Rediscovery of Mahatma

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi- one name, which always resembles the divine eternity in today’s world - has never been a forgotten character in the world of ‘peace’. Mahatma Gandhi – popularly known as Bapu (father of the nation) – was a creator of his own destiny and the world today unfolds his charismatic approach to fight against all odds. He was born on 2nd of October in the year 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat. The place where he was born is called ‘Kirti Mandir’ and has been converted into a national monument.

In today’s context where entire world has been beguiled by technology and scientific developments to enhance the living standards, non-violence is of less importance and terrorism & extremism are increasingly becoming more of a part of living.

''It is my belief that the problem of bringing peace to the world on a supernational basis will be solved only by employing Gandhi's method on a large scale.''
-Albert Einstein

Is he relevant today? Is peace relevant? Is non-violence relevant in today’s context? Is humanity exists today?

These are eternal values and of less importance to the human being today. These values ran like a chain through Bapu’s actions, experiments and ideas which laid down the foundation for the Independence of India. He made it possible. He taught the human being to fight the odd forces thru non-violence. ‘Satyagrahi’ he was. He taught the normal human being to demonstrate the courage & compassion and to lay down their lives unresistingly before armed forces. He taught to rise above the spite, hatred and revenge and to regard the opponent if not love. He writes in his autobiography ‘The Story of my experiments with Truth”: "If I found myself entirely absorbed in the service of the community, the reason behind it was my desire for self-realization”. The goal of self-realization (truth, which to him was God) through the practice of nonviolence stamped his every thought, word and deed.

Bapu’s way of approaching the difficult issues and situations thru truth & non-violence was really amazingly perfect and can be implemented in today’s business world too. He was a great leader in true sense.

Business Gurus in India are talking now of a new role model today – Mahatma Gandhi! He’s now being considered as the master strategist, an exemplary leader and someone whose ideas, tactics and strategies Corporate India can emulate.
From Mr. Arun Maira (CEO, Boston Consulting Group) to Mr. C. K. Prahlad (Management Guru) and economist Mr. Arindam Chaudhary, all key business thinkers are preaching how corporate India needs to revisit Gandhi's ideas and apply the lessons learnt from him to their leadership style.

Gandhiji reinvented the rules of the game to deal with a situation where all the available existing methods had failed. He broke tradition. He understood quite well that they can not fight with British rulers with force and so he decided to change the game in a fundamentally different way. He unleashed the power within the ordinary men and motivated & inspired the men & women in the country to fight under a common & unifying goal.

Arindam Chaudhary, in his book “Count your chicken before they hatch" has written extensively about Ganhiji’s style of leadership and the way to approach the difficulties and how it can be applied to Corporate India - "Mahatma Gandhi's example to me is a perfect case of adopting styles to suit the culture. The country today stands divided on whether what he did was good or bad... I just know one thing: there was never a leader before him nor one after him who could unite us all and bring us out in the streets to demand for what was rightfully ours. To me, he is the greatest leader our land has ever seen. It is 'Theory 'I' management' at its practical best: productively and intelligently utilizing whatever the resource you are endowed with." ('I' Management is India Centric Management, a management theory profounded by Professor Arindam Chaudhary.)
Gandhiji's leadership style is being termed as 'follower-centric' and one that took into account existing conditions before determining the strategy.

According to Arun Maira, Gandhi's style of leadership as applied to corporate India would involve making even the lowest person in the organization believe in it and the significance of his contribution towards it. In business, empowerment is all about making sure everyone is connected to the organization's goals. Gandhiji has a way of doing that: making sure that everyone in the cause is connected to the goal.

But how does a capitalist Corporate India reconcile itself to the socialism that Gandhiji stood for? Gandhiji was vehemently against industrialization and felt it would have a highly negative impact on society. Accepting all Gandhiji’s values and principles would not be possible for Corporate India but the disconnect between Gandhiji’s socialist ideas and capitalist views is not as wide as it seems. Capitalism is not just about creating wealth and ignoring the interest of all concerns. We need to take care of all associated too like shareholders and stakeholders. Years ago, the emphasis on the interests of shareholders and stakeholders was labeled socialism and hence, Gandhiji’s ideas, philosophies and principles are not totally different from what the Corporate World would like to do.

And that’s why Gandhiji’s leadership qualities, managerial ideas and style of dealing with worst situations may be followed and implemented in business ethics to create a value proposition in the Corporate World. It’s not really the selective application of his managerial ideas but he’s an example of a great and extra-ordinary leader in managerial role. There was no one in the world who could get all the people together for a common cause and who could embrace his vision as their vision. And an understanding of these leadership qualities is increasingly becoming a part of managerial roles in the Corporate World. It’s not surprising if all B-Schools and Management Development Programs may have a subjective chapter on Gandhiji’s management principles which emphasizes on enhancing the leadership & managerial qualities by applying the methods and ideas which Gandhiji did in historical India.

Thanks to the movies like Gandhi, Lage Raho Munnabhai and Gandhi my father for bringing a new dimension in the thinking and understanding process of Business or Corporate World.

Rgrds, RG