Leadership Katha

Stories (*Katha in Hindi/ Sanskrit) and Folk Tales have always been a treasure house of learning and reflection. In every culture across the world and across ages, they have been the most powerful medium of passing on a message, a moral, a value and a lesson in life. What makes a story such a powerful medium for learning? In my experience, this is because a story does not impart a lesson explicitly, but expects the audience to draw her own interpretation, meaning and message. It leaves it to the judgement of each member of the audience, to apply it in her context and draw strength & guidance from it.

One place where story telling could be highly impactful if used correctly, is in providing Leadership perspectives in corporates. I have seen clients across industries and countries, struggle to improve their leadership pipeline and build the leaders for tomorrow. Often, the need is not to develop the business skills of the leader but to work on the people skills. In this effort, one tool that is could be extensively used, is the story. In the last 15 years of my work in leadership development, I have found stories as a pedagogical tool to be very effective. Not only does it draw and hold the learner’s attention, it enables the person to ponder and reflect on the message at leisure and to draw out the his own learning. It is non-threatening, non-prescriptive and left to self- interpretation.

The use of stories for leadership development is not new or recent. In this series, I will share a different story with you each week – a story that helps you think, reflect and apply a lesson in leadership. These stories are drawn from various cultures and time periods, contain fictional characters (both known and unknown) and would often be far removed from office and work. Yet, if you reflect upon it, you will find unmistakable parallels to leadership at work and will leave you with a profound message about life and relationships.

The first story I am sharing with you is the earliest known application of stories as a pedagogical tool! This can be traced back to 300 BCE, to the stories we know as the “Panchatantra”.

Once upon a time, there lived a King called Amar Shakti, who ruled Mahilaropya in Ancient Southern India. King Amar Shakti, had three sons. When the time came to announce an heir to his throne, the King called the three young men to evaluate who was most suitable to succeed him. Much to his disappointment, he realized that none of them was ready for the leadership responsibilities that the throne brought. In despair, he summoned his courtiers and put forth the problem. One of his wise men advised him, that the only person who could solve this leadership crisis in the kingdom, was a wise old man called Vishnu Sharma. The King summoned Vishnu Sharma and asked him to take charge of the three princes. At the end of the year, the three Princes would once again be evaluated, and the best was to be anointed the heir apparent.

Vishnu Sharma and the Princes proceeded to his Ashram in the jungle. After a careful assessment of the 3 Princes, Vishnu Sharma concluded that the standard way of teaching the Shastras to these boys would not work. Instead he used Story telling as pedagogy to develop their leadership potential. Each day he would narrate a story and explore the principles behind that story with the princes. The stories spoke of situations where morals were tested, decisions needed to be made and values put to test. (For a retelling of the stories with the leadership principles behind them you can refer to https://www.momjunction.com/articles/interesting-panchatantra-stories-for-your-kids_0076202/)

This is the earliest known example of leadership development through story telling!

In my next post, I will share with you the story of the "The King who Made Kheer" – a story I often start my learning programs with. Till then, stay indoors, stay safe, get vaccinated!