Astrological calculations track back Krishna’s birthday – the Janmashtami – to 18th July, 3228 BC. So today is his 5243rd birth anniversary. This post commemorates that.

Krishna is a famous mythological character from the Indian epic called Mahabharata.  His strategic prowess in evidenced in the various legends around him. He comes across as a master strategist, an economic reformer, yet a conscientious and an emotionally intelligent leader who can think on his feet.

Some of his achievements include:

  • Forged strategic alliances to promote trade and commerce in Mathura
  • Aggregated military generals and warriors for defence
  • Scaled up military resources to meet contingency defence requirements
  • Provided top level strategic consulting and support to allies
  • Reinstated King Agrasen in Mathura
  • Provided strategic advisory to Pandavas at every stage of Kurukshetra war
  • Mobilized strategic allies for Pandavas
  • Provided critical on-field counseling to a work-shy Arjuna
  • Set up infrastructure and operations from ground up in Dwarka
  • Promoted trade and  commerce in Dwarka

Six Key Takeaways for Strategy from Krishna’s Career

1. Being fair tacitly without overtly taking sides

A leader cannot openly take sides, yet they have to be fair and not let the wrong prevail. Krishna’s sympathies and support were clearly with the Pandavas who were squarely wronged by Duryodhan/Dushyasan and team, but since both the parties were his cousins, he had to keep his support for the Pandavas subtle. He handled it very cleverly by leaving it to them to choose who wants him versus who wants his army. He gave both a fair chance, because he was damn sure that Duryodhan will quickly choose his army, while Arjun will choose him. How intelligent!

2. It’s strategic to have some true friends in your team

Krishna was an aggregator of private mercenary generals who had their own armies. Since mercenaries fight for the highest bidder and the Pandavas could not afford them, this was probably another reason that it was the Kauravas who got to hire them. His military generals sided with the Kauravas for the money, but he was with the Pandavas because he liked them for their character. He may have got his cut probably, but he was essentially into it for the friendship.

You’re lucky if you have in your team a person (or two) who truly appreciates you and your cause than being there only for their own gain. Such people will put your interests above theirs in all circumstances.

3. Difficult situations need strategic action, not a knee-jerk reaction

Krishna added another caveat, that no matter whose team he is on, he will not personally pick up a weapon in the war. When someone is oppressed, their thinking capacities diminish and they are not able to think or “act” strategically as much as they “react” to the situation. Such was the case with the Pandavas. More than might, they needed a strong strategy to deal with the situation. Krishna rightly analysed the needs, because he knew that the Pandavas were skilled warriors, and they don’t need his combat skills as much as they need his guidance with strategy. Throughout the war, he offered just strategic advisory to Arjun and team.

Organizations or individuals cannot withstand a crisis sometimes, or they mishandle a difficult situation, because they reacted and did not have a good strategy to deal with it.

4. See through people, keep them motivated

When Arjun breaks down in the battlefield saying he can’t fight with his own kin, once again as an emotionally intelligent leader, Krishna is quick to analyze the real cause of Arjun’s anxiety – that he is shying away because he is nervous about the outcome of the war (like the exam tension or the interview tension). He shakes Arjun out of his escapist mindset, and motivates him with the Gita discourse.

People don’t necessarily mean what they say at all times. For example, when there is a challenging project, we sometimes hear team members say, “I can’t do this, it’s not possible and so forth.”   In this case, it may either mean  they don’t know how to do it, or fear they will do it badly. Well, I’m not suggesting that team leads/managers need to stand up and address this with a Gita discourse.  Analyze the real cause – if they don’t know how to do it, then we can tell them how to do it, train them, etc., and they will do it.

With that said, motivational talks/workshops by internal leaders or external speakers conducted from time to time do have a positive impact on teamwork and employee morale.

5. Re-invention is key to sustained progress

Why did Krishna build a fortified city called Dwarka in the sea and relocate his entire people there? Inferring from the legends, on one hand, King Agrasen was allying with Krishna to pioneer a massive strategic shift from the Kshatriya tradition to a Vysya tradition of trade and commerce. On the other hand, the Mathura region was war-torn with enemy rulers hiring private military resources from all over the world and attacking it every other day. Krishna is said to have mobilized militaries and defended Mathura for some time. However, a war-torn region is not conducive for economic development.

The need for a long term solution could have eventually set him thinking in terms of fundamentally reinventing his strategy from “defend” to “prevent”, and with that foresight, he started building a fortified city far away in an ocean that is hard to reach or attack. There is archaeological evidence that the western region (present day Gujarat) was developed in trade and commerce even at that time, and that was a good place to move to.

You can’t bask in past glory. Dubai, for example, has shown a tremendous sense of foresight and reinvention in aggressively developing a tourism economy, because oil will be over one day.

What about India, which is going through a credit-driven real estate boom? What will happen when the companies here can’t afford to pay Indian wages and start outsourcing jobs to another country? Are individuals prepared to face this possibility in the future? Are organizations prepared to face the unknown future? Should individuals develop radically varied skill sets, so they can always do something in the event of changing times?

How can India make strides in fields other than IT / ITES? How can we make India a hub for education, health, tourism, manufacturing…? Apart from P V Narasimha Rao, has any leader demonstrated serious strategic execution? Has anyone seriously thought about developing alternative energy sources?  What will happen when the population reaches 1.5B in 2050?

If Krishna were here, he would have long since implemented strong strategic solutions in all areas. We would already be using something else to power our vehicles. Whereas we are still struggling to figure out the basics – how to keep Bharat swachh and how to make India digital.

6. Using private military resources may not be a great idea

The UN uses assistance of private military contractors in conflict-ridden states worldwide, and it is said that during peaceful periods, the PMCs provide arms to rebel forces and then strike a deal with UN for getting rid of them.

Many African and South American governments also use PMCs. Military should be paid irrespective of whether they are utilized or not.  If military resources are contracted only when needed, then they will know how to create the need.

We know that the conflict between the Kauravas and the Pandavas was instigated by their uncle Shakuni to a large extent. Who knows, a few private military generals might have partnered with Shakuni to precipitate the conflict to an extent that a war is waged, so that they get work.

These are a few insights and questions that emerge from Krishna’s strategic aptitude. The list could be longer, but there is only so much you can cover in one post. I do not intend to write a second part or a series, but if anyone else wants to, I’d love to read further.

Cover photo courtesy: OnlinePrasad