The Hindu Business Line : Has the `Bhagavad Gita' replaced `The Art of War'?

It was an email from Vijay Govindarajan of `dartmouth.edu' this morning that alerted me to an article in the forthcoming issue of BusinessWeek (October 30). "It will carry a feature story on `Karma Capitalism', which will focus on the influence of India and Indians on management thought leadership," read VG's mail. "This is indeed a tribute to India's impact on the world of management practice."

Well, yes, you can see the `special report' on www.businessweek.com, written by Pete Engardio and Jena McGregor. "Has the Bhagavad Gita replaced The Art of War as the hip new ancient Eastern management text?" asks the blurb, before letting you go past `BMWs, Lexuses, and Mercedes-Benzes' lining `the manicured lawn' into a `sprawling hillside house replete with glittering chandeliers, marble floors, and gilded rococo mirrors' in a `New Jersey suburb'.

Then? Down into `basement room' to sit in `a semicircle on the carpet'. To listen to Swami Parthasarathy talking about `the secrets to business success'. What did he tell the `members of the Young Presidents' Organisation?' in `his mellow baritone'? That "you can't succeed in business unless you develop the intellect, which controls the mind and body."

The `lanky 80-year-old' Swami, one learns, had earlier met `hedge fund managers and venture capitalists' in New York and advised them on `balancing the compulsion to amass wealth with the desire for inner happiness'.

And had counselled a `young investment banker' in Lehman Brothers on `dealing with nasty colleagues'. If you too have a similar problem, the advice is as follows: "Banish them from your mind. You are the architect of your misfortune. You are the architect of your fortune."

The authors of the BusinessWeek article find all this to be `a significant but sometimes quirky new trend'. Of? `Big business' embracing Indian philosophy.

"You might also call it Karma Capitalism. For both organisations and individuals, it's a gentler, more empathetic ethos that resonates in the post-tech-bubble, post-Enron zeitgeist."

Engardio and McGregor cite Sumantra Ghoshal for his book `A Good Theory of Management'; Ram Charan for his exhortation `to put purpose before self'; and C.K. Prahalad for his ideas of co-creation of products with consumers and succeeding `by tailoring products and technologies to the poor'.

Key message of the Gita is imbibed thus: "Enlightened leaders should master any impulses or emotions that cloud sound judgment.

Good leaders are selfless, take initiative, and focus on their duty rather than obsessing over outcomes or financial gain."

And VG is quoted thus: "Karma is a principle of action. Innovation is about creating change, not reacting to change."

Fine. Call it whatever, but it looks like the West may soon have to outsource the job of getting a daily dose of philosophy from India. In which case we would have PBO. Short for `philosophy business outsourcing'!

E&OE@TheHindu.co.in

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