Leadership Secrets from the Mahabharata

Book excerpt: The Mahabharata, one of the greatest books of all time, is not simply the story of a fratricidal war or a fount of wisdom for philosophers: it is also a comprehensive manual on strategy. From this storehouse of knowledge, Meera Uberoi selects the most pertinent shlokas to reveal the secrets of leadership and the path to success. She shows that the Mahabharata is equal, if not superior, to other management bibles such as The Art of War, The Prince and Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings).The aphorisms in Leadership Secrets from the Mahabharata have been selected from the Santi Parva, the Bhagvad Gita Parva and the Adi Parva. As Bhishma lies dying on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Krishna realizes that with Bhishma's death, the world will lose all knowledge. To prevent this, Krishna asks him to impart to Yudhisthira all he knows. These teachings, coming as they do from Bhishma, the wisest of them all, contained in the Santi Parva, form the core of Uberoi's book. Apart from detailing how to apply the craft of kingship to modern business practices, the book also explores the analogy between kingship and leadership.