Yogic Manager (A Business Novel Inspired By The Mahabharata)

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About the Book

The Yogic Manager is a business novel that retells the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, The monumental war of Kurukshetra has been recreated in the business world at a consulting firm called Characterra Consulting. The protagonist Arjun Atmanand faces a crisis when his conscience clashes with the instructions of his boss and Characterra’s founder, Raja Sahamkar, To help him with his crisis, Arjun receives advice from Yogi, a being with supernatural powers. Arjun learns Yoga and Vedanra from Yogi, which he later uses to build a bridge between Yoga-Vedunra and Management.

By reading and studying this book, you will:

Start to challenge conventional ways of thinking about business and gain a new, holistic perspective of Management

Learn the principles and framework of Yogic Management, which you can then immediately apply to your work

Become a more productive knowledge worker by learning how to control and channel the most powerful instrument of knowledge work - the mind

Gain practical advice on how to build physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual strength

Live a balanced and purposeful life by going through the four phases prescribed in Yoga-Vedanta

Join the evolution of Management - a movement that will elevate the human condition and restore harmony to an imbalanced planet

About the Author

Avinash Bhushan Sharma is a senior consultant for strategic programs at a large Canadian bank in Toronto. He builds business cases, backed by financial models, and advises executives on investment decisions. He earned his MBA from the Queen’s School of Business (Ontario), his MS in Computer Science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), and his BSc in Statistics from Loyola College (University of Madras). He is also a graduate of Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Rishi Valley School. He previously worked as an analyst at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (NORC).

Avinash was introduced to Yoga and Indian mythology at an early age by his parents. From 2008 to 2012 he researched Sanskrit texts, including the Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, and Yoga Sutras, to determine how Yoga-Vedanta can be applied to Management. The Yogic Manager is the product of this research, and is the first book in the Yogic Management series. To learn more about Yogic Management, and to access a variety of free resources, visit www.yogicmanagement.com

Foreword

Seeking a new global balance through reflection, renewal and responsibility Global markets are extraordinary, powerful but also volatile.

Capable of creating great value, they also can destroy that value quickly. We only need to reflect on the most recent financial crisis for proof of this Shiva -like dual role of business forces.

Economically and culturally, globalization has lifted millions out of poverty, providing hope and material comfort, while bringing us closer together in the marketplace. There, we create and share value, along with our traditions, ideas and experiences. In other words, through our material transactions we also share our values and our humanity.

This same force, by integrating the world’s markets as it has done, also increases complexity, connectivity, and competitiveness while raising the stakes higher than they have ever been. If we are all connected, then errors in managerial judgement in one part of the world will ripple out to impact other parts of the system-as we saw with the 2008 banking meltdown, whose affects are still lingering. Similarly, decisions by those who manage organizations-especially vast, multinational enterprises-will impact many people and human behaviour and our natural environment.

Each of us, then, has a vested interest in cultivating more holistic managers whose actions are guided by a balanced framework, such as the one Avinash Sharma offers in this book. By drawing from ancient Vedantic wisdom, he seeks to provide modern managers with a robust, aspirational model that can help them and their organizations play a transformative part in making the world a better and safer place.

Simply pursuing process optimizations or repeating Gordon Gekko’s mantra “Greed is good” will not do. The framework of profit maximization and market “efficiencies” to the exclusion of all else may lead to an unsustainable path. The evidence is all around us, in the air and water and landfills and in serious economic disparities that can fuel division among people. Profit is fine, of course, and acts as a useful incentive. Efficiency is fine too, but it is a curious metric, since one can be efficient without being wise or even especially thoughtful. In fact, these considerations must be balanced with other considerations, including the well- being of all stakeholders, not just shareholders.

The Yogic Manager does not ask executives to join an ashram, or cast aside their pinstripe suits in favour of a sadhus robe. In a way, that course of action might be easier. More challenging is remaining at the heart of the commercial world while balancing the discipline and values of dharma with the material practices of artha and worldly pleasures of kama. Achieving this balance leads to what I call purpose with performance-a meaningful life whose riches enrich and whose achievements bless oneself and others.

I started my educational journey with advice from my parents to learn the classic “3 R’s”-reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic. Our professional journey depends also on what I consider the new 3 Rs, or reflection, renewal and responsibility. Managers, like all of us, can cultivate mindfulness that leads to self-knowledge and an understanding of how our thoughts, words and actions create karmic results. These insights offer a chance for us to renew both strategy and spirit. This journey into self is incomplete without returning back into the world with a fuller sense of one’s responsibility to others and to the world. After all, the soul of management is about nurturing and challenging others to be their best. It is about relationships. It is about people, process and purpose. In business we speak of best practises-methods that prove useful again and again. In science, we talk of empirical evidence, derived from data that comes from multiple experiments. When such evidence is produced repeatedly, we establish a scientific law. Yoga has been with us since antiquity, with countless generations celebrating its benefits. Now, it has the potential to provide managers with insight, inspiration and integrity of body, mind and spirit to enable them to achieve their quarterly results and much, much more.

This book provides us with a path from knowledge to wisdom.

Introduction

The book that you are reading was written to be more than a business novel and self-improvement guide. It was written to be a bridge.

On one end of this bridge lies the multidisciplinary practice of Management, which evolved by incorporating ideas from a variety of other fields-economics, psychology, sociology, the military, neuroscience, and more.

On the other end of this bridge lies the practice of Yoga and the philosophies of Vedanta. The ancient Sanskrit scriptures, such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita, provide a blueprint for living a balanced and purposeful life. I will refer to the union of practice (Yoga) and theory (Vedanta) as Yoga-Vedanta.

Are there concepts from Yoga- Vedanta that managers can apply to make themselves better managers? Can Management incorporate teachings from Yoga- Vedanta in the same way it incorporates teachings from other fields? In the process, can managers gain fulfillment from their work, become more holistic in their thinking, and contribute toward the betterment of society and the environment? My research, education, and experience in these subjects indicate that the answer to all these questions is “yes:’ I will refer to this union of Management and Yoga-Vedanta as Yogic Management.

Contents