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More About This Title TIMELESS LEADERSHIP:18 LEADERSHIP SUTRAS FROM THEBHAGAVAD GITA
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Although it was written well over two thousand years ago, the Bhagavad Gita ("Song of God"), a revered Hindu religious text, contains an immense wealth of ageless wisdom that speaks directly to the needs of today's business leaders. Timeless Leadership takes this unlikely resource and teases out important lessons on 18 aspects of leadership, from commercial vision to motivation, decision-making, and planning.
Looking in detail at what the Gita has to say about these and other issues of interest to business professionals, Timeless Leadership focuses on one central point: that once the basic thought process of man is improved, the quality of his actions will improve as well, leading to better results.
- Uses an ancient religious text to highlight and explain key Western management concepts
- Explores the leadership ideas in the Bhagavad Gita and helps managers and leaders apply them to modern business life
- Weaves together the threads of wisdom from the Gita to shed light on issues and challenges for leaders at all levels
Covering teachings and ideas that have only got better with time, Timeless Leadership adapts the wisdom of millennia past for today's business leaders.
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DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE has taught leadership classes at Harvard University and at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) in Calcutta, Lucknow, and Kozhikode for nearly two decades. He has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for predoctoral and postdoctoral work at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The author of six books, including Leading Consciously and Break Free, that have been translated into several languages, Dr. Chatterjee has trained more than 10,000 managers at Fortune 100 corporations globally and has served as a leadership coach to political leaders and CEOs of major Indian organizations. He has acted as dean of an international business school in Singapore. A pioneer in the field of Asian models in leadership, Dr. Chatterjee is currently the Director of the IIM Kozhikode and serves as independent director on the boards of several multinational and Indian companies. He can be reached at [email protected].
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A Note about the Text xv
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction: The Context of the Gita xxi
SUTRA 1 The Warrior’s Journey Leaders Embrace Discontinuity and Death 1
All Wars Are First Fought in the Mind 3
The Mind Is a Mob 5
The Ego Is a Disposable Idea 8
Leaders Embrace Discontinuity by Dispossessing the Ego 10
The Secret of Invincibility: The Conquest of the Binary Mind 12
Self Is the Cause; Self Is the Effect 13
Hunting for the I 15
SUTRA 2 Invincible Wisdom Leaders Create Alternative Reality 17
Grief, Pity, and Shame: The Mind’s GPS System 18
Creating Alternative Reality 20
Motivation and the Monkey Mind 22
The Leader’s Inspiration Comes from Unselfish Work 23
Unselfish Work Leads to Evenness of Mind 26
Applying Invincible Wisdom: Powered by the Intellect and Driven by Unselfishness 29
SUTRA 3 Karma Yoga Leaders Enter the Timeless Cycle of Action 33
Arjuna’s Dilemma: The Warrior as Worrier 34
Work and Its Secret: Action, Inaction, and Effortless Action 35
Karma Yoga: Work as Worship 38
The Yajna Spirit: Discovering the Timeless Cycle of Work 40
Swadharma: The Case for Righteous Action 42
Work as a Means of Realizing Who We Are 44
SUTRA 4 Timeless Leaders Pursue Purpose as the Source of Supreme Power 47
Rajarshi: The Leader as Sage 48
The Many Faces of the Supreme Power 50
Twenty-Four-Hour Leadership 53
The Return of the Rishi 55
SUTRA 5 Leadership Is the Art of Undoing The State of Detached Engagement 59
How Anchors of the Past Hinder Performance 60
The Art of Detached Involvement 62
Evolving to the Equality of Vision 63
The Art of Undoing 66
SUTRA 6 Leaders Are Masters of Their Minds The Art and Practice of Meditation 69
Separating the Self Image from the Real Self 70
Mastery of the Mind 73
Disciplines of Mastery: Concentration, Detachment, and Transcendence 76
The Power of Stillness 77
SUTRA 7 Leaders Are Integrators The Freedom of “I Am” 81
Context 81
Arjuna’s Journey from Ignorance to Wisdom 82
Timeless Leaders Integrate People and Processes 84
The Leader’s World: A Reflection of Unmanifest Dharma 85
From Ego-Centered to Spirit-Centered Leadership 87
Leaders Liberate Themselves and Others from Suffering 89
SUTRA 8 Timeless Leadership Decoding the Meaning of Life 93
Timeless Leaders Explore the Ultimate Meaning of Life 94
The Multidimensional Meaning of Life 95
Creation Is Sacrificing the Smaller for the Sake of the Greater 97
The Real Meaning of Life Is Contained in Life Itself 98
Meaningful Work: A Synthesis ofReflection and Action 100
SUTRA 9 The Sovereign Secret Timeless Leaders Live in a Self-Organizing Universe 103
Sovereign Self and the Path of Unity 104
The Governance of the Ego: The Path of Disintegration 105
Self-Organization: When Organization Becomes Community 107
The Law of Giving: Being and Becoming 110
SUTRA 10 Leadership Is an Adventure of Consciousness 113
Leading Consciously 113
Silence: The Language of Timeless Leadership 115
The Dynamism of Indivisibility 118
The Pursuit of Excellence 121
SUTRA 11 Timeless Leaders Have Integral Vision 125
Integral Vision 126
Sight and Insight 128
The Pangs of Plurality 130
The Leader as Servant: Being an Instrument of the Whole 132
SUTRA 12 Love Is the Leader’s Essence; Love is the Leader’s Presence 135
Leadership Is Love Made Visible 136
Devotion: The Art and Practice of Leadership 138
Attributes of the Leader as Devotee 142
SUTRA 13 Leaders Command Their Field with the Eye of Wisdom 145
The Leader as a Knower in the Field of Knowledge 146
The Dimensions of the Field and the Knower of the Field 149
Seeing with the Eye of Wisdom 151
SUTRA 14 Leaders Harness the Dynamic Forces of Nature 155
Nature’s Manuscript: The Three Forces 156
How Leaders Harness the Three Forces of Nature 158
Transcending the Dynamics of Nature 162
SUTRA 15 Timeless Leaders Discover Their Invisible Source The Tree of Life 165
The Tree of Life 166
The Invisible Leader 169
From the Perishable to the Imperishable: Quest for the Supreme Self 172
SUTRA 16 Leaders Negotiate the Crossroads The Divine and the Devilish 175
The Crossroads of Leadership: The Divine and the Devilish 176
Toxic Leadership 180
The Return Journey 182
SUTRA 17 Leaders Follow Their Faith The Journey of Self-Giving 185
Faith: The Deep Structure of Leadership 186
Three Kinds of Faith 187
The Art and Science of Self-Giving 191
SUTRA 18 Leadership Is Transcendence The Unity of Two Wills 195
The Source and Resource 196
The Algebra of Attachment 198
Renunciation and Regeneration of the Leader 201
The Path of Transcendence 203
The Unity of Two Wills: The Fighter and the Warrior 207
CONCLUSION Arjuna’s Awakening Practical Wisdom for Timeless Leaders 211
Quiet Leadership: The Practice of
Handling Information Overload 212
Leaders Must First Solve Their Most Persistent Problem 214
Wisdom in Times of Uncertainty: Leaders Deal with Discontinuities in Life and Work 215
Leaders Triumph by Merging Their Individual Will with Life’s Purpose 216
References 219
About the Author 223
Index 225
