Streak of Ruthlessness: Prem Bahadur in the Boxing Ring

It was the final round of the final bought. Tamendra Rana had lost his first and second rounds. Prem Bahadur was his coach and second in the ring. In the final recess after the second round, Prem Bahadur did neither offer water, nor massaged his muscles, nor coached him as he had done in the previous recess. Instead, Prem Bahadur, gave him a solid slap on his face and abuses in Nepali. I, sitting facing Prem Bahadur, could read his lips when he was slapping and abusing Tamendra Rana. Tamendra went mad and when the final and the third round started, within a few seconds he knocked out the superior opponent. Tamendra was the winner, so due this crucial bought, the battalion also won the championship.

Prem Bahadur was an accomplished boxer, but when he grew old, he trained Tamendra Rana as his successor. After this bought, Tamendra became the real successor of his coach and mentor Prem Bahadur.

Prem Bahadur, a true leader had two objectives, firstly; to win the bought so that the battalion gets the championship, secondly; to make Tamendra his worthy successor. He achieved both by his ruthlessness approach at appropriate time, which made Tamendra mad, resulting in knocking out his superior opponent.

                It will be appropriate to quote another example from the Indian Mythology. When Ram and Laxman were praying to the God of Sea Varun; so that they could construct bridge across the sea to Sri Lanka. They prayed for three days still the God of Sea did not appear. Then Ram said

बिनय न मानत जलधि जड़ गए तीन दिन बीति।
बोले राम सकोप तब भय बिनु होइ न प्रीति।।

binay na maanat jaladhi jad gae teen din beeti.
bole raam sakop tab bhay binu hoi na preeti...

These words mean:

In-spite of praying (persuasions/negotiations) for three days, the God of sea is not getting pleased. So Ram said that without fear there is no affection (alliance/help).

After this, it was decided to destroy the God of Sea by bows and arrows. As soon as credible threats were posed to the God of Sea, the God of Sea appeared and bowed to Ram for forgiveness and cooperated in the project.

The lessons of above two incidents are that in-spite of all persuasions, all motivations, there are certain elements in all the organisation, there are some stake holders and partners who have to be dealt with firm hand. This happens in the best of the organisations having buzz words and values like Stability, Trust, Compassion, Hope, Dignity and Respect.

It is very critical decision to be taken by the leader/manager as to when to apply and to whom to apply the “stick of Ruthlessness”. Sometimes, it becomes absolute necessity, sine qua non to achieve the organisational goals.