Dr S Ranganathan

1. The lion and deer or the predators and prey animals in general that live in the jungle
follows a very important management message/principle and that is how they continue
to co-exist and love to live in the same jungle.
It is not true that all prey animals are generally weak, timid & meek and are strength
less/powerless when compared to the predators. Similarly, one should not also think
that all predators are extremely powerful. If we were to believe that the former
statement to be true, why then all the prey animals in general has strong weapons to
smash down their predators easily? Animals like buffaloes and deer have strong horns,
zebra has strong hind limbs to kick off the prey, giraffe too has strong limbs to kick and
throw its enemies etc. This is also true with all most all prey animals. Further, most
prey animals also live in groups and such groups are called ‘herd’.
Why despite all, the prey animals easily get scared and run away when they see the
predatory animals?
The answer for the above question is the secret of the co-existence; the nature has
created for different species of animals in jungle.
Although the prey animals also can challenge the predators and have proven to be
successful in many instances also, they love to follow the management principle of
‘avoid’ conflicts or fight or combats. They put their ‘defense weapons’ like horns in use
only during extreme situations.
When the lions and wild dogs know that if they hunt as pride or pack, the hunt success
is high, then it is difficult to accept that such knowledge will not be there in prey
animals. With the powerful horns, the prey animals if form a group and then challenge,
even lion and tiger may have to run to rescue their life. Then the jungle would have
witnessed nothing but a war between different animals. Not the co-existence, only the
conflicts and chaos would have existed in jungle like that of ‘human world’.
The corporate leaders should learn clearly this management message. They should
never give importance to how strong or resourceful they are in combating their
competitors or enemies. The art of co-existence should be seen as the essence of life
and hence they should learn and follow the same. This is true for the employees of
corporate as well.
Necessity and unavoidability only should be the reason compels the people to use their
‘power’ or ‘strength’ or ‘resourcefulness’. Avoiding conflicts should not be treated as a
‘cowardice’ act, but it is indeed a very courageous feat. This is what the different
species of animals viz., the predators and the preys, conveys to the corporate through
their –co-existence.

2. Learn to observe the contrasts in nature and learn to apply the learning obtained
through such observations in the corporate life. Nature has plenty of management
insights to provide to the corporate but only the sensitivity and astuteness of the
observation brings the difference.
Dr S Ranganathan, ClinRise Derma Pvt., Ltd., Chennai
Learn more from the following management books
1. Jungle wisdom for corporate management – lessons from the university of
nature by Swami Sukhabodhananda and Dr S Ranganathan
2. Nature – The Entrepreneur by Dr S Ranganathan