Gita on Leadership

In this week's podcast we discuss James Cameron's new movie, Avatar - the most expensive movie to produce of all time at $300 million.

We also discuss Leadership.

Here's the podcast file:

• 09-12-19 Red Hill Podcast - Avatar 3d and Leadership

Here are my free ebooks on Leadership that I mention in the podcast:

• Bhagavad-gita Small Group Resource
• On Leadership
• Leadership Lessons From Bhagavad-gita

A recent zdnet article IT ethics and the recession examined the ethics of IT workers in three countries. The punch line: a large percentage of folks surveyed would steal confidential company data in the event of layoff rumors. The results are fairly ugly, painting a negative picture of ethics in the workplace.

What this demonstrates is that for many people ethics are situational, that is to say: ethical behaviour is acceptable when it produces a desired result. When desired results and ethical behaviour diverge, ethical behaviour goes out the window, and chasing results by whatever means necessary becomes the modus operandi.

These people are not Doing the Right Thing(tm) under normal circumstances. They are Pretending to Do the Right Thing. That their actions are ethical under normal circumstances is a matter of convenience - it's an appearance only. Their underlying orientation and attachment to the material outcomes of action is the cause of sinful behaviour.

A devotee performs his or her actions as a means of pleasing the Supreme Lord. That is the single motivation for action ("one-pointed intelligence"). Thus their commitment to right action (dharma) is unaffected by the "good" and "bad" results that may or may not eventuate. Those with irresolute intelligence are chasing many different goals (in terms of the results of activities - different material outcomes). They will modify their actions and misalign themselves with dharma if they perceive that it will allow them to achieve their goals.

The Right Thing to Do is always the right thing to do.
- Dr. John C. Maxwell

Always choose the hard right over the easy wrong
- Andy Stanley

Related posts:
The Right Thing
The Right Thing Part 2

A great interview with Akrura das, from Gita Coaching:

You can learn from the past but don’t get stuck in it. Don’t cling to it, don’t dwell on it and don’t grieve over it. For example, the old way of leadership of command and control doesn’t work anymore. Both in spiritual and material organizations you experience the same. You can’t lead people as you used to. There has to be a new style, a new type of leadership. I think that right now our leaders are staggering between the old and the new style.

I had a good experience of what I call the new style of leadership in ISKCON. I had a conversation with our GBC secretary about an important question. During the conversation he took notes. When I finished he said: ”Let me see if I understood everything correctly.” He read his notes for me. He asked a couple of questions to be sure that he had understood everything correctly. You can imagine how I felt. I felt completely understood and very inspired over the fact that this leader was interested in what I had to say. I spoke 95 percent of the time.

In conclusion, although there are problems, there’s a lot of positive things in ISKCON and a number of effective leaders. And coaching helps to understand and develop effective leadership.

O Krishna, maintainer of the people, I have heard by disciplic succession that those who destroy family traditions dwell always in hell.

This is another verse that can be read two ways – “those who destroy the family traditions dwell always in hell”, and also “those whose family traditions are destroyed dwell always in hell”.

The problems that arise from the destruction of the family tradition lay the individual vulnerable to social, economic, and personal exploitation from infancy through to old age.

43

Alas, how strange it is that we are preparing to commit greatly sinful acts. Driven by the desire to enjoy royal happiness, we are intent on killing our own kinsmen.

Keenly aware of the implications of the battle that is at hand in a way that Duryodhana clearly is not, Arjuna laments his involvement. In fact Duryodhana is the one who is driven by the desire to enjoy royal happiness. As will become clear from Arjuna's deliberations in this chapter and the next, his own motivation is something quite different.

44

Better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapons in hand, were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.

In the face of this realization, Arjuna loses his will to fight. It is more than simple cowardice. He realizes what the outcome of this battle will be. Arjuna's concerns are well founded. The battle will take place, and the unravelling of the social structure will begin to take place soon afterwards.

45

Sanjaya said: Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast aside his bow and arrows and sat down on the chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief.

