Lessons from the ghost

Published in First City,  January 2012

A sorcerer once requested the legendary King Vikramaditya of Ujjain to fetch him a Vetal or ghost that hung upside down, like a bat, from the branches of a tree that stood in the middle of a crematorium.  Not wanting to disappoint anyone who approached him, Vikramaditya immediately set out for the crematorium determined to fetch the Vetal. “Make sure you do not talk to him. If you speak, he will slip away from your grasp,” warned the sorcerer.
Vikramaditya entered the crematorium, found the tree, and the Vetal hanging upside down from its branches. He caught the ghost, pulled it down and made his way back to the city when the ghost started chatting with him, telling him all kinds of things, annoying him, yelling into his ears, cursing him, praising him, anything to make him talk but Vikramaditya refused to succumb to these tricks.
Finally, the Vetal told Vikramaditya a story, a case study one might say, and at the end of it asked the king a question. “If you are indeed the wise Vikramaditya, as you claim to be, you should know the answer to the riddle. But how will I know if you are truly he, unless you speak? And if you choose to stay silent, I am free to assume I have been caught by a commoner, a pretender, a mimic!” Too arrogant to be called a commoner, the king gave the answer. And it was a brilliant answer, one that made the Vetal gasp in admiration. And then, he slipped away and went back to hang upside down from the branches of the tree in the middle of the crematorium.
So Vikramaditya had to walk back to the tree once again and pull the Vetal down once again. Once again, the Vetal told him a story with a question at the end. Once again the Vetal told the king, “If you are indeed the wise Vikramaditya, as you claim to be, you should know the answer to the riddle. But how will I know if you are truly he, unless you speak? And if you choose to stay silent, I am free to assume I have been caught by a commoner, a pretender, a mimic!” Once again, the arrogant king gave the answer. Once again the Vetal gasped in admiration. And once again he slipped away.
This happened twenty-four times. The twenty-fifth time, a tired and exasperated Vikramaditya, sighed in relief. He had succeeded. “Have you really?” asked the Vetal, “How do you know the answers you gave the previous times were right? Each decision was subjective, not objective. You thought you were right, and so you spoke. Now you are not sure of the answer, and so remain silent. This silence will cost you dear. You will succeed in taking me to the sorcerer who will use his magic to make me his genie and do his bidding. His first order for me will be to kill you. So you see, Vikramaditya, as long as you kept answering my questions, rightly or wrongly, you were doing yourself a favor. You had to keep chasing me, but you stayed king. Now that you doubt yourself, and stay silent, you are sure to end up dead.”(Chase the past/work upon new decisions,strategies,challenges,evolve....never stop accomodating/adapting/growing)
At the moment of decision-making, decisions are not right or wrong. They are right or wrong only in hindsight. He who takes decisions proactively, he who is not afraid to let the Vetal slip away, he who knows that life is about solving one problem after another, is Vikramaditya.
