Especially for SME’s – 46: Result = Resources and Strategy.

29 June 2022

SME 3: I have always wondered how to get results with more certainty and ease!

Mr. Lowe: We have already discussed, results come when we spend time on any resource. Results = Resource x Time spent on the resource. We have seen several features of time also. Time is such we can spend too much of it without our knowing we are spending too much time. So we went into details of how we should save Time. Now we can slightly change this formula and can look at results.

Results = Resources x Strategy.

SME 1: Now, what is strategy?

Mr. Lowe: It is the way we deploy our resources; it is the way we spend our time on resources. Can we arrive at the optimal way of spending time on our resources so that the result produced as a result becomes more certain and profound? If we can figure out this optimal way, then obviously we will be turning out results in a much shorter time, that is, we will become more effective and therefore more successful in life. But when an SME is doing well, it has acquired lots of resources with the prosperity and that is the time it starts going down. Why?

SME 3: I can guess: When resources are high, the need to conserve resources and use minimum resource to produce result is low i.e., the need for way of deploying resource strategically is low. And when resources are low, you have no option except to think of smarter ways of applying the scarce resource and get the results you want, so strategy is high. It is like resources and strategy are on the opposite sides of a see-saw.

Mr. Lowe: You have got the formula Resource x strategy = results absolutely correctly. Our mind is put into complacence in the application of our resources when the resources are aplenty. So we spend and invest casually, not taking care of ROI of such investment. The world is full of examples where lower resources have produced tremendous results: Look at the following:

The Japanese King once said: ‘Thank God! We don’t have any natural resources’. That country became the best in economic strategy in the world. Look at the Indian State of Bihar with a lot of enviable natural resources: It is nearly at the bottom of the table when it comes to economy, at least till recently.

Now the question arises, out of these two factors for producing results, which one is more critical?

SME 1: Of course, strategy since resource can never be zero (as two top resources, creativity and Time, can never be zero but strategy can be zero easily.)

Mr. Lowe: You are right: The answer to this question is given in Mahabharat that I consider as the greatest Management literature on earth.

I recall a scene form Mahabharat to understand what we need to get results: The war between the Pandavas and their cousins Kauravas had become inevitable in spite of the best efforts of Krishna to arrive at a peaceful solution. (How true it is even in today’s world!) Yadavas, a group to reckon with even in those days (as is true even today in Bihar –a state of India), to which Krishna belonged had to be lured into joining one side, so victory became easier. So Sakuni, the strategist on the Kaurava side, decided to send Duryodhan, the eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers and the crown prince of the Kaurava kingdom, to Krishna, the Yadava king to seek help from Yadavas. Duryodhan went to see Krishna and was led into his bedroom as Krishna was asleep at the time Duryodhan reached. He saw Krishna asleep and pulled a chair near his cot near the head of Krishna, sat down and waited for Krishna to wake up.

Pandavas thought on similar lines too and sent Arjun – the great Pandava archer -to meet Krishna to seek the help of Yadavas in the war. Arjun landed on the same day as Duryodhan at Krishna’s place a few minutes after Duryodahan reached. Arjun saw Krishna sleeping but nevertheless folded his hand, prayed to Krishna even though Krishna was fast asleep, and stood near the feet of Krishna, waiting for Krishna to wake up. ………………………contd.