The Leaders

History books are the best management books and the lives of great kings and conquerors are the best leadership stories. Those personalities in the history may be bad guys in one perspective or the other, but the history books will have only empty pages if we go on removing their names based on our perception of good or bad.

Here is a man often referred by modern management gurus. He is Hernando Cortes, a Spanish conquistador of 16th century who brought Mexico under Spanish control and began the Spanish colonization in the Americas. When he reached the American shores, he had a limited number of soldiers with him and already rebelled his superiors who did not match his aggressiveness. He understood that it was going to be a uphill task as they had to fight not only the Aztec tribes but also the challenges posed by the dense forests. He also realized that the soldiers could lose confidence at any time and withdraw from the battle. And Hernando did not wish to compromise with anything other than victory. Guess what he did. Once all the soldiers alighted from the boats, he ordered immediately, "Burn the boats"!

No wonder that Sun Tsu's "Art of War" is the best management book ever written!

First of its Kind

I came across this piece of information through a strange path. I was reading Norman Lewis' 'Better English' in which he was trying to explain adjective with an example, 'obscene book'. He also gave an example for an obscene book and it was John Cleland's Fanny Hill (though 'Better English' mentions the name as Samuel Cleland by mistake).

There are many interesting things about this man, John Cleland. His novel, 'Fanny Hill' (or, 'Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'), was actually the first of its kind, i.e., the first pornographic novel in English. It was published in two installments in 1748 and 1749. Not surprisingly the novel was banned immediately at that time. He then attempted to publish few more novels with less erotic content, but they were not up to the 'standard' of Fanny Hill. As the story goes, John Cleland was offered a life time pension by the British Empire on a condition that he should stop writing!

Interestingly John Cleland has served as a soldier in East India Company and lived in Mumbai for about twelve years. He has written the novel, Fanny Hill, during his stay in Mumbai. Another interesting fact was that he remained a bachelor till death.

An Anecdote

Zen is popularly known for its anecdotes and so is Superstar Rajinikanth. I liked this anecdote that he instantly shared during his interview to Sun  TV on Nov 5, 2010 (first time after 1996, if I am not wrong).

There was a kingdom located on a river bank. It had a rule that the king can rule only for five years and after five years he would be sent to a jungle on the other side of the river where the man-eating animals and cannibal tribes lived. No king who had been sent to the jungle ever returned. They were killed, apparently. Many of the kings died even before their five year tenure in the fear of the cruel death in the jungle.

Then came a king who ruled unusually happily for five years. On successful completion of his tenure, he departed from the country and was on his to the jungle on a boat. The boatman was quite surprised by the king's placid and cheerful state of mind. He finally asked the king, "I have seen only the kings who were weeping and crying while travelling to the jungle. How could you manage to be cheerful and calm?"

The king laughed and answered, "When I became the king, the first thing I did was to send the hunters and soldiers into the jungle to hunt down all the predators and cannibals living there. Then, in the second year, I built palaces there and in the following years I converted the jungle into a livable place and populated the area. The only thing left now is that I go there and ascend the throne."

Rajinikant said this anecdote to explain the importance of planning in the context of Endhiran project. If we make our goals clear, set the plan for achieving the goal and execute it as planned, everything is possible. Though we all know this, hearing this from Rajinikanth with his style and accent was a fantastic thing to remember.