Management lessons – Indian Epics

Understanding Resource Utilization & Successful Delegation from Mahabharata war

Knowing the SWOT of your available resources can give you optimum utilization of your resources.

Delegation is a win-win when done appropriately, however, that does not mean that you can delegate just anything.
Kurukshetra war gives you a perfect lesson on both of the above. No wonder, Mahabharata is also known as the 5th Veda! It’s been said, those who read the epic Mahabharata, they get the knowledge and wisdom of all the 4 Vedas – Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva Veda’s. Rishi Vyas, knew, that 4 vedas would be difficult for common man to understand and that’s why he wrote Mahabharata.
On the Kaurava’s side, nobody wanted the war except Duryodhana. Kaurava’s had best of the resources like Bhishma, Drona, Karna, etc – all Maharathi’s. They did not wanted to be a part of war, but still had to.

Though, Kaurava’s side consisted best, but their motives were distributed. No common goal. Were just there for the sake of the being in the war.

Let’s look at few characters from Kauravas side:
Bhishma – He won’t kill the Pandavas, they are his grandchildren
Drona – He won’t kill Pandavas (his students)
Shalya – He was the maternal uncle of Pandavas and secretly helped them by acting as a spy. He also demotivated Karna in the battlefield.
Karna – Promised not to kill any Pandava except Arjuna.

So as you see, Kauravas are nothing but a directionless team of traitors. A team without any GOAL, fighting cluelessly. No organization.

Pandavas had a common goal but they intelligently divided the responsibilities. They had an agenda and they picked the right man for the right job.

Dhratsadyumna – Drona.
Shikhandi: Bhishma.
Satayaki – Bhurisrava.
Arjuna – Karna.
Bhima – Duryodhana and his brothers.
Sahadeva – Shakuni and his sons.
Nakula –Karna’s sons.
Support system – Virat, Drupad, Chedi, Magadh, Kasi, Matsya and Naga king.
Krishna – Saarthi, Crisis manager, Advisor, Mentor.
A great example of proper resource utilization. The right team is made by selecting the right Individuals. Get the right man for the right job. Have a common goal, but divide the goal into sub-goals and delegate it to the right individuals.

Understanding mergers and acquisitions from Kauravas and Pandavas

December 5, 2014 RimpleSanchla Management lessons - Indian Epics Management Mantra post

Hastinapur was the greatest empire of its time and the presence of Bhishma & Drona guaranteed the Victory of Kauravas (100 brothers) in Kurukshetra. Both the parties are going Kingdom to Kingdom for campaigning to become their allies. Kauravas, in their own world and pride did not make powerful allies except from old relations like Gandhara (Shakuni), Sindhu (Jayadrath), Kambodia (Camboja – Bhagadutta). Kauravas had enough of resources in terms of wealth, army, cavalries, elephants.
Krishna was not a king, but he had well-trained army with over 10,000 men who have been great assets in previous campaigns.
Before the war there came a situation, where Krishna was approached to become an ally, by both Duryodhan and Arjuna. Arjuna asked for Krishna and Duryodhan was happy to receive Krishna’s army.
Pandavas on the other hand did not have wealth so they focused on making powerful allies.

Panchal through marriage with Draupadi.
Dwarka through marriage with Arjuna and Subhadra.
Magadh through marriage of Sahdeva and Vijaya.
Chedi through marriage of Nakula and Karenmayi.
Kasi through marriage of Bhima and Balandhara.
Kekaya through marriage of Yudhisthira and Devika.
Matsya through marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttara.
The Rakshasas through marriage of Bhima and Hidimba.
The Nagas through marriage of Arjuna and Uloopi.
The kingdom of Virat – Arjuna saved Virat from Kauravas while disguised as Brihannala

Kauravas army and cavalry was too huge compared to that of Pandavas. Still Kauravas lost the war.
Pandavas chose powerful leaders. Krishna was a great asset. Krishna’s army was an asset only till Krishna provided his leadership. It’s not just the skills but knowledge, strategy and alertness plays a key role in winning any game!
Network with people and expand your reach. Connect with people who will fight with you because you share a similar cause.

Importance of Decision Making & context in Management

December 4, 2014 RimpleSanchla Management lessons - Indian Epics Management Mantra post

In the epic Mahabharata, Bhishma (Devavrata) took the vow of lifelong celibacy and service to whoever succeeds the throne of his father – King of Hastinapur, Shantanu. Thus sacrificing his ‘crown-prince’ title and denying himself the pleasures of conjugal love.

He took an immediate required Decision and the context was father’s happiness.

