I recently completed reading the book on Emperor Ashoka (Ashoka: the Search for India's Lost Emperor) by Charles Allen, and a very prominent figure that emerges from the story is about Emperor Chandragupta (Ashoka's grandfather) and his advisor Chanakya. To write about his story in short -
“Chandragupta was a sharp boy who had very good leadership skills. Due to his military acumen, he eventually served as a mercenary in Alexander the Great’s army when they had invaded India. He was known as Sandrokottos in Greek.
When Chanakya wanted to overthrow King Nanda, he started scouting for a leader who is capable of this feat and discovered Chandragupta. They together planned a campaign against King Nanda and were defeated by the King quickly. But they soon realized their mistake and launched another campaign to overthrow King Nanda. This time around they -
- Captured smaller kingdoms in his rule instead of directly attacking him
- Formed alliances to strengthen their military support and capabilities
- Strategized and planned carefully before finally attacking King Nanda and overthrowing him”
After reading the captivating story, I couldn't help but ponder over what does this story teach us. For me, it teaches the following leadership principles:
- Don’t give up easily, keep persisting - just like Chandragupta did not give up after his first defeat by Nanda
- Strategy and planning has to precede all actions - just like how the 2nd time around Chandragupta and Chanakya strategized and planned for their win
- Even a great leader needs a coach to achieve his/her best - just like Chandragupta needed coaching by Chanakya
- Pick the smaller wins, and eventually you will get the big kill - just like how Chandragupta captured smaller kingdoms before he finally garnered enough power to overthrew Nanda
- Power of partnerships is multitudes greater than going alone at a task - just like how Chandragupta formed alliances (even with Greeks called as Yavans) to defeat King Nanda
