Embracing Change with Grace: Leadership Lessons from Geeta Chapter 2, Verse 2.22 for Project Managers
Tushar Pathak
Sr. Business Analyst @ Quantiphi Analytics | PSM? I | PSPO? I | Agile/Scrum Expert | Inventor | Nanotechnologist | Ex-Godrej
Introduction
In Chapter 2, Verse 2.22 of the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna imparts wisdom on the transient nature of the physical and the eternal continuity of the soul. He says:
"c??????? ???????? ??? ????? ????? ???????? ?????????? ??? ??????? ????? ??????- ????????? ?????? ????? ??????"
(Vāsānsi jīr?āni yathā vihāya, \nNavāni g?ih?āti naro \u2019parā?i, \nTathā ?harīrā?i vihāya jīr?āni, \nAnyāni sanyāti navāni dehī.)
Translation: “As a person sheds worn-out garments and puts on new ones, similarly, the soul discards the worn-out body and takes on a new one.”
This verse highlights the inevitability of change and the necessity of adaptability. For project managers, it’s a powerful reminder: embrace transitions and lead your team to adapt to new circumstances with grace. Whether it’s a tool migration, a sudden team restructuring, or shifting project goals, change is a constant in the professional world, and leaders must view it as an opportunity rather than a setback.
In this blog, we explore how Krishna’s teaching applies to project management through a humorous and insightful story of a GenAI project that required a sudden pivot, testing the adaptability and resilience of the team.
Scenario: The Day the Migration Broke Everything
It was one of those deceptively calm mornings. The office buzzed faintly with the hum of computers and muted conversations. I was seated in the corner, going through my emails while sipping my second cup of chai. Everything seemed smooth—too smooth.
Priya, our backend engineer, approached my desk with her laptop. “Tushar, we have a small issue.” Her tone, though casual, hinted at the storm brewing underneath.
“What kind of ‘small issue’?” I asked, setting my chai down cautiously.
“The database migration… uh, it didn’t migrate,” she said, flashing me an apologetic grin.
“What?!” I exclaimed, nearly spilling my chai. “We’ve been testing the migration to AWS for weeks! What went wrong?”
“We… didn’t account for legacy data formats,” Priya admitted, wincing. “The schema differences broke the pipeline. And now, none of the previous queries work.”
Rajiv, our QA lead, chimed in from across the room. “Does this mean we’re testing nothing today? Because I was ready to break things.” His humor earned a weak laugh from the team.
The situation was dire. The migration to AWS was meant to optimize performance and reduce costs, but now we were stuck without a functional database just days before the client demo. Panic was not an option, but the team’s morale was visibly faltering.
Krishna’s teaching came to mind: As we discard old garments for new ones, transitions are inevitable. Handle them with grace. I realized this was an opportunity to embrace the change and guide the team through it.
Key Challenge
The AWS migration broke the database pipeline, rendering queries useless and halting progress on the GenAI model. This setback created chaos, threatened the project timeline, and demoralized the team.
The Turning Point
I stood up and addressed the team. “Alright, let’s not panic. This isn’t about what went wrong—it’s about how we adapt. Priya, let’s spin up a temporary GCP instance with a backup of the legacy database. Rajiv, focus your tests on ensuring data integrity during the migration. I’ll handle the stakeholders and explain the adjusted timeline.”
Priya frowned. “But Tushar, if we delay the migration, the client will—”
“We’re not delaying,” I interrupted. “We’re adapting. Let’s show the client that while transitions aren’t perfect, we have a plan to handle them. The focus is on stability, not perfection.”
The team got to work. Priya and I spent hours tweaking the schema mapping, rechecking each table for compatibility. Rajiv ran parallel tests, documenting every anomaly to ensure no issue went unnoticed. By the next day, we had a functional temporary pipeline running on GCP and a revised plan to complete the migration post-demo.
When we presented the demo, the client was impressed—not just by the model’s capabilities but also by our ability to adapt under pressure.
Personal Reflection
This experience reinforced the importance of adaptability. By embracing change and focusing on actionable solutions, we turned a potential disaster into a demonstration of resilience and ingenuity. Krishna’s wisdom about shedding the old to embrace the new resonated deeply as I saw the team grow stronger through the challenge.
Main Argument
Krishna’s teaching in Verse 2.22 highlights the inevitability of change and the importance of adaptability. For project managers, transitions—whether in tools, teams, or goals—are opportunities to demonstrate leadership by guiding the team through uncertainty with clarity and confidence.
Actionable Framework for Project Managers
In another GenAI project, a sudden API deprecation threatened to derail development. By pivoting to a temporary alternative while building a long-term solution, the team maintained momentum and secured stakeholder confidence.
As Krishna reminds us, change is inevitable. For project managers, the ability to embrace transitions with grace and guide teams through uncertainty is the hallmark of true leadership. Let go of the old and step into the new with confidence and adaptability.
“Leadership is about guiding teams through transitions with clarity, grace, and purpose.”