During a panel discussion at the INSIGHT 2014 program​ with Sadhguru, KV Kamath, and Harsh Mariwala, Chairman of Marico Industries, Sadhguru answers a question on the process of gathering insights in business. He looks at how when we lead a team, it is important to get everyone engaged with the larger goal. However, though you may have seen through the whole process, it is important to allow team leaders to go through the whole operation as a learning process.

Full Transcript:

Participant: I’m Anisha. My question is to Sadhguru. We heard Mr. Mariwala talk about a whole scientific process of generating insights and how he has trainings and then he has teams that pair up, and then there’s observations that are recorded. I just wanted to ask you - every word that you speak resonates and connects with so many of us. What is your process of gathering insights?

Time 84:52

Sadhguru: Oh. (Laughs) My process of gathering insights is to just look at things as they are without contamining it… contaminating a situation with myself. You understand what I’m saying? (Laughs) I do not contaminate any situation that I enter into with myself. Simply looking at it, the way it is. If you simply look at it, everything is laid out right there. The only person who stands between you and what is in front of you, is yourself. If you remove that one thing, you will see everything just the way it is. So it’s a pretty simple process, but because most people have worked in the reverse direction for a long time, it looks like a very difficult thing - it is not.

And about whatever Harsh was saying - it’s all right, many teams observe this, they go to the market, they find out about the rats and the pests and the dealers and stuff. But still the person who’s driving it, if he doesn’t see a certain line, all that information will mean nothing. It is because there is one person, who is seeing a certain line, and… (Laughs) When you drive a team, there are two aspects to it. One thing is you have to make everybody get engaged with what they’re doing, have as much insight into whatever little things they’re fulfilling - the little pieces of the whole larger piece. At the same time, you might have seen through the whole thing, but still you have to allow the team a learning process that… and make them feel they arrived there by themselves, which is a very subtle operation. Even if you know it, if you spell it out and say, “Just do it!” Without enthusiasm, if the team goes into it, the thing will not succeed.

So you still have to… even if you’ve seen it beforehand, you still have to make… give time for people to det… make their own discoveries, arrive at it, do a little bit of, you know, trial and error and everything though you know what to do. Because that’s important because if the team doesn’t engage like they are discovering something and doing something and making something new happen - you know it all, you won’t have a vibrant team. There are some points, where there are chasms that you have to cross. There you don’t… Yesterday, Dilip was saying he does the military style of function. When there are deep chasms to cross, you take on as a military commander and just tell them, “Shut up and cross” because there if you allow everybody’s opinion and ideas to happen, most probably you will go in.

So, this is subtle (Laughs), you know I am sure every business person is doing this. There are times when you are letting the teams lead you and there are times when you take charge of everything and force it across certain points.