Think of Chanakya... Wittiness, Intelligence and a great Strategist- these adjectives comes to one’s mind. Can we use Arthashastra in corporate world? This question came to my mind when I saw “Corporate Chankaya’ at ‘Crossword Best-Sellers bookshelf. I was inquisitive when I understood that Mr.Radhakrishnan Pillai (author) conducts workshops for students and corporates based on the teachings of Chanakya.
I found this author’s story very motivating. Mr.Pillai is like one of those successful new age entrepreneurs who venture into a unique business. He dares into realms of Spiritual Tourism- a soul fulfilling endeavor. I admire him because he diligently followed his clairvoyance at Lake Manasarovar and has dedicated his life in preaching Arthashastra. I can relate to author’s experience because I was also fortunate to visit Manasarovar last year and it is very overwhelming.
‘Corporate Chanakya’ dwells broadly on Leadership, Management and Training. Author quotes 175 verses from Arthashastra and explains the meaning and relevance to the respective field in Management.
I found few chapters well written for the corporate world but others are just useful to management graduates.
For instance a section on ‘Advice to Entrepreneurs’ is very apt for budding business executives. It starts with the importance of Entrepreneurship in the current business environment, then a relevant Chanakya’s verse along with Mr.Pillai's view. Examples of Bill Gates, Narayana Murthy and Madam C.J.Walker are quoted who displayed the attitude of ‘make it happen’.
But I did not find the same flow in most of the segments of this book.
The section on ‘Ethics in Business’ could have been scripted in a more appealing manner. Mr.Pillai could have quoted more examples to highlight the magnitude of ‘ethics’ in the corporate world. He just explains the meaning of Chanakya’s verse and his interpretation about it. He refers to Peter Drucker view on value system and subtly mentions about an successful Indian Company which has high score on ethics. (Reader has to guess the company!!!)
Author could have mentioned names from the most ethical companies in the corporate world and explained their value system.
http://ethisphere.com/2011-worlds-most-ethical-companies/
He could have taken examples of Enron and Bernard Madoff to substantiate the significance of Arthashastra in competitive business world.
But we need to applaud author’s effort to master Arthashastra and share this in a lucid style. Certainly after I read this book I was influenced that Arthashastra is pertinent in these times.
