The Genesis of Modern Indian Leadership

Deepa Chandrashekar

2Table of ContentsABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................................................... 3INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................... 4LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM ANCIENT INDIA.................................................................................................. 5MODERN LEADERSHIP IN INDIA AND LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM INDIA.....................................13CONCLUSION:..............................................................................................................................................................22REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................................................24

3AbstractAt the core of any successful country or organization is its leader. India has seen brilliant leadersin her history. In fact, some of the leadership concepts that is being heavily researched and reliedupon today are concepts that were first described in ancient scriptures some 3500 years ago. Thisstudy explores some of these leadership philosophies and pearls of wisdom that have beencommunicated through ancient Indian scriptures to modern leaders. The study finds that mostIndian business leaders exhibit several leadership traits that could only have been inherited fromtheir ancient role models.

4IntroductionThe global recession that started in 2008 has exposed the lack of executive leadership incorporations around the world. The downgrading of the worlds largest capital market, the UnitedStates, the riots in the United Kingdom, the crisis in Greece, growing unemployment in otherEuropean countries, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and the political instability in the Middle Eastcan be attributed to corruption at the highest levels. The failure or near failure of giant UScompanies like Lehman Bros., AIG, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, General motors, etc., calls intoquestion the management and leadership at these institutions.

On the flip side, Indias economy over this same period has not only grown but the country hasbeen able to cope with the global financial crisis in a much better manner. Companies like Tata,Bharat Forge, Ranbaxy, Infosys, Cipla, Wipro, Reliance, etc., have managed to expand globally byboosting Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activities in UK, US, Europe, etc. We havent heard of anymajor Indian company declaring bankruptcy during this phase. In fact, India has become thedream destination for investors in an increasingly global economy. In 2013 Indian companieswere involved in M&A activity totalling more than USD 27 billion. (Bharadwaj, 2014) India haswitnessed spectacular growth averaging 9 percent in the past decade, and, despite some hiccups,current analysis projects continued progress with the formation of new majority Government atthe centre. (Wilson, 2014) It has thus become evident that Indias ability to cope with rapid andcontinuous change during such a turbulent period in our history is due to the ability of

5management to respond. This is a direct by-product of the transformational leadership, which isdeep rooted in Indian culture.

Leadership lessons from Ancient IndiaIndias contribution to management wisdom, especially in Leadership, dates back to before 350BC. Several ancient scriptures refer to leadership and management strategies in some form or theother. These scriptures have elaborated in depth on leadership traits, style and strategies.

Thirukkural, an acclaimed original Indian work on management, written by a great poet calledThiruvalluvar anywhere between 2 BC and 8 AD, exemplifies values that are ever relevant andunchanging. (Chendroyaperumal & Meena, ND) Thiruvalluvar articulated that leaders are notnecessarily born but can be made through empowerment, mentorship and transfer of knowledge.(Chendroyaperumal & Meena, ND) This theory is consistent with the modern traits theory ofleadership, which states that leaders are made. Vince Lombardi (Anonymous, ND), an Americanfootball coach, once stated that Leaders are made, they are not born. They are made by hardeffort, which is the price which all of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.(Anonymous, ND)

According to Thirukkural, the efficiency of an organization, be it a company at micro level or acountry at a macro level, is primarily determined by the efficiency of the resources such as rawmaterials, machines, buildings, capital, etc. In turn, the efficiency of these resources depend on

6the efficiency of Human Resources. However, the efficiency of all resources including humanresource is determined by the quality of leadership. (Chendroyaperumal & Meena, ND)

The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Eastern philosophical literature dating 3000 BC or more, presentsthe advice of Lord Krishna to Arjuna, two prominent leaders of the epic of Mahabharata. The storytells the story of a dispute between two warring clans, the Pandavas and the Kauravas. Manygreat scholars such as Albert Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau havequoted teachings from the Bhagavad Gita. Peter Senge, a noted management thinker has quotedthe Gita is his Fifth Discipline and Presence in the context of leadership. There are manyconcepts of leadership quoted in the Bhagavad Gita that are similar to contemporary leadershiptheories. Some of the leadership traits embedded within Gita is as follows (Das, ND):

Leaders should embrace rather than avoid formidable challenges because they bring outthe leaders greatest strengths;

Leaders should be resilient in their actions and should not be weakened by pain andpleasure;

Selfish desires and animosity obscure the purpose of leadership; Leaders achieve lasting power and glory by exercising compassion and selfless service; Effective leaders do not lead by fear or anger;

Character is core to effective leadership; and,

Leaders need to be aware of the self and the surroundings.

