Skip to main content

Five Seats of Power

 This book has been on my mind for a while. I was a little sceptical about it - thinking that "I know the Mahabharata (as most of us do), so what new thing will I learn". The reason i share this is it is possible that this is the reason many might have to not read this book. 

But as I read the book, I was pleasantly surprised. The author has drawn on the Mahabharata to create an elaborate leadership archetype - and there were many aspects I did not know about. In the story of the Mahabharata Arjuna and Bheema have been in the centre, Yudhisthira as well but the role of Nakula and Sahadeva have been minimal - almost like background figures. Duryodhana, Bheeshma, Karna and others also have a lot of space as compared to Nakula and Sahadeva. So that comes in the way of looking at 5 archetypes. And the author ties it all together as leadership archetypes. 

The Mahabharata is one of the Indias foremost epics. And it is one of those stories that lend itself to so many retellings and interpretations - it has so much depth and layers. And the author has brought out the nuances of the protagonists and some of the antagonists while constructing a Leadership archetype theory around it.  

Personally I found the leader reflections a little boring. 

But each story, the definitions and the contemporary mapping is fleshed out very well. Definitely worth a second read and more. 

This book is a not a one time sit and read. It takes a while to go through it simply because the work is a summary of deep work. And beyond the Mahabharata, it dives into a few more concepts and constructs that will take time to understand and assimilate. I do intend to do a deep dive into it later. 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Be Civil. Make nice!

Popular posts from this blog

The man who saved Pumpelsdrop

This was a story we had in college if I am not mistaken. Perhaps it was in school, but a delightful story it was. The story goes somewhat like this ( reproduced from here ), but the college version we had was slightly different from this.  I t was a dull, gloomy and a depressing morning in a town named Pumpelsdrop in northern England. The Great Depression had brought all the businesses to a standstill. The bored automobile dealer was spending time alone, as usual. But, this seems to be an unusual morning as an odd entity (customer) appeared on the horizon. A man in a bright suit walks up to the dealer and says, "I need to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom II. We have a business conference coming up and I need to impress my customers". Then proceeds to pay 10% of the deal with a single check for 2000 pounds. The rest he says will pay when he takes the delivery.   The auto dealer was stunned. He was delighted to hear that someone is holding a business conference of some kind and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

And the unconference happened

 Most conferences have an agenda. No, not the stated agenda, but an agenda of marketing, airtime to sponsors, ensuring the past and future customers are invited, of ensuring that the "stars" of the industry are invited and attention showered of them. All in all it is a your scratch my back, I scratch your back syndrome. Some of these become cliques and claques and therefore the real point behind a conference is lost. And then there is the unconference - organised and run by the alumni of the ISABS ODCP program. And as the name suggests, this is truly an un-conference organised by the alumni, for the alumni. No funders - except the alumni themselves. No sponsors. Just the team.  I havent seen a more tastefully organised conference (yes, its an unconference).  To begin with - the location - not a typical star hotel, but an outdoorsy place. The food - simple. The welcome - personal. It was like a homecoming. The setting was warm and welcoming. It was a smaller conference. Ju...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why does elearning exist?

 Elearning is one of those niches that does not deserve to exist. Yes, it was a novelty 20 years ago, but not now. It cannot exist. But somehow it does. Disclaimer: I used to head a content team once upon a time. And I used to ask those whom I hired - tell me the last thing you learnt from an e-learning. The answer is - pretty much nothing (and this is a good decade ago).  Why?  If you want to learn a recipe, you go to Youtube, or Reels or something like that. If you are terribly old fashioned - as in, you read - then you go to a website and read the recipe and make it.  Most other things you learn by doing or learning on the job or asking an expert.  If you have to learn something in depth, then there are other ways.  So, where does e-learning fit in all this? E-learning is one of those products that the customer hates, but has no choice, because someone has decided it is the best way. For instance, you have to learn a new CRM or some other product - you w...
Post a Comment
Read more