Leadership Mantra from Ancient India

‘Leadership’ as a human trait is almost as old as humanity itself but ‘Leadership’ as a subject of academic interest is a recent phenomenon. It is known to many that the idea of business studies originated in the US. In the modern era, they were the first to realize that developing leadership and managing a business is not just an art but a science, which can be taught and studied as a different branch of academics.
Unknown to many, long back, ancient India had a system of sending princes to residential schools called ‘Gurukuls’ to equip them with the required skill set to govern successfully in the future. Many books were also written containing advice not only for better governance but also to develop soft skills to achieve success. ‘Neeti Shatakam’ , ‘Arthshastra’ , ‘Vidur Neeti’ , ‘Hitopadesha’ , and ‘Neeti Satsai’ are a few examples of collections of such advice (‘Neeti’ means ‘policy’). These ancient teachings are still valid and relevant for learning various facets of leadership.