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Video Information: 22.02.23, SPA College (Online), Greater Noida
Context:
~ What is true leadership?
~ How to be a good leader?
~ What happens if we don't know our own condition?
~ Is being confident a quality?
~ Where does our confidence come from?
~ How to not be restless always?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/hi/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
~~~~~
Video Information: 22.02.23, SPA College (Online), Greater Noida
Context:
~ What is true leadership?
~ How to be a good leader?
~ What happens if we don't know our own condition?
~ Is being confident a quality?
~ Where does our confidence come from?
~ How to not be restless always?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Hello sir, myself Neha Tiwari. So my question is, in a classic essay by a former professor
00:11at Harvard Business School, Mr. John Porter, he said that leaders, managers deal with complexity
00:21while leaders deal with a change. So you have been spearheading a mission for a social spiritual
00:29change since the last 20 years. So what is, what's in your opinion an effective tool for
00:37leaders to bring that change and what would be your advice to those promising managers to become
00:43great leaders? See what I'll be saying would be a bit complex and probably stuff that you have not
00:50anticipated as an answer. But I must say this because this thing on leadership and management
00:56and leaders versus managers, I have already spoken on it mostly several years back when I
01:04used to frequent management colleges. So they would ask me such questions and there are responses
01:11and they were recorded and uploaded and published. So you could have them. Today let me say
01:16something beyond that. Leaders and managers both are needed. The question is for what?
01:29As a leader, obviously you are a change agent. You are leading the followers towards something.
01:35Towards what? Like a Pied Piper, are you leading those rats towards their destruction? Even then
01:43you would be called a leader obviously because you are leading them. The question is towards what?
01:49Yes, you are promising them some change. You are also probably bringing about a change.
01:56But what's the change you are giving to them? Remember we are born aspiring for change.
02:05You look at the infant that is born. I frequently refer to the infant because you learn a lot about
02:10the human condition just looking at the infant. The infant wants change, does it not? Continuously
02:18it is restless. Have you ever seen a very calm and peaceful infant? For maybe one or two minutes it
02:26can be calm. After that again restless, wanting something this, that, extending its hands,
02:33stretching its limbs, hitting something, looking at something and every 15 minutes it starts
02:43wailing. So we are restless, we want change, the infant. It's from there that we start wanting
02:50change. So yes, we want change. Is the leader bringing that change to us that we really want
02:59or is the change that the leader is promising and bringing to us mere entertainment,
03:07mere illusion?
03:12Because the human condition is not just that we are restless,
03:16it's also that we are ignorant about our restlessness.
03:21So one, we don't have peace. Secondly, we do not know why we don't have peace.
03:28These two things are together and they get compounded.
03:35What's the result of these two things being together and we being doubly debilitated inside?
03:44You are restless and you also don't know that you are restless. Come on,
03:47tell me what would happen out of that?
03:48Unmute yourself, please.
03:58We could be in a great illusion. We don't know what to do.
04:02No, no, more, more practically, please tell me. You, you are sick, right? And you also do not
04:10know why you are sick. But you are confident that you are a great doctor. Now, what would you do?
04:19This is the human condition. I've added a third factor to it, confidence. Because illusion
04:27typically accompanies confidence. One, we are sick, but we don't know why we don't have confidence.
04:35Confidence. One, we are sick, we are born sick. Secondly, we do not know why we are sick. Thirdly,
04:45we feel confident that we know that we are sick.
04:51Now, if these three things are together present, what would you do?
04:57You are sick, right? You have an ache here in the stomach.
05:00Hmm. The fact is, you do not know what the ache is about. The heart is aching.
05:07Not just the stomach. You've actually known nothing.
05:14But you nurture a great pride and assurance that, oh, I am the all-knowing one.
05:24What would you do now?
05:26Probably just be lying, doing nothing.
05:29But the ache is there. The ache is real. So you'll do something. What would you do?
05:37Go to someone else.
05:39But you think you already know everything about yourself. So what would you do?
05:42Why will you not need to go to somebody else? You already know. That's the human condition. We all
05:46think we know everything. Especially when it comes to life and ourselves. We think we know everything.
05:55We know what's going on. We know what is life. After all, it's my life. I have so much experience.
05:59Don't tell me my... As they say, don't tell me my shit. I know.
06:05So what would you do? You are sick. You are sick.
06:09And you don't know why you are sick. But you think you know why you are sick. So what would you do now?
