Management Lessons from Panchatantra Stories
Rise and Fall of a Merchant
In a city called Madhura, lived a very efficient and prosperous merchant. The king was aware of his abilities and therefore made him administrator of the kingdom. With his well-organized and smart ways of working, he made the administration efficient and kept common men happy and at the same time impressed the king on the other side.
Later time came that the merchant’s daughter was getting married. He arranged a lavish reception and invited not only the king and queen but the entire royal household and all respected people of the kingdom.
A servant of the royal household, who used to sweep the palace, was not invited but attended the reception. He took a seat which was reserved for royal nobles, not meant for common invitees. This made the merchant very angry. He caught him by the neck and ordered his servants to have him thrown out. The royal servant felt very insulted and could not sleep all night. He thought, “If I can have the king to disfavor this merchant, I will have my revenge. But what can I, a common fellow, do to harm a powerful person as him”. Thinking such, he suddenly had a plan.
Several days later, the servant was sweeping the floor near the king’s bed early in the morning. He observed that that the king was still in bed, half awake. The servant started mumbling, “Good heavens! The merchant has become so carefree now that he dared to embrace the queen!”
When the king heard this lying in his bed, he jumped up and asked the servant, “Is it true? Have you seen the merchant embrace my queen yourself?”; The servant at once fell at the king’s feet, “O Master, I was gambling all night. I feel drowsy for I didn’t sleep last night. I don’t know what I have been mumbling, but I said anything improper, please forgive me.” The king spoke no more, but the servant knew he had sowed the seed of distrust. The king thought, “It can be true! The servant moves about the palace freely, and so does the merchant. It is possible that the servant has seen something.”
The king was troubled. From that day onward, he withdrew his favors from the merchant and even forbade him to enter the palace. One day, when the merchant was entering the gateway to the palace, he was stopped by the guards. The merchant was surprised due to this sudden change in the king’s attitude. The servant was nearby, and mocking shouted at the guards, “Ho Guards! you are stopping the great merchant of this kingdom. He is powerful. If you stop him, you will be thrown out just like me.”
On hearing this, the merchant understood that the servant has caused all this trouble somehow. He felt dejected and returned home upset over the incident. He gave everything a second thought, and then he invited the royal servant to his house. He treated the servant with respect and flattered him with gifts and garments. He said kindly, “O friend, that day I did not have you thrown out due to anger, but it was improper of you to occupy the seat reserved for the royal nobles. They felt insulted, and out of compulsion I had to throw you out. Please forgive me.”
The servant was already flattered with all the gifts, and he was full of joy, “Sir, I forgive you. You have not only expressed your regrets, but also honored me with utmost respect”. He ensured the merchant, “I will prove you how clever I am. I will have the king favorable towards you, like he was before”. The servant went back home.
Early next morning, when he started sweeping the floors of the palace, he waited till when the king was lying half-awake. When the opportunity came, he started sweeping around his bed and started mumbling, “Our king is crazy, he eats cucumber in the lavatory!”; On hearing this, the king was taken aback. He got up angrily and shouted at the servant, “What nonsense do you talk about? Have you ever seen me doing such thing yourself?”; Once again, the servant fell on his knees and prayed, “O Master, please forgive me if I said something improper. I was gambling all last night and didn’t sleep. I feel drowsy and I don’t know what I have been mumbling.”
The king thought to himself, “I have never eaten a cucumber in the lavatory. What he mumbled about me is ridiculously false. Surely then, what he mumbled about my trusted merchant the other morning must have been ridiculously false too. It was improper of me to mistreat the merchant.”; He wondered, “After all he has been so efficient in the whole administrative system, that without him it has become slack.”. Thus, having considered carefully, the king invited the merchant to the palace and flattered him with gifts, jewels and garments. He re-appointed the merchant to his previously held position and favored his services as before.
Management Lessons:
· Respect everyone in the Organization regardless of their title and position; As we could see from this story, the merchant’s ill treatment of the servant costed him dearly; A manager/leader should treat everyone with respect and care in the organization. A Leader’s EQ is gaining more significance during these days, as organizations grow globally and often leaders are expected to work with people from different race, gender, religion and country of origin. Afterall Life is all about relationships. As William Lyon Phelps said” This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him.”
· Never underestimate one’s ability; We often underestimate people’s ability, be it a team member, a friend or a competitor or even oneself, we should never underestimate people’s ability. As depicted, the servant being one of the lowest members in the organization’s hierarchy, he dint underestimate his own’s ability to influence the topmost person of the pyramid, the King, thus able to achieve the desired goal. We too would have come across hurdles, seems its beyond our control or ability to overcome the challenge, still we can devise ways to influence and make a change.
· Respond Vs React: Prevent knee-jerk reaction: In today’s challenging environment leaders succumb to stressful, demanding situations and often react quickly without much thought; provoked by emotions, look for quick-fix solutions without proper analysis and understanding. As the story depicts, the King believed what he heard from servant, carried away by his emotions he reacted without analyzing the merits of the accusation resulted in taking a knee-jerk decision resulted in losing an efficient administrator. A leader shouldn’t believe everything he/she hears. There are always three sides of a story: yours, theirs and the truth. At times, we tend to overlook the reality and believe illustrations by peers thus land up in huge issues. When a leader tries to resolve an issue or modify a behavior (theirs or team’s), he/she shouldn’t be diverged by the symptoms instead get to the root cause underlying the issue/behavior and respond not react.
· Ego vs Attitude: A child has no ego, Children used to fight with buddies yet never carry that forever; rather they get back together fast. A leader also should never be egoistic, rather be open and flexible to adapt to the situations with a positive attitude. As soon as the merchant realized his mistake, he was not reluctant to approach the servant and fixed the issue by his non-egoistic, positive approach, though he is more powerful than the servant. He didn’t flex his muscles rather went for a positive, win-win solution. One of the hardest challenges for leaders is to remain grounded in the face of their success. Leaders with out-of-control egos are responsible for huge losses in productivity and profits. As a leader, one shouldn’t fall into this trap rather being more concerned about the needs and accomplishments of other people in the team and the organization.
· Talent and Trust: In a leadership role the most challenging part is people management; Though the merchant is very talented and have been delivering his responsibilities efficiently; King threw him away from his role due to a wrong perception; it’s not only a loss for the merchant but also for the king as he lost good talent and able administrative system. Business leaders often face challenges with employing, engaging and retaining talent especially in this era of fast changing and dynamic market; hence its critical for a leader to hone his/her people management skills and be an empathetic listener, avoid prejudice to arrive at unbiased decision making which is good for the larger organization.
Friends, I have been writing a series titled “Management Lessons from Panchatantra Stories” This is first one from this series, others to follow. Panchatantra- an ancient Indian fable authored by Vishnu Sharma, dated back to 200 BCE. I used to tell these as bed time stories to my kids and quite impressed and inspired. Story is from Panchatantra and Interpretations are my Personal views.
Please read and share your views/ comments.
Thanks & Regards
Muthukumari Kulasekaran
