Business sutras

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Be it Chanakya’s words of wisdom or Krishna’s thoughtful advice, India Inc. seems to be driven by these wise men from the Indian mythology and history.

From management books to popular fiction, and even a feature film on Chanakya’s wisdom in the corporate world, mythology has been a strong driving factor for India’s corporate sector for a while. The magnitude and popularity of the trend has shot up in the last decade with authors and playwrights giving it importance in terms of various fictional books and dramas.
Radhakrishnan Pillai, renowned management guru and motivational speaker who has conducted workshops at top business houses on Chanakya’s principles says that we need to look at their modern applications more than anything else. “The stories, situations and characters are so multifarious and can be applied in different areas of life. In Chanakya’s Arthashastra, there are chapters on how the king motivates his soldiers. People don’t leave offices, they leave bosses. The two need to have a clear understanding of each other. This is an example of an HR policy by Chanakya.”
Satish Shenoy, head of corporate audit services, Larsen & Toubro, says that mythology, as fantastical as it can be, develops ethics among the corporate lot when effectively applied. “From corporate governance to maintaining integrity in an organisation, these stories teach a lot. For instance, there are so many times that people are tempted to take shortcuts and after four to five years they realise their follies. The point is to stick to your ethics and not bend in any situation,” says Shenoy.
Former CEO of P&G and author Gurcharan Das in his recent book, The Difficulty Of Being Good, looked at various aspects of dharma and used the Mahabharata as a metaphor in corporate life. While explaining Krishna’s despair, Das explains in his book, “Krishna does not define what the right action is. Any action performed in selfless spirit is superior. The action in this case is to fight a “just war” to “preserve the world.” Preserving the world is a king’s duty — i.e. to act on behalf of his people. But it also entails preserving the natural order of society. When I asked the question, “Who is right, Arjuna or Krishna?” to military leaders in both India and the US, their response was uniformly that Arjuna has a duty to fight and he ought to get on with it without this fuss.”
The relevance factor hasn’t faded and won’t ever, is what many corporate gurus believe. Sameer Kotachi, vice-chairman, ASK group, a financial company says, “You learn so much from these books, right from how you strategise to how you review and monitor your business processes,” says Kotachi. Precision, accuracy and saleability are some of the key reasons why Indian mythology is so popular. Vasudevan Srinivasan, director of Chanakya, says that his well-articulated principles inspired him. “He is extremely insightful and commercial and that explains his business strategy. Contextually his principles are applicable today and that is the strength of the ethics that Chanakya practised,” says Srinivasan.
However, professor Anil Gupta from IIM Ahmedabad says that not all principles and lessons from the past are relevant today and there is no need for a separate course to impart these principles. “Times have changed and you cannot incorporate all that was said in Chanakya’s Arthashastra. Today we look at the economy from a different perspective. So not all principles from the Arthashastra are applicable today. I don’t believe that this trend has come into prominence now. We have been learning about obedience, persistence, productivity through the story of Eklavya and Dronacharya that we have been studying ever since we were in school,” he says.