In this dog eat dog, greed is good world, what is the role and relevance of righteousness & honour ? What behaviour should the leadership should emulate; is the behaviour of winning at any cost relevant or winning with the right cause ?
The Nine Lessons from Maryada Purushottam
- Vulnerability is Strength
- Duty Bound / Dharma is Divine
- In the Present (Now & Here)
- Harnessing the Potential
- Beyond the Comfort Zone
- Compassion to Accommodate
- Devoted to Commitments
- Self-Aware
- Empathy over Equity
Devoted to Commitments – (Not Absolving oneself)
In the Yuddha Kand Lakshmana is unable to kill Indrajit and he finally says, “If Rama is one who keeps his promise, then let this arrow kill Indrajit.” And that is enough for the arrow to hit the target.
In the Ayodhya Kand when King Dashrath (Father) orders Lord Ram to let go off his throne for his brother and accept exile into the jungle for 12 years, Lord Ram does not question this decision or absolve himself from his duty as a son, throughout Lord Ram continuously displays his devotion to his commitments and always does complete justice to them.
As Leaders we are often the torchbearers of past legacy or caught in the middle of mixed agenda because of cross functional roles and matrix reporting. Some of these agenda points may not be our priority or where our core competencies can be exhibited. In such cases, often we are tempted to absolve ourselves from these situations and prefer to act as a bystander rather than be a torchbearer. Lord Ram does not do so; he exhibits this virtue of taking responsibility and sticking to commitments, even those made by the near & dear ones as a fellow traveler.
By Srini