Chapter 2.23 of the Bhagavad Gita describes a leader as someone who weapons cannot claim, firecannot burn, water cannot wet and wind cannot dry. (Rarick & Nickerson, 2009)

7The concept of Emotional intelligence (EI), one of the most researched psychological paradigms ofthe 21st century, which was popularized by Goleman (1995), stresses the role of emotions in anindividuals success or failure in workplace and in life. Even this concept is not new to India. This isa concept that was embedded throughout Bhagavad Gita. There are other ancient scriptures suchas Rig Veda and Yajur Veda, which were written even prior to Bhagavad Gita and contain detaileddescriptions of the functions of the human mind. In fact, the Vedas emphasize the need foremotional stability, which helps an individual tide over the battles of life. If one conducts a detailedstudy of these scriptures, one can notice striking similarities with Mayer and Saloveys abilitymodel (2004) that identifies four stages through which a person becomes emotionally intelligent emotional perception, assimilation, understanding and management. (Gayatri & Meenakshi, 2013)

In the Mahabharata, four primary types of leadership roles- strategic, directive, team-building andeffective leadership were elaborated in detail. (Anonymous, 2009)

Ramayana, another major epic of ancient India, written in the 5th to the 4th century BC describes aleader symbolically as the 4 wheels of a chariot, which are character, courage, ethics and valour. Itfurther symbolically states, the horses drawing a chariot signify strength, energy and passion.Reins of the horses symbolize forgiveness, compassion, consistency and equanimity. These areamong the most important of a warriors repertoire and are only completed with weapons ofknowledge, strategy, intelligence, skills, commitment and restraint of ego. Without these bundledup in the chariot, a warrior cannot win in battle. (Anonymous, 2009)

8The Vedas, which was referred to earlier are considered the earliest literary record of the Indo-Aryan civilization, and the most sacred books of India. The Vedas are believed to contain all theknowledge that are required by mankind. A careful study of this literature has revealed that it hasextensively dealt with leadership qualities. According to the Vedas, a king or head of state shouldpossess certain physical, and mental qualities and must have knowledge and certain types ofbehaviour. Two of the physical qualities emphasized are an august personality and possessor ofprowess whilst also possessing the mental qualities of being virtuous, propitious, lustrous, dutiful,serviceable, large hearted, friend of all, conduct with justice, imbiber of truth, endowed withwisdom and enterprise, considerate, nourisher of all, fearless etc. (Chendroyaperumal, ND) In anutshell, the Vedas suggests that a leader should have all good qualities, actions and attributeswhilst also repeatedly emphasizing knowledge as an essential requirement of a leader. Theliterature also highlights that a leader should have eloquence, pleasing manners, friendly attitudeand humility.

One of the greatest Indian authors on management was Chanakya, who lived in the period 350-275 BC. He served as the chief counsellor of the then ruler King Chandragupta (321 BC). He wasconsidered to be the pioneer of the art of statecraft and was responsible for the defeat ofAlexander, The Great in India. Chanakya gave the world a management system called the Sutrasystem which consists of 572 verses of which 200 elaborated on his ideas on how to identifyleaders and groom them to govern a country. He authored the Arthashastra which consists of15 books that contain 150 chapters and 6000 poems. (Krishnan, ND) These books as a wholespeak on the subject of Total Management that includes economics, statecraft, warfare,

9punishment, strategy, etc. In his book, Chanakya lists the duties of a king and states In thehappiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare, whatever pleases himselfhe shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he shall consider as good.(Barnabas & Clifford, 2007)

Chanakya says, a leader is a captain, who leads an organization. Without him, the organization willlose direction. He further characterizes leaders as intelligent, high in spirit, humble in nature,easily approachable, committed, honest, and desirous of learning and providing training.Separated by time and culture, Jim Collins, a leading modern day author on leadership, shares thesame management philosophies as were articulated by Chanakya in 350-275 B.C. Collins books,Good to Great and Built to Last speak about how to build great organizations. (Pande, 2008)They have become best sellers and he is being actively courted by businesses around the world.Chanakya conceptualized the suggested courses of action contained in Collins books years agowhen he helped the then king build an empire. He put vision, mission and motivation ahead ofeverything else and identified the need to focus on leadership requirements, organizationalstrategies and human dimensions. Chanakya states that the essence of leadership lies in theapplication of justice and ethics in ones position as a leader. As per Collins, there are 5 levels ofleadership through which leaders channel their energies away from their own egos and focus onthe good of the organization.

