Professor Debashis Chatterjee has taught leadership classes at Harvard University and at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) Calcutta, Lucknow and Kozhikode for more than two decades. He has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Fellowship twice for Pre- Doctoral research and Post-Doctoral work at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. His published works include eighteen books including Karma Sutras, Leading Consciously, (Foreword by Peter M Senge for both the books) and Timeless Leadership (Wiley) that have been translated into several international languages. Recently, he published his debut novel, Krishna: The 7th Sense. He has trained more than twenty-five thousand managers globally in Fortune 100 Corporations and over twenty thousand school principals and teachers. His recent book Invincible Arjuna has emergedas a path-breaking book in recent times. He has served as leadership coach to political leaders and CEOs of major Indian organizations. He has served as the Dean of S.P. Jain School of Global Management in Singapore. A pioneer in the field of Asian models in leadership, Professor Chatterjee served as the Director of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Kozhikode (2009-2014). Dean and tenured Professor at IIM Lucknow, Prof. Chatterjee is credited with transforming IIM Kozhikode from an obscure regional school to an institution of national impact and global recognition. He also served as the Director General of IMI Delhi, India’s first corporate sponsored business school and as Independent Director on the Boards of several multinational and Indian Companies. Prof.Debashis Chatterjee was the Mentor Director of IIM Amritsar from June 2018 to July 2019. He has been reappointed as the Director of IIM Kozhikode for a second 5 years term from June 2018. He can be reached at:
The session started with a question on the contradictions in the Vedas and Puranas. As in Rigveda, there are different versions of the creation of Brahma wherein in some stories he is the creator and in some he originated from the belly of Vishnu. Ms Seems Saxena informed the audience that the mythology takes the route of management wherein the devata who is a creator also appoints someone who would carry that creation further. So it is basically a delegation of tasks to some who is part of the creator. Mr Anand deliberated that the Indian culture has been a mixture of contradictions as Indians don’t seek one god, one truth kind of philosophy. They approach mystical concepts and they are okay if they don’t find the perfect answer to this conundrum. In the answer to the question asked about the women’s role and contradiction about earning money in mythology, Mr Debashish told the audience that made it easy for all to understand the relations between the goddess Laxmi and people pursuing the wealth. Ms Seema Saxena said that wealth has always been pursued by all in Puranas also and there are no vices attached to it. Mr Anand told that we humans have made a god out of something which is inside us and started distancing god from self and started worshipping the god outside us. With this example, Mr Debashish explained the difference between linear and circular time and the stressful lives we are having due to linear times. The session concluded with questions and answers.