The word Nauratan is an Urdu word with Sanskrit as the root for the word ratan. Rendered into English it would translate into nine jewels. The Nauratan are a rare breed of people with special skills and talent. They are always a select few. Akbar, the Mughal ruler who was an illiterate person is recognised by historians as a wise ruler (I have an opposite view of him) who was a great admirer and lover of artists and intellectuals.
Management
The word Nauratan is an Urdu word with Sanskrit as the root for the word ratan. Rendered into English it would translate into nine jewels. The Nauratan are a rare breed of people with special skills and talent. They are always a select few. Akbar, the Mughal ruler who was an illiterate person is recognised by historians as a wise ruler (I have an opposite view of him) who was a great admirer and lover of artists and intellectuals.
It is believed to cover his personal inadequacies, Akbar in his court spent a major amount of his time with his chosen nine jewels through which interaction he acquired knowledge and some traces of wisdom. The great minds helped him to foolishly imagine that he had acquired intellectual greatness, a historical folly of Himalayan proportions! Modern day corporate Nauratan who surround the CEO (Emperor) achieve the same degree of deception for their bosses and managers.
The Nauratan as a species are usually bright and smart. They are highly intelligent and full of worldly wise dosages of wisdom generally speaking; for there are also those who are on the wrong side of the intellectual fence.
Inspired by Akbar, managers too have their own set of Nauratan. Some of them are old in age with rich experience while some are young who are imaginative and wanting to experience the unexplored. These Nauratan, only the positive ones who are influences would not hesitate to challenge and criticise their managers for decisions taken. They provide creative inputs. They are always alert to market dynamics and open to taking challenges, in doing so they provide insights without fear or favour to their supervisors.
It is largely dependent upon the manager on how he wishes to utilise the talents of his band of Nauratan. The positive usage of their potentialities ushers in cohesive workforce with greater productivity. Upon acquiring recognition these Nauratan later convert into the more respectable arena of being called the ‘think tanks’ or ‘pressure groups’. In here, as well, the tendency of a single member to dominate proceedings must be checked.
If a manager has his merry band of Nauratan who he wishes to use for deceitful actions; the manager would be encouraging to setting the highest trends and standards for eaves dropping and spying upon colleagues. This leads to disharmony and disunity across rank and file of the organisation. The team is a sitting duck for the deviousness of the Nauratan who may indulge in vindictiveness, surprises and reprisals.
The positive utilisation of their services creates in the organisation a culture of dependability, reliability and trustworthiness. No “Manager Royale” should use the Nauratan, as their eyes and ears to stop, stifle or curb, creative thinking. Managers trap themselves into using this force for checking out seditious thinking, against their corporate power. Naurratan provide that elixir of deception to the “King Manager”, where the deepest principle in human nature of seeking public recognition is served with unalloyed and unparalleled devotion.
Nau is numerical nine in English. It is not a necessity to be always in subservience to Akbar’s legacy of having nine sycophants. These may be as few as three to four or five to six; I am witness to seeing the band of Nauratan’s reducing to be a ‘one-man army of advisor’ which eventually was of course detrimental to the growth and sustainability of the manager holding the flag at the summit. It is a given fact the smaller the number of Nauratan the greater is their reach and power in the entity.
Nauratan sway the manager from following a normal pattern of management. The manager is made to feel pleased with himself all the time. The unacceptable behaviour or actions of the managers are projected as ‘acceptable’ though vile and spite. The Nauratan’s detach their managers from realities on the ground. Such managers who carry themselves on the back of others never get to appreciate how far the town is?
Formation of opinion on borrowed thoughts does not sink well within the inner self of the leader. Managers must give credence to their own instincts and inner voice and not of others; for any that relies and seeks applause from others will have his management skills firmly placed in another’s keeping. To use Shakespeare’s expression ‘who can say more than this rich praise that you alone are you’.
We had in Pakistan an investment banker who was a true disciple of Mughal Emperor Akbar. He in fact had exactly nine co-executives who would move alongside him, regardless of which organisation he would move to. The team broke up when the emperor was transferred to an overseas assignment.
Mostly the Nauratan can be a hard-core collection of sycophants who do not hesitate to act obsequiously towards the manager for getting and gaining reputation with some personal advantage against the rest of the other stakeholders. This is surely a club of insecure advisors.
Mountains of gold would not seduce some men, yet flattery can break them down. No manager refuses flattery; vanity, timidity, boastfulness; you would notice even those who despise flattery, would cherish and have himself praised in public. Flattery here and now is preferred over good verses and words in the obituary notice. Flattery is the main currency of the Nauratan. It is a legal tender, issued by the manager for those he manages. There is no person in the organisation, from the janitor to those who are occupying lavish offices that do not have the need to get their ego massaged, through deep appreciation for their worst actions and decisions.
The direct reports of CEO could be the Nauratan in the organisation. Just as the ones who were with Akbar and Vikramaditya, had fools and jesters, in their pack; a manager/CEO can have his Birbal, the eternal jester colleague who can make a serious business meeting break into guffaws of loud laughter or even more have a bleeding throat Tansen, the musician to sing melodious praises of his boss. But never forget, dear younger readers that if you choose to be a corporate jester and make the boss smile or laugh, it will not have a lasting effect.
Having the corporate Nauratan praise your inadequacies as great strength is like having the hangman tell you that you have a beautiful neck. Nauratan, the devious ones, have their mantra that, all is good, please walk up the garden path to nowhere. Arrive at the precipice and jump off the cliff, to corporate death!
The writer is a freelance columnist