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Chanakya also made references on the importance of the human resource development. Heinsisted that a king should surround himself with skilled and talented people with the ability toconcentrate, think, communicate and observe. Today, Collins shares the same view when hespeaks about having the right people on the bus as the top priority for any executive. (Pande,2008)

Ancient India has seen many great leaders including many women leaders. Arthur LlewellynBasham (1967), a noted historian, claims that Indian history emerged from legend and dubioustradition" in the 6th century BC, and what appeared was a society highly developed materially,intellectually, and spiritually. It was also characterised by a great sense of fairness in social andcivic relations. In no other early civilization were slaves so few in number, and in no other ancientlaw book are their rights so well protected as in the Arthashastra. Basham also noted that themost striking feature of ancient India's civilization was its humanity. (Chhokar, ND)

King Asoka, a famous ruler of ancient India around 269 B.C. was a tyrant for the first eight yearsduring which time he was infamous for killing more than 100,000 people. He had a sudden changeof heart that made him convert to a pacifist. He turned into a benevolent king who introducedhumanity in his internal administration and abandoned aggressive warfare in his dealings withother states. He was one of the pioneers of the practice of non-violence and non-injury tohumans and animals. (Chhokar, ND) He established himself as a transformational leader. His

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preaching and philosophy was effectively used centuries later by Mahatma Gandhi, the father ofthe nation, and Dr. S. Radhakrishanan, President of India in 1962.

Another recently discussed concept of leadership - the servant leadership, although a term coinedand defined by Robert K. Greenleaf (1904-1990) in his essay titled The servant as leader,published in 1970, was practiced and propagated several centuries ago in India. A book written byTrompenaars and Voerman (2009) called the Servant leadership across cultures, cites severalexamples from Indian culture to show that servant leadership was practiced in India for a verylong time. (Barnabas & Clifford, 2007) Even in Arthashastra, Chanakya mentioned, the king is apaid servant and enjoys the resources of the state together with the people. (Krishnan, ND)

The notion of servant leadership as a paradigm has been followed in India from the days ofChanakya to Dr. Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel laureate for literature from India. In one of hiswritings, Dr. Tagore stated the following:

I slept and dreamt that life was a joy.I awoke and saw that life is a serviceI acted and behold, service was a joy (Anonymous, 2009)

Mahatma Gandhi was a great proponent of, and practiced servant leadership. Gandhi practiced asa lawyer in South Africa in the late 1880s, where he helped settle a difficult dispute. When

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questioned about his success, Gandhi stated, My joy was boundless. I had learnt the truepractice of law. I had learned to find out the better side of human nature and to enter menshearts. Gandhis outlook changed after this incident and he considered rendering selfless serviceto mankind as more worthwhile than making profit. When he returned to India, he led Indians intheir fight for Independence using the strategy of non-violence. The servant leadership qualitiesthat he applied in practice forced the British to ultimately grant India independence. Gandhisymbolized service over power. (Barnabas & Clifford, 2007)

Any discussion of leadership in ancient India would be incomplete without mentioning the impactof effective leadership demonstrated by the great king Akbar (1555-1606) who was one of thegreat emperors to have ruled the region. Akbar understood the complexity of Indian society andpolity given its substantial regional, linguistic and cultural diversity and recognized that tolerancetowards other religions, language and social customs was essential for the long-term survival ofthe empire. Hence, he abolished all preferences and discriminations based on religion. Heappointed people to high state offices without regard to their religious beliefs. He was consideredto be an enlightened and pragmatic leader. (Chhokar, ND)

There are several more findings from ancient Indian scriptures that provide ample evidence of thecontributions made by India in the field of leadership and management. Research work fromancient Indian history talks about leadership in varied context. Some scriptures have definedleaders as having pre-defined characteristics and unique traits while others talk about a leader as

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a change agent, one who aligns a group of people towards a common vision. But, the commonthemes that surface from the study of the varied scriptures is that the focus is always onpromoting unity and social responsibility, and encouraging respect for all as equals and withoutdistinction. The concepts that are now being heavily researched upon such as servant leadership,emotional intelligence, transformational, spiritual and ethical leadership, are concepts that wereconceived of and passed down through generations in India.