To improve decision-making, Vikramaditya has to visit the crematorium where the past hangs upside down like ghosts and confront the Vetal. This is where learning takes place. This is where he hones his skills. The Vetal is the mentor, the trainer, the coach, the teacher, the guru, who presents the past as case studies and asks questions in the form of riddles and puzzles. Does the Vetal know the answer?
Maybe yes, maybe no. It does not matter. What matters is that Vikramaditya answers the questions and solves the problems. Every answer, every solution, is subjective; only time will reveal if they are right and wrong. If Vikramaditya refuses to answer, he will end up destroying himself and his kingdom. A leader matters only as long as he seeks to solve problems.
Vikramaditya must always go to Vetal; the Vetal must never go to Vikramaditya. Vetal is Saraswati. Unlike Lakshmi and Durga which can be given, Saraswati cannot be given. She has to be taken.
The crematorium is not a place where business happens, but it is here that the mind is expanded and beliefs are clarified. It is a place of new ideas, new thoughts, new frameworks, that facilitate decision-making. The more Vikramaditya visits the crematorium, the more he expands his mind, the more he gains Saraswati and the more attractive he becomes to power and prosperity, Durga and Lakshmi.
The process of gaining Saraswati is two fold. There is the outer voice called Smriti and the inner voice called Shruti. Smriti means that which can be remembered hence transmitted. Shruti means that which can only be heard but cannot be transmitted.
What a teacher teaches a student, what is passed on through texts and puzzles and riddles and questions and case studies, is just Smriti. These can be parroted and passed on. These can be mouthed to impress people.
But real learning happens when the aspirant listens to his own voice, the inner voice of his mind. This is the only voice we hear. This is Shruti. Only when Smriti provokes Shruti, do we internalize wisdom. It becomes part of us. When this happens, we do not have to provide references for our knowledge (“This idea comes from that teacher”). We become the source of the knowledge (“This is my idea”).
Books and lectures are Smriti; they can be remembered and passed on. The reader or listener can allow it to provoke Shruti. Only when they listen to their inner voice and truly ‘get it’, will this knowledge of the past transform into timeless wisdom. The way to this is to introspect on it, personalize it, rather than intellectualize it. Frameworks appear when we see the mirror and are comfortable with the reflection.
As long as frameworks are meant to change the world, not ourselves, Saraswati will remain Vidya-Lakshmi, skill that grants prosperity, but not peace. We will stay trapped in Swarga, like Indra, eternally on a shaky throne. We will never find Vaikuntha, where Lakshmi sits at our feet, and we always enjoy the rhythmic swing of the waves.
Every king whose rule extends up to the horizon, the Chakravarti, is no different from the Kupmanduka, the frog in the well. The walls of his kingdom define his well. However great the size may be, it is but a drop in the canvas of infinity. There is always scope to grow, outgrow the animal within, stop chasing Durga and Lakshmi, and make them chase him instead. For this he has to cut his head.
Vetal cuts the head. Shruti cuts the head. Cutting of the head is a metaphor for intellectual as well as emotional growth. Intellectual growth may make us more skilled and less insecure, but it does not enable us to empathize. The point is not to be knowledgeable; the point is to be wise. And in India, wisdom happens when knowledge combines with empathy, gyan with karuna.

