Welcome

Management Lessons From

Mahabharata
By

C. Rani
The Mahabharata is an
epic narrative of the
Kurukhetra War and the
fates of the Kaurava and
the Pandava princes.
Win Allies
Five Brothers won
against a Hundred
How do you think
Pandavas did that?

The relationships
paid off
Commitment
Commitment is very important.
Kauravas were short on this. Almost
every one of them had personal bias
and points where they said they would
not be committed to the war. While
Pandavas were committed
wholeheartedly and were willing to do
anything to achieve the common goal
even if it meant laying aside personal
agendas.
Hire the right person in the right place at the right
time
• In Mahabharata, even when
Kaurava had 11 armies they
could not outperform the
Pandavas. Pandavas with the help
of Krishna understood the
importance of having right person
in the right place to win the war.
• The effectiveness of the business
largely depends on the leader’s
ability to put the right person at
the right place at the right time.
Women Empowerment
Kauravas were all patriarchal
structure. Gandhari was not
heard and there was no
participation of women in
decision-making. On the other
hand, Pandavas relied heavily
on their women for advice: be
it Kunti, Draupadi, or the
mothers of other warriors like
Hidimba (Bheema's wife) and
Subhadra (Arjuna' wife).
Develop a diverse team and share
responsibility
• Kauravas had a centralized
leadership with 11 commanders,
and the command was passed on
to others as and when these
commanders fell in the
battleground.
• pandavas had diverse people in the
team and everyone was a part of
the decision making process
and fought as one single team
• Diversity in a team is very
important as it provides the leader
with different perspectives to take
better decisions.
Know the potential of every team member
For managing a team one
should know what kinds of
roles are suitable for each and
every member of the team.
The leader should possess the
ability to utilize each
members potential to the
maximum.
Improve skills and consistently learn
• In Mahabharata, the forest exile begins as a tragedy
however turns out as good learning experience for
the Pandavas. Arjuna learning and refining the skill of
archery and humility from Shiva, Hanuman humbles
Bhima, and they spent the 12 years learning about
various skills and humility helping them becoming
better human beings and thus better kings.
• One should constantly focus on improving skills and
constantly learn the new tricks of the Job. It is very
important to have right set of skills, attitude and tools
to win the battles of business.
Negative Leadership