Indian Mythology offers important lessons on business management, corporate leadership
New Delhi: Mr Atul Satya Koushik, Indian Mythology Expert and Playwright & Director yesterday said, “Ramayana, Mahabharata, The Bhagwat Gita and other Indian mythological and historical texts have various apparent or hidden lessons for every sphere of life including successful business management, corporate leadership and governance.”
Addressing the virtual session ?Indian Mythology and Business?, during FICCI?s 93rd Annual Convention, Mr Koushik added, “Every theory of management, be it modern business management or conventional management, and every principle of corporate governance or the governance of the country find some basis, some inspiration in our Indian mythology.”
Exploring the link between Indian mythology and modern business, Mr Koushik said, “There are few conversations in our mythology, which gives us direct lessons on management? management of a country and management of a business. In the third book of Ramayana, in which Shri Ram goes to exile and his younger brother Bharata gets to know about it and rushes to him requesting him to come back to Ayodhya, Ram gives him very important lessons of management, you can really pick up that portion of the Ramayana and start applying them in your business.”
Giving example as to how modern-day business challenges could be tackled by drawing lessons from mythology, he said, “You’ll be surprised to know that in the 12th book of Mahabharata, which is Shanti Parv, when Bhishm is lying half dead on the bed of arrows, and the battle is over, Yudhishthir goes up to him and asks him how to run a kingdom then Bhishm gives him important lessons on corporate governance.”
Drawing a comparative analysis between the leadership style of Ram and the leadership style of Krishna, Mr Kaushik said that one can become Ram or Krishna as per the demands of a situation, which is a great lesson in adoptability. “In the battle with Ravana, Ram had an army of very enthusiastic monkeys, bears, birds and forest animals, but they did not have the experience of fighting a great warrior like Ravana and his uncountable army. You can compare it with a new venture where you have a very enthusiastic team of young entrepreneurs, young, energetic people, but they do not have the experience. You have to follow the spiritual side of Ram and have to lead them from the front. But what happens in Mahabharata where you have experts in every warcraft. So, there you have to become Krishna. You just have to become the Sarathi, you just have to become the philosopher, mentor and lead the team find the way on their own.”
Mr Kaushik said that the world has changed in the past 12 months and that we are living in a different world all together. “We have to adapt, we have to change, and we have to change gears,” he added.
Talking about corporate immunity, Mr Kaushik said that corporate immunity concerns building an organization which is not affected by changes in the ecosystem or changing political scenario. “If we explore Gita and stories of Rama, we get some important lessons that no weapon can cut atma and fire cannot burn athma. We have to understand it in terms of corporate values corporate vision and corporate mission. You have to build an organization in which corporate values are unaffected by the ecosystem. Corporate values are like corporate Dharma, which has to guide you throughout difficult times,” he advised attending business luminaries.
Answering queries from the audience, he said, “We have to build process-based organization system in which organizations are not frantically running behind only targets. You have to build a sustainable process-based system and money will come on its own. Another important part of building an organization is respecting people. Organizations are run on people, countries are run by people, not by machines, not by systems,” he said.