Business Sutra: A Very Indian Approach to Management (30 page)

He can easily move from the role of a manager to the role of a leader.

• As a manager, he has to simplify complex problems. So he yields the axe with the noose.
  
• As a leader, he has to direct people towards change. So he yields the sugarcane with the elephant goad.
  

Ganesha's axe is used to slice things apart and his noose to bind loose things together neatly. The axe represents analysis and the noose, synthesis. For the sake of administrative convenience, we can break an organization into departments. But the leader must constantly strive to bind things together so that every part also represents the whole. Unless the parts have knowledge of the whole, every individual yagna of the organizational sattra will not have the right svahas or tathastus.

To direct people towards change, the leader shares the sweetness of his vision and balances it with the sharpness of his determination. A mahout uses the ikshu or sugarcane to draw the elephant in a particular direction. He also uses the ankush or elephant goad to make sure the elephant goes in the desired direction and does not stray from the path. The ankush has two parts attached to the tip of a short iron bar: a sharp tip and a hook. The sharp tip is used to goad the elephant forward. The hook is used to hold him back. The sharp tip pushes and the hook pulls. If the yajaman has to use an ankush repeatedly, it means that his team depends on orders and is not proactive and responsible. It is full of dependent devatas and no dependable yajamans. It means the leader is a karta and everyone else is a karya-karta. Everyone's gaze is towards the leader and not towards the market. In other words, the organization is not yet an organism.

Lalit was selected by the head of human resources to serve as the executive assistant to the managing director because he has the ability to understand the managing director's abstract ideas and articulate them in a very concrete, implementable form. Lalit is a liminal being who can easily explain the same problem to different teams in a way that each is be able understand. He can easily divide the problem into constituent units and see how each unit can contribute to the whole solution. He is easily able to see the manifold repercussions of a single event. When the company received a legal notice that forced them to recall a product from the market due to trademark issues, he immediately knew how to manage the crisis from a legal, logistical, marketing, sales, financial and people point of view. He knows which branches of the organization to push or pull, coax or threaten. Like Ganesha, he removes all obstacles and ensures the job gets done. And he manages and leads, doing what is appropriate whenever it is needed without throwing his weight around, never once stealing the limelight from the managing director.

he human ability to see the quest for power is called divya-drishti. Plants cannot run from animals that feed on them, but animals can run from animals that prey on them. The prey lives in fear of the predator, never knowing when it will be ambushed. But it never thinks about asking for external help. Humans, on the other hand, constantly seek external help with a sense of entitlement. Fearful of exploitation, humans seek protection: a fence, a fort, or 'durg'. From durg comes Durga, the goddess of power.

Durga needs to be distinguished from Shakti, who is the inner power—physical and mental prowess—every living creature is born with. Durga represents external power, embedded in tools, technology, laws, titles and property that grants humans their social status, a location in the organizational hierarchy where they feel secure, physical and mental prowess notwithstanding.

This is made explicit in the following story: the gods one day sought protection from the asura, Mahisha. They were advised to release their inner Shaktis. These goddesses, embodying inner strength, emerged and merged into a blazing light that created a new, external goddess, Durga, who held in her many arms various weapons and rode a lion. Durga killed Mahisha and became the goddess of kings. Her weapons represent technological innovations and social structures that grant power to man. The lion represents the animal instinct within us, our desire to dominate, be aggressive and territorial.

Shakti cannot be given or taken; it can only be invoked by tapasya. Durga can be given or taken during a yagna: using social structures a person can be empowered or disempowered. A craving for Durga is indicative of a lack of Shakti. Durga compensates for a lack of Shakti. When Shakti is invoked, the hunger for Durga wanes. What is being protected here is not the physical body, but rather the mental body via the social body or karana-sharira.

In Jain mythology, besides vasudev there is another shalaka-purush: the king or chakravarti. Chakra in the title means wheel or circle and refers to the horizon, which is circular in shape. The chakravarti is master of all that he surveys.

• The chakravarti knows that all subjects in his kingdom want to feel significant and seek status, a role and responsibility.
  
• He knows that the value of people comes from what they possess (property, talent, skills) which is tangible and measurable.
  
• He values rules as without rules the world is no different from the jungle where might is right
  
• He seeks stability, a world where there is certainty and predictability.
  

In this chapter, we shall explore significance, property, rules and stability, and by doing so, appreciate a chakravarti's gaze. A yajaman who possesses divya-drishti and values Durga walks the path of a chakravarti. A chakravarti's gaze is that of a leader determined to stabilize an already established organization and shape the destiny of his people.

Ramesh did not want to hire Shaila because she was a girl and she belonged to a lower caste. But the head of human resources, Mr. Sengupta, pointed out that company policy was very clear about not discriminating on the grounds of gender or caste. Whether Ramesh liked it or not, Shaila had to be hired because she had all the qualifications for the job. In time, Shaila gained a reputation for being a very good manager. She was promoted to the position of junior manager in less than three years. Shaila's gender and her intelligence constitute her Shakti. Her educational qualification constitutes her Durga, something she has obtained from the outside. The rules of the company that ensure she is treated with respect also grant her Durga. Over time, her social being that was being disempowered by her caste came to be empowered by her promotion at the workplace. Mr. Sengupta behaved like a chakravarti using rules to ensure she got the power she was due.

Significance

Every human being wants to feel they matter. Social structures grant this value through rules and property. This value allows us to indulge our animal instinct to dominate, hence feel powerful and secure. Unfortunately, social structures are not permanent. Any change can render us powerless; that is why we seek stability.

Every devata imagines himself differently from natural reality

Shiva, with ash-smeared face, was deep in thought. When he opened his eyes he saw a mirror in front of him held by Gauri who had anointed herself with turmeric in order to look radiant. "What do you see?" she asked.

"I see mortal flesh," he said.

"But I see a beautiful body," she said.

"That is your imagination," he argued.

"What is humanity without imagination?" she replied.

Shiva smiled. For this was true.

When animals look into a mirror they do not recognize themselves. They wonder if the reflected beast is a threat or an opportunity. If it is neither, they move away and continue with their lives. A few apes and dolphins seem to show curiosity about reflected images but they do not actively seek reflections as humans do, so scientists are not fully sure if they recognize themselves. We, on the other hand, are able to see ourselves in mirrors. Or do we?