10 Business Lessons for Success: Inspired by Lord Ganesha
A lot can be assimilated from mythology and incorporated into life and work. The first deity we pay obeisance to is the Hindu God Ganesha. The elephant-headed lord has predominantly influenced several people not only through divine intervention but also through guidance in finding the path to success. Every characteristic of the lord has a takeaway. An in-depth study reveals that business leaders can resonate when they embody lord Ganesha in the corporate scenario.
Let’s look into the characteristics of Lord Ganesha can become a lesson to lead a successful organisation:
1. Thinking Big
The large head of Lord Ganesha symbolises the leader to lead it with a bigger ambition and work towards fulfilling it. Building a significant market share and customer loyalty needs priority to catapult your business to a major playing level.
Lesson: Leaders need to create a headspace for scalability and expansion showcasing growth and progress. Organizations with extensive outreach in demography and brand outreach can deliver sustainable revenue and profits.
2. Good Listener
Lord Ganesha’s ears are huge and symbolise how important it is to listen and understand. Knowing all points of view and ideas will help in coming to a decision. Having an autocratic mindset can isolate you from others and cause friction.
Lesson: Organizations thrive when teams work together in tandem. Sharing information and collective ideas can shape better growth perspectives. Allowing others to contribute creates an inclusive environment assuring trust and loyalty towards the organization. A leader will need to listen to what the team has to say to make informed decisions.
3. Being Observant
Unlike his huge personality, Lord Ganesha has a smaller mouth, indicating that speaking at every instance may not be the right choice. Silence and vigilance can contribute to your understanding of the situation better.
Lesson: Being a leader does not involve only giving big speeches and drafting policies. The organization needs involvement and contribution from the leader. Acknowledging the changes and being aware of situations inside and outside help to put forth opinions and justify the leader’s actions.
4. Knowing to prioritise
According to mythology, Lord Ganesh prioritised the duty assigned to him (to guard the door when his mother Parvati was bathing). Having a single focus on the task ahead can help achieve bigger things.
Lesson: As the leader of an enterprise, your focus should not waver at any point in time. Knowing to prioritise tasks and align core values in achieving long-term goals. You will learn how to work towards sustainable goals and bring value to the organisation.
5. Respect and humility
The scriptures elaborately describe Lord Ganesha’s genuine respect for his parents and elder brother. The basic instinct of respecting fellow humans and appreciating their contributions shows one’s ability to win the trust of people around one.
Lesson: Leading an organisation requires empathy and concern, enabling you to garner their trust in you and your organisation. Showing humility can help foster collaboration and assure long-term growth, whether from employees, peers, or competitors.
6. Innovation & out-of-the-box thought process
In a competition held to circumambulate around the world the fastest, lord Ganesha chose to do so around his parents. It was not only his ingenious mind that helped him win the contest, but also how he saved time and energy and think out-of-the-box.
Lesson: Choosing unconventional paths and creative solutions can help you stifle competition and retain your market base. Traditional methods and outdated strategies cannot hold in evolving markets, innovation and adapting to bring changes can help organizations build legacies.
7. Maintaining calmness
Lord Ganesha has a thoughtful approach to every situation; his calm demeanour distinguishes him from other gods. It enables one to handle situations better resulting in suitable outcomes.
Lesson: Every organisation faces challenges and stressful situations. As a leader handling them without the hype and drama while choosing to resolve them with calmness and perspective. It can make better impressions on your team and concerned parties.
8. Adaptability
Lord Ganesha being a foodie had a brilliant idea of using a snake as a belt to hold his belly together or the slow-moving mouse as a vehicle to undermine his authority. It shows how he adapted to the situation and did not allow it to hamper his outing.
Lesson: Utilizing the given situation and learning to make the best of it showcases your leadership skills. Unforeseen circumstances need an able leader who can adapt and act accordingly for the benefit of the organisation.
9. Wisdom and Agility
Learning from the lord’s experiences one can know he is lord of knowledge and wisdom. Picking up skills over the years and continuous learning should become second nature to each one of us.
Lesson: Years of experience and expertise count while having the capability to swiftly take on new trends and utilize them to suit your requirements showcases wisdom and agility.
10. Goodness
The lord is benevolent and ensures each of his devotees is freed of obstacles in their lives. Having goodness in one’s nature will also attract goodness creating a chain of caring people around you.
Lesson: A leader with a positive attitude and kind heart will find a loyal set of people who always support him even in times of adversity. Spreading joy and ensuring not hurt people while you earn revenue and profits for your organization.
Takeaway
Using lord Ganesh’s wisdom, focus, adaptability and calmness, every leader of an organization can benefit from such learnings and take a successful step in life too.