I know everything, the three most frightening words you can ever hear in corridors of management colleges.

In a fast changing dynamic world can we really say we know everything? Can we really say we have reached a stage where there is no need for us to learn or unlearn? The answer is an emphatic NO. Today organizations are looking for managers who have the capacity to be learning managers, who have the capacity to learn from their surroundings and continuously adapt themselves. Organizations are looking for students who are like Arjuna in the modern day corporate Mahabharata. Managers who possess key skills like initiative, active learning, focus and continuous learning. Let me illustrate a story from Mahabharata which would provide an insight as to how Continuous Learning and Active Learning was highlighted even in some of our ancient texts. When Guru Dronacharya is appointed the Commander in Chief of the Kuru Army during Mahabharata he immediately announces the formation of Chakravayu While discussing the same with Duryodhana he asks that Arjuns attention be diverted to another front so that he can capture Yudhistra bringing war to an end as Arjuna was the only person capable apart from Ashwathama to enter and exit the Chakravayu. On hearing this Dushassan flew into a rage and accused Dronacharya of being partial and teaching Arjuna more than all other pupils. The answer Guru Dronacharya gives to Dusshasan is also my case for continued learning from managers and students alike. He tells Dushassan the reason why Arjuna is more capable than all the Pandavas and Kauravas alike is not because he taught him more but because he was an Active Learner and while everyone took his teaching as the end, Arjuna took his teaching as the beginning and

continued his quest for learning and today is the only student of his who can challenge him in the battlefield. In order to be good managers one should be able to learn continuously otherwise one may face the prospect of stagnation, one would be like a ship that has come to the harbour and the only thing that can now happen is stagnation leading to decay. Continuous Learning allows one to be creative in problem solving while Active Learning, a keen desire to learn something new everyday will differentiate managers and students from others and one can do active and continuous learning if one takes the initiative and remain focused on goals like arjuna who was the only student who took the initiative of going to Drona and asking him to teach the skills required for entering and exiting the chakravayu and remained focused throughout on his objective of being the greatest archer in the world. Increasingly students are being churned in MBA institutes without any upgradation of the skills they already possess, students need to do a skills audit to find out what skills they had while entering the course and what skills they possess at the time of exiting the course and when they enter the corporate arena make sure they continue their quest for learning and become Arjun who took Guru Dronacharyas teachings as a beginning and not the end. Otherwise the chance of you being just a face in the crowd is very high. Remmember MBA is Masters in Business Administation not Mein Bhi Aaya.Thus it is essential for students to choose only those management schools which focuses on inculcating the above mentioned skills in their students and preparing them for their role as corporate warriors.

(A) Introduction I am sure most of you have seen or at least heard about the great epic Mahabharata. I found this article somewhere, it is a nice case study on Mahabharata. (B) Characters of this case study (1) Kaurav Ltd. CEO Duryodhana President Dhritarashtra (Duryodhanas father) Chief Mentor Mama Shakuni (2) Pandav Ltd. CEO Arjun President Yudhisthira Chief Mentor Krishna (C) 7 Concepts of Strategic Management you can learn from Mahabharata (1) Vision Kaurav

The President of Kaurav Ltd i.e. Dhritarashtra had no vision at all . He could not override his weakness for his son . He was used by Shakuni and Duryodhana. He was incapable of taking any decision. He remained silent during the dice game in which Yudhisthira lost everything and also let his son insult Draupadi. He failed to forecast the result of this humiliation which eventually became the root cause of this war. He was a weak leader and failed to follow his responsibilities as a president in a proper manner.

Pandav

Their President Yudhisthira was a man of great vision and was respected even by his competitors . He was an expert in administration and a man of values and adhered to truth and Dharma. He used his image in a great manner as on the first day of war he applied a great strategy. He went over to Kauravas to take blessing from Elders and in return he got the secret of defeating them . ( Remember the case of Bhishma. ) . This helped them to gain strategic advantage over Kaurava Ltd. He also anticipated the war at an early stage and started preparations for it.

(2) Strategy It is the direction and scope of an organization and helps it to compete with competitors. Kaurav

Their Chief Mentor or Strategist Shakuni relied on unfair trade practices. Such things may work in short-term but a complete failure in long-term. A good strategist is one who knows the weakness of competitors and exploits them. He should help the Co. to recover from any situation . Shakuni was wicked and believed in short-term profits. He was biased and use to think about the welfare of CEO i.e. Duryodhana only and not of Kaurav Ltd. as a whole .

Pandav

They have got the best strategist in the form of Krishna which the world has ever seen. He believed in forming strong allies and was responsible for the merger of Pandava Ltd. with Dwarka (Remember Arjunas marriage with Subhadra when Duryodhana wanted to marry her) , Rakshas (marriage of Bheem with hidimba) ,Panchala (marriage of Arjun with draupadi), Matsya (marriage of Abhimanyu and Uttara) etc.. He asked Yudhisthir to go to Bhishm on 1st day of war to know their weakness. He was responsible for forming the strategy of the death of Dronacharya , Karna and even Duryodhana.

(3) Motivation It acts as a catalyst in achieving a companys mission , vision , goal and objectives. Kaurav

Their CEO was motivated by greed for the Indraprastha . He was ready to do apply any means whether fair and unfair to achieve his goal . He was a great example of evil and fighting against the truth.

Pandav

They were fighting for their self-respect and this is the greatest motivation in this world. They believed in fair practices only. (4) Decision-making It is the art to take right decision at the right time. One should grab the opportunity at the right time to gain advantage over the competitors. Kaurav

To take good decision one should have great level of concentration and low level of anxiety and their CEO was completely opposite of that. He was a man of low concentration , high level of anxiety and believed in unfair practices. He believed in finance more than Human Resource. He choose Krishnas army over him which was his biggest mistake.

Pandav

Arjuna was a person of great concentration and was very focused. He choose Krishna over his army which came to be a masterstroke. He used to set example for others.

(5) SWOT ANALYSIS Kaurav

They converted their strength into weakness as they used to indulge in war with other kingdom which caused both loss of men and creation of enemies.

Pandav

They utilized their exile period in which Arjun acquired Divyastra and Yudhistir formed the strategy of war by taking teaching from different Gurus . Thus they converted their weakness into strength.

(6) COMMITMENT Kaurav

There was lack of commitment from Kauravs. Their main warriors like Bheeshm and Dronacharya didnt want war and promised not to kill any of the Pandavas. Karna was fighting the war just to be loyal to Duryodhana but wasnt fully involved in the war as he promised not to kill any Pandava except Arjun.

Pandav

Everyone was assigned a role and they did it with their limited capabilities. Abhimanyu and Ghatotkatch sacrificed their life for their team . Both of them contributed a lot as Abhimanyu fought with 7 Maharatis single handed and Ghatotkatch took away half of Kauravas army with him.

(7) Team work Kaurav

They didnt work as a team. Many of them use to hate each other. Bhishma didnt wanted Karna to participate in the war. Bhishma and Karna both hated Shakuni and his tactics . It means they didnt have faith in their key strategist.

Pandav

They put team interest above all and each person was involved in every process. They had respect for each other and used to listen to their CEO. They had a mission and a common goal and they worked for it.

(D) Conclusion With all the above mentioned points it is clear who won the battle.