Modern Leadership in India and lessons to be learnt from IndiaExperience is the best teacher and Indian history, as demonstrated above, is pregnant withnumerous examples and experiences in the area of leadership. Ancient Indian ethos has taughtvaluable management lessons for the modern day leader. Core values, mission, vision andcommitment form the very foundation of an organization. The rapid growth of Indias economy inrecent decades is an important event in history. This growth continues today and there is everyreason to anticipate that it will continue to grow. At the core of Indias economic developmentare business leaders and entrepreneurs who endure and create great companies. But, can Indiareally sustain its growth given the global business uncertainty? The answer lies in its Indian ethosdating back more than 3500 years as against modern management principles that are still in theirinfancy. Much of todays leadership is derived from the ancient Indian scriptures as discussedabove. The ancient Indian ethos have stood the test of time and are now helping modern leadersto create a more sustainable model of management. Modern day Indian managers face a dynamicbusiness environment requiring them to adapt on the fly. As Stephen Covey said: Management is

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efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaningagainst the right wall (Cooper, ND)

The events that led to the economic downturn in Western economies are based on modernmanagement practices and raises questions regarding the effectiveness of existing models ofleadership in those organizations. The primary reason why organizations have failed over thecourse of this economic downturn is due to inappropriate or unethical decisions leading eventuallyto shareholders losing trust in management and the executive leadership, in particular. In India,business leaders have incorporated ethics and integrity in the existing framework of leadershipand management. Mr. Narayana Murthy, Ex-CEO of Infosys, said, The leader has to create hope.He has to create a plausible story about a better future for the organization; everyone should beable to see the rainbow and catch a part of it. This requires creating trust in people. And to createtrust, the leader has to subscribe to a value system; a protocol for behaviour that enhancesconfidence, commitment and enthusiasm of the people (Bhattacharjee, 2011)

Under his leadership, Infosys survived many a downturn but has consistently been the mostrevered in the Indian IT industry. This was mainly because leadership was based on both efficientmanagement practices and a model that is more transparent, responsible and ethical. Thesevalues have been imbibed from ancient Indian texts and the writings of scholars like Chanakya onethical and responsible leadership. Many successful organizations in India have incorporatedsuch values in their existing models.

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Vineet Nayar, the vice chairman and CEO of HCL Technologies, a successful global informationtechnology services company based in India, says that he sought enough transparency andempowerment in the company that decisions would be made at the points where the decisionsshould be made, that is by employees, where the company meets the client. Nayar believes inholistic engagement of human capital. Nayar's success has been fuelled by his unconventionalmanagement philosophy of putting his employees first, and customers second. By makingmanagement accountable to the employees, he has driven HCL to greater success. (Cappelli,Singh, Singh, & Useem, 2010)

In a research conducted by Harvard Business Review, it was noted that prominent modern Indianleaders from reputable and successful organizations such as Reliance Industries, Tata, Mahindraand Mahindra, Aventis Pharma and many others, suggested that their success was largely due tothe competitive advantage that lay deep inside their companies, in their people. (Cappelli, Singh,Singh, & Useem, 2010) This thought process was expounded at great length in Thirukkural whichstates that the efficiency of an organization, is primarily determined by the efficiency of humanresources and its leaders. (Chendroyaperumal & Meena, ND)

Mentorship, as a concept, is also not new to the country. India has seen some large familybusinesses run by professional management, where leadership was transferred from onegeneration to the next within the same family without affecting the core values of the company.Tata and Birla group of companies, in spite of initial teething issues, have successfully survived in

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India with leadership transferred effectively through Mentorship. This is seldom seen in theWestern countries and is something important for them to learn from India because familybusinesses tend to show great resilience in countering economic slowdowns. (Bhattacharjee,2011)

Modern Indian leadership is characterized by four principal practices:

1. Holistic engagement of employees2. Improvisation and adaptability in execution3. Creative value proposition for customers4. Sense of social purpose for business operations

This is very much in contrast to the principles found in other countries, especially the UnitedStates, where business leaders place the interest of shareholders above all. The holistic approachto management in India focuses on stakeholders and not shareholders where the primarystakeholders are employees, customers, society and the environment. The survey conducted byHarvard Business Review revealed that the majority of Indian Chief Executive Officers prioritizesbusiness strategy, sustained corporate culture, human capital and mentorship over the interestsof shareholders. (Cappelli, Singh, Singh, & Useem, 2010) It is interesting to note that mostmodern Indian leaders have cited strategy as their top priority. Ratan Tata, Chairman of TataGroup of companies for 21 years, built Tata to become a world brand. Tata Group in one of Indiaslargest multi-industry and multinational group of companies with operations in over 80 countries.

