Chanakya’s 7 Secrets of Leadership
by D. Sivanandhan
Chanakya’s 7 Secrets of Leadership” by D. Sivanandhan and Radhakrishnan Pillai presents leadership as a blend of ancient strategy and modern practicality. The book takes Chanakya’s principles from the Arthashastra and Niti Shastra—texts originally written for kings and statesmen—and translates them into lessons that managers, police officers, entrepreneurs, and administrators can apply today. Rather than staying theoretical, it uses the real-life journey of D. Sivanandhan, former Mumbai Police Commissioner, to show how these ideas work on the ground.
Across the chapters, each “secret” of leadership is illustrated through incidents from policing, crisis handling, and organisational reform. These stories cover themes like maintaining calm during terror threats, restructuring teams, dealing with political pressure, and protecting public morale. Pillai connects each situation back to Chanakya’s frameworks on vision, discipline, intelligence gathering, people management, and ethical conduct, showing that the same logic used to manage an ancient kingdom can guide complex institutions today.
The tone of the book is accessible and narrative-driven, making complex leadership ideas easy to understand for students and working professionals alike. It emphasises that effective leaders must think strategically, act decisively, and still remain grounded in values such as integrity and fairness. By the end, the reader gets both a set of clear leadership principles and concrete Indian-context examples of how they look in action, turning the book into a practical manual rather than just a philosophical text.