Arjuna is in a clear dilemma. In neither case can he see a good outcome. Either he fights and wins, in which case he kills his family members, the family tradition is destroyed and society is irreparably damaged, or else he is killed, with the same destruction of the family tradition. He reasons that the best course of action would be to die unresisting, and in this way preserve the family tradition.

These are all characteristic sentiments of an authentic leader. An authentic leader is a servant of the people and is aligned with and serving something greater than himself or herself.

However, Arjuna's compassion, while admirable compared with the mentality of Duryodhana, is still insufficient to elevate him to the position of an authentic leader. Intentions notwithstanding, without alignment with universal principles admirable sentiments are insufficient to empower a leader to do what is right. In any situation it is practically impossible to calculate the possible outcomes, and any empirical method of assessing courses of action quickly degenerates into a question of probabilities. Leaders must provide clarity in uncertain circumstances. Krishna is about to enlighten Arjuna to fundamental principles that will illuminate the way forward for him, and empower him to be an authentic leader, acting in knowledge selflessly in the service of the people.

An increase of unwanted population certainly causes hellish life both for the family and for those who destroy the family tradition. The ancestors of such corrupt families fall down, because the performances for offering them food and water are entirely stopped. By the evil deeds of those who destroy the family tradition and thus give rise to unwanted children, all kinds of community projects and family welfare activities are devastated.

Traditionally the family unit has been responsible for socialization, education, and social welfare, including the maintenance of the elderly. Parents would invest their time, energy, and income in their children, and when they advanced in age their children would return the favour and take care of them.

Today children are routinely abandoned by one or both parents, and parents are encouraged to store away some of their income during their productive years in order to “not be a burden on their children” in the future. Young people are encouraged to seek self-actualization through an independent lifestyle of consumption along with a partner. Both elderly parents and children are seen as a hindrance to this pursuit of self-actualization through consumption, and thus fertility rates are at an all time low in Western countries, with negative population growth in many populations.

Elderly people are left to fend for themselves, abandoned by their children and relegated to old folks homes where they live in isolation from the family. In this way the family as the basic structural unit of human society has become replaced with the individual consumer. This is the result of the destruction of the family tradition.

Arjuna demonstrates through his concerns that aside from the legality of the succession, he is more the indicated person to sit on the throne than Duryodhana.

37 – 38

O Janardana, although these men, their hearts overtaken by greed, see no fault in killing one's family or quarreling with friends, why should we, who can see the crime in destroying a family, engage in these acts of sin?

Arjuna's concern is not simply another shade of Duryodhana's self-interest, held by someone with less evolutionary right to survive. Duryodhana is concerned about himself only, at the expense of others. By this argument that Arjuna introduces here he reveals that he is not simply spineless. His sphere of concern is wider than his own self-interest.

39 - 40

With the destruction of dynasty, the eternal family tradition is vanquished, and thus the rest of the family becomes involved in irreligion. When irreligion is prominent in the family, O Krishna, the women of the family become polluted, and from the degradation of womanhood, O descendant of Vrishni, comes unwanted progeny.

Arjuna is concerned about the wider sociological implications of his actions. His level of vision extends far beyond the immediate consequences and considers the larger impact. Duryodhana thinks only of himself and his immediate desires and agenda. Arjuna shows himself to be a leader of a higher caliber through this consideration of the wider issues – the bigger picture.

The family unit is the basis of human society, although at present in the increasingly globalized consumer society this is being supplanted by the individual consumer as the basic building block.

When family traditions are disrupted or destroyed, as will be the result of this battle, the women of the family become vulnerable to exploitation. There is no family structure to bring pressure to bear to enforce responsible behaviour – no father to “bring the shotgun to the wedding”. The results of this are children who are many times not economically supported by their biological father, and do not enjoy a stable social and economic situation for their upbringing. These children grow up with an underlying psychological impression that they are in fact unwanted, and this influences their future as members of society. Children from broken homes are disproportionately represented in statistics of violent crime, substance abuse, and suicide. Due to a lack of a successful model of stable family life they are also disproportionately represented in divorce statistics.

Arjuna's concern for this is a symptom of his compassion, and an indication that he has the character needed to be an authentic leader.

