Leadership Lessons from Ramayana

Leadership and its style arguably contributes to the success or failure of a corporation in meeting challenges of its rivals or competitions as well as that of engaging and managing its team. Corporate world is replete with examples of how the leadership of an old & established corporation failed to gauge or dismissed the impact of the new competition with new technology, new business alliances and an entirely new approach to leadership. What determines the success or failure of Corporations in meeting such new challenges? Answer undoubtedly lies in leadership! Although corporates place elaborate systems & processes in place, it’s the approach and response of the leadership to the emerging threats that very often decide the fate of corporate battles. Advantages or disadvantages of inclusive leadership, consultation processes, team engagement and their effect on success have been debated ad nauseum. This debate become even more critical today when almost all sectors of economy are faced with startups disrupting the existing business ecosystem with new technologies, business models and new kind of leadership. This phenomenon is not completely unheard of and at different time in history, newer set of forces, leadership and technology have been emerging to change the world order.

Indian religious texts like Ramayana & Mahabharata are not only religious texts but great treatise on human and organizational behavior. Ramayana, at one level, is a narrative of a young Prince, Lord Rama, successfully fighting the demon king Ravana to free his abducted wife Lady Sita. At another level, Ramayana is a narrative of a new order in which the exiled Prince Rama makes an unlikely and unconventional alliance with Monkeys and challenges the powerful demon King, Ravana, who is complacent and represents the old established order. Ramayana, then, becomes the narrative of two contrasting leaderships; on one side, the established king (ignoring new alliances & technologies) confident of its strategic location (Ocean separating them) and complacent (dismissive of emerging challenges), and on other side, new emerging leadership with new alliances (between man & monkey), technologies (bridge over Ocean) and value systems (humble & inclusive). What better place to look for lessons in leadership than these scriptures? In a series of articles, I intend to describe specific episodes from these texts and draw the lessons for modern management and leadership.

Contrasting leadership Styles of Lord Rama and Ravana:

We pick up the narrative when Lord Rama and his army of monkeys have reached the shores of Ocean which they need to cross to reach Lanka. Arrival of Lord Rama’s army at the shores of Ocean is matter of great concern to citizens of Lanka. Vibhishana, Ravana’s younger brother, counsels Ravana to recognize the gathering threat, return Lady Sita to Lord Rama and make peace. Ravana get angry at the advice, curses and kicks Vibhishana and throws him out of his kingdom. Vibhishana goes to Lord Rama who anoints him as King of Lanka and makes him an ally.

Contrast in two leaders is quite apparent; Lord Rama realizes that to challenge the established order and might of Ravana, he has to make new alliances and he not only allies with monkeys but also makes a strategic alliance with Vibhishana who is familiar with local conditions as well as of strength and weaknesses of Ravana and his army. Ravana, on other hand, ignores advice of Vibhishana and throws him out for having dissenting opinion, loses a leader and provides Lord Rama an ally on platter. Does it not sound quite familiar -like people quitting an organization because their contrarian views are not respected and joining the competition?

To deal with the immediate problem of safely crossing the Ocean without wasting too much effort or incurring losses, Lord Rama seeks Vibhishana who is familiar with local conditions. Vibhishana advises Lord Rama to pray to Ocean God. On the other hand, Lakshman, brother of Lord Rama, advises against praying to Ocean God and instead tells Lord Rama to use his powers to dry up the Ocean by firing an Arrow. Lord Rama accepts the advice of Vibhishana but assures his brother Lakshmana pleasantly that he would act on his advice later and asked him to have patience.

At this juncture, when spies of Ravana bring the news about Lord Rama’s army, anointment of Vibhishana as King of Lanka and Lord Rama’s prayers to Ocean God for right of way, he ridicules Lord Rama and his methods declaring that by acting on advice of coward Vibhishana, Lord Rama is praying to Ocean God like a child and that there was no need to worry about the intelligence and power of enemy.

Few salient points regarding leadership style of two antagonists are again very much apparent. Lord Rama relies on Vibhishana (local intelligence) for right advice, doesn’t discard dissenting advice of his brother, pacifies him (keeps the team together), humbly prays to Ocean God to bring him on his side (again looking for new alliance). On the other hand, Ravana has already pushed his own brother in enemy camp (Loses leaders to competition), is not alarmed by intelligence/advice that Vibhishana can provide Rama with fails to recognize emerging threat) and makes no effort to retain next-door neighbor Ocean God on his side.

Above episode from Ramayana, brings to the fore the contrasting styles of two leaders engaged in battle for supremacy:

Consultation with Team Members: Lord Rama seeks view of his team leaders, whereas Ravana imposes his views on team leaders.

Local Leadership: Lord Ram acts on the advice of Vibhishana, who is the local leader whereas Ravana ignores intelligence provided his own spies.

Resolve Differences & Carry everyone along: Lord Rama pacifies Lakshman who has contrarian view and keeps his team together. In similar situation, Ravana not only refuses the advice of Vibhishana but turns him in to a mortal enemy, as later events would prove.

Looking for Allies not enemies: By praying to Ocean God, Lord Rama is displaying humility in bringing Ocean God on his side. On other hand, Ravana doesn’t make any effort to have Ocean God on his side to impeding the advance of Lord Rama’s army.

However, what is more striking is that Lord Rama doesn’t impose his views on team and carries them along but he doesn’t defer or abdicates decision making whereas Ravana imposes his views on his team but defer decision making and lets things drift and doesn’t take any proactive steps for defense of Lanka. Do these not sound familiar in corporate world?