Read situations in all the perspectives

The sage Narada wanted to marry a young princess. But she said she wanted to marry only Hari. Hari is the name of Vishnu, who is God and the guardian of earth. Narada went to the princess but instead of garlanding him, she turned around in disgust. There behind her stood Vishnu. The overjoyed princess garlanded Vishnu. Narada wondered what was wrong. Then he saw his face reflected on a mirror.

It was that of a monkey! He accused Vishnu of cheating him. Vishnu smiled and replied, “I gave you the face of Hari, which literally means monkey, though it happens to be my name.”

Narada can read the situation in two ways: a strategic narrative or a sincere narrative.

In a strategic narrative, Narada can see behaving like a lawyer, playing with words to make him feel like a fool.

In a sincere narrative, Narada can see Vishnu behave like God, using a play of words to enlighten him not to trick a young girl simply because he can.

In a strategic narrative, Vishnu is the wily trickster who wants for princess for himself.

In a sincere narrative, Vishnu stops Narada from being a trickster and grants the princess her wish.

In a strategic narrative, Narada feels like a fool.

In a sincere narrative, Narada is enlightened.

Every situation can be read strategically or sincerely.

When we read a situation strategically, we feel manipulated; we feel we have been reduced to a performing monkey.

When we read a situation sincerely, we learn from it; we feel someone cares for us enough to demonstrate to us our shortcomings rather than simply pointing it out.

Now to demonstrate this with a practical example:

After completing his course in Australia, Jason returned to India with plans to start a fast food joint. His father, Paul was a renowned restaurateur, with many small boutique hotels in India, saw the business plan and knew that it would not work. But he gave his son the seeding capital he needed for the business.

The hotel started with much fanfare, but was in the red in less than six months. Jason approached his dad Paul and he in turn, sent his team to help out Jason. They made two key changes, in the menu and in the advertising. And in no time, the sample place, which was empty for six months, was now full of customers.

Now Jason has two options, just like Narada. He can read his father’s actions strategically or sincerely. He can see his dad Paul as a manipulator, a dominant father, one who does not want to help him and want to put him in his place.

Or he can see Paul as a teacher, a caring father, who wanted to show him what actually works in the restaurant business.

Jason can feel like Hari, the monkey, or thank Hari, the teacher. The choice is very his…

Make Vishnu’s four symbols your management tools

Found the following interesting article in Economic Times. And it suits so much to our corporate life and the actions we pursue…

Hindu Gods are distinguished from each other by the symbols they carry. Shiva, the ascetic, for example, is identified by his trident and rattle drum. Brahma, the priest-teacher, is identified by his books, rosary and pot. Vishnu, the leader-king, is identified with four symbols: conch-shell trumpet or shankh, discus whirring around his index finger or chakra, a mace or gada and a lotus or Padma. Come to think of it, a good leader also has only four goals to get this work done. His very own shankh, chakra, gada and Padma. Only, one does not identify his tools using mythological vocabulary.

Vishnu’s shankh or conch-shell trumpet is blown to announce his presence on a battlefield. In Vedic times, this instrument was used by the commander to rally their troops. Warriors also used this to demonstrate their stamina before their enemies for blowing a conch-shell trumpet was a measure of lung-power and mind control. Every warrior in the Mahabharat, from Krishna to Arjun had their own very own conch-shell.

The conch-shell can be viewed as an instrument of communication. The first rule of leadership is to be an effective communicator. Your team must know, who you are, what you capabilities are, what your vision is and what you expect them to do, and why, and how this will help in achieving your final objective.

Your competition also needs to know that you are powerful and they must avoid confrontation. Unless you communicate, nobody is aware of your presence. ‘Blowing your own trumpet’ and getting your thoughts across is necessary, if anything needs to get done.

Vishnu’s chakra, which whirs round his index finger, is both a weapon as well as a symbol of life that Vishnu’s sustains. As a weapon, it strikes a target, trims the unwanted and undesirable elements like an electric saw and returns to Vishnu’s finger like a boomerang. As a symbol of life, it indicates time (what goes around comes around in this life or in the next) and space (the circular horizon of our world view).

The chakra can be viewed as a symbol of review. A good leader’s job does not end with communicating what he desired and what he expects from his team. He reviews their progress regularly by organizing daily meetings, weekly meetings, monthly meetings. In these meetings, he checks what has been done and what has not been done. He ensures that the team has not drifted from the goal. He discovers what has worked and what has not.

He identifies new creative thoughts and anticipates possible hurdles. This he does again and again and again. Repetition is the key word. With each review, things get trimmed and the vision gets sharper and clearer so that a new horizon of possibilities emerge.

To keep your team on track, the traditional method is to use the system of reward and punishment discreetly. Vishnu’s carrot and stick approach of leadership is represented through his mace or gada and his lotus or Padma. The mace is like a teacher’s ruler, to punish those who do not do what they are supposed to do. The lotus rich with nectar and pollen, which attracts bees and butterfly, is for those who do what they are supposed to do and more.

The one he uses to strike down the rule/law/system breakers. The other he uses to reward the rule/law/system followers. Thus he keeps his team on the straight and narrow, ensuring they achieve what they set out to achieve together. The one ensures that errors are not repeated. The other ensures that best practices are always followed.

In some organizations, the four tools generate fear and anxiety. When this happens, both the goal and the tools have to be relooked at. Is the goal driven by reality or falsehood? Is it motivated by greed? Is the conch-shell trumpeting or the rotation of the wheel excessive? Is the mace too harsh or the lotus too stingy? In some organizations, the tools serve no purpose.

People continue to do what they are supposed to do, moving in different directions, with no alignment to each other. When this happens, the communication has to be reooked at. Has the message gone through correctly or is the message changing repeatedly confusing all or is there a message at all?

The message of ten contains only the goal – what must be achieved. The conch-shell, however, must all communicate how it much be achieved. The aim of the review is to focus on the how – if the prescribed methods are working or failing, the reasons for the success and failure. Often review meetings are not used for review what has been planned – they are used to generate new ideas and discard old ones.

New whats and hows to replace old whats and old hows. Review meetings can generate new insights but it must never be at the cost of the planned agenda. New ideas must be parked, reviewed later and then communicated accordingly. Otherwise, the review loses its purpose and the conch-shell produces cacophony, with things going in every direction.