Devesh Bhatt - LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES FROM MYTHOLOGY

LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES FROM MYTHOLOGY : 

LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES FROM MYTHOLOGY Devesh Bhatt

1) Leadership principle of Ram : 

1) Leadership principle of Ram Hanuman once narrated the entire Ramayan to his mother, Anjani. After the narration, she sought a clarification. “You are so strong that with a flick of a tail you could have destroyed the whole of Lanka, killed Ravan and rescued Sita. Why did you not do so? So much effort and time would have been saved – you would not have had to build a bridge to Lanka, you could have avoided the war. Why did you not do that?”

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“Because Ram never asked me to do all these things”

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So whatever Ram told, Hanuman did that only. Because Ram was a TRUE LEADER.

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So whatever the leader (Ram) says, the worker (Hanuman) has to do that only and should never oppose a leader.

2) Leadership principle of Hanuman : 

2) Leadership principle of Hanuman Hanuman does not hold any great position. He is just one of the many monkeys Ram encounters in the forest. He is not Sugriva, leader of the monkey troop. He is not Angad, who is told to lead the band of monkeys searching for Sita. He is not Jambavan, the bear who is the general secretary of monkeys. He is not Nila, the monkey, who is given the responsibility of building the bridge He is projected as an obedient follower who, through his intelligence, strength and courage, wins the admiration of Ram and emerges as one of the most revered characters of the tale and a god in his own right.

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Hanuman had all the skill sets to match those of Ram, perhaps he was muchstronger and more able than Ram

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Perhaps the same is the case in a Leader-worker relationship. A worker (Hanuman) may share closeness with the leader, be more capable, but he cannot expect to have the same place as his leader, or aspire the same seat. He has to have a different path to choose for himself.

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What is the result????? Today there are more temples of lord Hanuman in the whole world than lord Ram. And thus hanuman has emerged as a great leader in His true sense and in the eyes of public.

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And thus by this theory of faithfulness, obedience and simplicity of each and every worker like Hanuman, every worker will be emerged as a great leader in the eyes of public.

SUCCESS WITHOUT EITHER IS NOT POSSIBLE : 

SUCCESS WITHOUT EITHER IS NOT POSSIBLE

DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS : 

DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS CEO(LEADER) The CFO knows where investments have been made and where the returns have come from. Knowledge of the customers, their needs, the impact of products and services, the competitive scenario and the opportunities out there rests with the HSM. CFO(YAMA) HMS(KAMA)

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unfulfilled desire (the red earth before the rain) fulfilled desires (the green earth after the rain)

KAMA : 

KAMA He is the primal god who makes things possible and provides the force that shifts things out of inertia. In an organisation, either the leader or the HSM is supposed to be Kama, inspiring and motivating people , making them see possibilities, provoking them to realise the potential within themselves and in the market

YAMA : 

YAMA Yama is always accompanied by his dispassionate accountant, Chitragupta , who maintains a meticulous record of karmic events.

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The CFO has the unfortunate role of Yama. the one who never smiles, who constantly measures everything and reminds all of their debts. An organisation can also be dominated by the Yama principle: a place where everything has to be accounted for, where all actions are tracked and evaluated and nothing is left to the imagination.

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He is the cosmic debt-collector , with an impassive face. It is an organisation where everybody comes on time and leaves on time, where systems and processes govern all things, where the smallest expense is accounted for.

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A good leader needs both Kama and Yama to succeed. Sometimes, a leader has one or the other quality. He is either highly passionate visionary with poor organizational skills or he is a meticulous record keeper, good in operations but terrible when it comes to inspiring and selling. In this case, he needs to ensure that his team makes up for what he lacks. A good organization cannot run without one of the two wheels.

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Typically, start-ups are Kama organisations. But as an organisation grows, Yama takes over.

EYES OF LEADER : 

EYES OF LEADER

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God may be an abstract concept but the common man needs a tangible form for this abstract concept. Deities as rocks : too impersonal. To make it personal, in many shrines, one thing is done – the rock is given eyes, large petal shaped eyes, usually of metal. In temples, the ritual that transforms an ordinary statue into a deity is called the ‘eye-bestowing ceremony’.

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What is so special about the eye? What does the eye do? And why is the eye equated with life?

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With the appearance of the eye, the stone becomes sentient – it can sense, it can see, it can respond to the world in front of it. 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.

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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.

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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 is publicly disrobed and lands are grabbed by force.

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A leader must see his people. He must recognize them for who they are, rather than what he wants them to be. More often than not, leaders don’t have eyes – or rather they see only themselves. This lack of eyes strips them of all empathy. Everything is measured and valued against their own vision.

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Intellectual leaders Emotional leaders Task oriented leaders

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The ability to recognize and nurture talent is often missing in people who are assumed to be leaders by their respective organizations. Some leaders, recognize talent but do not know what do with it. Others, envious of talent, reject or ignore them deliberately.

