Pharaohnic Leadership Part - 2

2 - Leaders Are Immortal

Every Pharoah had various titles and names by which he was referred to but his principle name i.e. the name by which he ruled always appeared in a cartouche. These cartouches appeared profusely on everything that Pharaoh constructed and it appeared on the walls of his tomb as well as on his sarcophagus. It was believed that as long as the person’s name was spoken his soul was intact, he was alive, he was immortal.

The biggest act of vengeance that could be conducted in ancient Egypt was to remove all evidence of a person’s name. The destruction of a cartouche meant the end of his soul, in essence the end of his after life. This punishment was allotted to only the most hated people, who it was believed, had committed such a heinous crime that paying for it with merely their life was not enough, the punishment had to continue till eternity.

Two Pharaohs who were allotted this punishment were Hetshepsut and Akhenaten. Upon the death of his stepmother Hetshepsut, Tuthmosis III went on a rampage and ordered the removal of her name wherever it appeared. A similar fate was awarded to Akhenaten the Pharaoh who dared to change the very religion of Egypt to an almost monotheistic one, that of the worship of Aten - the Sun God. Such was the hate with which the nation and especially the priests regarded him that his name was even removed from his coffin. Amarna, the city that Akhenaten built had too many cartouches and images of Akhenaten to be vandalized individually so the entire city was destroyed.

What Immortality means to the modern leader

If speaking a person’s name after his death ensured the immortality of the person in ancient Egypt, then what does it mean for the modern leader? Simply put it is the legacy a leader behinds in the organization they serve. This legacy is not carved in stone, nor is it recognized by the plaques on the wall of the organization’s head office. Instead this is the legacy a leader leaves behind by strengthening the organization and enhancing its capacity. The well timed decisions taken by a leader, the capability enhancement of his/her team and the empowerment provided to them, the vision that sets the organization on the path of future success are all parts of this legacy. When leaders stop to think about their pay cheques and job security and take bold steps to ensure that the future of their people and the organization they serve is secured and bright, when they have the courage to think beyond the short-term and are creative enough to think outside-the-box that’s when their name lives on long after they leave the organization and that’s when they become immortal.

3 – Leaders Govern

Ancient Egypt had one of the most organized civil services that the world has known. Projects like the Pyramids of Giza or the tombs of the Valley of Kings don’t get completed without precision planning and meticulous execution. Contrary to the Hollywood portrayal of thousands of slaves toiling night and day in abject conditions to transfer a Pharaoh’s egoistic building dream into reality, these building projects were the work of the most highly paid, well looked after master craftsmen of Egypt. To work on the Pyramids or the tombs of the Pharaohs and their queens was not just an honour but a career employment which benefited the entire family. The remains of the workers’ villages near Giza as well as the Valley of the Kings is evidence of this fact.

Although some slaves (largely the outcome of military escapades) were employed for the manual labour, most of the work was completed by Egyptian citizens who came from all over the land mainly during the dry season when there was not much to do but wait for the Nile to break its banks and make the land fertile for the next crop. In essence it was the Pharaoh’s way of providing employment during the lean period and it was the way in which people contributed their share of ensuring the Pharaoh’s immortality and hence maintain the equilibrium between prosperity and chaos.

There was a chain of command for these construction projects especially the Pyramids of Giza, through which each instruction was passed to the relevant person correctly, each stone and each brick was accounted for, the rations given to each person were recorded meticulously. And at the head of this hierarchy was one person who ruled supreme – not The Pharaoh Snefru who built the first Step Pyramid at Maidum, or the Red and Bent Pyramids at Dashur, nor was it Khufu who built the Great Pyramid at Giza, it was Imhotep. The Chief Architect and Vizier to the Pharaohs. A man so powerful that ancient Egyptians revered him as a God, an honour unknown for any other mortal except the Pharaoh. It was Imhotep’s genius which gave us the last remaining wonder of the ancient world. The Pharaoh’s who employed Imhotep trusted his abilities so much that they deployed much of Egypt’s resources towards the creation of his ideas.

Hence to say that the Pharaohs were a bunch of egomaniacal, decadent people who were whimsical and only concerned with being pampered seems to be another false conception brought about by ignorance and Hollywood.

What Governing mean to the modern leader

The Pharaohs realized that at the end of the day it was not his special magical powers that got things done – it was the people. And people need to be taken care of and each project executed in meticulous detail. In the modern world governing means selecting people with the right skill set, setting up proper execution plans, allowing for communication to flow through the team, monitoring the project (but not interfering with people’s work) and allowing people to express their unique abilities. Only leaders who are secure in their own capabilities allow their team to flourish. An insecure leader will not let his/her team test out new ideas, an insecure leader maintains unnecessary controls and checks on the team which mostly become counter-productive as it stifles their ability to show initiative. An insecure leader wants to hog all the credit. A secure leader shares the credit realizing that when the team delivers the leader automatically gets the credit. Imhotep may have been the genius behind the Great Pyramid but it will always be known as Khufu’s (Cheop’s) pyramid.


4 – Leaders Tell Great Stories

Hieroglyphs and Egypt are synonymous with each other, every temple wall, every tomb is covered with these texts along with the images of the Pharaohs performing various royal tasks. One would imagine that only religious texts or religious acts are carved on these walls but that is not true. One frequently comes across images of Pharaohs being victorious over their enemies, e.g on one of the walls of the Temple of Karnak Seti I is shown annihilating his enemies. There are other images which show the Pharaohs as loving family men and yet others which portray their divine lineage. So what was the purpose of these carvings? Were these images only designed to be decorative? Or were they a means of appeasing the Pharaoh’s ego? Perhaps both but there was one more important reason for these, they were like permanent billboards. Temples were at the centre of Egyptian life and anything carved on these walls ensured that a large number of people would see them. The purpose of these images was to portray the humane, religious and martial side of the Pharaoh. The images were designed to inspire love and trust. Many of the scenes were exaggerated accounts of events some even untrue but the purpose was that when people saw their Pharaoh’s life on these walls they would feel secure in the knowledge that they were in safe hands.

What story telling means for the modern leader

In the modern world leaders who are able to inspire their people towards a shared greater glory become great story tellers. Inspiring people requires communicating with them, instilling a sense of security and a vision of the future. These leaders can motivate their teams to overcome the most difficult of challenges and emerge victorious because they believe that they can. No one but the leader can perform this task, this is one thing the leader cannot delegate. Leaders realize that their emotions are contagious and if their teams sense that the leader is not convinced or feels overwhelmed, the team will respond in the same manner. Leaders can lead because their teams want to be led by them, and we want to be led only by people who know what they are doing.

Hence good sound principles stand the test of time. The face of leadership may change but the leadership itself does not change.