The Ramayana & Bhagvad Gita as training tools for effective & ethical leadership

The 21st C has speedy technological inventions. Success or failure is decided by the competency of managers based on excellent leadership. Excellent leadership is not just efficient control of strategy and tactics, but includes morals, feeling for persons, resisting temptations, and just, judicious behaviour with opponents. Ramayana and Bhagvad Gita postulate best leadership. The ideas of yoga of action and duty in Bhagvad Gita guide professionals. Shree Ram exemplifies efficient, ethical leadership. Different characters in Ramayana and incidents like protecting rishis doing rituals, constructing an overpass across seawater for reaching Suvarna Lanka, accepting Vibhishana as a friend, Shree Ram’s refusal to rule Sri Lanka after Ravana’s demise are classic management situations that enable student managers hone their management-based reasoning. The study analyses the central characters and incidents in Ramayana and in Bhagvad Gita and studies critical managerial leadership tenets for applying in current business scenarios. It scrutinizes the moral standards in these two major epics and gleans learnings for contemporary leaders. The study will guide modern leaders to lead ethically and competently handle critical situations. The study shows a need for including sessions on these two epics for training MBA student managers and corporate executives for leadership and ethical governance.