The dilemma facing Arjuna on a battlefield some 5,500 years back was whether to go ahead with a war against his own cousins and senior family members. The corporate world is no different. Here are two of the multiple cases which arose due to in-family disputes and misunderstandings.
Of Puma and Adidas
When brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler founded a shoe company in their mother’s laundry room in the town of Herzogenaurach, Germany in 1924, little did they imagine that their relations would turn sour during World War II. A split followed in 1948, leading to the emergence of two brands—Puma and Adidas. The two still have rival factories on opposite sides of a river. Rudolf passed away in 1974 at the age of 76, Adolf in 1977 at 78. Never did they reconcile. Both are reportedly buried at opposite ends of the same cemetery. Both established great brands in their lifetime. But were they inwardly happy and at peace with themselves when they left this world? One can only speculate.
The Human Pain behind Raymond
Back in India, retired tycoon Vijaypat Singhania, entangled in a property dispute with his son Gautam Singhania, concluded thus:
‘Love your children and care for them, but don’t love them so much that you are blinded.’
At the core of the dispute between the father and son were their rights over JK House, a family-owned 36-storey redeveloped property in the posh Malabar Hill area of south Mumbai. The father was compelled by the son to move to a rented accommodation, causing him discomfort and mental anguish. (He passed away in March 2026, aged 88 years).
If one considers the mental state of the businessmen who acted in the manner they did in a given situation, one’s mind invariably goes back to the kind of despondency and fatalism experienced by Arjuna, upon surveying the armies facing one another—friends and families at each other’s throats.
(The text is an excerpt from my latest book ‘Bhagavad Gita and Corporate Dharma’. Visuals courtesy the World Wide Web.)
Related Posts
ashokbhatia 
Leave a comment