanaik, who believes that Indian businesses are aping the west by putting too much emphasis on "processes" over intuition and culture. "You cannot standardize a smile. Similarly, you cannot standardize service for a country as diverse as India," he adds.
The diversity of India—in terms of religion, culture and economic power —is something that the Future Group tracks closely and, thereby, profits from. That is why a Big Bazaar store in Sangli (Southern Maharashtra) organizes a kumkum ceremony for its women clientele. Another store in Mumbai Central is the only store in that stocks burqas as the area has a significant Muslim population catchment. The store organizes an iftaar party during the holy month of Ramzan.
"Women in Northern India would hate it if a shop-floor assistant stared over their shoulder or tried to help them. On the other hand, a maami in Tamil Nadu would probably love it if a sales person tagged along holding her shopping cart," says Jog. "One system, one process doesn't work for the country. Therefore, it makes sense to work on beliefs and culture."
The problem of looking result is that one assumes to look for tangible evidence to be compared and analyzed. But it is important to remember that the notion behind this approach goes beyond monetary profits. It is used to get people to understand and apply the management in their personal and work life by using wisdom and knowledge derived from mythology, so as to better themselves and the organization. Stories have the power of communicating ideas, concepts and philosophies not just in an entertaining way but in a retainable way, from which lessons can be deduced. Devdutt Pattanaik believes that people are more inclined to apply the lessons, if told in a story form. He gives an example by telling of the age-old tale of Kalia the snake.
Legend has it that Kalia the snake lived in a lake outside Mathura. The snake was so venomous that it poisoned the whole lake. When Krishna subdues the snake and asks him why he is afraid to move, Kalia says that he is afraid of being eaten up by Garuda the eagle, who is hovering outside. So, Krishna assures Kalia safe passage and all's well again.
Pattanaik narrated this story and interpreted it as a case for change management. Kalia does not move because he is afraid to leave the familiarity of his comfort zone, and ends up poisoning the whole lake. So, it's important he moves.
Moral of the story - Change might be tough and scary, but if one does not, he or she will take everybody down with him or her. "When Pattanaik narrated the story, the rationale for change management was clear to every person in the organization," says Jog.
Conclusion
Though this is a new upcoming trend in many management institutes, critics might argue that workplaces, worldwide, are moving towards becoming secular environs, antiseptic offices, which, in a perfect world, should be as far away as possible from religion and mythology. While these points may seem valid or reason at first, one needs to remember a couple of points. Firstly, it's not a perfect world so new innovative ways should be welcomed. Secondly, this approach is just being practiced in India - it has already been used by Multinational companies from last century. Nike is the name of the Greek goddess of strength, speed and victory. Apollo, Amazon, Delphi, Mars, Odyssey and Olympus are a few brands that are named after popular mythological characters. The Future Group and other university are simply taking mythology to another level.
However, Devdutt Pattanaik stresses that these are not only parable with morals to be drawn from them, but simply ways in which people can see themselves, and their roles in their organizations. He believes that in some cases, the courses may also have practical benefits - ad agencies, for example, can use them to understand consumer behavior.
Everyone is exposed to mythology in form of stories, symbol or ritual in their lifetime. Thus this can be a perfect tool to be used in understanding people and how to work with them - which is the very definition of management.
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