Who knows what future has stored in! His brave and bold decision turns out to be fatal. His step mother, Satyavati, gives birth to 2 children who die without leaving a successor. The Hastinapur kingdom is now without a king. Satyavati comes to Bhishma to break his vow and get married or have union with the 2 widows of his 2 no more son’s.

Bhishma refuses saying, that he has taken one decision and now he will stick to it no matter what.

On one hand, you see integrity and on the flip side, the decision taken long back has brought negative consequences.

What we learn from this story is as an organization we need to take decisons quickly with a context thats empowering and that takes the game forward. Decisions taken today may turn out to be complete opposite over a period of time or in another circumstances – could be internal or external. Context of the existence, survival and growth of the organization keeps changing So changing the decisions at right time is also utmost necessity. And not to take short-sighted decisions!

If you do not change your decision making instinct with the context, prepare for a storm, prepare for the “Mahabharata”.

Organization is bigger than the Individual

December 1, 2014 RimpleSanchla Management lessons - Indian Epics Management Mantra post

Yudhishtira is a noble king, an epitome of wisdom and righteousness. Yet he decides to gamble away his entire kingdom not just once but twice.

Draupadi asks, who gave him to right to lose her, his brothers and the Kingdom? Being a king, does not entitle him to gamble away his kingdom. Yudhistira loses his self control and gambles away everything, thinking that the kingdom, the property, his brothers and his wife are all his “possessions”.

The organization (Kingdom) is bigger than the individual (King / CEO). The individual has no right to destroy the organization, even if he has founded it. He may be the manager or owner but the organization is certainly greater than him.

Passion in work versus doing for the sake of doing it!

December 1, 2014 RimpleSanchla Management lessons - Indian Epics Management Mantra post

Once Arjuna asks Krishna why Yudhishthira is called Dharmaraja (Religion king) and Karna as Daanveer (Donation king), as both never refused alms to anyone. Krishna says, wait for some time &I will let you know.

After a month, in whole kingdom it was raining heavily, both (Krishna and Arjuna) in disguise of Brahmins (wise men/priests) first go to Yudhishthira, saying that we are doing a Yagna and need 100Kg of Sandal wood. Yudhishthira immediately sent his servants across the kingdom, and later regretfully refused by saying that it is difficult to find dry Sandal wood anywhere as its raining heavily. Let me know if I can arrange anything else for you. Both Brahmins said “thanks” and left the place.

Then they went to Karna and made the same demand. Karna thought for a while and said it is raining heavily outside, it is least likely to get dry Sandal wood. He takes out his bow and arrow and cuts all windows and doors of his palace and compiles them for the Brahmins.

Later Krishna says to Arjuna, it is not that Yudhishthira would have refused if we would have asked for wood from his doors and windows. But this idea didn’t strike Yudhishthira in first place. Yudhishthira donates because it is written in Dharma (religion), Karna donates because he likes to do it.

The message of the story is very subtle. So many times in our personal and professional life we are doing just for the sake of doing it. There is no heart and soul into it. There is no passion for doing it.

How Ram & Hanuman offer new understanding of appraisal?

May 17, 2013 RimpleSanchla Management lessons - Indian Epics Management Mantra post

Story goes here:

I am the HR head of a large company. We have just gone through an appraisal system and there is lot of angst in the organization about the process. I feel the process has value but we aren’t doing it the right way. Can mythology offer some new way to look at it?

You need to clarify: who has the problem? The appraiser or the appraisee? Hanuman’s mother once asks him why they went through all the trouble of building a bridge across the sea, fighting demons, and killing Ravan to save Sita. “You could have just lashed your tail and in a single sweep gotten rid of the demons and saved Sita without any trouble. So why didn’t you?” Hanuman replies: “Because no one asked me to. Besides, it was Ram’s story not mine.” This tale draws attention to two points. The appraisee (Hanuman) knows that he is being celebrated for his compliance, not his capability. But he does not begrudge the appraiser (Ram) as he knows the story is about Ram’s exploits and not Hanuman’s.

So whose story is your appraisal system measuring and what exactly is it measuring? It is not a measure of the employees alone or in isolation; it is a measure of the employee in a particular context; it is a measure of what the employees were asked to do and whether the resources allocated to them was good enough to enable them to reach the results. If the results are bad, then the problem is not just with the employees, it is also with the organization’s expectation and resource allocation. The appraisal system reveals how good or bad the organization is.

But that is not how we see appraisal system. We use it to determine how much we should pay employees, who should be promoted. In other words, it is a tool that is used to determine distribution of company expenses. We use it to judge employees and measure them against each other, determine how much a person should be paid. We do not see it as an appraisal of organizational capacity and capability. It is as much about the subordinate as it is about the appraiser and the organization as a whole.