30-31

I am now unable to stand here any longer. I am forgetting myself, and my mind is reeling. I see only causes of misfortune, O Krishna, killer of the Kesi demon. I do not see how any good can come from killing my own kinsmen in this battle, nor can I, my dear Krishna, desire any subsequent victory, kingdom, or happiness.

This is Arjuna's calculation of the situation. Unlike Duryodhana, who relishes the idea of vanquishing his enemies and enjoying the throne, Arjuna finds himself in a dilemma – entering into the battle and laying waste to his kinsmen, which they will do whether they ultimately win or lose, does not appeal to him. And the idea of ultimate victory and the reclaiming of the throne after such a massacre has no attraction for him.

32 - 35

O Govinda, of what avail to us are a kingdom, happiness or even life itself when all those for whom we may desire them are now arrayed on this battlefield? O Madhusudana, when teachers, fathers, sons, grandfathers, maternal uncles, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law and other relatives are ready to give up their lives and properties and are standing before me, why should I wish to kill them, even though they might otherwise kill me? O maintainer of all living entities, I am not prepared to fight with them even in exchange for the three worlds, let alone this earth. What pleasure will we derive from killing the sons of Dhritarashtra?

Here we feel the full import of the situation. Duryodhana has callously divided the entire family and driven it to the brink of annihilation through his ambition. Arjuna, however, wants no part of this. On the one hand we see the extreme greed and disregard for consequences of Duryodhana. On the other hand we are seeing Arjuna's compassion and concern for others. His desire to sit on the throne is certainly not strong enough to impell him to kill all these people, his dear family members.

36

Sin will overcome us if we slay such aggressors. Therefore it is not proper for us to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra and our friends. What should we gain, O Krishna, husband of the goddess of fortune, and how could we be happy by killing our own kinsmen?

Non-violence is not a universal principle. Violence, as with everything else, is neither intrinsically good nor bad. What matters is how it is used. Everything that exists has its proper use, and knowing when something is appropriate and when it is inappropriate is the art of expert management.

In the case of aggression, it is appropriate for warriors to respond with force when they or the people they are sworn to protect are threatened with force. Use of force to deter aggressors is necessary – as George Orwell put it: “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

However, Arjuna's use of the word “such” in reference to these aggressors indicates that while he accepts the need to use violence in situations where it is necessary, in this case, an extreme case, where he is called to use violence against his own family members, he feels such a use of force to be inappropriate.

His argument here is two pronged. In the first instance he argues that it is inappropriate (sinful), and in the second that there will be no good result from it. People are sometimes prepared to compromise on principles “if the price is right”. Arjuna here communicates to Krishna that even if his integrity were for sale, he is not hearing the kind of offer he would need to close the deal.

Arjuna said: My dear Krishna, seeing my friends and relatives present before me in such a fighting spirit, I feel the limbs of my body quivering and my mouth drying up. My whole body is trembling, my hair is standing on end, my bow Gandiva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning.

Here the nature of Arjuna's feelings is presented. Duryodhana had no such reaction to the situation. His only concern was how to motivate his people to secure victory on the battlefield. His vision has no component of relieving the suffering of others. Rather than relying on loyalty to a vision and a higher cause, his recruitment strategy relied on personal loyalty to himself, or to remuneration that he was able to provide.

King Salya was an uncle of the Pandava brothers, and travelled overland with his army to join them in the battle. Approaching the site of the battle Salya arrived at a staging area which had been prepared in anticipation of him and his army. It had many facilities for his men, including lodgings and refreshments. As Sun Tzu explains, the maintenance of an army in the field is terribly expensive for the kingdom, so the provision of facilities such as these was no mere gesture but a substantial aid.

Salya and his forces put up for the night and rested well, served by the staff of the encampment. In the morning, rested and well fed, Salya requested the staff to introduce him to their host, as he wished to pledge his loyalty. Expecting to meet Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandavas, he realized he had been tricked when the door of the tent was whisked aside to reveal Duryodhana.

Leadership in its purest form is found in volunteer organizations. In a volunteer organization leaders are unable to leverage job security or monetary incentives. They rely on the pure substance of leadership – influence and the good will of those they would lead.

