Lessons from Mahabharata -- Ep.2

When Karna Demonstrated the art of delegation

Once Krishna and Arjuna were walking towards a village. In the conversation, Arjuna kept repeatedly asking Krishna; "You consider me your best friend, you consider me as best in all aspects, even when it comes to the question of archery, you consider me and Karna to be equals but only when it comes to the matter of Donating, you seem to consider Karna to be the best. Why? Why is he the best Donor and not me? I too have donated a lot. This is something I never understand!"

Krishna smiled at Arjuna and he said, lets have a demonstration.....

Krishna, saw the two mountains in front of them and turned two mountains into gold.

Then said, “Arjuna, distribute these gold mountains among villagers, but you must donate it to them until you consume the entire mountain “.

Arjuna went into the village, and announced that he was going to donate gold to every villager, and asked them to gather near the mountain. The villagers were jumping in joy and were singing his praises. Arjuna was jumping with a great feeling of pride and he was enjoying the fact that he was their hero now.

Arjuna carved out the gold from the mountain and donated to each villager with lots of enthusiasm. Villagers came back and stood in queue within minutes and he continued to dig and donate with more force. However, as time passed, the villagers became less and less interested to collect more, and now, Arjuna started feeling exhausted. The mountain seemed to be as big as it was at the start and Arjuna was wondering what to do next. "I will continue my donations after the break" he came back to Krishna and told him.

Then Krishna called Karna and did the same exercise with him. He asked him to donate every bit of gold in the two mountains to the villagers.

Karna simply went to the Villagers, called them and said “Those two Gold mountains are yours. ” and simply walked away!

Krishna smiled at Arjuna and Arjuna had no choice but to put his head down in shame.

Most often this story is told in the context to preach the idea of “Give without expecting anything in Return.” However, it has a corporate lesson in it. When its time, delegate and you delegate without doubts.

Arjuna due to his Ego thought he has to do all the work, he has to be the forefront of finishing Krishna's task, he has to get the credits and praise for donations and he has to get the credits for completing Krishna's task.

But, when it came to Karna, there was only one thing he kept for himself and all the rest he passed on to the villagers. The only thing he kept to himself was the responsibility of giving away the gold! He did not want the gold itself, he did not want the credits of villagers or Krishna, he did not want his name to be stamped on anything. He just thought about the best way the task can be completed. He figured out and realized that the task of breaking the gold, distributing, who should take how much etc. can all be delegated to the villagers. When he did that, it worked wonders for him.

That is the nature of delegation. You delegate with full confidence with no ifs and buts attached. You delegate to empower someone. You delegate the task, the planning, the execution and probably even the byproducts like short term credits. However, you still carry the responsibility. You are still the target if there are arrows coming but may not be the one receiving a shower of flower.

A flawless delegation is the sign of a true leadership! You delegate to empower not to escape or overpower.

Lets learn the art of delegation from pages of Karna

(* This story too is not part of the Original Bharatha.... Its what is called a Upakatha found in some flavors of local writing, well its no harm as far as it gives us the right lessons)