The words in the title don’t usually go together, do they? While dharma sankat manifests itself primarily in personal lives, quite often one goes through it even in business / corporate life. This blog is a true story that was triggered by (a) a live business problem and (b) by someone who was possibly inspired by Devdutt Pattanaik’s article on a similar subject, and recommended the solution to the problem. You can read Devdutt’s article here - http://devdutt.com/dharma-sankat-in-family-business/
Just as in personal lives, there are people who live by the rules, irrespective of the context in which they were set or their relevance in current scenario. And then there are those who place higher importance to principles, rather their own logic over rules, people who defy conventional, stated rules and do what they believe is right.
Drawing from popular Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, Rama and Krishna both uphold principles, but while Rama always goes by the rule book, it is clearly not the case for Krishna, who does not mind breaking rules (if need be) to pursue his beliefs. On the other end, we have Ravan and Duryodhana, both of whom are not very high on principles, but Duryodhana still follows rules; remember his last fight with Bhima, where on Krishna’s advice, Bhima strikes Duryodhana below the waist, a visible breach of the fight’s rules, but Duryodhana does not respond with the same. As against Ravan, who continues his brush with the prevalent law, period.
Now here’s the business connect. Typical in marketing functions, one is expected to position products / services / solutions (Kotler counts over 10 aspects a marketer can market) as being the best available on this planet. Nothing wrong with it, except in situations where it is difficult to substantiate the claims. But then, just as in the army, one is expected to follow directives, not question them. Sarcasm apart, that does deliver things faster, but would save this debate for another day. So how does one market an offering, when the stated rules demand proof points?
Here’s where the marketer needs to transition from Rama to Krishna. Do you really believe in your offering? Do you think it will benefit your customers? Would they find it worth the buck they pay for it? If you do, break the rules. Market it such that it appeals to at least a select few early adopters, if not the entire addressable market. If it indeed proves itself in the marketplace, others would follow suit. Do NOT lie; just HYPOTHESIZE. If the hypothesis is validated, great; if negated, there’s always an opportunity to iterate.
Didn’t Krishna block the sun for some time to allow Arjuna to seek revenge for his son, Abhimanyu’s cruel death in the Chakravyuha? His intention here was noble. Ignoring war rules, the Kauravas had fought simultaneously with Abhimanyu and killed him. Enraged by his son’s death in such a manner, Arjuna had vowed to kill Jayadratha before sunset or immolate himself. In such a situation, Krishna lifted his hand to shield the sun and feign sunset, thereby enticing the Kauravas to come closer to Arjuna under the presumption that Arjuna would keep his word and immolate himself. But remember, Krishna had promised Duryodhana of not lifting a weapon in the Kuruskshetra war, and he stood true to his words, but he did lift his hand – to Arjuna’s relief and the Kauravas’ dismay, Krishna had bet just on a hypothesis and thankfully succeeded!
Likewise in business, or for that matter any dilemma in life. Follow your beliefs more than the rules. Test it out yourself, it might just work. If it doesn’t, feel free to rant about it on this blog :)
Just as in personal lives, there are people who live by the rules, irrespective of the context in which they were set or their relevance in current scenario. And then there are those who place higher importance to principles, rather their own logic over rules, people who defy conventional, stated rules and do what they believe is right.
Drawing from popular Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, Rama and Krishna both uphold principles, but while Rama always goes by the rule book, it is clearly not the case for Krishna, who does not mind breaking rules (if need be) to pursue his beliefs. On the other end, we have Ravan and Duryodhana, both of whom are not very high on principles, but Duryodhana still follows rules; remember his last fight with Bhima, where on Krishna’s advice, Bhima strikes Duryodhana below the waist, a visible breach of the fight’s rules, but Duryodhana does not respond with the same. As against Ravan, who continues his brush with the prevalent law, period.
Now here’s the business connect. Typical in marketing functions, one is expected to position products / services / solutions (Kotler counts over 10 aspects a marketer can market) as being the best available on this planet. Nothing wrong with it, except in situations where it is difficult to substantiate the claims. But then, just as in the army, one is expected to follow directives, not question them. Sarcasm apart, that does deliver things faster, but would save this debate for another day. So how does one market an offering, when the stated rules demand proof points?
Here’s where the marketer needs to transition from Rama to Krishna. Do you really believe in your offering? Do you think it will benefit your customers? Would they find it worth the buck they pay for it? If you do, break the rules. Market it such that it appeals to at least a select few early adopters, if not the entire addressable market. If it indeed proves itself in the marketplace, others would follow suit. Do NOT lie; just HYPOTHESIZE. If the hypothesis is validated, great; if negated, there’s always an opportunity to iterate.
Didn’t Krishna block the sun for some time to allow Arjuna to seek revenge for his son, Abhimanyu’s cruel death in the Chakravyuha? His intention here was noble. Ignoring war rules, the Kauravas had fought simultaneously with Abhimanyu and killed him. Enraged by his son’s death in such a manner, Arjuna had vowed to kill Jayadratha before sunset or immolate himself. In such a situation, Krishna lifted his hand to shield the sun and feign sunset, thereby enticing the Kauravas to come closer to Arjuna under the presumption that Arjuna would keep his word and immolate himself. But remember, Krishna had promised Duryodhana of not lifting a weapon in the Kuruskshetra war, and he stood true to his words, but he did lift his hand – to Arjuna’s relief and the Kauravas’ dismay, Krishna had bet just on a hypothesis and thankfully succeeded!
Likewise in business, or for that matter any dilemma in life. Follow your beliefs more than the rules. Test it out yourself, it might just work. If it doesn’t, feel free to rant about it on this blog :)
Complete bouncer gela!
ReplyDeleteHa, ha, ha! You'll get it when you go through a similar situation yourself!
ReplyDeleteWe have to be cautious about the way we tend to interpret these personalities. If one were to read these epics carefully we will find that the above characters had instances where their actions were contradicting to the above inference. e.g. Ravana was a devout Shiva devotee and was known to follow some rules in quite a disciplined manner.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly if you were to read the writings of some learned people, their recommendation has always been to not apply the principles outlined in our epics at work. They state that they lead you to a disastrous professional life.
There are multiple conflicting views on this subject, just like there in all others. We just need to be careful with generalizing and that was the only point am trying to make.
One key observation from Devadutt is that in all the interviews, he never prescribes a solution but only provides a parallel with a character leaving it thereafter to the listener to understand and find a solution.
The cardinal principles in marketing should never be broken, for example Telecom companies are offering better schemes to lure new customers, ignoring old customers. Any loyal customer in the days of portability is much better than migrating customer. Similarly if you are given a raw deal on bulk booking than you are once again taken for a ride......yes i tend to agree as long as if one is ethical to satisfy a customer than all izz is well. Breaking to rules due to red tapism or delay in decision making at the top is ok and to be ratified later. It can happen in case of tender or quotation to fetch business in view of stiff competition, without incurring company loss. I have faced many such situations and come out triumphantly Lolz good article Milesh
ReplyDeleteThanks Deguide. Completely agree, rules shouldn't be broken for unethical means. But there is no harm bending them if they are an unnecessary roadblock.....which is the case quite often :)
ReplyDelete