Podcast

Bold Questions, Unfiltered Answers

• How can HR make a difference when the H-factor is seriously missing, and they have to bend before power?
• Which sustainable goals align with Sanatan Dharma?
• What’s your advice for handling Gen Z, especially when 42% of them will soon be in the workforce?
• What is one lesson from the Bhagavad Gita that HR can apply in business?
• Were our ancestors truly more technologically advanced than we were?
• What is the Shark Tank we should avoid creating, what is the Lotus Pond we should aim to build, and what is the one myth we must wipe out?

Myth-Drop Moment:

“Do you believe in shark tanks, or do you want to create a lotus pond where Laxmi resides. Where there’s wealth, prosperity, abundance, affluence, and you’re not terrified?”

Devdutt Pattanaik uses metaphors like shark tank and lotus pond to define current workplace dynamics and business growth strategies. According to him, a shark tank is a competitive environment that is driven by greed, comparison, and a never-ending list of ambitions and goals. Whereas a lotus pond refers to an organization that’s nurturing, prosperous and driven by human service and grace. He questions HR and asks why we are clapping when a bigger shark eats a smaller one and why we aren’t into making a lotus pond that embraces multiple species, nurturing them without competition.

No Prep. Just Perspective.

• “Emotions are not measurable. I can’t measure jealousy.”
• “Seen from the point of view of food, food is measurable. Hunger is not measurable.”
• “We can exchange. But we prefer extraction.”
• “Shark tank does not talk about ecosystems. It talks about only one species. It talks about eating and getting eaten. It doesn’t talk about feeding.”
• “Because when you measure constantly, you live with a report card. The child is no longer seen. The report card is being seen, and the child starts to feel invisible.”
• “The best engineers in this world, those brilliant scholars and brilliant minds in MIT are working to make the next generation dopamine addicts.”

All ready to turn your shark tank into a lotus pond? Reclaim your moment to redesign business growth strategies?

Shark Tank Vs. Lotus Pond: Get Food for Thought

1. What is sustainability in business?

Sustainability in business chases long-term values rather than focusing on short-term wins. It balances three important pillars—people, planet, and profits to ensure a business is operating without making negative influences and compromises in the future for the upcoming generations. A sustainable business does not deplete resources from nature, rather it thinks of its replenishment, ensuring availability.

In a nutshell, a sustainable business is the one that:

• Pays its people a fair price
• Is not holding any bar while generating profits, and
• Thinks about the planet’s health in the long term

2. What are some sustainable business practices?

For businesses striving to work sustainably, the practices are common and applicable universally. Some of them are:

• Using renewable energy and reducing waste, leaving a better environmental impact.
• Fair work culture, ensuring inclusion, psychologically safe work culture, and fair pay to the employees.
• Following ethical practices and pledging to work with ecological and labor standards.
• Investing in positive impact on society and promoting eco-friendly initiatives.

What is sustainable leadership?

Sustainable leadership is all about maintaining performance that not only caters to long-term business growth but also takes care of the social, environmental, and cultural aspects related to it. It involves ethical decision-making and ensures that if a business thrives today under someone’s leadership, it does so responsibly.

Core principles of sustainable leadership are:

• Long-term Thinking- Sustainable leadership revolves around decisions that think of the future instead of the next quarter.
• Following ESG Goals- Ensuring ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) are not only written in policies but reflected in workplace behavior.
• Resilience and Adaptability- A leadership should prepare its team to stay resilient by bouncing back, providing moral support, and installing useful systems.
• Ethical decision-making- Maintaining transparency in decisions that encourages fairness and acceptable conduct at the workplace.
• People-first culture-Sustainable leadership believes in keeping its people at the core of every policy to make it sustainable—something that thinks beyond current times.

4. What is hustle culture and why is it unhealthy?

Hustle culture is unhealthy because it constantly glorifies constant grinding without taking breaks even if it drains and leads to burnout. The term has come into the air due to the emergence of so-called ‘influencers’ on social media and the continuous birth of side businesses and startups.

And under the umbrella of hustle culture, many negative outcomes can take place. For example:

• Constant burnout
• Workplace anxiety
• Deteriorated health
• Poor definition of success
• No time for personal growth

These are some long-term impacts of the hustle culture and employees may not realize today but suffer later in their career due to emotional baggage and a weary mindset.