Chanakya’s 7 Secrets of Leadership

Authors: Radhakrishnan Pillai and D Sivanandhan
Publisher: Jaico Publishing house, Mumbai
(Pp 232, ISBN 978-81-8495-401-2, Rs 299)

Want to transform yourself into an ideal leader? Well, who can be the better guru than Chanakya, who was a leadership guru par excellence. The treasure of his teachings can be found in his treatise, Arthashastra, which deals with good governance based on ideal leadership. The concept of the ideal nation in the Arthashastra, called saptanga, holds that there are seven pillars of a kingdom: swami, amatya, janpada, durg, kosha, dand and mitra.

This author Radhakrishnan Pillai delves into Chanakya’s saptanga, with the real-life example of D Sivanandhan, former director of police, Mahrashtra. Together, Pillai and Sivanandhan bring Chanakya’s model to life. One can apply them in life and see the Chanakya’s wisdom transform one into the ideal leader.

– Varsha