Leadership Sutra #2 from The Bhagavad Gita
Leadership Sutra # 2: Redefine Success
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The Gita doesn't address Arjuna's dilemma at his level of reality-rather, it raises his conceptions to a higher level of reality that broadens his definition of success. His dilemma originates in a material conception of life that naturally gives rise to a material definition of success. The Gita resolves Arjuna's dilemma by illuminating life's spiritual side, thereby expanding his definition of success to include the spiritual dimension. Speaking through Arjuna to everyone, especially leaders, the Gita invites us to evaluate whether we too might benefit by expanding our definition of success. We often don't realize that our present definition of success is not necessarily our own. It is imposed on us by the popular culture. If the imposition were done so obviously, we would all resist it. The definition of success is foisted on us so subtly that we often don't even think that our definitions of success might not be our own. For example, a young manager in a leading company having a good functional cell phone is now tempted to buy a new gadget which he doesn't need at the moment. As he shows it off, causing heads to turn and eyebrows to rise. So that is success for him. The cultural hype keeps imposing an ever-moving definition of success. Buying uncritically into glamorized definitions of success can erode not just our bank account, but also our leadership potential. These definitions push us towards impulsive action, whereas leadership requires the ability to subordinate impulse to purpose.
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Grabbers vs. Resistors
In the 1960s, psychologist Walter Mischel started a study on 4-year-old children at a preschool on Stanford University campus. These four-year-old were offered a proposal involving getting a marshmallow. If they could wait for about 20 minutes till the person giving the candy return after doing a small task, they would get 2 candies. If they couldn't wait till then, they would get only one candy, but they would get it instantly. So, most of the children impulsively grabbed the candy very quickly and few tolerated by either singing, playing games, trying to sleep, etcetera.
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The resisters were:
1.???? Less likely to go to pieces, freeze or regress under stress.
2.???? More able to pursue challenges instead of giving up.
3.???? More self-reliant and confident.
4.???? More dependable and trustworthy.
5.???? Still able to delay gratification in pursuit of their goals.
In contrast, the grabbers were.:
1.???? Easily upset by frustrations.
2.???? Prone to think of themselves as bad or unworthy.
3.???? Prone to be mistrustful and resentful about not getting enough.
4.???? Likely to overreact to irritations, thus provoking arguments and fights.
5.???? Still unable to put off gratification
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Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence remarks, “There is perhaps no psychological skill more fundamental than a resisting impulse”. So delaying impulse is a vital psychological skill for leaders. And yet delaying impulses antithetical to the contemporary culture whose operational mantra seems to be “Just do it”.
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We certainly need wealth to live with. But what we live with can't take the place of what we live for. Food is our necessity, but we don't make the pursuit of food our life’s purpose. Yet many people unwittingly make wealth their life’s purpose. They equate becoming wealthy with becoming successful and happy life’s ultimate purpose. The idea that wealth is the gateway to happiness, even the only gateway to happiness, is often so deep rooted in our psyche that challenging it requires going to its root. Materialism has always been prevalent in human history, but in recent times it has become increasingly fanatical. Materialism is a false God. It doesn't fulfill the promises it makes.
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A book by David G Myers - American paradox - Spiritual hunger in an age of plenty explains overall well-being across nearly half a century from 1960 onwards – a period that correspond with high material prosperity. These were his findings:
1.???? The divorce rate has doubled.
2.???? The teen Suicide rate has tripled.
3.???? The recorded violent crime rate has quadrupled.
4.???? The prison population has quintupled.
5.???? The percentage of babies born to unmarried parents has sextupled.
6.???? Depression has soared to 10 times the pre-World War II level.
?The point is that we should not reject materialism, but that we refuse to grant it monopoly over our definition of success. The spiritual dimension is an essential dimension for our being, just as water is essential for fish.
?In the highly acclaimed Handbook of Religion and Health published by the Oxford University Press, Dr. Harold Koenig, along with the team of researchers, carefully reviewed no fewer than 2000 published experiments that tested the relationship. Between religion and everything from blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and stroke to depression, suicide, psychotic disorders and marital problems, they found that:
?1.???? People who attended a spiritual program at least once a week lived, on an average, seven years longer than those who didn't attend at all.
2.???? Religious youth showed a significant lower levels of drug and alcohol abuse, premature sexual involvement, criminal delinquency and suicidal tendencies than their non-religious counterparts.
3.???? Elderly people with deep personal religious faith had a stronger sense of well-being and life satisfaction than their less religious peers.
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Koenig's conclusion was, “A high spiritual quotient (SQ) faithfulness to God appears to benefit people of all means, educational levels and ages.”
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A question may arise while speaking of spirituality where has religion come from? The two terms are not exactly interchangeable, but then they both have many connotations.
?? A ‘spiritual’ person seeks experience of the higher, deeper aspects of life, whereas a ‘religious’ person sticks to the beliefs and religious rituals given in a specific tradition.
?? Spiritualists are open minded because they are open to higher experience, whatever way they get that experience. But religionists are close minded because they claim that their way is the only way and they reject the ways given in other religions. I would never have to be sectarian like that, so I would choose to be spiritual but not religious.
?Spirituality is a science, higher-dimensional science. Higher-dimensional because it deals with a reality higher than that dealt with by material science. In science there is theory and experiment. Similarly in spirituality there is philosophy and religion. Understanding the philosophy is the theoretical part of spirituality and living based on that philosophy is a religion. Just as science requires some kind of experiment to be complete, spirituality requires some kind of religion to be complete. For spiritual is a state of awareness, and religion is the means to attain that awareness.
?The current cultures over emphasis on materialism has allured us into marginalizing our spiritual side, leading to distress, disorder and even disaster. Leaders have the opportunity and the responsibility to correct this wrong by leading boldly on the path towards a holistic balance. If they can incorporate into their leadership repertoire, not just cutting-edge scientific technologies, but also timeless spiritual insights, they can become leaders par excellence.