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The character Karna in the Mahabharata:

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Karna was always seen as a charioteer’s son and never as a great archer by the Pandavas. Only Duryodhana who saw Karna’s talent but used him unfortunately for his villainous goals. This is 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.

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In the Upanishads, it is said that it is an observer who creates an observation. Thus it is the eyes of the village deity that creates the village around him. Likewise, it is the eyes of the leader that creates an organization around him. We want the gods to see us and pay attention to us. Do we see people around us and pay attention to them? Do we see what they see? Do we try and align our vision to theirs or do we simply impose our vision onto them? It is time for leaders to open their eyes to these questions.

SHABARI’S POINT OF VIEW : 

SHABARI’S POINT OF VIEW

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In the forest, Ram met an old lady called Shabari and offered him her meager fare berries she had collected in the forest. Lakshman who followed his brother was horrified to see the Shabari taking a bite of the berry before passing them on to her brother. “How dare you give leftover food to my brother?” Lakshman said.

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An embarrased Shabari threw herself at Ram’s feet and apologized for her mistake. Ram, however, hugged the old lady and said “She acted in good faith.”

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He explained that 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.

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Lakshman had judged the situation from his point of view. While everyone can see a situation from one’s own point of view, a good leader has the ability to see things from others point of view.

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Ram and Shabari are not on the same awareness level. Shabari is forest-dweller, unexposed to the ways of the world while Ram is educated, well-traveled, and hence more aware of the ways of the world.

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The burden of being sensitive to the other therefore falls on Ram, not on Shabari. Sensitivity is a prerequisite to leadership.

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We just don’t want to make the effort of taking a 360 degree view of the situation. Leadership is not about the self, it is about others.

Leadership principlefromFour Tools of Vishnu : 

Leadership principlefromFour Tools of Vishnu

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SANKH Instrument of Communicator First rule of leadership – To be an effective communicator Your team must know – Who you are. What your capabilities are. What your vision is. What you expect them to do.

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CHAKRA Symbol of Review. Good leader review their progress by Organizing - daily meetings, - weekly meetings, - monthly meetings. In this meetings, he checks what has been done & what has not been done. He ensures that the team has not drifted from the goal.

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MACE OR GADA Symbol of punishment To punish those who do not do what they are supposed to do. Good leader should use this approach for rule/law/system breakers

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LOTUS OR PADMA To reward those who do what they are supposed to do. Good leader should use this for the rule/law/system followers.

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Thus by using this principle a good leader can keep his team on the straight and narrow, ensuring they achieve what they set out to achieve together. Good leader should reward the team in times of success and punish them in times of failure.

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Proof of optimal tool (principle) usage comes when the leader creates an organization which is stable & harmonious, where every individual thrives, where the team works in alignment and where the organizational goals are achieved.

Case studies – AVATARS : 

Case studies – AVATARS

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NARAYAN – Sleeping form of Vishnu - Still – Absence of movement - Serpent- Adi Shesha & ananta Shesha Leader - Not planned - Some plan too much & remain Narayan - sleeping Moment before creation Still Contemplating Making plans Thinking Observing Analysing Preparing But not acting.

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Completion of thinking & planning

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Vishnu Sitting on serpent On Garuda

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Different situations are associated with different problems each of which demand a different solution. Hence the avatars

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MATSYA - When the project is about rescuing an organization that is in the brink of collapse, he becomes the sensitive fish, who navigates the boat full of life and wisdom to safety. VARAH - When there are many ideas floating around but no base on which they can be applied or implemented, he becomes the boar, 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 nuture all ideas. KURMA - When the project needs brainstorming and cooperation between opposing even hostile factions he becomes the stabilizing turtle, which holds aloft the spindle that can be used to churn the ocean of life.

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NARA-SIMHA - When rules are established but there are many finding ways to slip between the rules, he becomes the dreaded Nara-Simha, part man, part lion, outsmarting the smart troublemakers and preventing any disruption within the organization. PARASHURAM - When people break the rules, he rises up in righteous outrage as Parashuram, abandoning the peaceful ways of a priest who raises the axe and hacks the law breakers to death. VAMAN - When people refuse to respect their respective roles in society, when Asuras choose to occupy even the earth and the sky, more than the space allotted to them, he becomes the dwarf who transforms into a giant and shoves the king of Asuras back to the nether regions where he belongs.

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RAM - When rules continue to be broken, he as Ram tries to become the model king, and by upholding the law even at the cost of personal happiness, inspires people to do the same. BUDDHA -When intervention is pointless and the best way is to provoke self-realization in the organization, he becomes the ascetic Buddha KRISHNA -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.

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KALKI - When the situation is beyond repair, then as Kalki, riding a white horse and brandishing a sword, he systematically breaks down the existing system and prepares for a new cycle – a new organizations.

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When you are going to office today, ask what avatar today’s situation demands. And while doing that be a Narayan for tomorrow. 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 Narayan or Vishnu or Ram or Krishna or Kalki and act accordingly. Parashuram was successful in his time, Ram was successful in his time. CONCEPTS

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Thank you.