Leadership Mantra from Ancient India

India has had a rich history of great ‘Gurukuls’ that taught everything from basic language to mathematics and governance skills to warfare tactics. Most of the ancient Indian texts are in the Sanskrit language consisting of ‘Shlokas’ of two lines. Stories and real-life examples of animals and humans have been used to explain the concepts and this makes it easier to imbibe the learnings. For example, let us take one from ‘Hitopdesha’.

“Udyamen hi sidhyanti karyani na manorathaih l __

Nahi suptasya singhasya pravishanti mukhe mrigah ll”

It means one cannot just wish for the work to be completed, one has to make an effort for it, exactly as a deer does not enter into the mouth of a sleeping lion.

For the purpose of this course, we have chosen ‘Hitopadesha’. Like most other ancient textbooks of India, it is written in the Sanskrit language and does not contain the name of the author or the date and time of writing it. The surviving text is believed to be from the 12th century. ‘Hitopadesha’ means ‘helpful advice’ and it contains nuggets of wisdom and rules for governing. It is said that King Sudarshan of Pataliputra left his sons with Vishnu Sharma to teach them everything they needed to become good leaders in the future. The complete set of teachings is compiled in ‘Hitpoadesha’ which is divided into four parts.

This course has four modules to comprehensively cover all facets of leadership skills. It will help readers to embark on an interesting learning journey.

Module 1 – ‘ Mitralabha’:Acquisition of a Friend __

1.1 What should a leader know?

1.2 How should a leader treat the team?

1.3 How should a leader behave?

1.4 Self-assessment

Module 2 – ‘Suhridbheda’:The Separation of a Favourite

2.1 What is wrong?

2.2 What is right?

2.3 Which policies to adopt?

2.4 Self-assessment

Module 3 –‘Vigraha’: Disputing

3.1 What traits are required?

3.2 How does a strategy help?

3.3 How to behave during crises?

3.4 Self-assessment

Module 4 –‘Sandhi’: Making Peace

4.1 With whom should one collaborate?

4.2 With whom should one not collaborate?

4.3 What should the leader be careful of?

4.4 Self-assessment

The course will include a mix of videos, recorded audio clips, faculty-led lectures, examples, stories, cases, self-assessment tests, and assignment(s).