India got freedom after long struggle and great sacrifices
that long battle of freedom teaches us few management lessons as follows:
- Strong leadership:-
A bad leader orders others to follow.
A good leader inspires dedicated followers without ever
resorting to authority.
While the Indian army had any number of fancy generals and
lieutenants who were driving hundreds of thousands of Indians to fight their
own countrymen, the fakirs and sannyasis placed implicit faith and their lives
in the hands of their able leaders.
The movement was spearheaded by Muhammad Abu Talib,
popularly known as Majanu Shah.
He was a Sufi saint from Mewat and succeeded Shah Sultan
Hasan Suriya Burhana to the leadership of the Madaria Sufi in the mid
eighteenth century.
Majanu Shah's lieutenants were his right hand men and
equally responsible for the initial roaring success of the rebellion.
These included Musa Shah, Cherag Ali Shah, Paragal Shah,
Sobhan Shah, Karim Shah, etc.
Among the Sannyasi section, names like Bhabani Pathak, a
Bhojpuri Brahmin, and Devi Chaudhurani are famous for their leadership
abilities.
These leaders instilled courage and passion that armored
their followers to face the army, even though they were outnumbered one to a
hundred.
They personified excellence, led by example and, as Bankim
Chandra would have you believe, thundered mighty speeches that shook the soul
- Strategy:-
Just as start-ups cannot hope to match up with large
corporations in terms of capital and visibility there was no way the fakirs and
sannyasis could match the British army in terms of weapons or numbers. So they
played to their strengths.
The rebels mainly engaged in guerilla warfare.
They knew the countryside better than the back of their
hands and had been nomadically travelling their whole lives.
They were extremely mobile and could disappear at a moment's
notice. They could also camouflage expertly.
This light footedness was their main secret of survival
against the military giant that was the British army.
The latter had no idea when or where to expect the attacks
from.
Governor General Warren Hastings kept sending his best men
to contain the rebellion -- lieutenant Brennan, Captain Grant, Captain De
Mackenzie, etc. But the rebels kept thriving.
They did suffer a major defeat at the hands of Major Feltham
in 1771, but managed to recover admirably.
As long as the fakirs and sannyasis conducted their battles
covertly, they had a clear upper hand.
Focus on your own strengths rather than aspiring for the
impossible. If they could do it then, you can do it now!
- Focus:-
Traditionally, sannyasis and fakirs give up all attachment
to the material world and wander the corners of the earth for spiritual
salvation.
The ones in Bankim Chandra's story, and consequently
history, were brave warrior men and women who gave up their families and
livelihoods for one singular cause: the motherland.
They lived in the forest in the 'Abbey of bliss' where bliss
was defined by one's active contribution to the movement.
They ate strictly to nourish their bodies, practiced warfare
all day long and meditated. They also abstained from, err…, all conjugal
activities (if you get my drift).
Naturally you do not have to go to these lengths. You could
not if you wanted to anyway.
Where would you find jungles in urban populated cities, how
would you live without the internet and above the entire how would you practice
celibacy?
But your success would be directly proportional to the
intensity of your discipline and focus.
- Passion:-
While kingdoms all over the country were crumbling and
monarchs were handing over their crowns for fear of persecution, it was these
jungle inhabitants who tried to keep enemy forces at bay for as long as they
possibly could.
For that reason history salutes them and Bankim Chandra
salutes them. And today, so do we.
- Community engagement:-
Where would the rebels be without the support of the
peasants and farmers that the British ruthlessly brutalized?
They acted as their intelligence agents and kept them
apprised of the company's movements and whereabouts, creating a chain of
communication not dissimilar to the telegraph system or the modern social
media.
The rebels' target areas were company kuthi's (merchants)
and zamindars loyal to the British rule and the houses of their officials.
Consumers realize that they are being exploited by profit
driven international corporations just as much entrepreneurs do.
We are on the same boat.
Effective application of eighteenth century
community engagement principles in the twenty first century will work wonders
for you yet.
- Maximize resources:-
The rebels lived in the jungles, foraged for food and
dressed in simple hand-spun weaves.
The majority of their looted wealth was reserved for arming
themselves to the teeth, training camps for new recruits and providing food and
water to the famine ravaged country folk in order to maintain their loyalty to
the movement.
Identify your organization’s priorities and invest in them
wisely. As for the rest, scrounge.
If we put all these lessons practically into ourselves, we
can get success in our life.
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