Uncover leadership lessons with Bhagavad Gita

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
In today’s world, almost all organisations are fraught with changes and challenges thanks to the ever changing global economic environment. The challenges include the constantly evolving technology and marketplaces, diversity, bullying, political and industrial reforms and regulations. 

While much focus is directed towards finding effective ways and means of addressing workplace stress at the middle management and lower levels, seldom interest is taken in placing oneself in the shoes of a CEO to understand the strain at that level. 

A world-renowned speaker, who was in Sri Lanka this week, sought to help identify the solutions of the issues faced by leaders by turning towards a rather interesting sphere, which is spirituality.
Professor of Operations Management at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, B. Mahadevan, during his recent visit to Colombo, highlighted the timeless leadership wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita, introducing to Lankan leaders the notion of inspirational leadership.

Although written well over 2000 years ago, the Bhagavad Gita, ‘Song of God’, contains immense wealth of ageless wisdom that is believed to speak directly to the needs of today’s business leaders.

Bhagavad Gita: Song of God
Before looking into the solutions the text has to offer to modern-day leaders, it is imperative to understand what it is about and the scenario it depicts to best understand its message.

To give a summary of the ancient Eastern philosophical literature, it essentially presents the counsel of Krishna to Arjuna, two prominent leaders of the Mahabharata. 

Mahabharata is the epic of the dispute between two warring clans – the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Before the battle of Kurukshetra, Krishna, who is a friend and the charioteer of Arjuna, drives the chariot to the middle of the battle field, allowing Arjuna to observe his army and his enemies. Seeing his own kinsmen lined up against to fight him, Arjuna trembles at the thought of killing them. 

According to a translation of the text, Krishna persuades Arjuna by saying, “Nothing is higher than a war against evil. A warrior such as you should be pleased with such a war, as it leads to heaven.” Krishna‘s discourses are described in the 18 chapters of the Bhagavad Gita. At the end of his discourses, Krishna successfully convinces Arjuna to fight the battle of Kurukshetra.

It is this conversation between Sri Krishna and Arjuna that forms the Bhagavad Gita, which is one of the most respected religious and philosophical texts in the Hindu religion.

Relevance of Bhagavad Gita to modern-day leadership
According to Prof. Mahadevan, the issue in modern-day organisations is that its performance critically depends on its leaders.

“We are told leaders must be excellent in communicating, they must establish good goals, stretch targets, motivate subordinates and a many others. While there are a number of solutions in this regard, the Bhagavad Gita presents a plethora of leadership ideas,” he said kicking off the topic.
Arjuna being a king, in this scenario, is like a CEO, therefore it is not surprising for the scripture to give ideas on leadership, added Prof. Mahadevan.

The professor highlights that in the world over there is a deprived meaning at workplace. Globally workers are faced with extended work hours, leading to work overload that eventually leads to job burnout and mental stress.

While this is not entirely surprising, it was shared that according to research studies, the number of dissatisfied employees are on the rise and are found to be often complaining about little or no meaning at their workplace. 

A large proportion of organisational heads have voiced the wanting of a deeper sense of meaning and fulfilment in the job, even more than money and time off. 

“People are saying they need more spirituality in the workplace. Scientific management is all fine, but they want to bring spirituality back. About 2000 research papers have discussed the impact of spirituality in the work place. Thus, the relevance of the Bhagavad Gita,” he said.

It’s all about being inspirational
A firm believer of leadership being inspirational, Prof. Mahadeva stressed the first and foremost exercise a leader should take up is to outgrow the vision from the narrow perspective of ‘what is in it for me?’ to an opportunity to make a difference to the people and place they associate with.

Opining leadership cannot go far without this aspect, he stressed the need to create a sense of governance that is a notch above what we think. 

He added it is essential for a leader to have the ability to transform people and entities that come to their contact in a sustained fashion, leaving behind an impact that guides a large number of people and organisations as well, for the longest period of time.

This is highlighted in the Gita, chapter 3, verse 21: yad yad åcarati çre߆has tat tad evetaro jana˙ sa yat pramå√aµ kurute lokas tad anuvartate. (However a great man conducts himself, common men will follow. Accordingly, whatever standards he sets by his actions, others will follow in his footsteps)
According to the professor, most aspiring leaders fail to pass this apparently simple act of leadership.
“Leadership is far more challenging. It is a burden as walking the talk is not as easy as one imagines. For that, the basic requirement of a leader is to have the capability to give up everything even when all resources are at one’s disposal. This is true empowerment,” emphasised Prof. Mahadeva.

It was asserted that this new method of ‘inspirational leadership’ needs to be adopted over the traditional leadership style, while attention in that manner should be extended to cost-benefit models, responsibility, power, ownership and position.

Secret to great leadership: Equanimity
This key aspect of equanimity or mental equipoise is mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita numerous times, which stresses its importance. In Sanskrit, it is referred to as ‘titiksha’. 

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ āgamāpāyino ‘nityās tāḿs titikṣasva bhārata (Gita 2.14)

(O son of Kuntī, the non-permanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.)

Sharing the thought process behind these verses, the professor explained that first it talks about the touch of the ‘mātrā’, which is the capabilities that enable us to feel and sense. 

Krishna here says that as long as the ‘tan mātrās’ are active, it will collect signals from the outside world which will be processed and will lead to ‘śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha’, which essentially means the outcome will lead to happiness or sadness (good or bad).

He goes on to say that such outcomes are common in one’s life and not permanent, therefore imperative to develop titiksha, the ability of an individual to face, tolerate, absorb and endure the world of dualities which may unfold at any given time. 

According to the professor, the ideas here are in contrast to what the world believes today as we are always told to aspire for goodness. While there is nothing wrong in the notion, he stated it discourages the thought of other possible turn of events. 

Noting that the current system is such that we are coached into a certain mental frame were only positive results are expected, Prof. Mahadeva said: “A person with wisdom will understand that even with the best foot forward there are occasion in life where things don’t go well. But unfortunately, with this kind of a psychological build-up we are going through, our tolerance to face the adversities out there is almost absent, leading the majority of the leaders to collapse under pressure.”

Develop capabilities in which lies the capacity of leadership
sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau tato yuddhāya yujyasva naivaḿ pāpam avāpsyasi (Gita 2. 38) 

(Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat—and by so doing you shall never incur sin)

This text explores the concept of duality where Sri Krishna asks Arjuna to keep in mind the three pairs of opposites, happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat, but treat them equally.

Pointing out that in this context the concept is war and Krishna here asks to fight with this mind-set, Prof. Mahadevan noted here is a management framework. The activity, war, will lead to an outcome, which in this case is victory or defeat.

“In a management perspective, the outcome by itself makes no sense to us. Krishna says that every activity that we engage in this world at all times will give us an outcome which always belongs to the domain of duality. Outcomes will be measured with the performance matrix system, which then will throw results, which are in the domain of duality. The outcomes and assessments will lead to feelings, which again belong to the world of duality,” he explained while stating that in the scenario stated in the text, Arjuna is advised to go ahead with a sense of equanimity so that he will not be affected.

Stating that great leaders are those who are able to handle both, adversaries as much as they can handle success under their leadership, he highlight that based on Bhagavad Gita, leadership capacity increases only when one is able to develop the mental equipoise to evolving situations. 

“I think it is important we reflect on it and it is also important that while we put our best foot forward, we must but develop titiksha. At the end of the day, life is a roller coaster ride and that is an enjoyable ride we must have.”