Management Mythos: Wealthy and Wise By: Devdutt Pattanaik
We have grown up being told Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) and Saraswati
(goddess of knowledge) always fight and avoid staying in the same
place. This is based on the observation that rich businessmen tend to
be uneducated and educated people tend to be poor. This is also based
on the assumption that Saraswati is the goddess of education, learning
and training.
This understanding of Saraswati is rather pedestrian, and lacks
insight. The word Saraswati stems from the Sanskrit root 'saras' which
means that which is fluid and can be either contained in a lake
(sarovar) and made to flow as in a river (sarita). It refers to
imagination, the one faculty that separates man from beasts.
Human imagination is what enables humans to envisage future problems,
hence innovate, invent, and pass on learning from one generation to
another, a trait not seen in any other animal. Every generation
thrives by taking advantage of knowledge gained in the past. So there
is continuous skill and knowledge upgradation in the human species.
One generation discovered how to control fire, another discovered the
wheel, another discovered electricity, another the microchip and these
have changed how we live. We may have the same genetic structure as
our ancestors a hundred thousand years ago, but we live very different
lifestyles, all thanks to imagination. Inherited wealth and lottery
are the only cases where Lakshmi comes without Saraswati.
In all other cases, we need Saraswati to get Lakshmi. Saraswati is all
kinds of knowledge and skills. The better knowledge you have, the
better skills you have, the more likelihood of you generating wealth.
The farmer grows food because he knows how to farm. A craftsman
creates valuable products because he has knowledge of a craft.
Saraswati is needed not just to generate but also to retain wealth.
Unless the farmer and the craftsman have business acumen, they lose
their generated wealth. They need to have knowledge of marketing and
sales, financial skills or partnerships with people with financial
skills. A trader, a banker, even a housewife needs Saraswati. We
narrow Saraswati to knowledge received in schools. But until the
British came to India we did not have schools in the modern sense of
the term. We used the apprentice model.
The potter passed on Saraswati of pottery to his sons, the mother
passed on Saraswati of cooking to her daughters. Saraswati has many
forms - knowledge and skills that we can pass on through schooling and
apprenticeship is the most prominent of them. But the one form of
Saraswati that cannot be passed on is wisdom. Wisdom cannot be
inherited or bequeathed.
It has to be generated through reflection or tapasya. Absence of
wisdom is evident when Lakshmi comes, and we don't value Saraswati as
much. We feel we have magically generated wealth and it will stay with
us magically. Someone who is truly a student of Saraswati will know
that fortunes are never permanent and we have to work towards
preparing for future crises.
A famous software company was so busy harvesting wealth from the
market focussing on compliance that it did not bother to create a
talent pipeline and naturally faced a leadership crises when market
conditionschanged. A case of assuming there is a limit to Saraswati.
In fortune we don't trust home grown knowledge and believe knowledge
exists only in formal schools and colleges, a common problem seen in
small and mid-sized family businesses across India who are sending
their children to Europe and America to earn business degrees and find
that the children either do not want to return home, or look down upon
their family business (not fortune) as full of terrible practices.
There is a folk adage: in good times Lakshmi walks towards us and
Saraswati moves away from us while in bad times Saraswati walks
towards us and Lakshmi moves away from us. The trick is to focus on
Saraswati at both times. In boom times, she teaches us how to ensure
sustainable growth. In bust time, she teaches us how to reverse our
situation and make our way from misfortune towards fortune.
Lakshmi or no Lakshmi, we always need Saraswati if we wish to survive
or thrive. The Lakshmi-Saraswati battle is a myth Wealthy and Wise
Devdutt Pattanaik is the author.
Devdutt Pattanaik is the author of 'Business Sutra — a very Indian
approach to management'
We have grown up being told Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) and Saraswati
(goddess of knowledge) always fight and avoid staying in the same
place. This is based on the observation that rich businessmen tend to
be uneducated and educated people tend to be poor. This is also based
on the assumption that Saraswati is the goddess of education, learning
and training.
This understanding of Saraswati is rather pedestrian, and lacks
insight. The word Saraswati stems from the Sanskrit root 'saras' which
means that which is fluid and can be either contained in a lake
(sarovar) and made to flow as in a river (sarita). It refers to
imagination, the one faculty that separates man from beasts.
Human imagination is what enables humans to envisage future problems,
hence innovate, invent, and pass on learning from one generation to
another, a trait not seen in any other animal. Every generation
thrives by taking advantage of knowledge gained in the past. So there
is continuous skill and knowledge upgradation in the human species.
One generation discovered how to control fire, another discovered the
wheel, another discovered electricity, another the microchip and these
have changed how we live. We may have the same genetic structure as
our ancestors a hundred thousand years ago, but we live very different
lifestyles, all thanks to imagination. Inherited wealth and lottery
are the only cases where Lakshmi comes without Saraswati.
In all other cases, we need Saraswati to get Lakshmi. Saraswati is all
kinds of knowledge and skills. The better knowledge you have, the
better skills you have, the more likelihood of you generating wealth.
The farmer grows food because he knows how to farm. A craftsman
creates valuable products because he has knowledge of a craft.
Saraswati is needed not just to generate but also to retain wealth.
Unless the farmer and the craftsman have business acumen, they lose
their generated wealth. They need to have knowledge of marketing and
sales, financial skills or partnerships with people with financial
skills. A trader, a banker, even a housewife needs Saraswati. We
narrow Saraswati to knowledge received in schools. But until the
British came to India we did not have schools in the modern sense of
the term. We used the apprentice model.
The potter passed on Saraswati of pottery to his sons, the mother
passed on Saraswati of cooking to her daughters. Saraswati has many
forms - knowledge and skills that we can pass on through schooling and
apprenticeship is the most prominent of them. But the one form of
Saraswati that cannot be passed on is wisdom. Wisdom cannot be
inherited or bequeathed.
It has to be generated through reflection or tapasya. Absence of
wisdom is evident when Lakshmi comes, and we don't value Saraswati as
much. We feel we have magically generated wealth and it will stay with
us magically. Someone who is truly a student of Saraswati will know
that fortunes are never permanent and we have to work towards
preparing for future crises.
A famous software company was so busy harvesting wealth from the
market focussing on compliance that it did not bother to create a
talent pipeline and naturally faced a leadership crises when market
conditionschanged. A case of assuming there is a limit to Saraswati.
In fortune we don't trust home grown knowledge and believe knowledge
exists only in formal schools and colleges, a common problem seen in
small and mid-sized family businesses across India who are sending
their children to Europe and America to earn business degrees and find
that the children either do not want to return home, or look down upon
their family business (not fortune) as full of terrible practices.
There is a folk adage: in good times Lakshmi walks towards us and
Saraswati moves away from us while in bad times Saraswati walks
towards us and Lakshmi moves away from us. The trick is to focus on
Saraswati at both times. In boom times, she teaches us how to ensure
sustainable growth. In bust time, she teaches us how to reverse our
situation and make our way from misfortune towards fortune.
Lakshmi or no Lakshmi, we always need Saraswati if we wish to survive
or thrive. The Lakshmi-Saraswati battle is a myth Wealthy and Wise
Devdutt Pattanaik is the author.
Devdutt Pattanaik is the author of 'Business Sutra — a very Indian
approach to management'
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