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He set new strategies for the group when he took over in 1991. At a time when the Indianeconomy was limping and the country was on the verge of bankruptcy, he envisioned to take thecompany global. He used various leadership styles such as transformational and transactionalleadership. He emphasized corporate social responsibility and employee training anddevelopment along with faith and service to the nation. By 2000, the conglomerates 96companies included some notable names including Tetley Group, Daewoo Commercial VehicleCompany and the Ritz-Carlton hotel. Today, more than 50% of Tata Groups revenues aregenerated overseas. (Dhekale, 2014)

Given Indias enormous challenges, it is not surprising to note that several companies havestepped forward to invest in community services and infrastructure. The rapid growth of theIndian market and the inadequate medical and education facilities have forced several companiesin the most recent decade to develop and care for their own talent. For example, Ms. MallikaSrinivasan who heads Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), has personally put in efforts inthe area of women and childcare development. Her organizations contribution to socialdevelopment through the establishment of schools, colleges, orphanages, community centers, andto a wide variety of causes aimed at better health care of the less privileged, are widelyrecognized.

Mr. Prathap Reddy, founder of Apollo hospitals, a leading private health care provider contributesto a similar mission. According to Mr. Reddy, their responsibility is to their patients first, to their

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employees next and only then to their lenders and investors. (Cappelli, Singh, Singh, & Useem,2010) B. Muthuraman, the Managing Director of Tata Steel, considers corporate socialresponsibility as a reputational asset since it enhances the group brand. Unlike Westerncompanies that primarily focus on improving customers lives through purely market drivenstrategies with corporate social responsibility being an afterthought, social missions are anintegral part of Indian companies strategy, and often are the route to making profits. To citeanother example, the hospital group Narayana Hrudayalaya, founded by Devi Shetty, set aboutwith the aim of helping millions of poor Indian children requiring expensive cardiac surgery. Theresult is a group that standardized the scale and now performs twice as many cardiac surgeries asthe biggest U.S. hospitals with outcomes that are as good and at one-tenth the cost, and its profitmargins are slightly above its U.S. peers. (Cappelli, Singh, Singh, & Useem, 2010)

Several other Indian business leaders similarly share social mission as part of their internalstrategy. More so than most Western companies, Indian leaders view having a social mission as asense of national purpose because it helps their employees find meaning in their work andprovides them with a satisfying feeling that small tasks link to the bigger goal. HCL companiesmotto employee first, customer second was designed to make employees feel more personallyresponsible for the companys offerings and give them a voice with upper management. UnlikeAmerican CEOs, Indian leaders tend to focus much more on internal issues on peoplemanagement, motivating employees and so forth, says Cappelli. U.S. CEOs spend a lot more oftheir time on shareholder issues. (Anonymous, 2007)

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One of Indias latest achievements was building the cheapest spacecraft launch mission to theplanet Mars. Something that cost the United States USD 671 million dollars was accomplished byIndia at a record-breaking cost of only USD 74 million. When the man behind this mission, Dr. KRadhakrishanan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, was interviewed on thework culture, he said We are a learning organisation, so after success, you won't see greatjubilation - we just gather together and discuss our observations on what to do better next time.And, after a failure, we discuss what corrections to make and get into action. We learn fromfailure and success and institute our corrections. Any space mission is complex, and we work likesurgeons, totally focused on the job. If you think about victory or failure, you will lose your focus.(Gulab, 2013) Again this brings forth the connection between ancient and modern managementthought processes. The Bhagavad Gita quotes the following verse in chapter 2.4.7:

Karmanye Varhikaraste Ma phaleshu KadachanaMa karma Phala Hetur Bhuhu tey Sangostva Akarmani (Bhattacharjee, 2011)

It means, we have only the right to work, right on our actions but not on the consequences orfruits of that action. So we should not be attached to either fruits of the action or inaction. Inthe context of modern management it means that every leader should be focussed on his workand at the same time be in-sync with the organizations vision and mission because this willultimately lead to excellence. In other words, what matters is the journey.

