Continuing from where we left off.
Over the past few weeks, as we were exploring the leadership qualities described by Chanakya, a regular reader wrote to me that these series should have been named “‘What a leader should DO’, it would have sounded more positive.”
The reason for keeping it as ‘NOT DO’ was more by design rather than default. The human mind works in a certain pattern and studies reveal that we become more alert with negative words.
Words such as danger, death, and destruction have the power to move a person from lethargy to activity. So continuing this ten-part series, we now look at a few more things a leader should NOT do…
“Reasons for dissatisfaction of subjects: By doing harm to principal men and dishonouring those worthy of honour, by opposing the elders, by partiality and falsehood.” (7.5.19-26)
In the above verses, the emphasis is on three key areas: respect for elders, not being partial to anyone, and not taking to falsehood.
Respecting elders and principle men
A society that does not respect elders and men of knowledge cannot survive for long. The Sanskrit word for elders is ‘Vriddha’. The word elder here has two meanings: One, a person who is elder by age, and second, a person who is elder by wisdom. It is natural to respect any person who is elder to us by age. We find that, across Asian cultures, respecting elders have been considered a noble and high virtue. However, there are young people with lot of knowledge or wisdom who command respect. Even these are ‘Vriddhas’.
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