12 management lessons from Mirzapur web series

Mirzapur is one of the most popular web series in the OTT platforms in India. The series focusses on a quest for power in India’s heartland driven by rage and revenge. It shows a combination of how illegal weapon trade, drugs and crime are intertwined with politics in this country. The protagonist of the show “Kaleen Bhaiya” known as the King of Mirzapur, faced increasing challenges in order to secure the future of his business from Guddu, one of his former loyalists turned foe. While not delving much into the story line, let us look at some of the key lessons we can learn from it.

1. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer

Sharad in Mirzapur exemplifies this. At first he befriends Munna and later also saves Kaleen Bhaiya from being killed for his own benefit and objectives. He is perfectly aware of his strengths and plans his moves extremely carefully without showing his real feelings. In a similar manner, in corporate life, we too should keep our inner feelings to ourselves without speaking our minds in a frank manner. We should plan our moves based on a detailed plan.

2. Your biggest enemy may be among your closest ones

Kaleen bhaiya overlooks the fact that there may be an insider who is passing information to his foes. That happens to be none other than his wife Bina who becomes the biggest cause for his downfall. One should always keep trust and faith, but blind trust is harmful for anyone.

3. Never underestimate your foes

Kaleen bhaiya could have eliminated Guddu when he was not having enough finances. Yet he tried to wait for an opportune time assuming that Guddu will not be able to cause his downfall. This eventually proved fatal for his son ( and almost his as well ). In a similar manner, as individuals we should never underestimate our competition and take them seriously.

4. Keep your cards close to your heart

Madhuri Yadav played her cards well. Her shrewd nature was often veiled in the cloth of a helpless woman which even fooled Kaleen Bhaiya regarding her political ambitions. She was also sharp enough to understand the power centers in her in-laws and how to win the confidence of her husband. As individuals, it is important to hide our end objectives if we aspire to succeed.

5. Value your employees and never let go of them

Guddu and Bablu Pandit were loyal employees of Kaleen Bhaiya. They helped in maximizing the profitability of his illegal activities. Yet, when the trust issue could have been resolved through dialogue, Kaleen Bhaiya ordered his son to kill them. Guddu later on became his rival and avenged his brother’s death by killing Munna and nearly succeeded in killing Kaleen Bhaiya. If an organization lets go of its best employees, it will either create competitors or reduce profitability in the long run.

6. Your insecurities and lack of emotional control will fail you

There is no doubt that Munna ( Kaleen Bhaiya’s son) had the ability to succeed him. However, the major difference was his lack of emotional control and insecurities. It was this insecurity which made him consider Guddu and Bablu as foes when they were still employees. Also, his insecurities and lack of self esteem, led Sharad to manipulate him very easily. Emotional intelligence is one of the most critical skills to have in order to succeed in any organization.

7. Loyalty has its limits

Maqbool was a symbol of loyalty in the entire two seasons. However after the death of his mother, one could see a changed Maqbool who turned against his masters. An organization should never undervalue the loyalty of its employees and take proper steps to ensure that it is retained.

8. If you are honest, you may have to fight alone

Advocate Pandit fights the lone battle of truth in the entire storyline. In fact, the entire plot started owing to his decision to fight a case against Munna Tripathi. His principles lack support of even his own family members most notably his wife and sons. He eventually had to take a drastic step of killing officer Maurya in order to save his son. His role can be compared to that of a whistleblower in any organization when he is shunned not just by his employers but also by his family for losing the job.

9. Never let people use you

Bharat Tyagi ( younger son of Dada Tyagi) gets used both emotionally and physically by Golu for her own adavantage. Morever, despite being manipulated, he continued to ignore the same which eventually proved devastating for his own family. One should always be sceptic about manipulative individuals in our personal and professional lives.

10. Never mix personal and professional lives

Lala despite being a drug lord was over protective about the well-being for his daughter Shabnam. He was completely against the affair of his daughter with Guddu and always wanted her to lead a life away from violence and drug money. It is important for individuals to demarcate their professional and personal lives as far as possible.

11. Proper background verification is mandatory

Robin plays a mysterious finance manager for the various mafia entities and also wins over the heart of Guddu’s sister Dimpy. Moreover, it was never clarified how he managed to give such high returns to his investors and the source of his profits. Just like background verification is done before hiring an employee, in this particular case proper due diligence was not done. It might open a pandora’s box in season 3 of the web series.

12. Lastly, Mirzapur reminds one of partnership firms

The major gang lords can be considered as partners in a firm with small team size ( with proper hierarchy and loyalists) and each looking to expand their business in new locations ( acquiring new clients) and focused on improving their bottom-line. Each of these partners are having areas of specialization: Kaleen Bhaiya (Guns and Drugs), Sharad ( Guns and Drugs), Dada Tyagi ( Stolen cars and liquor) and Lala ( Drug producer). There is also attrition and shifting of loyalties throughout the series. All of them are also keen to cross-sell each other products as long as it favorably impacts their bottom-line. Overall, profit determines their personal equations.

For the die-hard Mirzapur fans, share your own lessons as comments. Let’s look forward to season 3 of the webseries.

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