Here are the relevant links for your reference and further
googling.
Why did I mention these two articles in the same paragraph?
Because I found one common factor in these two and that is very relevant for
leaders and teams.
In his article, Martin Crowe writes about the New Zealand’s famous
pursuit of the (still elusive) Worldcup 1992. If you remember, it was Crowe who
tried the “attack in the first 15 overs” as a strategy through Mark Greatbatch.
Crowe also made significant contribution in terms of runs . In the semi final against Pakistan, while batting first Crowe scores
83 ball 91 against the likes of Imran and Akram and in the process sustains a
minor hamstring injury. They also post a string total of 260+. So far so good.
Now Crowe , according to him, makes one big mistake – He
decides to stay off the field and asks John Wright to lead the team on the
field. It seems, it was Crowe and the coach who planned and decided upon a
strategy to bowl at the Pakistan batsmen. Wright, inspite of being the
vice-captain was totally unaware of the plan. So when leading the team, Wright
implemented his bowling plans which obviously did not work since Pakistan went
on to beat NZ ( remember the famous Inzi innings? )
Crowe writes that he was not totally unfit either and that he
“could have” taken the field. But because he was confident, and in hindsight
overconfident, of the total and because he was eager “preserve” himself for the
finals, he chose not to take the field. In Crowe’s own words, “inorder to get
myself across to the finals, I forgot to get the team across the semi-finals”.
I felt those were very revealing comments from a great leader.
Now on to the Marar essay and our beloved soap-opera, the
one and only Mahabharat.
In this essay title “Karna Pravesa”( meaning The Grant Entry
of Karna ), Marar takes us through that portion of Mahabharat in which Karna
makes his entry as an adult. ( This is the place where , as young kings,
Pandavas and Kauravas exhibit their martial skills infront of the public. Karna
makes his entry, challenges Arjuna, gets insulted by several due to his
ancestry, that he is born to a chariot rider, and also finds a friend in Duryodhana who anoints him as the King of
Anga Rajya ). Marar goes on to analyse, as he does in his other
essays in Bharata Parayadana , what is
it that the great saint Vyasa trying to convey to us in this particular scene?
Marar has several things to say, please refer to the literary work, but I would
stick only to his statement that is relevant to my article.
Marar analyses several factors that handicapped Karna as a
warrior. Instance like the one where he
lost his congenital armour and ear-rings actually establishes the greatness of
Karna. But one incident, Marar says, establishes Karna’s greatness more than
any other incidents. It is nothing but the one in which he looses his most
potent weapon Vyjayanti.
The story goes that Karna acquires a powerful weapon called
Vyjayanthi and preserves it to use it against Arjuna during the Kurukshetra
war. But before he gets an opportunity to do that, the mighty Khadotkacha, son
of Bheema and Hidumbi, wreaks havoc in the Kaurava ranks. Kauravas urge Karna
to stop Khadotkacha and Karna uses Vyjayanthi and kills the mighty son of
Bheema and in the process preserves the Kaurava army to die another day.
According to Marar, Karna realized that there is no point in preserving the
Vyjayanthi so that he can win his personal war against Arjuna at the cost of
his team, which is the Kaurava army.
He uses Vyjayanthi for greater good for the team, and in the
process added another nail to his own coffin. According to Marar, this is the
greatest deed done by Karna since he did it inspite of knowing the consequences.
Now I hope you got the connection. Martin Crowe put himself
ahead of the team and Karna put the team ahead of himself. It does not matter
that both teams in question, New Zealand and Kauravas, eventually lost. What
matters is, how to act when, as leaders and team members, we come across
dilemmas like these.
I am not comparing Crowe and Karna but just trying to take
inspiration from an incident both have gone through. Sometimes, doing right things
may not take to ultimate victory, but still as leaders one must have the
courage and judgement to do the right thing. Perhaps, doing the right thing is
the ultimate victory. Also, while chasing a huge target ( huge in terms of revenue, deliverable, lines of code,runs etc),
it is important to keep the head down and survive the day. Thinking about the
final huge goal, sometimes, overawes us and we end up doing judgemental mistakes,
which is exactly what Crowe did.