06:25The pain is severe. What would you do?
06:38Come on, you do that daily. Shouldn't be so difficult.
06:43Continue on doing that.
06:48Continue to suffer.
06:52Continue to suffer.
06:55But you cannot continue to suffer. The pain is severe.
07:04The state of pain has to be changed.
07:09Right? So what would you do?
07:13Deviate my mind.
07:16Deviate my mind.
07:17In deviating your mind, what have you done? You have prescribed yourself
07:26a solution or a medicine, right?
07:30What more would you do?
07:40I have a terrible heartburn or heartache. And I think I know everything. So what will I do?
07:50I know how to treat it. So what will I do?
07:55Then I'll treat it. If I know I have to treat it.
07:58I will start treating myself. Correct?
08:02Right.
08:03So that's what we all do. We start treating ourselves irrespective of the fact that we
08:09know nothing about ourselves. We start prescribing ourselves pills and syrups and stuff.
08:16We start prescribing ourselves pills and syrups and surgeries.
08:21Not only do we prescribe surgeries, we start operating on ourselves.
08:29Right. And that's how we also choose leaders.
08:33So we all need change. And the leader you choose can often bring you change.
08:39Not that the leader changes nothing. The question is what kind of change?
08:43Do you even know what needs to be changed?
08:46Right.
08:48Let's say you feel miserable with your life.
08:53And you don't know why because we know nothing. You feel miserable about yourself.
08:59And you come across a leader who says, okay, I'll do something. You know why you feel miserable?
09:08You feel miserable because of those two neighbors. I'll burn down their house.
09:12And you'll say, wow, now I have a leader. He's bringing in some real change.
09:20He's ushering in great development.
09:25And what has he done? He has burned down the houses of those two neighbors. And for a while
09:29you feel great. And not that the leader has done nothing. The leader has in fact done something.
09:35And for a while you will say, wow, great.
09:38Are you getting it? And then there is a manager that's appointed.
09:42And what is the job of the manager? To not to let those two burnt houses come up again.
09:48Because the role of a manager is to maintain the status quo.
09:53A manager is given a system and entrusted to keep running the system.
09:58Managers are not supposed to build systems.
10:01Managers are not supposed to have visions. Managers are supposed to stick to their brief.
10:09So the brief of the manager is these two houses have been burned down. Please ensure
10:12that they don't come up again. And the manager does that. The leader is doing
10:18what leaders are supposed to do. The manager too is doing what managers are supposed to do.
10:22The leader is doing what leaders are supposed to do. The manager is doing what leaders are
10:27The manager too is doing what managers are supposed to do. The leader brought about a change.
10:33And the manager is now managing the change effectively.
10:41Is that any good? It's not about leaders versus managers.
10:47It's about what is the change that you really want.
10:50When you bring about the right change, the real change,
10:57then leaders are needed to bring about that change. And also managers are needed.
11:03Management is not something inferior. In the leaders versus managers debate,
11:11in the leaders versus managers debate, it is quite fashionable to show the leaders as charismatic,
11:20heroic, the real thing. And the managers are looked down upon. Oh, just a manager.
11:27No, you need managers as well. You wouldn't have had Buddhism
11:32if you had only the Buddha. After Buddha, there was a line of great manager-scholars and that's
11:40why you have Buddhism today. So, let's not discount the importance of great management.
11:52Otherwise, Buddhas come and Buddhas go. And there have been so many Buddhas. If you ask a true
11:58Buddhist, he will say that the Buddha that you know of is only one Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha.
12:06Otherwise, there are umpteen Buddhas, just that you don't know of them.
12:13What did those Buddhas not have?
12:18Great managers. Great managers. So, management is wonderful. Leadership obviously is wonderful.
12:26But you have to figure out what is the direction your leader is taking you towards.
12:34Just because the car is speeding, does not mean the destination will be nice.
12:45One kind of problem is when you have a bogus leader who does nothing at all.
12:50Then you say, oh, see, he's not bringing about any change. That's one kind of a problem.
12:54And an equally troublesome thing is when you have a leader that's bringing about just the wrong kind
13:02of change. So, don't be mesmerized just because there is change. Ask yourself, what is the quality
13:12of this change? What is the direction of this change? Is this the change that would really
13:18bring peace and joy and rest to me? Is this what I wanted? Yes, there is change. But is it really
13:26change for good? Or is it a change for the worse?