Essential Weapons for Success

Key aspects of a battlefield

"The knowledge of the weapons and the skill to use them are the key aspects to win a war," observes Radhakrishnan Pillai.

In Book 2 chapter 18 of Arthashastra, there is a detailed classification of the weapons used by an army. The armoury-in-charge is given instructions to take care of these weapons in order to fight the battle well. The knowledge of the weapons and the skill to use them are the key aspects to win a war.

What are the weapons a leader of an organisation should have before he goes out to a battle? Let us look at a few important aspects

Knowledge and information

Today’s economy is slowly becoming a knowledge economy. The more you know and more informed, the better equipped you are to fight. If you do a study of various industries, you will find that the companies that are on the top are those which have focused on knowledge utilisation, research and development and also investments into knowledge assets. This also helps you to plan your battle well.

Technology

In today’s world that is getting compressed, effective use of technology is the solution to speed up communications and transactions. Make your organisation techno-savvy. Spend time to investigate and understand the latest technology available in the world. Use them and you will find that you have a cutting edge over your competitors. It also reduces overheads in a big way. Many small countries that have small population yet powerful economies have used technology for higher productivity.

As a leader, when you are preparing for the external war first try to win your internal war.

People

“The man behind the machine is more important than the machine”, goes the famous saying. Yes your people, your employees make your army. Without a good strong and powerful army, you can’t even think of getting into the battlefield. Not only the size of the army is important but even the quality of the army is important—right person for the right job! Human Resource department has been introduced in most organisations to fulfill this need.

Inspiration

The most important weapon you need to fight. If your organisation is an inspired organisation with a fire in the belly, there is a transformation in the organisation’s output. Truly speaking if you have this quality the first three will follow. It is the ‘human will’ that creates the change. Small organisations with a tremendous will have changed the way business is done. We find the same in the case of nations. A country like Singapore hardly the size of Mumbai city is one of the most successful economies of the world today.

As a leader, when you are preparing for the external war first try to win your internal war. All weapons are useless if you are not inspired to fight.

As our president APJ Abdul Kalam puts it, “It is the wings of fire that gives you the ability to reach out to the skies.”

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