Title :
The Leadership Sutra
Author :
Devdutt Pattanaik
Publisher
: Aleph
ISBN :
978-93-84067-46-5
"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."
This thin
124 pages book is actually derived from Devdutt Pattaniak's Business Sutra. As
the name suggests, the book talks about power and leadership at the work place
and the analogies are taken from mythological anecdotes. It analyzes the fact
that humans seek power, importance and significance and how much are they ready
to bargain to achieve the same.
It is an
innate human need to feel they matter, to feel recognized and to be envied by
others. This recognition brings in security and power and in turn satiates the
desire to dominate. Domination imparts a feeling that one can exert control
over external things. Through various means humans try to satisfy this need
whether it is in the form of any social rules, position or things like property
which gives the delusion of immortality.
The whole
book is categorised under four broad sections addressing - Significance,
Property, Rules and Stability. The book begins with discussing how Durga, the
external power is distinguished from Shakti, the inner power - physical and
mental prowess. And this distinction becomes a common thread through all the
sections. Building and nurturing Durga is important but more significant is
working on the Shakti because that is what imparts wisdom and innate strength.
To bring
home a point, various interesting anecdotes are picked from the mythology
followed by case studies from the corporate. His signature line drawings keep
the narrative mind-stimulating. His writing style is par excellence and 'The
Leadership Sutra' just validates it even further. It was a sheer pleasure to
read this book.
.png){kind=icon}
Posts
