Management Lessons from Akbar Birbal 1

Well, i don't know if what i am going to share with you makes sense or not but i have always had some sort of love for Indian Historical and Mythological stories. What i have observed is that Indian History has a lot to teach for today's youngsters. Here, i am going to share with you a few stories of Akbar Birbal and lessons from it related to management. Hope you like it.

Birbal's Khicri (Source: http://www.indiaparenting.com/ stories/birbal/ ab004.shtml )

On a cold winter day Akbar and Birbal took a walk along the lake. A thought came to Birbal that a man would do anything for money. He expressed his feelings to Akbar. Akbar then put his finger into the lake and immediately removed it because he shivered with cold.

Akbar said "I don't think a man would spend an entire night in the cold water of this lake for money."

Birbal replied "I am sure I can find such a person."

Akbar then challenged Birbal into finding such a person and said that he would reward the person with a thousand gold coins. Birbal searched far and wide until he found a poor man who was desperate enough to accept the challenge. The poor man entered the lake and Akbar had guards posted near him to make sure that he really did as promised.The next morning the guards took the poor man to Akbar. Akbar asked the poor man if he had indeed spent the night in the lake. The poor man replied that he had. Akbar then asked the poor man how he managed to spend the night in the lake. The poor man replied that there was a street lamp near by and he kept his attention affixed on the lamp and away from the cold. Akbar then said that there would be no reward as the poor man had survived the night in the lake by the warmth of the street lamp. The poor man went to Birbal for help.

The next day, Birbal did not go to court. The king wondering where he was sent a messenger to his home. The messenger came back saying that Birbal would come once his Khichri was cooked. The king waited hours but Birbal did not come. Finally the king decided to go to Birbal's house and see what he was upto. He found Birbal sitting on the floor near some burning twigs and a bowl filled with Khichri hanging five feet above the fire. The king and his attendants couldn't help but laugh.

Akbar then said to Birbal "How can the Khichri be cooked if it so far away from the fire?"

Birbal answered "The same way the poor man received heat from a street lamp that was more than a furlong away."

The King understood his mistake and gave the poor man his reward.

The Management Lesson:
"Whenever your boss commits a mistake, just provide him with a mere reflection of the mistake." This could be one of the best methods to handle people above you. Look at the dignity with which Birbal handled the situation, without any anger or frustration. He showed his boss (Akbar) his mistake without abusing him or making him feel embarrassed.

I hope you enjoyed this. I will try to come with some more very soon.

The Choice

THE CHOICE

Given a problem to solve and two tools - a mirror and a magnifying glass, one would select the glass to take a closer look at the problem. Looking at the problem through the magnifying glass does help in knowing the problem in a much better way but little does one know, that when you use the magnifying glass,
unfortunately the problem appears to be much bigger and bulky. In an attempt to know the details of the problem, we unknowingly enlarge the problem. But, what if one had selected the mirror and looked at oneself, one's own strengths and weaknesses?? What if we had the mirror telling us our potential, our energies and made us prepared to accept any challenge in our life, come what may. If only we had selected the mirror and prepared ourselves to face the problem, we could have done much better.


It's not important to know the problem which you are expected to solve but it is rather important for one to know oneself. If you know thyself, you need not know the problem because you would have been aware of your energies and strengths which can help you solve any problem in this world. So, choose the mirror as your tool for problem solving and know yourself before than knowing the problem.