On Kings and Leadership- Lessons from Sher Shah

The principal difference between Akbar and Sher Shah was that Akbar was born a prince, while Sher Shah was not. Farid Khan, a.k.a Sher Shah belonged to the Sur tribe, rumored to be descendants of a prince. His grandfather sold horses for a living and moved to Hindustan when Afghan king Lodhi was on the throne of Delhi, encouraging Afghan mass migration to Hindustan. Sher Shah was born in Bihar and for most of his life, his focus was on claiming his paternal inheritance. He loved Hindustan, lived and died in the land of his birth.

If Akbar's story was that of a prince who felt obliged to keep and expand his kingdom, Sher Shah's story is that of a man who in order to keep his inheritance was forced to fight all the way to the crown of Delhi. His is the tale of a man who despite modest ambitions, was forced to aim higher simply to live a life that he was passionate about.

# 7. A child's first glimpse of leadership- one's parents, often the father

Sher Shah never aimed to conquer Hindustan as a young man. All he wanted was his rightful inheritance as the oldest of his father's 8 sons. His father Hassan Khan had 4 wives with whom he had an equitable distribution of 2 sons each. That was the extent of Hassan Khan's fairness. Sher Shah got the short stick after his jealous and youngest stepmother manipulated his father into giving her incompetent son the province that was rightfully Sher Shah's.
He fell out with his father as a teenager and moved to Jaunpur where he acquired all the skills that served him well for the rest of his life.

Sher Shah particularly resented having to work under someone whom he did not respect. When a person who is capable has to kowtow to someone ill-qualified to do the same job, exasperation builds up. Whether Sher Shah, while working for Babur expressed frustration at their culture, and claimed that he would eliminate the Mughals from Hindustan is debated by historians.  Did Sher Shah's strong opposition to weak leadership stem from his discordant relation with his father who was clearly unfair to him?


# 8. Relying on good informers, not dumb ones

 When your enemy has bad spies, it can work to your advantage in the long run. This is not one that seems intuitive when dealing with day to day office politics. But the truth will out, and the person with the wrong information ends up looking ... well, you know what I mean.

The details of how Sher Shah outsmarted the much bigger Mughal army under Humayun include a close encounter between the rivals.

In 1539, the massive Mughal army decided to capture the wealthy city of Gaur within days of Sher Shah successfully overthrowing the king of Gaur. Sher Shah overtook the Mughal army by cutting across the jungles in Bihar, his home province which he knew well. In a city called Munger, he halted for the night with a small group of soldiers. The Mughal scouts (not trained spies) reported to the Mughal advance guard that Sher Shah was in the vicinity. He was vulnerable to capture, but they instead exaggerated the significance of his mere presence. This terrified the Mughal advance guard who in turn raced back to report that to Humayun. What did they achieve? Nothing. What did they lose because of the incompetent spies? A chance to capture Sher Shah. In retrospect, this was one hell of a wasted opportunity for the Mughals and a narrow escape for Sher Shah.



#9. True talent will invariably stir up jealousy- don't stop doing what is right

Sher Shah's stepbrother who coveted their father's jagir, was supported by another noble who belonged to the Sur tribe. This wealthier man had an obvious reason to support Sher Shah's imbecile stepbrother-- he was jealous of Sher Shah overtaking him as the most prominent man in their tribe.

How ironic now when a pandemic rages around the world to spell out a universal truth-- jealousy is more prevalent, interminable and more lethal than any microorganism that has killed mankind. This is the root cause of almost all problems. Classic gaslighting techniques used by those who are jealous include blaming the person they are jealous of as intimidating. Whether we rationalize mean, spiteful behavior by saying someone is insecure, has low self-esteem or does not feel appreciated, etc, ultimately a simplistic explanation is jealousy. Typical spices that accompany jealousy are victim mindset, incompetence or laziness. And unlike handwashing or wearing a face mask, this virulence is unassailable.


Eventually, after many years, Sher Shah defeated his rival. But it is a testament to Sher Shah's character that he forgave the man who for many years harmed him. He even returned this Sur noble's fief, demonstrating yet another quality of a leader. Generosity in a true leader, yes. Petulance, no.


# 10. On strategy- when to let go and when to fight back

A frequent criticism by Sher Shah's detractors, especially those who wrote in the Mughals' favor, is that Sher Shah was not forthright. That he used deception. Perhaps those people are unfamiliar with the adage All is fair in love and war.
If there is one take away from Sher Shah's early life ( before he became king), it is that he knew when to compromise and make peace and when to attack. Sher Shah made peace with the Mughals several times, both Babur and his son Humayun when he knew he did not have the might to take on the Mughals. His direct confrontation with Humayun and eventual victory was the result of Humayun violating the peace treaty they had agreed upon years earlier. This left Sher Shah no choice but to fight and defeat Humayun. He had a right to fight for his survival and he proved that he was the better of the two men.

The story of how Humayun set out from Delhi to capture Sher Shah's land and how the end result was the expulsion of Humayun ( and the Mughals) from Hindustan for 15 years is fascinating if one were to read the strategy Sher Shah employed to shock the Mughals into defeat. It was not because he was deceptive. Once Humayun declared war, Sher Shah was justified in doing so for his survival.

There it is.... leadership from the man who was born a prince and the man who reluctantly became king. Whatever their differences, they are both known as great kings because they cared. Cared about people, cared about justice and cared about doing what was right. They fought and defeated their enemies, and showed generosity and forgiveness when appropriate.
These qualities are prescient today and will be forever.