Churning out Lakshmi

Published in Corporate Dossier, Economic Times, 14 Sept, 2007
The ultimate goal is profit. Call it anything you want: bottomline, topline, market share, capitalization, equity, dividends, incentive, growth. It is what ultimately counts.  It is why leaders are sought by organizations. Leaders are the ones who are able to mobilize the organizational resources to generate wealth.  They are Vishnus engaged to churn out Lakshmi, the mythological embodiment of profit, from the ocean of milk.
Lakshmi, the bejewelled goddess of wealth and fortune who sits on a lotus, is the most popular goddess in India. Her image can be found gracing most households and business establishments. Everybody wants her. Her footprint is often painted on doorways pointing inwards because everyone wants her to walk towards them. Leaders exist to make this happen.
Unfortunately, Lakshmi is Chanchala, the fickle one. Few can predict where she plans to go.  Sometimes her movements are predictable. Often it isn’t, confounding the most astute of analysts. Exasperated by her whimsical ways, some have concluded that Lakshmi is cockeyed – she looks one way but often moves the other.
But there is one thing scriptures are sure of: Lakshmi will always move towards Vishnu. She is drawn to him. Vishnu is Shrinivas – ‘where Lakshmi resides’. He is Lakshmikanta – ‘beloved of Lakshmi’. What is it that he does that makes him attractive to fortune? If leaders can discover this, they too can become Vishnu; they too can become magnets of Lakshmi.
In all of Vaishnava literature, Vishnu is never shown chasing Lakshmi. Two groups of minor deities chase Lakshmi. They are Devas and Asuras.
Asuras live under the earth and Lakshmi is addressed as Patala Nivasini, a resident of the subterranean reasons because the ancients realized long ago that wealth in its most primal form – minerals and plants – comes from under the ground. Asuras are deemed demons because they cling to Lakshmi and will not let her go. She is Pulomi, their daughter and their sister.
The Devas, who live above the ground, as fire and wind and sun and sky, have to fight to release Lakshmi. Observe how all primary wealth generating activities are violent – the tilling of soil, the harvesting of crop, the threshing of grain, the smelting of metal. This ‘value generating violence’ is described in mythology as the war of Asuras and Devas, the hoarders and distributors of wealth, the demons and the gods.
Devas transform Pulomi into Sachi, the consort of their king, Indra. But Indra, in his recklessness, knows to enjoy Sachi but not retain her – the fickle one moves away rapidly, leaving Indra’s paradise shorn of all life and beauty. Indra begs his father, Brahma, to help, who in turn directs the gods to Vishnu, who advises them to take the help of the Asuras for only the Asuras possess the magical Sanjivani Vidya that can regenerate what has been lost.
Thus Devas can draw, distribute and spend wealth but they cannot create wealth. Who are the Devas of the corporate world? Could it be the flashy marketing and sales guys who go around getting the business, generating demand for products and services? In that case who are the Asuras? Are they the product makers and the service providers? Can production/service exist without marketing/sales? Can the sky-gods exist without earth-demons?
No, they cannot. Vishnu, the leader, knows this and therefore sides with no one in particular. He knows that the two make up the force and counterforce that will churn Lakshmi out from the ocean of milk.  The trick is the ability to balance the two sides of the team. A tilt one way or the other will be disastrous. It will cause the churn to collapse.
Devas are guided by Brihaspati, god of the planet Jupiter,  who in astrology is associated with logic, rationality and mathematics. The guru of the Asuras is Shukra, god of the planet Venus, who in astrology is associated with emotion, creativity and intuition.  Brihaspati’s logical approach makes him balanced; he is therefore visualized as having two eyes while Shukra, whose intuitive approach makes him imbalanced and unpredictable, is visualized as having one eye. Like the Devas and Asuras, even Brihaspati and  Shukra are pitted against each other. It is the battle of logic and intuition.
The corporate world is full of Brihaspatis and Shukras, the logicians and the magicians. The former prefer excel sheets, the latter prefer power points. The former usually have a finance background, the latter are part of sales and marketing. People with a business school or science background are encouraged to become Brihaspatis but people with an arts background and in creative fields are encouraged to stay as Shukras. Brihaspatis are often preferred in corporate organization because their language can be understood, controlled and predicted. Not so with Shukras. They are shunned until one realizes that survival depends on that wild and crazy ‘out of the box’ idea.
One can understand why Devas led by Brihaspati are deemed ‘gods’: they live above the ground, are bathed in light, are clear, transparent, logical hence understandable. Asuras led by Shukra, by contrast, lived under the ground, are unseen; their intuition and creativity is unpredictable, unfathomable, uncontrollable, making them mysterious and magical.  Asuras threaten us, make us insecure. Therefore they are demons.  Please note that in Hindu mythology, unlike in Biblical mythology, demons are not evil creatures – Hindus have no Satan. They are children of Brahma just like Devas. The divide between them is not moral or ethical. They are complementary forces of nature.
A true leader is able to harness the various forces around him to create an effective and efficient wealth-generating churn. He makes them complementary, not antagonistic.  He works with both Brihaspati and Shukra, logic and magic, objectivity and subjectivity, He is able to get the best out of Asuras and Devas, product-creators and value-givers. He is sattva guna – the principle that balances the two other extreme principles: inertia/tamas of the Asuras and the agitation/rajas of the Devas. He is both rational on one hand and intuitive on the other.  He respects flashy presentations but also knows the value of a robust excel sheet behind it.
While doing all this, , Vishnu never bothers with Lakshmi. He is almost indifferent to her. And that is why, perhaps, she chases him. She becomes his crown, his throne, his parasol and footstool.  She makes him the king by serving as his profitable kingdom.
One must be careful though. Lakshmi is not a faithful wife. Leaders often forget that success is drawn not to them but to their action. The crown follows the position not the person. To keep Lakshmi walking towards them all the time, it is important that a leader always stays a Vishnu– always balanced, always focussed, always impartial, always detached.

