CAREER LESSONS FROM SHIVAJI RAJE THE GREAT MARATHA

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” – Walt Disney

I agree with Walt Disney because the more we read, the more we learn through others experience. Especially, books on lives of great personalities are inspiring as they are first-hand information on how these great personalities, were once just like us – you and me, and how their dreams, struggles and experience made them what they are today.

“Shivaji: The Great Maratha” is a wonderful book to read about Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his personality, written by Ranjit Desai and translated in english by Vikrant Pande. This book talks about how Raje overcame tremendous odds to set an example for generations to come.

As I was reading the book, I thought there are also few career lessons that we can take from Raje’s life and I am going to share the same in this article.

7 Career Lessons

Following are 7 career lessons that we all should always remember:

1. Don’t run behind Bravado

“Bravado may stir the crowd, but courage needs no audience.” ― T.F. Hodge

Shivaji Raje went for Shikar of Tiger who killed a cow, on his way back from Rohideshwar darshan. But Jijabai (Raje’s mother) was unhappy as she thought that the whole rajya depended on safety of raje.

Understand the difference between Bravado and Bravery, bravery is defined as courageous behaviour and character, whereas bravado is described as a bold manner intended to impress or intimidate.

A bravado person feels he / she knows all and don’t need any feedback or need not include others in their decision making. On the other hand, a brave person is good at self-awareness and does not mind opening up to other about their concerns and asking for help whenever required.

2. Don’t always think of Cause & Effect, sometimes it’s all about instinct

Jijabai once told Raje that there are 2 kinds of people, one who think of Cause-Effect and are afraid of failures. They lead a steady life but don’t achieve much. Another who act on instinct and do not care much about results.

What I understand from this is that you cannot always be caught in the thoughts of cause and effect, at time you have to believe your instinct / intuition / gut feeling.

Haven’t we all been through situations where we are so much intimidated by the logic and rationality of the information that we ignore our instinct. It could be any situation from changing the job to taking up a new project or hiring a new team member, where the on-paper information looks so perfect that we dismiss our instinct.

3. Attack is not always the solution

After Aurangzeb captured and tried to kill Raje in Agra, he escaped back to Rajgad. One would have thought Raje will immediately plan on how to attack Aurangzeb, but Raje knew that after he had surrendered to Mirza Raja (senior general of the Mughal Empire), Raje cannot afford to fight with Mughal, Adil Shah & Qutb Shah simultaneously. So, he decided to form alliance with Mughal.

It was thoughtful of Raje to not give in to his anger and make sound decision. It is important that when we fail or something does not go as per plan in our career, we should take some time to analyse the situation and make sound decision.

4. Don’t always count Victories or Defeats, but care for valour and determination

Firangoji Narsala a Maratha warrior defended Sangram Durg fort for 56 days with only 320 soldiers against 20,000 Shaista Khan soldiers. But in the end, he had to retreat and was thinking how he will face Raje. But Raje was very happy with him as he had defended a small fort for almost 2 months. Raje never believed in counting Victories or Defeats but cared for valour and determination.

We all must have been through situations where we as individual or our team must have given more than 100%, but still the project failed or did not start. But remember, this failure should not affect your courage or determination to take up new challenge. As more than winning or loosing, it is the effort or determination that matters the most.

5. Taking action against odd

It was testing time for Raje when Shaista Khan had attached with his mighty army. He was even successful in taking over the Pune, the centre of Raje’s kingdom. Raje decided to attack Shaista Khan in the Pune palace even though there would be more than a lakh soldiers in the cantonment. In the attack Shaista Khan lost three fingers, his son and few palace guards.

Isn’t it true that the joy of success is more when you have achieved it against all the odd. All I say is have faith, believe in your purpose and keep trying. As rightly said by Oscar Bimpong “Success is for those that presses on when they see a wall, find ways around a roadblock and consistently push boundaries and conquer territories against all odds.”

6. At times you must swallow your pride and live

Surrender to Mirza Raja was a big defeat for Raje, but more piercing was accepting a Farman from Badshah. Raje was very upset but Jijabai said it is all right to celebrate the defeat. Quoting the situation & mental torture the mighty Pandavas had to go through especially during their agyatvas. She said that a man’s destiny is determined by his ability to face problem with dignity.

I think during failure either you can take a hasty decision or understand what went wrong without giving up on your goals. Imagine you did not get your deserving promotion, then you have two option, make a hasty decision of joining a new organization, which may or may not be a great career move or stay in the current organization till the time you get the right job. But till then you will have to work as usual in the current organization.

7. Be like an ocean who knows that it cannot erode the shore, but it hasn’t stopped trying

Raje is also known as the Father of Indian Navy because he was the one, who first realised the importance of having a naval force and strategically established a navy and forts at the coastline to defend the Konkan side of Maharashtra. And during one such visit to these coastline forts, Raje quoted that we all should be like ocean who knows that it cannot erode the shore, but it hasn’t stopped trying.

Likewise, in our career as quoted by Roy T. Bennett, “Never Stop Dreaming, Never stop Believing, Never Give-up, Never Stop Trying, and Never Stop Learning.”

Don't forget to share your thought.

Aniket A. Sonar