Devdutt Pattanaik - The Leadership Sutra: An Indian Approach to Power

Also by Devdutt Pattanaik

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First published in India in 2016 by

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Durga is the goddess of power in Hinduism, as well as in Buddhism and Jainism. Her name is derived from the word fortress (durg). She was the goddess of kings. She rode a lion, the king of the jungle and symbol of royalty everywhere from China to England. We tend to tiptoe around the role of power in management, and fail to openly acknowledge how the animal desire to dominate often destroys the best of organizations. Critics tend to see power as a negative thing. But power is a critical tool that affects the implementation of any idea. Any attempt to restrain it with rules results in domestication and resentment, and fails to energize the organization. Leaders often equate themselves with lions, and indulge their desire to dominate, when in fact the point of leadership is to be secure enough to outgrow the lion within us, and enable and empower those around us. But this is not easy, as anxiety overpowers the best of leaders.

The Leadership Sutra, a work derived from my book on the Indian approach to business and management, Business Sutra, focuses on sutras related to the human quest for significance, the importance of property to prop up self-worth, the power of rules to strip people of self-esteem, and the need for stability even at the cost of freedom.

Ideas in this book are provided in the form of sutras. Sutra (the word or concept) has two meanings:

• It means a string that joins dots to create a pattern. The book strings together a myriad ideas from Jain, Hindu and Buddhist traditions to create a synthesized whole, that helps us understand the Indian way. Likewise it strings together Greek and biblical ideas to understand the Western way and Confucian and Taoist ideas to understand the Chinese way. Each one of these garlands is man-made and reveals my truth, not the truth.
• Sutra also means an aphorism, a terse statement. The book is full of these. They are like seeds which, when planted in the mind, germinate into plants. The nature of the plant will depend on the quality of the mind. Indian sages avoided the written word as they realized ideas were never definitive; they were transformed depending on the intellectual and emotional abilities of the giver as well as the receiver. Thus an idea is organic. Many sages chose symbols rather than sutras to communicate the idea. What appears like a naked man to one person, will reveal the nature of the mind to another. Both are right from their point of view. There is no standard answer. There is no correct answer. The point is to keep expanding the mind to accommodate more views and string them into a single whole.

These sutras are made in India but are for the world, for they complement modern management by drawing attention back from profit, through hunger, to humanity.

THE LEADERSHIP SUTRA

he human ability to see the quest for power is called divya-drishti. Plants cannot run from animals that feed on them, but animals can run from animals that prey on them. The prey lives in fear of the predator, never knowing when it will be ambushed. But it never thinks about asking for external help. Humans, on the other hand, constantly seek external help with a sense of entitlement. Fearful of exploitation, humans seek protection: a fence, a fort, or durg. From durg comes Durga, the goddess of power.

Durga needs to be distinguished from Shakti, who is the inner powerphysical and mental prowessevery living creature is born with. Durga represents external power, embedded in tools, technology, laws, titles and property that grants humans their social status, a location in the organizational hierarchy where they feel secure, physical and mental prowess notwithstanding.

This is made explicit in the following story: the gods one day sought protection from the asura, Mahisha. They were advised to release their inner Shaktis. These goddesses, embodying inner strength, emerged and merged into a blazing light that created a new, external goddess, Durga, who held in her many arms various weapons and rode a lion. Durga killed Mahisha and became the goddess of kings. Her weapons represent technological innovations and social structures that grant power to man. The lion represents the animal instinct within us, our desire to dominate, be aggressive and territorial.

Shakti cannot be given or taken; it can only be invoked by tapasya. Durga can be given or taken during a yagna: using social structures a person can be empowered or disempowered. A craving for Durga is indicative of a lack of Shakti. Durga compensates for a lack of Shakti. When Shakti is invoked, the hunger for Durga wanes. What is being protected here is not the physical body, but rather the mental body via the social body or karana-sharira.