The underlying patterns

Published in Corporate Dossier ET, Nov. 11, 2011
The enemy army was almost at the gates. The city would surely fall. The only solution was to get Akbar to lead his soldiers. Mansingh ran into the palace to fetch the emperor and found Akbar in the garden listening to Tansen. Birbal stopped Mansingh from entering the garden. The emperor did not want to be disturbed. Tansen’s song ended. Akbar asked him to sing another song. An impatient Mansingh said, “The city is on the verge of being destroyed and he is listening to music ! What’s wrong with him.” Birbal retorted, “He is not listening to music. He is figuring out battle strategies.” “What nonsense, all I can hear are the notes of Tansen’s wonderful voice. No strategies there.” Birbal laughed, “That is why Mansingh, you are merely a commander and Akbar is the emperor.”
Wisdom comes from the oddest of places. Ideas can come from anywhere. The difference between a pathfinder and a follower is the pathfinder’s ability to see similarities between even the most distinct domains – music and battle strategies, for example. Followers are unable to understand the underlying principle and so need clear domain-specific examples.
When Michael moved to Mumbai to take up a job at a pharmaceutical company, he realized that rules that worked back home in Germany would not work in India. When asked why, he said, “Oh, just look at how Indians eat!” Nobody understood. He explained, “In Germany, a proper meal is a course meal: soup, starter, main course and dessert. You eat what the chef cooks. But in India, a proper meal is a thali: all dishes are served simultaneously, the sweet and the sour and the pungent and the crispy. Everyone mixes and matches the food differently. So what one person puts in his mouth is very different from what another person puts in his mouth. This is the ultimate in customization. A culture like this would not be comfortable with rules. People here would always like to bend the rules to their convenience, unlike Germany where we enjoy following rules. I have to work harder here to get everyone to align and comply.” Unlike most expats, Michael figured out a way to work with his Indian colleagues without being autocratic or authoritarian. He was wise enough to see common patterns between office behavior and the way we eat food – true hallmark of a pathfinder.
During interviews, Narendra would ask the interviewees about Bollywood. As they spoke, he would see how they analyzed the plots and the characters and the stars and by that he would be able to figure out how their mind functioned. Did they think originally? Did they follow the trend? Were they trend followers or trendsetters? Were they open to suggestion? Were they opinionated? Were they arrogant? The study of principles that are not impacted by the domain is known as tattva-gyan

Leadership-Endings are apoint of view

Published in Corporate Dossier, ET, Septemeber 28, 2012
We are a mid sized company trading in engineering goods. The slowdown has hit us badly and on top of that the Chinese competitors are growing aggressive by the day. The costs are mounting due to inflation and revenue has been falling in the last couple of years. To make things worst, key employees have been leaving too. Honestly I see no future in the stage we are and in the industry I am in. Help me take a decision to quit or try and rejuvenate a dying business.
Whether I help you take a decision, or not, you have already taken the decision, and even if you have not, the market seems to have taken the decision for you. Or maybe not. Maybe that is your reading of the market. Maybe out there are buyers that are looking for goods and services and ideas that only you can offer. You have to find them. Or you have to join forces with the competition, help them so that you can help yourself. Or you have to rollback on your own vision: perhaps you overreached yourself. There is no one answer to the situation you are in. It all depends on how you read the situation. For you your reading is the truth. Others may read the situation very differently.
You are, at this moment like Vishnu seated on the serpent of Adi-Ananta-Sesha, One-Infinity-Zero, you can take one clear decision and stick by it, lose yourself in infinite analyses and visions, or shut shop and go to sleep a dreamless slumber. Around you is the ocean of milk, the market of possibilities, that will exist always, whatever choice you make.
You could choose to be Vishnu’s last avatar, Kalki, ride the white horse, brandish the sword, and shut operations, as your world has been overwhelmed by forces that you cannot push back. You could choose to be Vishnu’s first avatar, Matsya, the tiny fish, hoping that a Manu will protect you, put you in a pot, save you from the big fish, and spend the rest of your life growing, claiming resources, safe in a bubble, forgetting the jungle out there. Or you can choose to be Kurma, the next avatar, churning the ocean of milk, balancing opposing forces: buyers and sellers, regulators and competitors, investors and employees, constantly aware when to pull, and when to let go.
The thing about business is that the yajaman takes the call. Markets may rise and fall, competitors may come and go, but it is you who steers the direction of your ship. Your employees are jumping ship perhaps because they see you directionless and lost. Imagine their anxiety. You are so consumed by your fears that you cannot see their fears. That is the real issue. Not the world out there but you. The collapse is more with you, than outside.
You may quit this business but then where will you go? You will have to start another business, or take up a job. The yagna will restart. And the conditions then and there may or may not be favorable. There are no guarantees in life. And no permanence. That is why everyone seeks a leader, a yajaman, a Vishnu, who brings hope and faith to the rest. You need to rediscover the Vishnu within you, or seek one for yourself. You need to find that Vishnu, within or without, to be able to preserve what you have created, adapt it to the yuga you are in, so that it survives, even thrives.

