Chanakya
You follow so many finance & strategy influencers for hacks oday, but do you know the Father of Strategic Consulting!
That’s Chanakya & here’s his story.
Chanakya, also called Vishnugupta or Kautilya owing to his gotra or lineage, may have lived somewhere between 375 to 280 BCE, most of his time in modern-day Patna, which was then Pataliputra, which was then the capital of the Maurya Empire.
His most crucial career move was mentoring Chandragupta Maurya for almost a decade, helping him wage a multi-point warfare campaign to take up the throne & establish his empire, also securing the role of his Prime Minister in the court.
With his brain & leadership, he was probably one of the first people to dream & execute the idea of one centralised political state, to replace a fragmented sub-continent.
Having gotten exposure to the world’s ideas in the legendary Taxila university (in modern-day Pakistan), Chanakya was a mastermind on political science, governance, statecraft, warfare, strategy, economics, finances & accounting.
And this made him one of the chief authors of a curation called “Arthashashtra” - which is essentially the world’s first MBA guide.
Spread across 15 books, this monstrosity which is still a useful management guide today, covers -
+ How to create & manage your wealth
+ The Saptanga Theory of how a King’s Upper Management should look
+ The Shadgunya Theory of how to maintain inter-kingdom relationships
+ The Four Upayas of Sama, Daam, Danda, Bheda - ways of taking over kingdoms
+ Ideas on fair taxation, curbing corruption, protecting trade & agriculture
+ Instructions on how to deal with economic crisis & disasters
+ How to manage militaries & wage warfare
+ How to gather information through a network of spies
… and a lot more.
Many compare Chanakya’s shrewd brutal ideas with Machiavelli or Sun Tzu but he clearly said that a leader & the government should do whaterever’s needed for the welfare & interests of people - “Praja Sukhe, Sukham Rajyah” i.e. the people’s happiness is a leader’s biggest joy.
So no matter how ruthless, his ideas were deeply rooted in a sense of Dharma or social duty. He spoke about using power with purpose for good.
The essence of Chanakya’s style & way of thinking is compiled in a second book, Chanakya Niti, which lays down ethics & rules on how one should behave & think, with oneself and with others.
If you want the PDF Links to Arthashashtra & Chanakya Niti, comment the word “Chanakya” & check your DMs!