 Namaskar. I am Shiva here, the trainer and motivational speaker and a mission to reach out to a million people. Happy to come back to you today with my 16th Monday motivational story drawn from the scriptures. If you wish to watch the videos posted earlier, please visit the playlist Monday Motivations on my YouTube channel. Are you a leader leading a team of people? Then you must watch this video in order to avoid that big mistake which mostly does do and fail in their missions. A few questions to begin with. What do you think should be the right way to approach for a leader in a team meeting or a group discussion in order to get the inputs from his team members? Should the team leader express his own opinion first before asking for inputs and suggestions from the team members? Or should the leader be the last person expressing his opinion on the matter? Let us take a look at this incident from the Mahabharata in order to understand and appreciate the right approach a leader should adopt while seeking counsel and inputs from his team members. We all know that Pandavas won the battle of Kurukshetra and regained their kingdom. But before the war began, Yudhishthira was in a dilemma on who should be chosen as the supreme commander of the Pandava army. So Yudhishthira wanted to take suggestions and opinions of his brothers. So he called his brothers for a meeting and asked for their opinions and inputs on the matter. Here comes the most important question. Who did Yudhishthira ask first for the opinion? Or did he express his own opinion first? Yudhishthira first of all did not express his own opinion. He did not tell his brothers whom he wanted to propose as the commander of the army. He wanted to hear the opinions of his brothers first. And then he asked Sahadeva, the ingest of the brothers first and not Bhimasena, the eldest of the brothers. Why? That you would come to know as we move further. Sahadeva replied with great enthusiasm that according to him the king of Virata, the Virat Maharaj, is the best fit to be the commander of the army. Then Yudhishthira asked Nakula. Nakula deposed with his brother Sahadeva and said that according to him the king Drupada was the right choice going by his gaze wisdom courage and strength. Dharmapatra then asked Arjuna. And Arjuna came up with another name. Arjuna said according to him Dhristar Jimna should be the chief of the army in the battlefield and he could think of no one else. And then came the third of Bhimasena. And then finally Yudhishthira asked Srikrishna for his opinion. And Srikrishna said though each of the various mentioned by the brothers was worthy of selection. He said he would endorse Arjuna's choice of Dhristar Jimna as the supreme commander of the Pandava army. Accordingly Dhristar Jimna was an anointed as a commander of the Pandava army. So what is the message as a leader that you could draw from this incident in this great scripture the Mahabharata. See Rajagopalachari well known as Rajaji narrates in his book the Mahabharata that in the olden days it was a practice to ascertain the views of the anger ones first before consulting the elders. Why? Why because it instilled enthusiasm in the youngsters and also gave them an opportunity to express their opinions freely without any hesitation. If the elders had expressed their opinions first the youngsters would have some kind of hesitation to express their honest opinions. Hence if you want to obtain the honest opinions of your people you must give the first opportunity to those who are younger in age and lower by their character. To reap the full benefit of the wisdom available in the team a leader should avoid the mistake of expressing first his or her opinion on the matter. That would create an opportunity for the team to express their true ideas. It is appropriate to follow this practice while brainstorming in the teams in the workplace or even among the family members at home. Remember there is a great leader in the room and you are awesome. Thank you for watching this video. Please do subscribe to my YouTube channel and click on the bell icon there. See you again next Monday with another Monday motivation drawn from the scriptures.