there is an interesting story narrated in the book Presence by Peter Senge, et al that makes you wonder whether our ancestors knew more about science than we do now.

Scientists who wanted to study the effect of thoughts on material objects travelled to a remote part of a river in China where the water was reported to be among the most polluted in the world.

There they took several samples of the water at different times and studied the crystal shapes of the water.

Not surprisingly the crystallography showed no clear shape due to the excessive pollution in the water.

They then invited a monk to meditate on the banks of the river and then took similar samples of the water in the river, and to their amazement the water sample showed a much clearer and more beautiful shape of the crystal in the water.

The scientists could not come up with a rational explanation as to why the water crystal changed or how the meditation by the monk could have affected the water in the river.

But one thing was clear.

There was a positive effect on the water.

Those of you who are religiously inclined would be able to relate to something similar that occurs every Sunday in the church.

At the end of the service as part of communion we receive the holy water that has been placed in the altar for service.

In other religions too there is usually a similar ritual wherein the water in front of which the prayers have been conducted is then distributed to the participants at the end of the process.

Did our ancestors know the effect that prayer has on physical objects such as water?

The Chinese river experiment can perhaps provide an insight into that question.

While this may have something to do with ’mantra’ you may wonder what this has got to do with management.

A lot, actually.

Intentionality of the mind is a powerful factor that can move things and motivate people.

Any manager will give his/her right arm to be able to motivate his/her people through sheer mind power.

Managing will be so much easier.

However, our brain is trained to think that this is not possible.

Yuri Gagarin, the first man to walk in space, had an interesting experience that illustrates the power of the mind.

During his cosmonaut training in Russia Gagarin had to train by doing several parachute jumps from a plane flying at 30,000 feet.

During one such routine training jump his parachute failed to open.

Despite his best efforts he could not get the steel parachute case to open.

As he saw the earth rapidly approaching he made one last attempt using all the willpower he could muster and the case opened just in time and he landed safely.

Later at the military camp everyone was amazed that Gagarin managed to rip open the steel casing containing the parachute.

They asked the strongest man in the camp to try and open a similar casing on the ground and despite his tremendous muscle power he just could not open the steel case.

When we are faced with tremendous pressure we seem to find extraordinary strength to make miracles happen.

But during the ordinary course of work we accept limitations as a given.

Leaders and managers have the challenge of constantly reminding people of their real power.

When you study great leaders who have moved millions of minds to do what they wanted them to do, you realise that leadership can indeed move mountains.

The greatest leaders are those who inspire us through their personal actions and not necessarily through their silver tongue oratory.

Many in management do not realise where they truly derive their power from.

It is not from the positions we occupy or the office we hold, but it is from our intentionality and subsequent actions consistent with our intentionality.

Leaders have the power to inspire someone to emulate him or her.

In today’s world this is perhaps the biggest danger that leaders need to be mindful of.

Being imperfect human beings as we all are, leaders bear the cross of being on their best behaviour at all times in order to ensure that any of their bad behaviour is not emulated by others who look up to them.

It is said that any organisation is but the length and shadow of the CEO.

If the CEO moves ten inches the organisation will move ten feet in that direction.

Any action of the CEO is usually magnified many times over, across the organisation.

Therefore, any good deed done by the CEO has a multiplier effect, just as any bad behaviour ends up manifesting itself manifold across the organisation.

Therefore, leaders have to take extra precaution in their actions as their actions have a ripple effect throughout the organisation and sometimes even result in unintended consequences.

Everyone sees in a leader a little of themselves.

Similarly everyone also takes a little bit of the leader into themselves.

A leader gives expression to the unsaid words and undone actions of the masses that follow him.

People see something in a leader that they themselves would like to be.

Therefore while the leader has awesome power he also has an awesome responsibility to do the right thing at all times.

That’s the cross a leader bears, every single day.

Ram Ramesh can be reached

at rr2803@gmail.com