Management Gita: Standing on Principle

एतान्न हन्तुमिच्छामि घ्नतोऽपि मधुसूदन । अपि त्रैलोक्यराज्यस्य हेतोः किं नु महीकृते ॥ १-३५॥
etānna hantumicchāmi ghnato’pi madhusūdana
api trailokyarājyasya hetoḥ kiṃ nu mahīkṛte 1-35

Spiritual Context

Arjuna refuses to kill his kin, even for dominion over the three worlds, let alone the earth.

Management Context

This reflects ethical conviction, value-based decision-making, and moral courage. Arjuna prioritizes principles over power, a lesson in ethical leadership.

Insights

Moral courage sustains integrity (Kidder, 2005). This aligns with ethical leadership rejecting unethical gains (Brown & Treviño, 2006).

Applications

Leaders can adopt ethical codes or whistleblowing policies to uphold integrity over profit (Treviño & Nelson, 2017).

References

Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595–616.
Kidder, R. M. (2005). Moral courage. HarperCollins.
Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2017). Managing business ethics (6th ed.). Wiley.

This excerpt is taken from Management Gita, authored by Sunil Khandbahale