Business Sutra: A Very Indian Approach to Management (56 page)

Only humans can exchange

Every devata seeks a high return on investment

Conflict is inherent in exchange

Imagination can help humans outgrow hunger

Human hunger for the intangible is often overlooked

There are three types of food that can be exchanged during a yagna

We have to make room for the Other

Yagna can be a tool for personal growth, if we allow it to be

He who takes a call is a karta

Every one is a potential karta

A karta who allows and enables others to take a call is a yajaman

A yajaman has the power to take and give life

The size of the contribution does not matter

All calls are subjective

All decisions are contextual

Not everyone can handle the burden of uncertainty

Every decision has a consequence

Decisions are good or bad only in hindsight

Decisions are often rationalized in hindsight

If the decision is bad, the yajaman alone is responsible

If the decision is good, the yajaman is the beneficiary

Business is violent

Violence is not always apparent

Mental violence is also violence

Violence creates winners and losers

Violence is culturally unacceptable if taking is not accompanied by giving

Violence becomes culturally acceptable when we take because no one gives

Exploitation is violence

Hoarding is violence

Hunger is insatiable

Regeneration ensures sustainable wealth

Restraint ensures regeneration

Restraint is violent

Business is seduction

He who satisfies hunger becomes desirable

Many devatas need to be seduced

Every devata has a devata of his own

Every devata's hunger is unique

Every devata matters depending on the context

Not all devatas are equal

Seducing multiple devatas is very demanding

Seduction needs to satisfy both parties

Sometimes, the yajaman also needs to be seduced

The organization is ultimately a set of people

Every organization is a churn

If strategy is the force, then tactic is the counter-force

If creativity is the force, then process is the counter-force

If ambition is the force, then contentment is the counterforce

If hindsight is the force, then foresight is the counterforce

Upstream forces need to be balanced by downstream forces

Balance is the key to avoid a tug of war

The impact of an organizational decision varies depending on the source

In a shifting world, organizations need to be organisms

In an organism, individual potential and context are taken into consideration

Organisms thrive when the yajaman is flexible

Every devata imagines himself differently from natural reality

Only another human being can endorse the mental image

We defend our mental image at any cost

We are terrified of how strangers will evaluate us

Praise empowers us

Insults disempower us

Comparison grants us value

We seek hierarchies that favour us

We would rather be unique than equal

Culture provides only a temporary framework for our social body

We see things not thoughts

Things help us position ourselves

Things are surrogate markers of our value

Thoughts can be coded into things

We assume we are what we have

We expect things to transform us

The loss of possessions reveals who we really are

Like things, talent and loyalty can also make us feel secure

A transaction is about things, not thoughts

A relationship is about thoughts, not things

There are no thieves in the jungle

Without rules there is territory, not property

Rules domesticate the human-animal

Domestication can be voluntary and involuntary

We dislike those who are indifferent to rules

Rules can be oppressive

Rules create underdogs and outsiders

Rules create mimics and pretenders

We want to live by our own rules

Innovation is not possible unless rules are broken

We respect those who uphold rules

Rules need not determine our value

When the world changes, our social body dies

We want organizations to secure our social body

We resist anything that is new

We want to control change

Insecurity turns us into villains

Our stability prevents other people's growth

We would rather change the world than ourselves

When the context changes, we have to change

Unless we change, we cannot grow

We will always resist change

Adapting to change is not growth

The gaze can be cruel or caring

Everyone seeks a caring gaze

We want to be seen as we imagine ourselves

A cruel gaze focuses on our compliance rather than our capability

Unseen, we are compelled to fend for ourselves

We refuse to see ourselves as villains

We use work as a beacon to get attention

Our goals justify our lack of a caring gaze

Fear isolates us while imagination connects us

We often forget that others see the world differently

How we see others reveals who we are

How others see us reveals who we are

The Other reveals the power of our gaze

The Other reveals our insensitivity

The Other reveals our inadequacy

The Other reveals our blindness

Growth happens when the mind expands

Growth is about pursuing thoughts not things

Growth is indicated when we prefer giving than taking

Growth happens when more people can depend on us

Growth happens when even the insignificant become significant

Growth happens when we include those whom we once excluded

Growth happens when we stop seeing people as villains

Growth happens when we seek to uplift the

Other More yajamans are needed as an organization grows

The yajaman has to turn devatas into yajamans

Creating talent enables us to grow

We seek to inherit things, not thoughts

Being a yajaman is about gaze, not skills

Questions teach us, not answers

We resist advice and instructions

Discourses never transform us

Crisis increases the chances of learning

Power play underlies the process of teaching

To teach, we have to learn to let go

Only when teachers are willing to learn does growth happen

Growth in thought brings about growth in action

To provoke thought, we have to learn patience

Closures are a time for introspection

Who we include as a devata reveals the meaning we give ourselves

The resources we see reveal what we give meaning to

Who we include as a devata reveals who we find meaningful

How the devata sees the yajaman reveals the gap in meaning

The tathastu we give reveals the meaning we seek

We alone decide if we need more meaning, another yagna

How to reject this book

"
Business Sutra
is THE truth."

"This is too theoretical, not practical."

"Which university endorses this?"

"Is there any organization where this has been proven to work?"

"Spiritual mumbo-jumbo."

(Note: The word 'spiritual' is not part of
Business Sutra
)

"How exotic!"

"This is Hindu right-wing propaganda."

"See, all wisdom ultimately comes from India."

"So this is how business should be done in India."

"This idea is too complex and confusing."

"I have always been practicing this."

"My grandfather used to practice this."

"So what does the author want me to do now?"

"Devdutt Pattanaik will solve my problems."

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