Leadership Ft Dashavatar

There have been a lot of articles on leadership/ entrepreneurial skills these days. But you know, these qualities have been mentioned hundreds of years ago. In fact, the hidden goal of ‘Bhagavatam’ from Hindu mythology (Ten forms of Vishnu) might be to explain these qualities, in a filmy style, though. I would like to explain what each avatar is trying to portray and how they are relevant in today’s world.

1. Matshya: [Vision, Dream]

[A Fish that predicted huge storm coming through, warned the king to save life chain, guided their ship to a safe place]

Successful leaders are visionaries. They are able to foresee the problems and opportunities. They have a vision and guide people towards that vision. In this process, they might even change the world, forever.

“I have a dream…"-Martin Luther King Jr

We all witnessed how his vision, redefined history.

2. Kurma: [Patience, Hope]

[Turtle that gave hope to tired and ‘about to give away’ gods and demons to continue churning of ocean, till they get what they started it for]

One of the most important qualities for upcoming entrepreneurs – Patience. When working towards a great goal, the team has to go through a lot of difficulties. They face criticism, Results don’t turn as expected … The team can easily get discouraged and might give up. It’s leaders responsibility to inspire them, have patience, make the team believe in their dream.

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time” – Thomas A. Edison

If Edison wouldn’t have tried 10000 times, we might still read under candle lights

3. Varaha: [Courage]

[A Wandering pig, that found earth hidden inside water. In spite of knowing a great risk ahead, it went alone and saved it]

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make through tough situations. Everyone has fear of obstacles, but in order to successfully accomplish a goal, a leader must have to overcome those fears, risk everything and go ahead.

“Do not come up, I will handle them,” – Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Martyr of 26 / 11 attacks.

These were Last words before saving hostages and his death

4. Narasimha: [Responsibility]

[Lion-Headed human, that killed a Demon King Hiranyakashyap, who threatens to kill his own son for being a worshiper of Vishnu ]

A true entrepreneur is responsible for protecting his team during worse scenarios. He/she must give confidence to their team that they’ll stand by through good and bad times. They must take responsibility and do all they can to protect their team members.

“Pehle ye batao Sachin ki naam ki spelling galat kisne likhi? (First answer this: who wrote Sachin’s spelling wrong?)” – M.S. Dhoni

blasting on Bangladesh officials for writing Sachin’s name wrong. I know Dhoni is captain cool, but it’s nothing wrong, being aggressive especially when team’s reputation is at stake.

5. Vamana: [Simplify]

[A short saint, that compared the world in three simple things – Earth, Sky, People ]

‘Any one can make things hard and complex. It takes a touch of genius to make it simple’ – Albert Einstein.

Throughout history, every great leader/ businessman was successful because of his/her simple yet deep philosophies. People usually complicate tiniest things, leading to chaos. Leaders should always work hard to keep things simple.

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs

Simple design has been success mantra for Apple, since it’s origin.

6. Parasurama: [Policies][Mentoring]

[A saint, who fought for justice and equality, well known for defining ethics, policies, also for coaching major fighters, like Karna, Bhishma, Drona, …]

No matter, how small or huge, a company’s success is based on how good it’s core principals policies are. A leader should take huge care, defining these policies as These policies are the backbone of any organization.

“ Law and order are the medicine of body politic and when body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered” – B.R. Ambedkar, architect of constitution of India

A great team starts with a great leader and coach, who sets expectations, maintains high standards. A lot of survey’s suggested that majority of companies succeeded due to right mentors they had.

“Whenever I am asked what is the missing link between a promising businessperson and a successful one, mentoring comes to mind.” Richard Branson, Virgin Group

7. Ram: [Delegate][Honesty]

[A Prince, famous for his journey to get back his kidnapped wife. Fought against fierce army of Lanka, with the help of a small army of monkeys]

Present day startup entrepreneurs/CEO must truly understand this.

“You can’t do everything”.

An effective leader should know, what’s a good idea is when they hear one and to give credit to the person with the idea. A great leader needs to be able to delegate work effectively. Best way to achieve it by giving members ownership of work, assigned to them.

A Leader needs to show humility and honesty to their team. Being honest removes the obstacles between him/herself and the team.

“Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

8. Krishna: [Fun][Emotions]

[A prince, symbol of love and happiness]

Any team/people, including their leader, are humans first, whose ultimate goal is to be happy. Seizing the moment and bringing fun and creativity in the workplace are core strategies of the good leader. Real people are attracted to real people, not to monotonic and machine-minded ones. A leader should know about his team’s work and make sure that they were never overburdened.

Moreover, give people a little love, get it back multiplied by 100.

“Work without love is slavery” – Mother Teresa

9. Balarama/Buddha: [Self Realization]

There is a huge conflict on who next (Vishnu’s 9th avatar) is. Different scriptures suggest different one, Balarama or Buddha. Whoever it is, they suggest the same – Self Realization.

A true leader spends an adequate amount of time, evaluating him/herself. They must know their strengths and weaknesses. After all, how can someone organize a team when they themselves are not organized.

Also, leaders should put their ego’s aside and collaborate with others to achieve a common goal.

“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve” – Bill Gates

10. Kalki: [Adapt] [Restart]

[Destroyer or Apocalypse, considered as end of world or beginning of new lifecycle ]

Every leader has to realize that everything comes to an end. Trying to stick to traditional methods, even after people getting bored, is insane(Gaddafi, for example). The world doesn’t like monopoly. After a certain time, every leader/entrepreneur must reinvent himself or accept that it’s time to step aside and give way to new ones.

