Management Lessons from Bollywood

Lage Raho Munnabhai had a message – it is difficult to lead an ethical life but that is what pays in the long term. This message was reinforced in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Corporate. The protagonist of the film is the dynamic career woman of today who is torn between the burning desire to achieve success, the deeper craving for stability and lasting relationships in life and the inner strife between what she is, what she wants to become and what the society is forcing her to become. Corporate leaves an indelible mark in our minds – In the end, you and you alone are responsible for your actions and its consequences. You have two choices. You can be a part of the mad rat race and corporate politics or you can decide to stand up for what is right even if it is unpopular.

This piece on ethics in business wouldn’t be complete without a reference to the climax of Kismat Connection. The hero Shahid Kapoor is a budding architect with immense talent but yet is not successful. He comes up with an innovative design for a prestigious corporate project but it means displacing the helpless inmates of an old age home. His address to the shareholders is an epoch speech which is an on-your-face reminder to all shareholders and independent directors not to swerve from the path of corporate social responsibility.

Not all of us have the same abilities. Yet every employee has a unique talent. I feel that the most important role of every manager and leader is to identify the innate talent of his team members and give them adequate opportunities to maximize his potential and contribute to the organisation. Taare Zameen Par was about dyslexia. It was also about recognizing the talent of an individual, building his self esteem and inculcating a desire in him to succeed in personal and professional life.

 

Globalization is here to stay. As multi-nationals with huge financial muscle romance the Indian consumer, can the home grown small and medium enterprises survive the onslaught? What is it that motivates a Nirma to challenge Unilever? For the larger competitor, it’s about expanding the market and the customer base while for the underdog it’s a question of survival. And when it is a question of survival, you have only two choices: to fight or to perish. In times like these organisations need a visionary leader like Bhuvan of Lagaan who can lead from the front. He knows how to connect with the masses, how to motivate them to change and constantly inspire them to stretch beyond what they think is possible.

Lagaan is a case study in reputed management institutions across the world. For me, the making of Lagaan is itself a wonderful management idea. If you blend two passions of your people viz. cricket and patriotism, you have a powerful medium to convey your message. The head honchos of our companies need to give it a thought. A message conveyed through a heart-to-heart interface with the people using stories and anecdotes touches their hearts more than a highly thought and intellectual letter. If you still have doubts about this, think of how Jack Welch transformed General Electric.

Organisations across the world are about teamwork. From the boardroom to the shop floor, it’s all about working in teams. Do you play for yourself or for the team? Can you put the team objectives above your own personal goals? Can you rise over petty disputes to achieve the corporate objectives? Are you there for the team when it needs you the most? Are you a star player or are you a team player? As you watch Chak De India, you cannot help asking these questions to yourself. You organize team building workshops and outbound programmes for your people. How about a collective viewing of Chak de India by the team?

One landmark film that changed the destiny of the nation and sparked of a revolution was Manthan. It is a story of a young urban group headed by a veterinary doctor that is sent by an organisation to a poor village to start a milk cooperative. Nothing can prepare them for the odds they have to face in achieving their goal. The leader soon realizes that his team is no match against the lobby that rules the village with an iron hand viz. a private contractor with vested interests and the village headmen with muscle and financial power. The movie is about how the simple village folk decide to carve their own destiny by setting up the milk cooperative. Manthan is the real story of 5 lakh farmers of Gujarat, mostly women, inspired by the visionary leadership Verghese Kurian.

What is remarkable is the film was financed by all these poor farmers who contributed one rupee each. It is the only full length Indian feature film financed by farmers. And I don’t know of any such experiment anywhere in the world. The Anand pattern of diary development popularized by the film was adopted all over the country and the nation witnessed a white (Milk) revolution.

Bollywood does have important lessons for our managers. These are just some movies that I have stated. There are many more. Films are powerful, popular and persuasive medium to drive home a message. It’s high time, management goes to the movies.