While serving Chandragupta Maurya, Chanakya started adding small amounts of poison in his food so that he could get immune to it and would survive any attempts at poisoning.
One day, his queen, Durdha, shared the food with the Emperor while she was pregnant. She died and Chanakya extricated the baby from the womb. A drop (bindu in Sanskrit) of poison had got into the foetus, and hence Chanakya named him Bindusara.
Bindusara would go on to become a great king, and his son, Ashoka, would emerge as one of the greatest emperors.
Chanakya had a political adversary called Subandhu, who was in the court of Bindusara. He kept looking for opportunity to defame Chanakya in the eyes on Bindusara. On finding the right occasion, he mentioned to the king that Chankaya had killed his mother. However, the bigger question that remains is: why did the Maurya kings keep Subandhu when his envy towards Chanakya was well known?
Lesson: In a healthy organisation, diversified and divergent views can exist. One needs to have people with great skills who can deliver better results by having a good team work and right division of work.
Peer pressure helps in extracting best from the people, but it should be managed well to avoid destructive peer relationship. If team work is becoming difficult, the leader should clearly identify roles based on strengths and in such a way that there is minimal overlap to avoid conflict. Team with high performers helps in better results and also cushions attrition.
Image: Teh Sanchi Stupa I which was built by Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, son of Bindusara.
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