The New Age Guru of Management: Shri Krishna Vasudev Yadav

Shri Krishna is the central figure of the Bhagwat Geeta. He is widely considered by Hindu to be an Avatar- the incarnation of a Hindu deity of God. Shri Krishna is considered as the greatest management guru (teacher) of all times who managed very well in all the circumstances to achieve the desired goal. Here we will see how he managed excellently and what are the reasons that people still remember him as Jagad-gurum.

वसुदेव-सुतं देवं कंस-चाणूर-मर्दनम् |

देवकी-परमानन्दं कृष्णं वन्दे जगद्गुरुम् ||

Vasudeva-sutam devam kaMsa-chANUra-mardanam |

DevakI-paramAnandam kRiShNam vande jagad-gurum ||

1) Best planning gives best results: - Shri Krishna was called by many names which were in hundreds and thousands, but no one called him as a manager. In his life he has faced much battle against many kings, demons as well as god. In all these battles he had planned so well he won every time. As we all know that management planning is a primary function or activity without which nothing can be achieved. For example – The battle of Mahabharata.

2) Half of the results can be achieved by self–confidence: - In Mahabharata it was mentioned that when the fight was decided between the Kauravas and Pandavas at Kurukshetra, Duryodhana who represented the Kauravas and Arjun represented Pandavas, for the help they approached every kings to be a part of their fight. Both went to Shri Krishna. He offered them to choose between him and his complete army, which shows the confidence of Shri Krishna towards Arjun who selected him without any weapon. Duryodhana was happy to have gained his mighty army. From this one can decide that how it applied to Shri Krishna.

3) Deciding Goals: - The goals are the most important part for management. Shri Krishna’s main goals were for the welfare of saints, destruction of evil and to establish and strengthen religion in every era.

4) Motivational Power: - Managers have to deal with motivation at each and every level as well as he have to be self-motivated. This is seen in Shri Krishna. At the time of Mahabharata battle when Arjun left the weapon and refused to fight because he saw that his opponent were young and old relatives. Then Shri Krishna motivated Arjun. Later that motivational speech is known as Bhagwat Geeta. After that Arjun recovered and got ready and ensure the battle.

5) To achieve target by building strategies: - Pandavas and Kauravas had soldiers and warriors strength in the ratio of 7:11. Pandavas and Kauravas had 1.53 million and 2.41 million soldiers and warriors respectively. This information it was clear the battle could be won only with effective strategies. At the end of the battle Pandavas won which showed that how successful building and implementing of the strategies helps achieving success.

6) Leadership quality: - A good leader can gain from limited resources and a bad leader will lose even with vast resources. At the time of selection between Shri Krishna and his mighty army, Arjun & Duryodhana made choice between a leader and his resources. Arjun chose Shri Krishna because of his leadership qualities and requested him not only to lead the mission but also guide personally. Shri Krishna accepted the request and because Arjun’s “Saarthi” (charioteer).

7) Skill management: -Controlling an army of 1.53 million warriors to fight against a bigger army is not easy. All the warriors were divided into seven parts and for each a commander was appointed for which were directly controlled by a supreme commander and the supreme commander was guided by the Pandavas and Shri Krishna. The great management and controlling skills of Shri Krishna made it possible. Henry Fayol says that without appropriate role allocation, mission can get desired results. Shri Krishna assigned the roles and positions to each and every person who was there for battle like Arjun, Bhim, Yudhishtir Etc. they all had to do their respective work.

8) Extraordinary managerial qualities: - Due to Shri Krishna, Pandavas won the Mahabharata battle by the extraordinary managerial skills. Shri Krishna is “god” and almighty and he can perform all the task, he doesn’t need an army for battle he himself is an army. If he wished he could have used his power to win the battle against Kauravas, but he kept his word that he will not raise ant weapon against anyone and he would be there only as a guidance to Arjun. That showed he was a man of his words, truly committed to what he promised.

To sum up, it can be said that Bhagwat Gita deals with human problems in human way. That is why it has a tremendous appeal when people fight with their day to day challenges. It has inspired the human mind in India for centuries and today it is inspiring the human mind in India for centuries and today it is inspiring millions of people across various sections of the society, and across the globe- be it corporates, students or say a housewife. Lord Krishna through his life demonstrated how to live a life in entirely and stated continue doing right, without having attachment towards the outcome of those actions and most importantly, never hurt anyone. Precisely, so to say, Lord Krishna has thus turned out to be the new age management guru.