The document discusses how Indian corporates are increasingly drawing inspiration from Hindu philosophy like the Bhagavad Gita for management insights. It interviews Debashis Chatterjee, director of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode and author of a book on leadership lessons from the Bhagavad Gita. Chatterjee explains that management theories are not working as imagined, leading businesses to seek alternative models in religious texts. For his book, he breaks down 18 key lessons or "sutras" from the Gita in a manner accessible to modern business readers. He argues the Gita's teachings on being true to oneself and gaining clarity can help managers address information overload and the internal pressure of their roles.

1. Small and medium enterprises in India have never had any qualms about bringing religion into
the workplace - most people here start the day with prayers, if not an elaborate puja. Large
corporates, on the other hand, have tended to look askance at religion, discouraging, if not
outright forbidding overtly religious behavior in the office. But that seems to be changing, with
many Indian CEOs now prepared to make room for religious discourse in the office --provided it
is in the form of management philosophy. Here's a discussion of the trend with Debashis
Chatterjee, the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode director, who has recently authored a
book titled Timeless Leadership: 18 Leadership Sutras from the Bhagwad Gita:
Q: Why are Indian corporates so interested in Hindu philosophy these days?
A: t's a world-wide phenomenon and it is largely because they find that the management
theories don't work as well as they had imagined. The search for alternate models had led to
interest in the insights provided by texts like the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagwad Gita. I've
lived and worked in the USA and even there, the rule of separating the church from the state is
b r e a k i n g down. There is a view that faith should be integrated with work and people are
looking to the Bible and Torah for insights. These texts don't provide tips on how to make
money, but they do teach us how to align our selfish, personal will to a larger will. Stephen
Covey, for example, is a very religious person and for his book, The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People, he drew upon the teachings of the Mormon Christian faith.
Q: What is the genesis of your book?
A: It is the result of conversations I have had with Indian corporate leaders. Though the
Bhagwad Gita is a part of our cultural tradition, I read it thoroughly only nine years ago on the
advice of G Narayana, then the CEO of Excel Industries. It is such an insightful text, I remember
wishing I had read it much earlier. I was inspired to decode it for a different kind of reader. I've
broken the ideas into 18 sutras, each of which is a cognitive unit. The book is written in the
language of the modern world. It is for worldwide distribution, so I've taken out much of the
complexity of the original work. For example, I have translated the Sanskrit term 'nishkam
karma' as the Art of Undoing.
Q: How do the teachings of the Bhagwad Gita relate to the workplace?

2. A: Managers today are under severe performance pressure. They suffer from information
overload, leading to emotional turmoil. The war is internalised and can only be won by getting
out of the pressure. The Gita says 'be real.' Anything that prevents you from being real is
acquired nature. You must be true to yourself. You can't say 'I am the problem.' We need to
move from the concept of 'speed of thought' to 'speed of clarity'. The Gita helps provide this
clarity, thereby reducing the turmoil within. But it is complex work, written in Sanskrit, much
more difficult than the Bible.