Vikram Betaal - a lesson in leadership

Leadership is all about solving problems

“ I am tired and frustrated. Sometimes, I feel like quitting!”

Senthil, a 45 year old Executive with an FMCG organization ranted out to his cousin Bhargav.

Steeped in executive coaching, the 62 year old Bhargav was a composed and articulate man. He observed his younger cousin was overwhelmed with the situation at work

The economy was struggling with a peculiar combination of supply side inflation and consumer demand stagnation, thus throttling any growth plans for Senthil’s business.

Just as Senthil was conversing with Bhargav, Senthil’s 11 year old daughter - Kaavya walked in. She had returned home from school and spoke about how her teacher had told her a Vikram Betaal story.

Context

The legendary king Vikramaditya was tasked by a sorcerer to catch and bring back the Betaal (spirit inhabiting a dead body hung upside down on a tree). The Betaal was crafty, difficult to catch and once caught, hard to hold onto.

Each time the king managed to catch the Betaal , it told him a riddle to pass the time as they walked back to the sorcerer. However, the riddle came with clauses that -

1)Should the king answer correctly, the Betaal will fly back to the tree

2)Should the king know the correct answer but choose not to reveal, his head would burst into a thousand pieces

3)Should the king not know the answer, the Betaal would be stuck with him

Every time, the wise king solved the riddle and thus the Betaal managed to slip away.

Through riddles embedded in stories, moral dilemmas were communicated to the audience. These stories were popularly known as Vikram Betaal stories.

Src - https://bejodjoda.com

As Kaavya went to her room, Senthil turned to Bhargav

“ Reminded me of the TV series we saw as kids. These stories are spooky but good.”

Bhargav nodded as he added -

“Do you know it is originally titled ‘Betaal Pachisi’ because it is a composition of 25 stories?

Senthil - Oh, I had no clue…

Bhargav - Usually, we hear only the first 24 and the last is lost in the throes of time. However, the last one has an interesting takeaway.

Senthil - What is it?

Bhargav - The 25th story was tricky and the king was stumped at the riddle. Realizing that the king truly was speechless, the Betaal resigned to his fate that he will now be handed to the sorcerer.

He then proceeded to reveal to the king what evil plans the sorcerer had in mind once he got Betaal. The cunning sorcerer wanted to sacrifice the Betaal to gain immortality. But to do that, he would first eliminate the king knowing he would not allow the sorcerer to proceed. Once Betaal was handed over to the sorcerer, there was no need for the king’s bravery and strength…

Senthil was quiet as he absorbed the story and tried to unearth the takeaway.

Bhargav sensed Senthil’s bemusement and continued -

“ You see Senthil, a leader is needed every time there are challenges which are hard to identify and overcome. The challenges create the leader. If there were no challenges, why would you need a leader ?

Driving on a smooth road with no traffic is simple and easy.

Driving on road with potholes with no traffic is simple, but not easy as you can slow down to navigate carefully around the potholes.

Driving on road with potholes with predictable traffic is uncomfortable as you have to now pay attention to the pothole as well as the traffic.

Driving on road with potholes with unpredictable traffic is scary as you struggle to anticipate the next car’s movement and navigate the potholes.

Situations 1 and 2 present challenges with certainty, so they usually can be navigated by most of us. But situations 3 and 4 (for sure) present challenges with ambiguity and complexity and therefore need certain skills to navigate. These skills can not be easily worded or measured except, once you get through to the other end of the road safely and comfortably. These skills are what a leader brings forth, but these skills are valuable only because of the complexity of the situation.

If the situation was simple, why would the skill be needed and therefore why would a leader be needed?

Bhargav had spoken for long and paused to let Senthil express his thoughts.

Senthil was not really ready to say anything and blurted - “So, you mean to say challenges are..”

Bhargav completed the sentence - “ what makes leadership worthwhile…So, if you see challenges, that means you are thriving as a leader. Learn to embrace them, do not be overwhelmed by them. After all, what would you be without them ?”