Moving on to employee training, recent statistics suggest that Indian companies invest heavily inemployee development-often more so than their Western counterparts. U.S. companies have

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largely abandoned investment in employees, especially in developing managers, for fear that theinvestment will be lost if employees leave. Statistics indicate that about a quarter of new recruitsin the U.S. did not receive any kind of training in the first couple of years of their employment. Incontrast, Indian companies have taken an aggressive step towards employee training. A recentKauffman Foundation study shows that the Indian IT industry provides new hires with about 60days of formal training. Companies like Tata consultancy services offer a seven-month trainingprogram. Indias second-largest pharmaceutical company, Dr. Reddys laboratories, provides aone-year training program that includes 10 weeks of assignments abroad. Infosys managers areassessed on the basis of how many of their groups recent hires achieve targets. Twice as manyIndian companies have also invested in leadership development as compared to Americanorganizations. Cappelli agrees, and points out that the American model may be the exception.What we see in Indian leaders is a lot of what we say all CEOs should be doing they are prettymuch following the best practices of management and leadership, he says. In some ways, thepuzzle is actually why we see U.S. CEOs more focused on shareholder concerns. It could havesomething to do with the governance system and with the way they are compensated. (Cappelli,Singh, Singh, & Useem, 2010) An interview with Mr. Rajesh Hukku, the founder of i-flex solutions,a financial service software firm stated that one of the key differences between Indian and U.S.management is that Indian leaders do not subscribe to the hire and fire policy, which is verycommon in the U.S. They look at their employees as long-term assets and fine-tune theircorporate policies accordingly. It is about taking a long-term versus short-term view. (Cappelli,Singh, Singh, & Useem, 2010)

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Table 1 below exhibits some of these differences:

Indian Leadership U.S. LeadershipRelationship oriented ImpersonalFocus on long-term horizon Focus on short-term horizonEfforts oriented Results orientedValue strategy, employee and culture overshareholder

Give priority to shareholders

Spend more time on internal issues Focus on external affaires

The differences stated above between Indian and U.S. leaders are not to show that one style issuperior to the other. There are companies like Southwest Airlines in U.S. that incorporate aculture like many Indian companies. Leadership styles have also been found to vary from regionto region. So, what applies to American companies may not necessarily apply to Indiancompanies.

The rapid economic development of India requires visionary leadership. A number of Indiancompanies have been highly successful due to their unique and innovative leadership style.According to research from St. Gallen University in Switzerland, Indian leaders are more inclinedtowards participative management and building meaningful relationships with subordinates. Theleadership style traditionally employed in India fostered an emotional bond between superiorsand subordinates. (Bershidsky, 2014) In India, there are no executives who are known for their

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dictatorial management style. Ms. Indira Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo says You need to look at theemployee and say, I value you as a person. I know that you have a life beyond PepsiCo, and Imgoing to respect you for your entire life, not just treat you as an employee with a registrationnumber. (Bershidsky, 2014)

Subhash Chandra, Chairman of Zee Entertainment Enterprises, says Indian leaders are moreflexible than those in U.S. They can bring their level of thinking down and meet with him(employee) at that level. This is why more and more Indian born leaders are heading some of themost prominent Western companies like Microsoft, Pepsi, Deutsche Bank, MasterCard, AdobeSystems, Diageo Reckitt Benckiser and Global Foundries.

Conclusion:Leadership teachings have been passed down through the generations in India. Much of modernmanagement principles existing today in India have been derived from the body of knowledgecontained in ancient Indian scriptures. Research shows that current leaders have embraced theimportance of the ancient Indian ethos and with the inherited wisdom make the existing modernmanagement paradigms more sustainable in practice.

As Chattopadhyaya states, there is hardly any country in the world having, social economic,cultural and lingual diversity as complex as India. (Pal & Kapur, 2011) The background, mental

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abilities and working capabilities of employees are quite heterogeneous in any organization.Hence, it is impossible to have a specific style of leadership that can be used to influence such adiverse profile of employees, members, partners, stakeholders and customers. Ancient Indianscriptures contain a wealth of leadership wisdom, which have guided modern leaders tosuccessfully deal with this challenge. India has witnessed multi-leadership styles exhibited by itsleaders at various times in its history. It has seen leaders who have been action oriented,dynamic, innovative, visionaries, knowledge-based, empowering, participative, charismatic,spiritual, ethical, service oriented, transactional, and transformational. Amidst all these differentstyles, the core values underpinning them are people management and service to the society atlarge. Indian leaders prefer to give importance to relationships and the needs of their followers.(Singh & Krishnan, 205) Indias recently elected Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, has echoedthis same principle. Addressing the country on Indias Independence Day, he said, I can promiseyou, if you work 12 hours, I will work for 13. If you work 14 hours, I will work for 15 hours, for I amnot a Prime Minister, but a Prime Servant.

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