Unmitigated Risk - Kalayavana of corporate world

Mahabharatha is one epic that is older than time yet couldn't be more contemporary at any point in time. The stories in Mahabharatha has many lessons for the corporate world and my favourite of the lot is the one involving Kalayavana. Though Krishna is the undisputed hero of the epic in its entirety even he ran away from a battle with Kalayavana. Such was his might and so were the boons bestowed on him that, neither Krishna nor any person from Yadava clan could win against him. For Krishna, Kalayavana was a known critical risk, who was unmitigable. Yet, the strategy which he planned to succeed that risk is the learning from the story.

Knowing that an attack to Mathura, his capital, was  imminent, even before Kalayavana could mobilize his armies, Krishna set forth in building a new capital on a secure island. By the time the siege started, he cleverly transported all his citizens and soldiers to the new place and ran away from the battlefield. The story eventually ends with the death of Kalayvana and victory to Krishna.

But the key takeaway is, not every risk is solvable.

At times, we've be to willing to make an investment to secure our future and also as a defence mechanism to insure our present.

Many a times, customers of ERP products, defer in applying the bundles provided by the product company, sheerly out of fear of losing their core customizations. With each passing release, the original product which was customized as a solution, becomes far removed from being current.It all boils down to a fight or flight scenario, where the client has to continue to throw in good money after bad in resurrecting a collapsing system or re-invest in a fresh implementation or upgrade.

Religious symbolisms apart, Krishna has already shown the way. To follow or not is in the hands of the project sponsor.

Sarvam Krishnarpanam :)