Few Lessons From Mahabharat: For Business Management

Few Lessons From Mahabharat: For Business Management

(First published on 31 July 2017 Edited 31May2020)

Mahabharata is an epic without any doubt. There are several debates and volumes of pages that have been written on historical aspects of the incidents. That is not my topic of discussion today. Nor I am going to describe the innumerable incidents and characters dotting the longest poetry in the world.

The Mahabharata is entirely different from Ramayana, which is more revered in a larger part of India and certainly an earlier epic. Ramayana is a story of principles, of basically a King and his journey through his life where he never deviates from his principles, Dharma. The characters are moving around him. The story starts with him and ends with him. He is a man of words, he loves, he gets hurt, he is savior, a person with emotions. Rules follow principles, and the characters follow the Rules. Each violation of a rule, each breach of principle is punished in some manner or another.

Mahabharata is a story of a much later period where there were some who upheld the principles, and once they committed, they stood by their commitments. It is a story of a direct conflict of principles, rules, and justice. The characters are many. The driver of the story is mainly 'feelings and sentiments'. The sentiment of getting hurt, of devotion, of promises. And in the midst of all sentiments and relations, there is Krishna who is beyond any sentiments. For him, the only things that matters are the actions and the results. He advises others to remain motivated to their duties, and leave the results to nature. We will come back to Sentiments, lessons, and management.

Justice becomes supreme; the rules and principles are bent to sustain justice and for injustice. Sins do not go unpunished largely, even if they are logically argued and are justified. The story justifies committing a smaller sin to avenge an earlier, bitter, and bigger sin. There are different central characters in the story. A large part is taken up first by Grand Beholder of promise, Devavrata, or Bhishma. But his promise itself is a Principle, which goes against the rule imposed by one of his great grandfathers that the King should be one who deserves it, not the one who is born in the lineage of the King. Devavrata takes the vow to relinquish the Throne,  observe celibacy to ensure not to have any claim to the Kingdom. Not only that, but he also vows to safeguard the Throne. He defines the safeguarding the Throne as safeguarding the King, and not the Kingdom or nation. His interpretation of vow narrows down to protecting the King, obeying the King. And that limitation restricts his capacities, and ultimately, drives the Kingdom to destruction which he could not save.  

The two characters of King Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana are characters unique to the story. For Dhritarashtra, he suffers from his inferiority complex all through his life due to his born blindness and injects his sentiments into his son. Duryodhan, who can give an entire kingdom to an unknown person, Karna, and make him friend, refuses to give his co brothers their share of the kingdom, or even five villages. 

The Examples, The Lessons

Commitments, Segregation of Management from Owners

We commit a lot of things during the conduct of business. Businesses always have some founders, and family-run businesses have some Godfathers in it. The management must recognize that if the Business stays, only then the names will be remembered. The commitment can always carry respect for the founders and Godfathers, but in the case of professional management coming in, they must be careful in recognizing the Dual Entity concept of finance and Accounting. The dual entity concept explains that the owner and the business are different and that difference should always be maintained not only in accounting but also in management to ensure the perpetuity of an organization.

There is a concept, the Going Concern concept. The business stays sound only when this Going Concern concept is not diluted in the mind of shareholders, lenders, stock market, customers, and even the employees. Employees start leaving if they feel that the management is lacking in long term objectives for the organization.

Devavrat commits a promise that he will not take over as the King. I think that becomes the first documented case of segregation of Management from the Owner. Though the employer-employee relationship was not there, yet it was an example of supreme sacrifice. But what a professional manager should learn from the example and events:- for them the organization should be supreme, not the ego of one or more owners.

Globally, we have seen many businesses started by family owners, growing leaps and bounds, and then sinking due to family conflicts to the delight of competitors. A professional manager must not commit himself to the owners of their likes but commit to the interests of the organization. He should stand up and if needed, fight for the perpetuity of the organization. Probably the laws have recognized the difficulty which a professional may face in such a situation and therefore, they have brought the rules and regulations for the protection of 'whistleblowers'. It is better to see the owners getting out of the organization than to see the organization shutting down due to wrong, unprofessional and egoistic decisions of owners. Professional managers are also bound by their code of conduct largely. The limited views of Devavrat and Dhritarashtra materially affected the Going Concern concept of the kingdom which could have been avoided completely provided they had taken a decision in favor of the kingdom and not in favor of the direct lineal descendants.

BCP/DRP Practices

The acronyms BCP and DRP [Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning] have been in vogue for quite some time now. However, COVID 19 has set an unprecedented example before the world as no organization in the world, whether small or big, whether Government or Private, can think of surviving if they do not have BCP/DRP defined.

When Yudhishtir left Hastinapur for Varnavrat, Vidur gave him advice in the departing conversation telling him that all problems should be considered while planning for disaster.

"He alone will escape from danger who forestalls the intentions of an astute enemy. There are weapons sharper then those made of steel, and the wise man who would escape destruction must know the means to guard against them. The conflagration that devastates a forest cannot hurt a rat which shelters itself in a hole or a porcupine which borrows in the earth. The wise man knows his bearings by looking at the stars"

The paragraph is lifted from the Mahabharat by C. Rajagopalachari published by Bhavan. 

The statement can be fittingly used in business and commerce. The escape route in the face of exigencies should be identified always and plans made and executed. In the wake of the pandemic, larger IT companies could shift their work from the office to homes of their employees, even implement surveillance in many cases. Whether the output increased or decreased can always be a matter of discussion, but they were able to survive as they have the Rat Holes visualized. The example will certainly not fit trading or manufacturing organizations, but each one has to plan according to its own products, services, and resources. However, such organizations, knowing well that they cannot shift to off the site working, must have sufficient resources accumulated and set aside which can see them survive and wait for the opportune moment to strike back.  