The Heart of Matter

Eike Batista is Brazil’s richest person and ranked 7 in the world.In his book ‘O X da Questão’, translated:’The Heart of the Matter’  he recounts his trajectory in the business world and offers tips on entrepreneurship.Following are excerpts from the book:
1. “Nobody is happy alone. To share experiences is always a good thing.”
2. “You grown as a person when you face your own challenges, or stressful moments, as I like to say. A good entrepreneur must be prepared to evolve in adversity.”
3. “The good seller is the one who is also a good listener.”
4.“Believe in yourself. If you doubt in yourself, you won’t be able to face your co-workers. Or the market, for that matter.”
5. “Don’t quit on the first adversity. Believe in your intuition, but try to be down to earth as well, paying attention to research and polls.”
6. “Don’t think you are unstoppable or foolproof. Don’t think that the only way your business will work is through perfection. Don’t aim for perfection. Aim for success.”
7. “To have a dream is one step closer to achieving something in life. The difference between the dreamer and the maker, though, is that the latter actually makes it happen.”
8. “Look forward; focus on what people don’t see at first sight.”
9. “Look at a business in all its depth and think of every detail with maximum accuracy and minimum risk.”
10. “Luck is important, as it is part of any project. But luck will only be present when the project is well designed.”

Dhirubhai

Personally I admire Dhirubhai Ambani’s  way of not  letting  other people circumscribe his dreams.I believe that if a person can dream up something he/she can do it.It may take time and effort and persistence but its not impossible. Personally I believe dreams are worth fighting for because they are a representation of out truest self and out innate abilities.Anytime I have self doubts I find that reflecting on incidents from his life gives me courage.After all life has not tested me in the way it did him.And anytime anybody tells me that something is undoable in one lifetime I just tell myself to see how far Dhirubhai came in one lifetime.Following are some quotes from the great man.Use them to spur you on in life.

“Only when you dream it you can do it.”
“For those who dare to dream, there is a whole world to win!”
“I, as school kid, was a member of the Civil Guard, something like today’s NCC. We had to salute our officers who went round in jeeps. So I thought one day I will also ride in a jeep and somebody else will salute me.”
“I am deaf to the word “no”.”
“Think big, think fast, think ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly”
“You have to take the calculated risk,to earn something”
“If you’re born poor its not your fault but if you die poor its your fault”
 “The problem with Indians is that we have lost the habit of thinking big!”
“Tax is for the poor or the stupid people.”
“You do not require an invitation to make profits.”
“A vision has to be within reach not in the air. It has to be achievable.”
“I live the Gita.”
“Don’t give up, courage is my conviction.”
“Keep your morale high, in spite of setbacks. At the end you are bound to succeed.”
“Challenge negative forces with hope, self-confidence and conviction. I believe that ambition and initiative will ultimately triumph.”
“Often people think opportunity is a matter of luck. I believe opportunities are all around us. Some seize it. Others stand and let it pass by.”
“If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow.”
“Secret of my success was to have ambition and know minds of men”
“We bet on people.”
“Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation.”
“Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth”
“We must always go for the best. Do not compromise on quality. Reject if it is not the best — not only the best in India, but globally.”
“Pursue your goal, even in the face of difficulties. Convert difficulties into opportunities.”
“I have trusted people and they have put their trust in me. I have encouraged youth, and they have never let me down. I have asked my people to take initiative and to take risks. It has paid me rich dividends. I insist on excellence. This helps us to be leaders. Reliance is built on some of these principles.”
“My fulfillment lies in the satisfaction of every member of the Reliance family, comprising thousands of workers, managers, business associates and over five million shareholders. Being instrumental in creating wealth for over 5 millionIndiafamilies, and bringing prosperity and well being to their life is the best source of satisfaction and joy for me.”
“Reliance’s success is a reflection of India’s capabilities, the talent of her people and the potential of her entrepreneurs, engineers, managers, and workers.”
“I dream of India becoming a great economic superpower.”
“True entrepreneurship comes only from risk-taking.”
“We cannot change our rulers, but we can change the way they rule us.”
“Does making money excite me? No, but I have to make money for my shareholders. What excites me is achievement, doing something difficult.”
“I consider myself a pathfinder. I have been excavating the jungle and making the road for others to walk. I like to be the first in everything I do.”
“There is no question about that (retirement). Business is my hobby. It is not a burden to me. In any case Reliance now can run without me.”
“We must learn to trust. For several centuries, Indians have been brainwashed to distrust other Indians. This saps national energy. Distrust kills initiatives. Distrust compels people to maneuver and manipulate. Trust and transparency stimulates entrepreneurship.”
“A motivated manpower is the most important thing.”

Henry Ford

Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs------------Henry Ford