Kalidas, Panchantra, Arthashastra, Gita @ Top B-Schools

Indian literature, philosophy and spiritual teachings are back in vogue, officially! Attracting CEOs and business leaders to unlock their full potential, these specialized crash courses are being launched by top B-schools of the country including the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

Bhagvad Gita and Kautilya's Arthashastra have been widely acknowledged as the ultimate knowledge resources available to gain invaluable insights on Management, Economics and Administration, while Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo's writings never fail to inspire intellectual thought. But it's heartening to see the corporate world keen on discovering the pearls of wisdom offered by Kalidas' poetry and Panchatantra tales and Ashoka's inscriptions to develop a wider social and creative perspective beyond general managerial attributes.

IIM-Calcutta is planning to offer an executive training programme for CEOs and business leaders to spark social consciousness in the top leadership impacting the way business ventures are driven. Its three-day programme is entitled ‘Art of Leading in a Borderless World: Insights from Indian Ethos'.

‘Leadership Clinic', a workshop organized by IIM-Kozhikode is aimed at helping high potential leaders research the power of the mind.

Looking to imbibe social consciousness in the fiercely competitive corporate DNA, Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Trichy plans to offer a unique management development programme in collaboration with Auroville, Puducherry. Entitled CEO's Essence, the programme draws from the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.

ISB Hyderabad conducts a transformational leadership training inspired by Indian wisdom literature such as Geeta, Puranic literature and Buddhist literature. The programme is aimed at CEOs, managing directors and budding leaders to take charge of family-owned businesses.

Corporates such as Mahindra & Mahindra recognize the importance of empowering their managers with strategic leadership education and make it a point to sends their managers for programmes at the best B-schools such as Harvard Business School, Tuck School of Business, Wharton, London Business School, Indian School of Business (ISB), and the top IIMs.

Essentially, these programmes are designed to integrate the wisdom captured in these timeless scriptures and writings and help to interpret them in modern business context. HR specialists also underscore the need to nurture the emotional and social aspect among leaders for a holistic personality development, which can positively impact their decision making to make it more effective, conducive and implementable. Read more

Other interesting reads:

- Free online courses from Harvard, MIT
- Institutes offering full time MBA/PGDBM

While our top B-Schools have woken up to the power of wisdom offered by Gita, Arthashastra, Panchatantra, and more, wouldn't it be great to empower our students to study many of these in their original form in Sanskrit instead of relying on interpretations in English? The foreign language fascination is visible with multiple courses available in French, German, Japanese et al - but when will Sanskrit, the mother of all languages, be taken more seriously in our education system? Share your opinions & suggestions