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Here is an insightful article i picked up..
Kama is the love god who shoots arrows that will spawn desire in the heart of hermits.
Kama seduces rishis like vishwamitra with apsaras like Menaka. Kamakshi is the name given to Godess Parvati, princess of the mountains. In the East she is known by the name Kamakhya. She holds all the symbols of Kama- the parrot, sugarcane, lotus flower. While there are no temples dedicated to Kama, Kamakshi is worshipped as Godess. Kamakshi's approach was radically different from Kama's. She appealed not the base instinct of Shiva but to his higher insticts: his head and his heart. She knew Shiva was beyond lust. No dance would arouse him. The more she thought about Shiva, the more she realized that beneath the indifference there lurked infinite compassion. She decided to tap into it. She wanted Shiva not to reject human imperfection but to be tolerant of it. She demonstrated her intention by subjecting herself to great penance, standing on one foot and meditating, fasting, not sleeping, immersing herself for days in the cold river. Eventually sensing her intergrity, shaken by her determination, Shiva came to her and agreed to do whatever she asked of him. Kamakshi asked him to marry her. Thus she got Shiva not with lust but with love.
Now why am i reeling this puranic story to you, you might ask? when this is extrapolated to our business, it gives tremendous insight to our cultural approach to work. Markets too work on this wooing strategy, just the difference here is that its the customers companies are trying to woo. In the Kama approach, the customer is equated to the Rishi who is constantly craving for the next best deal, to reach the next best level. Shoot an arrow, offer instant gratification,lower prices, hike incentives and boom- you are successful. how long will the daze last? until another apsara in the market- a competitor offering even lower price or higher pay packet. The rishi who was seduced with your deal is bound to get seduced by that too. Lust can never create loyalty.
While Kama thinks of Shiva as a prey to be struck down by arrow. Kamakshi approaches Shiva with Awe and Reverance. Kama thinks of instant gratification while Kamakshi thinks of life long commitment. In the Kama Approach, focus is on lust(price/hike) rather than bride(product/ organization). In the Kamakshi approach, focus is on the bride and groom. What does the bride actually offer?why? what does the groom seek? Why? Can there be a true wedlock or will be just another casual affair? this implies less insights into trimming the cost and more discussions into consumer insights and employee feedback. Rather than trying to increase the market share of the product by lust(price cuts and incentives) it would do good to make sure that the product meets the unmet need of the consumer or by making the consumer aware of a hitherto unknown need that the product can satisfy. Sales fore could be motivated by stoking in them the desire to conquer the impossible market. By appealing to their desire to be brilliant. We can bridge the gap in the consumer psyche by adopting the Kamakshi approach and not Kama's. Money is tangible and measurable, easy to understand and can be turned into a graph. Passion is not. Loyalty is not. Can one capture the soul of a market into a spreadsheet. it can be sensed and will always remain abstract. And so while forgetting the true motive behind our product(of appealing to the consumer) we tend to trust the wallet rather than have faith in the head and heart like Kamakshi. Deep down more than good deal, everyone wants to feel good about the,selves. we dont want to get seduced by discounts but want our purchases and employment to bring forth our glory.
What better time to analyse the differences and implement these changes into our workforce than the current global turmoil? The present turmoil is a waking call for all our corporates to revamp their methodologies and adopt the Kamakshi approach rather than Kama's.
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