Time Less Leadership - Hardcover

by Chatterjee (Author)

The timeless leadership wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita explained

Although it was written well over two thousand years ago, the Bhagavad Gita ("Song of God"), a revered Hindu religious text, contains an immense wealth of ageless wisdom that speaks directly to the needs of today's business leaders. Timeless Leadership takes this unlikely resource and teases out important lessons on 18 aspects of leadership, from commercial vision to motivation, decision-making, and planning.

Looking in detail at what the Gita has to say about these and other issues of interest to business professionals, Timeless Leadership focuses on one central point: that once the basic thought process of man is improved, the quality of his actions will improve as well, leading to better results.

• Uses an ancient religious text to highlight and explain key Western management concepts
• Explores the leadership ideas in the Bhagavad Gita and helps managers and leaders apply them to modern business life
• Weaves together the threads of wisdom from the Gita to shed light on issues and challenges for leaders at all levels

Covering teachings and ideas that have only got better with time, Timeless Leadership adapts the wisdom of millennia past for today's business leaders.

Front Jacket

Exploring some of the greatest questions in human history--from the meaning of life to the nature of consciousness--the Bhagavad Gita has been a source of guidance for millions of readers around the world for over 2,000 years. Now, Timeless Leadership: 18 Leadership Sutras from the Bhagavad Gita brings the ageless lessons of this revered Hindu spiritual text to an entirely new audience--today's business leaders.

Distilling the essential lesson--or Sutra--of each of the Gita's eighteen chapters into a meaningful message for leaders at all levels, the book challenges you to change the way you think in order to change the way you act. Addressing the narrow-minded, anxiety-ridden lives of modern business leaders, Timeless Leadership teaches you to refocus your energy and change your perspective on the world and your place within it.

Detailing how the sage advice of the past can help you deal with the pressures of today's business world in order to better understand and implement your vision, make better decisions, and much more, the book presents the wisdom of the ancient world in a readily accessible way so that you can become a better, more productive, and more satisfied leader. Outlining the ABCs of leadership success--Authenticity to your core values, Being a true leader, and Convergence between where you are and where you want to be--the book shows exactly how the teachings of the Gita can be used to solve life's most puzzling problems.

The Bhagavad Gita is as relevant in the boardrooms of the twenty-first century as it was on the battlefields of ancient India, and Timeless Leadership brings the knowledge of past millennia to today's business leaders, so you can achieve greater success--in the workplace and beyond.

Back Jacket

Praise for Timeless Leadership

"In Timeless Leadership, Debashis Chatterjee returns to the leadership sutras of the Bhagavad Gita to explore the timeless principles of leadership that will enable modern-day leaders to discover the core of their leadership and sustain their effectiveness. His ideas and discoveries will be invaluable for leaders throughout the world who are committed to authenticity in their leadership."

--Bill George, Professor, Harvard Business School; former chief executive, Medtronic; and author of True North.

"Timeless Leadership provides a wide canvas for young and emerging leaders to introspect, discover, and chart out an effective leadership journey."

--Narayana N. R. Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Limited

"The practical wisdom evidenced is like no other book in modern management literature. Any leader--east or west, north or south--will gain a powerful perspective from seriously engaging with this book, which I believe is bound to become a true classic."

--Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Research Professor, Yale University, and CEO, The Roosevelt Group

"Timeless Leadership is both timeless and borderless. It is timeless because the principles of leadership espoused thousands of years ago are contemporary. It is borderless because it transcends all situations of leadership dilemmas, internal conflicts, and ultimate resolutions. My congratulations to Debashis Chatterjee."

--Jagdish Sheth, marketing guru and world-renowned author

"Professor Debashis Chatterjee has brought out a refreshing and inspired approach to the Bhagavad Gita in Timeless Leadership. He has skilfully outlined the ideals of our modern society and their applications in managerial life."

--Swami Tejomayananda, Chairman and Spiritual Head, Chinmaya Mission

"Timeless Leadership is one of the most profound books about leadership in ages. This book goes way beyond the typical questions about how to motivate people, or how to get people aligned with your vision for an organization. Timeless Leadership guides leaders in how to address the deeper questions of the purpose and meaning of life, and provides ancient wisdom for some of the most difficult challenges faced by modern-day leaders. This book is both intensely spiritual and eminently practical."

--Judi Neal, PhD, Director, Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas

"What can ancient Indian mythology teach today's global leaders? A great deal, according to this engaging analysis by Debashis Chatterjee, who considers leadership through the lens of the Bhagavad Gita. Readers will benefit from Chatterjee's close reading of the Gita, as he traces the leadership journey of a classic hero, Arjuna. We learn that leaders reach their full potential only if they overcome the limitations of their ego. They do this by cultivating a mentality that sees reality clearly, not through the faulty perceptions of a mind unsettled by a "mob" of emotion and conditioned impulses. Chatterjee's leader is courageous but also humbled by the quest for profound self-knowledge that leads to truth and the ability to work with the devotion of "love made visible." Anyone seeking clarity about leadership's ultimate foundation will embrace this book."

--Dipak C. Jain, Dean, INSEAD

"Timeless Leadership is an invaluable contribution to the literature on leadership. In his inimitable style and with an extraordinary gift for compelling metaphors, Debashis Chatterjee brings the eternal truths of the Bhagavad Gita to fresh and vibrant life, ready to be absorbed and applied by leaders of all types of organizations. Prof. Chatterjee has arrived at the "simplicity on the other side of complexity," the mark of true mastery of his subject. This book is a treasure, a must read for any one aspiring to be a conscious business leader and a fully realized human being."

--Rajendra Sisodia, Professor of Marketing, Bentley University

Author Biography

DEBASHIS CHATTERJEE has taught leadership classes at Harvard University and at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) in Calcutta, Lucknow, and Kozhikode for nearly two decades. He has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for predoctoral and postdoctoral work at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. The author of six books, including Leading Consciously and Break Free, that have been translated into several languages, Dr. Chatterjee has trained more than 10,000 managers at Fortune 100 corporations globally and has served as a leadership coach to political leaders and CEOs of major Indian organizations. He has acted as dean of an international business school in Singapore. A pioneer in the field of Asian models in leadership, Dr. Chatterjee is currently the Director of the IIM Kozhikode and serves as independent director on the boards of several multinational and Indian companies. He can be reached at dciimk@gmail.com.