MONDAY MUSINGS SEASON 2 - EPISODE 250

Leadership treatise at Chitrakut

26th February 2024

We are going through a series of leadership lessons from Valmiki Ramayan as a mark of obeisance to Lord Ram started from the day of Pran Pratishtha' of Shri Ram Lalla at Ayodhya. 

Do you know that Lord Ram took a leadership discourse to Barath in the middle of the forest? 

Yes, this happened when Barath came with his big entourage to chitrakuta where Ram was staying with Lakshman and Sita to persuade him to come back to Ayodhya. Instead, Ram stayed put and sent Barath back to Ayodhya after giving him long lecture on leadership guidance.

This comes towards the end of Ayodhya Kand of Valmiki Ramayan, in sarga 100. It is a pretty long sarga with lots of great management mantras, simple yet powerful leadership tips. These are given as Ram’s advice to Barath for ruling the kingdom effectively but the messages are very relevant even now in corporate governance.

I will take up these lessons in the next few episodes. Some of these are taken up in few earlier episodes of MONDAY MUSINGS but it is worth the repetition. 

Lesson 1 – #RespectTeachers

इषु अस्त्र वर सम्पन्नम् अर्थ शास्त्र विशारदम् |

सुधन्वानम् उपाध्यायम् कच्चित् त्वम् तात मन्यसे || Valmiki Ramayan 2-100-14 

"My dear! I hope that you treat our archery teacher Sundhanva with respect, who is furnished with the most excellent weaponry and well-versed in political economy."

Respect for our mentor’s and trainers, hold an important part of our career progression journey. At times we would grow in stature much higher than that of teachers, but at all times we must remember to give them due respect and gratitude for the contribution they made. This is respect for the skills they have given more than the respect for them. 

Lesson 2 - #SelectYourTeam

कच्चिद् आत्म समाः शूराः श्रुतवन्तो जित इन्द्रियाः |

कुलीनाः च इन्गितज्नाः च कृताः ते तात मन्त्रिणः ||  Valmiki Ramayan 1-100-15

"I hope that ministers who are valiant like you, learned, masters of their senses, noble birth and skilled in interpreting internal sentiments by external gesture, are assigned to you."

Essentially Ram advised Barath to carefully choose his immediate team as the calibre of the team is very important for individual’s success. Good leaders have the innate ability to spot talent and groom talent. 

Choose your leaders carefully, they must be experts in their fields and possess the right skills for accomplishing their roles in the organization. Most importantly they must share a connect with your ideology and your vision for the organisation.

मन्त्रो विजय मूलम् हि राज्नाम् भवति राघव |

सुसम्वृतो मन्त्र धरैर् अमात्यैः शास्त्र कोविदैः || Valmiki Ramayan 1-100-16 

"The source of victory for kings indeed comes from counsel by ministers, who are well-versed in relevant procedures  and who can hide their thoughts within themselves."

Success of an organization or a project depends on the contribution of core group of leadership. They must be capable of holding the information to themselves with confidentiality. It will be critical that the leadership team has the expertise on relevant processes.

More lessons from the same sarga will continue…

GOOD NEWS COLUMN

Ever wondered that you wanted to donate but don’t know how to reach it to the most deserving, ‘Share At Door Step’ offers the solution. Started by Anushka Jain, ‘Share At Door Step’ is a social venture that simplifies the donation process. It collects clothes, toys, books and more from your doorstep, using AI to connect with NGOs throughout India. 

Her novel concept of ‘sharing’ started from her childhood. She used to visit an NGO on every birthday and take sweets and snacks and have a great time with the kids and parents at the NGO.

But why should the fun be limited to just one day in the year, thought Anushka. She wanted ‘sharing’ to be a part of her routine. It was only in college that a deeper delve into this question led Anushka to the answers. People didn’t shy away from donations because they didn’t have the time. Instead, it was the ordeal of navigating the thicket of NGOs that kept them at bay.

“The idea of donating to NGOs never left me. So, I created a website, asked people around the city to register the items they wanted to donate and went around in the mornings doing pickups!” Anushka said. After hitting 200 pickups, it dawned on Anushka that the idea was getting traction. She needed hands on deck.

In 2018, Anushka quit to devote all her time to ‘Share At Door Step’, which is now a registered for-profit venture.

With its presence in 11 cities across the country, ‘Share At Door Step’ has many arms to its work. Not only does it provide cause-related marketing solutions to companies, but also supports Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related activities, and provides doorstep donation services to individuals and corporate donors.

Whenever a customer shops with a certain brand that is partnered with ‘Share At Door Step’, they will be prompted to make a donation (Share At Door Step will do the pickup and this is sponsored by the brand in question) and they will get a voucher in turn that they can use on their next purchase. So a customer is donating their old shoes, mattresses, suitcases, all while getting a discount on the new shoes, mattress and suitcase he/she purchases!”

“Go to our website, book a pickup based on your city and location, register the item you’re looking to donate and also mention if it is light (small items like bags, purses, clothes) or heavy (large suitcases, decor and furnishing items, etc) and then proceed to book the pickup. The agents will be there at the designated time and your donation will soon be directed to one of the 135 NGOs we are associated with,” she informs. 

Manual intervention could muddy the waters while deciding which items go to which NGO. This is where AI steps in. The items are matched with the NGO’s requirements through an algorithm.

The success of the model in India — over a million donations — prompted the team to expand to foreign shores. In March 2023, Anushka set sail to introduce the people of Singapore to this unique idea.

Participate in the campaign by clicking https://shareatdoorstep.com/.  

___________________________________________________________________________________                 Conceived, compiled and posted by Jaganathan T (www.authorjaganathan.com) as a weekly newsletter in LinkedIn