October 13, 2021

Navratri Day 7: Goddess Kaalratri – Seventh form of Goddess Durga

Embodies: Destroys Ignorance and Removes Darkness

Goddess Kaalratri is known widely as the Goddess who rules the night after the day had retired. She bestows siddhis (knowledge) and niddhis (wealth) on her worshipers.

According to Hindu mythology, Mata Parvati peeled off her outer golden skin in order to defeat the demons Shumbha and Nishumbha. In this incarnation, she was given the name Goddess Kaalratri. Her skin is midnight black, and she is represented riding a donkey. Maa Kaalratri is four-handed, with Abhaya and Varada Mudra displayed on her right hands. In her left hand, she is holding a sword and a deadly iron hook.

 The Goddess Kaalratri is renowned as the Darkness Destroyer. There will always be a period of uncertainty, dark days, in any business growth as you build a vibrant organization. This could be due to shifting market dynamics, a lack of capital for expansion, or a poor business decision. In such a situation the resilience of the organization is directly proportional to the culture of an organization.

Culture is the invisible force, it’s in the environment, it’s in the air team’s breath, it determines the energy, it determines the commitment of the teams, it determines the performances of the team, and it determines the results of the teams.

When there is no right culture in the workplace no matter you have the best clarity or the best people, the organization will not succeed. A dynamic leader is one who weaves a high-performance culture. He/she realizes if you don’t have the right culture clarity, in spite of the best people there is no use because teams are not focused on work but are focused on ego, blame game, gossip, groups, and politics. It’s a tiring environment to work in.

While culture is built over a long period of time, one important component of building culture is about the leader’s consistency in handling conflicts.

Conflicts are a common constituent in any organization, it’s here many leaders take a comfortable decision and falter. While handling a conflict between teams or team members leaders should put the

·     Mission first (Remember we spoke earlier about the business goals?)

·     Team second

·     and Individual third.

 Everybody has dark days, and it takes a true leader at heart to not only believe that the sun shall rise again, but also actually puts in the effort to create a high-performance culture and insulate the organization to be resilient in the dark days.

 We just saw what an invisible virus can do to businesses. These are the dark times the culture of an organization, its people, and its leaders are tested.

 A leader should also be fierce, like Goddess Kaalratri to build a high performance and a winning culture that will stand the test of time.

Om Devi Kalaratryai Namah.

Shubh Navratri

Srikanth Ram, a life and business coach, is also the author of the No 1 Bestseller “Leadership lessons from 22 Yards”- An interesting comparison of cricket and corporate stories for entrepreneurs and leaders to create high-performance teams and a winning culture.