“I came to this decision and when I came to it, I was very clear in my mind. it was time for the ‘next generation of the young Indian cricketers’ to take over.” – Rahul Dravid on announcing his retirement.

Everything comes to end. A good leader accepts it and lets others take their place.

All the above-mentioned qualities or avatars are based on my perspective. Not sure about facts though. I hope you enjoyed the article, feel free to provide feedback. Thank you.

This article is inspired from “Krishnam Vande Jagadguru” song by ‘Sirivennala Seetharama Shastry’.

Sources :

http://mahadevno29.blogspot.com/

http://www.instigatorblog.com/10-essential-business-leadership-skills/2007/04/16/

Post · Sep 27, 2017 · Permalink · 6min read

Interaction with stranger, X with a camera at a coffee shop

Me : you seem to be a great photographer.

X (with attitude) : You see my friend, There are no great photographers, just great photos.

Me : wow! that itself says how good photographer you are. Can I have look at your snaps?

X : huh well…It’s my friends camera. He’ll be coming in 5 min. And I’m not a photographer.

followed by silent smile, that turned into a huge laughter and Hi5

Interaction · Sep 25, 2017 · Permalink · 1min read

Interaction with a Lyft driver, Ms. X, as soon as I got into the car and greeted her with big smile and a happy face.

X: Wow! you seem to be very happy.

Me: Yeah. It is a bright day… … (continued discussing about random topics for some time ) … X: You know, we don’t get to see a lot of happy faces in DC. People are always serious, sad or looking into phones.

Me: Sometimes, I feel the same too. Look at them (pointing to few pedestrians), All of them are serious.

Me: Maybe, I would have been like that too, if it wasn’t for that guy who was all cheerful and happy while giving my documents before (Went to Indian Embassy to pickup some documents).
I guess, happiness is contagious. I am pretty sure, your next customer will be happy seeing your face now.

X: They sure do. I guess it’s like the ripple thing, people keep talking about.

Interaction · Sep 19, 2017 · Permalink · 1min read

Interaction with an amazing professor of Philosophy, Ms. X, while waiting for pizza.

Me: So, I was reading this book from Simon Sinek, recently and was wondering how, from Napoleon Hill to Simon Sinek, everyone talks about the importance of Defining Your Purpose. Would Love to know your thoughts on it?

X: Yes. Defining your why is the most important step for anything. Relationships, career, organizations, life, …
For example, You can have the fastest car in the world. But if you don’t know where you want to go, you will just be drifting around, going nowhere.
On the other hand, if you know where exactly you want to go, you have a plenty of travel choices i.e. buses, trains and might not even need a car at all.

Me: Wow! That’s one of the finest examples I heard of.

X: Thanks. Many people knew this, in theory, i.e. the importance of knowing why, but often people get lost into the charm of such fast cars that they forget where they wanted to go.

Me (Silent, Took few seconds to process that statement): That’s deep.

Still thinking about it. How many destinations have we missed or forgotten, in the charm of cars? Postponed journeys waiting for that perfect vehicle or time.

Interaction · Sep 17, 2017 · Permalink · 1min read

Occasionally, we should keep talking with our Younger Selves. They have great stories, dreams, commitments and advice that help find our true selves again.

Note · Sep 16, 2017 · Permalink · 1min read

Not exactly a stranger, A very good friend of mine - Mr. X, A young entrepreneur, own a digital marketing agency.

Me: How is life going?

X: Life has been very forgiving & really made the last few years easy. Expanding company across other cities.

Me: Cool! ‘Life has been forgiving and easy’, good to hear that line when most of us were complaining ‘it sucks! '

X: Probably MBA effect or really our talent - but really doing good compared to competition & many others of same age group. So, can’t complain. Just have to learn & keep growing.

Interaction · Sep 7, 2017 · Permalink · 1min read

Happiness and fulfillment are two different things. Anyone can be happy. It’s a state of mind. It’s a choice that one can make and be happy in seconds.

On the other hand, fulfillment is rare and precious. One need to work, follow his passion, contribute, help, succeed to be fulfilled. It takes years of dedicated hard work and commitment for just seconds of feeling fulfilled.

Note · Sep 6, 2017 · Permalink · 1min read

Ravananugraha

Raavana, Overconfident and obsessed with his powers, once wanted to meet Shiva but Nandhi (Shiva’s gatekeeper) denies his entry to Mt. Kailash.

Enraged by this, Raavana starts uprooting the mountain. To keep him in check, Shiva pushes the Mt. Khailas down, with his feet, trapping Raavana underneath it.

Without losing hope and being determined to live, Raavana spends next few years, trying to impress Shiva, by singing various hymns (Shiva Tandava Stotra, was result of the same), while being trapped under the mountain and using all his energy to prevent it from crushing him.

Finally impressed by his determination, Shiva lets him out and also gifts him with an invincible sword, for his servitude.

This little story has a lot of lessons to learn from.

• No matter how strong or powerful you are, you will face challenges bigger than yourself.
• One must learn to accept defeat, without losing hope and be determined. Your determination can get even enemies by your side.

Funfact: Prabas lifting shivalingam in Baahubali - Song starts with lyrics of shiva tandava strotra, is a reference to this incident.

“Jatatavee gala jjala pravaha pavitha sthale, Gale avalabhya lambithaam bhujanga thunga malikaam, Dama ddama dama ddama ninnadava damarvayam, Chakara chanda thandavam thanothu na shiva shivam."

Post · Sep 6, 2017 · Permalink · 1min read