Strategic Retreat: A necessity in any combat at times-
In a war, the enemy is mostly identified, but in business, the enemy at times is the overconfidence. In many circumstances, the enemy grows from within the organization. In the case of outside enemies, the competitors in the business world, do watch for weaknesses in each other and are ready to pounce upon the prey to fill up the belly. The risk assessment and mitigation planning have to be done very carefully. At times, every organization has to cede ground and acknowledge some losses for a greater win. Beat a strategic retreat and accept a temporary loss to gain more in the future.

During the war in Mahabharat, only Karna was capable of defeating and killing Arjun with a specific weapon but that weapon could be used only once. But due to the immense destruction of the Kaurav army by the son of Bheem, Ghatotkach, Karn had to use that weapon. on the death of Ghatotkach Krishna smiled and said, now Arjun can fight with Karn boldly. The competition is also killed by amalgamation, whether forcible or bought out. We know that in the journey of Unilever in India, it has acquired many brands and companies which were its competitors and then just dumped the brand. The history is sufficiently full of an example of mitigating the competition between the kings in three different ways. One is building up marital relations between the two ruling kings, the second is occupying by force, and the third is a considered friendship with Peace pacts. 

In the business world, all three methods are in practice.

Take the Team Along, and Consult them

In some cases, CEOs or owners just refuse to recognize that they might own the business or management but they are not the 'know-all' persons. They behave in the manner that since the organization is their baby, nobody knows better. I have heard the promoter director or CEOs clearly saying that no employee or consultant, irrespective of their expertise, know anything. Even witnessed a situation where a junior director was asked by the CEO to discussions with a funding agency and CFO was to accompany. However, the dealing partner of the funding agency happened to be of the same language community as the director. Director told the SFO that since they will discuss the project in their mother tongue and the CFO can engage in the discussion only if the funding partner had any questions. By the end of the meeting, the funding partner did not have any questions, but he never came back also.

In any decision-making process likely to have far-reaching effects, the team of experts should be part of it and be consulted also. They should not be asked just to mark their attendance. 

When Yudhishtir came to Hastinapur to play for the gambling, he had all the powers with him. His brothers were with him. But the addiction to gambling played heavy and he did not ask any of his brother for their opinion, whether to leave the game or not. He just went on increasing his bet, putting his kingdom, all his brothers, and even wife on the bet and lost everything. His overconfidence and addiction 'failed to forestall the results of his unjustified action and inaction'. He had the most efficient team with him, but after he played the dice, his team could not help him. Similarly, a CEO should identify and take his expert team always on board with him and should recognize that his wrong steps can bring doom for the entire team.  

Knowledge in Questions of Yaksha

There is an incidence during the stay in the forest. Pandav brothers went to fetch water from a pond and the four brothers died because they did not pay heed to a power questioning them. When Yudhishtir went there, he faces questions which in fact, give lessons for all. I will discuss some of the questions. The words are again borrowed from C Rajagopalachari's work.

“What rescues man in danger?”

“Courage is man’s salvation in danger.”

“What is more blighted than withered saw?”

“A sorrow-stricken heart.”
“By the study of which science does a man become wise?”

“Not by studying any Shastra [book of knowledge] does a man become wise. It is by association with the great in the wisdom that he gets wisdom.”

“What befriends a traveler?”

“Learning.”

If we read the above four questions and their answers by combining them, we see
'A man becomes wise not only by acquiring book knowledge but by associating himself with great wisdom as only that gets him wisdom. And, a traveler has the advantage of continuous learning and therefore, if a man takes his assignments in life as a journey, he will always be learning'. And how one can salvage himself from danger? Courage is of prime importance. A man whose heart is stricken by sorrow, one who is confused or finding himself in dungeon depths of sorrow can not swim out of the water. It is only the courage that enables him to think of possible solutions and wade through the storm. And that courage comes with confidence, and the ability to even think of the options to fight the problem comes with knowledge. The knowledge acquired only through academics is not sufficient. That is actually one of the sources of knowledge that is completed by associating with those having knowledge, associating with those having experience, and learning from them. In fact, the current curriculum designers have recognized this fact that only the book knowledge cannot take the student anywhere in the career. For that reason, many of the institutions have made it mandatory and also ensured that the students do get practical training, as an apprentice or as an industrial trainee, whatever is the nomenclature. Many institutions also invite the seniors from the business world to give guest lectures to the students which actually enriches not only the students but also the in house trainers in such educational institutions.

“What is fleeter than wind.”

“Mind.”

The above question above and its answer tell us that the mind is lighter than wind and can go anywhere, rather wander anywhere if not controlled properly. Any manager has to keep control of mind and avoid any lust or obsession to cloud his judgment and sight.

“What is that-abandoning which man becomes loved by all?”

“Pride-for abandoning that man will be loved by all.”

“What is the loss which yields joy and not sorrow?”

“Anger- giving it up, we will no longer be subject to sorrow.”

The above two questions and the answers speak about building the character of a true leader and manager. A boss cannot take his team far too long, it is a leader who can. And what is different between the two? The leader keeps his pride and anger aside as both isolate him from peers as also from his team. Mahabharat has some specific instances when it has demonstrated the futility of needless Pride and anger. Duryodhan's offensive against Pandav was driven by these two factors and destroyed him totally. His anger that why he Yudhishtir was a challenge to his accession to the Throne could have been handled by him had he realized that the competition was in the skills and maturity and not in the parental lineage. He failed to appreciate that and restricted himself to the anger. This has to be appreciated at the level of business management that different options should always be scanned for and chosen whenever the opportunity strike.

We will come up with more in the next article.