Duryodhana's pitch consists of the problem that he wants to be King, and the solution of killing the Pandavas. There is no compassion in this, there is no deep awareness of the suffering of others coupled with the desire to relieve it. It is not a compelling vision except for the part which says: “You can share in the spoils with me”, and this appeals to a certain type of person only.

Bhagavad-gita is an extreme case to prove a point. We can see how Duryodhana is an extreme archetype of the self-absorbed, manipulative leader. Arjuna is about to demonstrate the other end of the spectrum. However, just how extreme a case Bhagavad-gita is will be fully revealed after this, when Krishna shows how even Arjuna's current level of leadership falls short of what is required of an authentic leader.

Thanks to a tip-off from my mate Ekendra, I bought an e-book copy of this book:

Bhagavad-gita on Effective Leadership, by Pujan Roka.

You can get it for US$16 on Amazon, or US$5.85 from Diesel ebooks.

Pujan has a website at http://www.pujanroka.com/, and a podcast on iTunes.

I've read up to the fifth chapter so far, in between other duties and activities. My feeling so far is that this is a great book which really serves to illustrate the contribution of the Gita in the area of leadership. At the same time I feel there is room for further analysis and exploration of Bhagavad-gita and its application to Leadership.

Beyond principles of leadership practice leading to "effective leadership", in Bhagavad-gita Krishna exposes principles of leadership purpose which lead to "authentic leadership" - leadership aligned with fundamental universal principles in a way that empowers it to effect holistic positive change.

It is not simply a collection of pragmatic principles of practice leading to greater effectiveness, somehow divorced from purpose. It contains information about the very fabric of reality, and gives a prescription that allows leaders to discover their own intrinsic purpose, and align the purpose of their organizations with this fabric and the will of its weaver.

I believe that two factors, the principles of leadership purpose and the identity of Krishna as the origin of principles, are the unique significant contribution that distinguish Bhagavad-gita and place it in a distinct category from other seminal leadership works such as The Art of War.

I'll have to read through Pujan's book all the way at least once, and really a few times, to really get the hang of it. It may change as it progresses, but so far I feel that this commentary is not really exploring the full implications and potential of the Gita. So far it seems content to accept some good ideas on how to do things, rather than letting the Gita speak to what should be done, which is really the crux of the dilemma presented by Arjuna to Krishna. I think the Gita's real potential is realized when we let the Gita speak to both: how to do things, and what should be done.

Nevertheless, I am very enthused by reading this obviously well thought out and written commentary by Pujan Roka. Without doubt he demonstrates how many principles of effective leadership are alluded to or demonstrated in the Bhagavad-gita. I am very glad to have found this resource, and with this additional fuel will continue my own deliberations and further writing on the subject.

When the son of Kunti, Arjuna, saw all these different grades of friends and relatives, he became overwhelmed with compassion and spoke thus.

Here we hear about the first characteristic of a leader – compassion. The dictionary defines compassion as “Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.”

The moral authority of a leader and the moral imperative of their vision derives from this quality in their character. Leaders are problem solvers. They identify a problem and seek to solve it. The problem that they seek to solve involves relieving the suffering of others.

Guy Kawasaki, former technical evangelist for Apple and venture capitalist, recommends the 10/20/30 rule for Powerpoint presentations pitching a company for venture capital (a form of vision casting). Basically the rule states that there should be 10 slides, the presentation should go for 20 minutes, and should use 30 point fonts.

The 10 slides are the following:

1.Problem
2.Solution
3.Business Model
4.Underlying Magic
5.Marketing and Sales
6.Competition
7.Team
8.Projections
9.Status and Timeline
10.Summary and Call to Action

The presentation begins with identifying the problem. Sometimes a presentation fails to identify the problem that is being addressed. A vision of a solution looking for a problem will be ineffective in motivating the people, in this case venture capitalists. The first thing they need to hear is: “What is the pain that your product or service will relieve?”

Arjuna is here mentioned as the son of Kunti. Women are generally more compassionate in their nature than men, so it is fitting that Arjuna is referred to as the son of his mother in this regard.