Chanakyaneeti - Modern Leadership

Most leaders today are familiar with the success stories of Ford, Apple and Microsoft. We think that what they teach in Harvard business school and other top notch B-schools are the last word for management. Perhaps because we have been brainwashed to believe that what they teach in these western management schools and the successes of western enterprises is what we should emulate. But sadly not many people are familiar with another great man from our own land Bharat and his works which were produced more closely to home in India.

Around 2300 years ago (370 BC-283 BC) )a Brahmin man walked amongst the now ruined city of Takshilla of ancient India (now in Pakistan). He taught at the greatest university of this region (possible the entire world at that time) and was single handedly responsible for changing the course of history for the sub-continent. That great man was Chanakya ,a man who took head on and diffused the threat of Alexander the Great’s ever growing ambitions to conquer India. He envisioned a unified India or ‘Akhanda Bharat’ at a time India was divided into several kingdoms known as ‘Aryavrat’ and most of them were at war with each other, thus weakening their power to resist being conquered.

The manifestation of his vision was Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, the first person to rule over an empire which stretched across India and into parts of Afghanistan and Persia (Iran). But Chandragupta could do that due to the vision and tutelage of Chanakya who was his teacher and mentor.

Chanakya, also known at times as Kautilya, wrote one of the earliest books on the subject of governing called ‘Arthashastra’. It outlines the details of the duties of a king and the means by which he can maintain the balance between power and keeping his subjects happy and prosperous. His visions and thoughts were so ahead of time that it is relevant even to this day and Arthasastra can be considered as a holy book any management student must read.

I was introduced into the magical world of Chanakya sutras through a book written by Dr.Radhakrshna Pillai titled ‘Corporate Chanakya’.When i read the book, i was struck by how some of his concepts of kingship were still relevant for the modern leader.

I have selected some of these concepts and have made an attempt to interpret them for our modern leaders, who rule not over countries, but organizations.

1. Effective communication

Chankya quotes- “When in the court, he shall never cause his petitioners to wait at the door, for when a king makes himself inaccessible to his people and entrusts his work to his immediate officers, he may be sure to engender confusion in business, and to cause thereby public disaffection, and himself a prey to his enemies.”

In most organizations leaders get caught in the entrapments of their titles and entitlements. The higher they are in the organization, the less accessible they become to the very people who at the end of the day are responsible for delivering results.

According to Chanakya, Leaders need to understand that sending people to a communication skills workshop does not improve communication in the organization. Communication improves when the channels of communication are kept open both vertically and horizontally. When leaders are willing to answer people’s queries and take the time to explain the deliverables – that’s when people learn the value of good communication and practice it themselves.

2. Decision Making

Chanakya quotes- “All urgent calls he shall hear at once, but never put off; for when postponed, they will prove too hard or impossible to accomplish”.

The most malignant of corporate diseases is delayed decision making There are several reasons why decision making is slow in so many organizations.

1. A lack of empowerment down the line is one reason why all decisions seem to get passed up the hierarchy which results in a bottleneck
2. Processes are at times followed more in letter than spirit.
3. Decision making is centralized or rather in the custody of key personnel in the organization and these people are always busy.
Chanakya says a good leader should never postpone decisions and should make fast and effective decisions.

3. Addressing the needs of the Organization and Keeping employees Happy

Chanakya quotes- “In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare; whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he shall consider as good”.

According to Chanakya, a good leader realizes that his/her whims and preferences come secondary to the real needs and issues of the organization. He should giving due consideration to the needs of his employees and keep them happy. An Organization with happy employees can have happy customers.

4. Accountability

Chanakya quotes- “Whoever imposes severe punishment becomes repulsive to the people; while he who awards mild punishment becomes contemptible. But whoever imposes punishment as deserved becomes respectable. For punishment when awarded with due consideration, makes the people devoted to righteousness and to works productive of wealth and enjoyment; while punishment, when ill-awarded under the influence of greed and anger or owing to ignorance, excites fury even among hermits and ascetics dwelling in forests, not to speak of householders”.

According to Chanakya, holding people accountable for their results is one of the most important tools of a leader. Unfortunately, in today’s corporate word, we see time and time again that performance becomes punishing and non-performance becomes rewarding. Those who perform well are burdened with more and more responsibility and by contrast those whose performance is not up to the mark seem to get away with minimal work – simply because we do not trust them enough with the responsibility. But what it does is create bitterness in the high performers, as they see themselves being burdened by more and more work while the non-performer seems to be slacking off. Chankya tells us to reward the high performers and give due punishment to the under performers.

12 Leadership Quotes by Chanakya for Success at Workplace : 


Chanakya is considered the smartest diplomat of all times. His shrewd policies and sharp mind changed the way royal administration functioned in ancient times. From economy to people management, he had a deep understanding of life and its subtle realities. At the same time, he came up with clever and out of the box solutions for all the problems.

According to Chanakya, human beings should be constant learners and apply different techniques to deal with different types of people in different situations. Let's check out what did Chanankya provide about being an effective leader at workplace.  

These 12 Chankya’s quotes will change your outlook.

1.    Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous. This trick will help you many ways at work. 

2.    The biggest guru-mantra is to NEVER share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you. 

3.    Win over an egoist by showing him respect, a wise person by truth and a crazy person by letting him behave in an insane manner. 

4.    Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it? What the results might be? And Will I be successful? Only when you find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead. 

5.    Once you start working on something, don't be afraid of failure and abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest. 

6.    Do not show anger towards your opponent in public. 

7.    Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself. 

8.    A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first. 

9.    Wash & take back gold even if it has fallen in filth. Similarly, receive highest knowledge from a low born person. 

10. The world's biggest power is youth and the beauty of a woman. 

11. Education is a person's best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. This beats even the beauty and the youth. 

12. There is always some self-interest or hidden motive behind every friendship. This is a bitter truth. 

The modern day leaders are compared to kings and queens who do not reside in palaces but are found in corporate boardrooms. Chanakya who was also called Kautilya has mentioned thousands of years ago that the first responsibility of a leader is to identify reality. If one needs to make improvement in situation, he/she must first accept the truth, the way things are working at the moment. The moment the leader becomes judgemental he/she tends to make it wrong. Judgements only distort the truth. What Chanakya said, still holds true in this present day and age.  He also talks about glory of friendship: every friendship has some motive. Therefore, understanding why somebody is your friend solves many emotional problems.

Arthashastra, the treatise on Economic Administration was written by Chanakya in the 4th century BC.  It consists of 15 chapters, 380 Shlokas and 4968 Sutras. In all probability, this treatise is the first ever book written on Practice of Management. It is basically on the art of governance in an instructional tone. Arthashastra is about how to reign, how not to misuse power. In fact, several concepts described in Arthashastra, vividly talk about present day management theories; for example, the importance of vision, mission and motivation is very well captured in Arthashastra. It covers the organizational aspects, human dimensions of an organization as well as the leadership styles and their outcomes in an organization.

The world is facing paucity for leadership: many people have defined and conceptualized Leadership. We have indistinct ideas about leadership. The subject is taught at universities and schools by, most of the times by non-leaders. True leaders are sought after. Leadership is not an easy subject to explain. In 4^th century, Chanakya’s opinions were ahead of times which have proved to be beneficial if adopted by people even today. He was a man of wisdom; he had an opinion on various things in the world. Chanakya was a philosopher, an economist, jurist and royal advisor to Chandragupta Maurya. He is in fact the pioneer of the field of economics and political science in India, and his work is thought of as an important invention in classical economics. His works were lost near the end of the Gupta Empire and not rediscovered until the early twentieth century.

Here are some of his views on leadership: a good leader does not stop until the task at his hands is finished. He rests only after he finishes his work. He is not afraid of failure. Chanakya said people who work sincerely are the happiest. Most people fail because they just do not carry on.

Effective communication: Chankya quotes- “When in the court, he shall never cause his petitioners to wait at the door, for when a king makes himself inaccessible to his people and entrusts his work to his immediate officers, he may be sure to engender confusion in business, and to cause thereby public disaffection, and himself a prey to his enemies.” A leader listens to his subordinate. He makes himself accessible to people, solves their problems. Clarity in instructions is crux of effective communication.

Decision Making: Effective leadership is about not postponing decisions; when problems are not solved in time, they become hard or sometimes impossible to accomplish. Nations and organizations face most problems because of delayed decision making.

There are several reasons why decision making is slow in most organizations: lack of empowerment down the line is one reason why all decisions seem to get passed up the hierarchy which results in a bottleneck. Processes are at times followed more in letter than spirit. Decision making is centralized or rather in the custody of key personnel in the organization and these people are always busy.

Happiness: Chanakya quotes “In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare; whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he shall consider as good”. According to Chanakya, a good leader gives priorities first to his peers and subordinates, his priorities and activities come secondary to the real needs and issues of the organization. When organizations look after their employees and keep them happy, the employees serve customers properly, thus having happy customers.

Accountability: according to Chanakya, holding people accountable for their results is one of the most important roles of a leader. And, a good leader himself accepts responsibility of his actions and deeds. What we see often is that those who perform well are burdened with more and more responsibility and by contrast those whose performance is not up to the mark seem to get away with minimal work. Chanakya said a leader must reward the high performers and give due punishment to the under performers. The measure of leadership is not the quality of the head, but actions. Leaders owe a certain maturity. Maturity as expressed in a sense of self-worth, a sense of belonging, sense of expectancy, a sense of responsibility, a sense of accountability, and a sense of equality.

Maintain secrecy: The biggest advice given by Chanakya is never sharing your secrets with anybody. Your secrets will destroy you, and if you cannot keep a secret- you cannot expect others to keep it. We see people at top gossiping, bitching behind backs of others. People change loyalties very fast to gain acceptability. A loyal and strict leader follows ethics.  Even when you trust someone very much, exercising caution is always advisable.

When we talk about management practices, we talk about only Western countries and give them credit for the concepts; we are familiar with the success stories of their big corporations. We nod our heads in acceptance when we hear what they teach at Ivy League business schools. We have been conditioned to believe that what they teach in these western management schools and the successes of western enterprises is what we should emulate.

But sadly, we have forgotten Chanakya who was the originator of management concepts. The manifestation of Chankya’s vision was Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, the first person to rule over an empire which stretched across India and into parts of Afghanistan and Persia (Iran). But Chandragupta could do that due to the vision and tutelage of Chanakya who was his teacher and mentor. I salute this great master!!!!

Epilogue

The modern day kings and queens do not reside in palaces but are found in boardrooms across the globe and just as the words of this ancient wisdom of Chanakya were relevant thousands of years ago, they still hold true in this present day and age.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Are you Leading?

Dr. Deepak A. Patil

CEO, Lead ThySelf