One day Akbar came to Court in a very bad mood. Unlike his true self, that day he snapped at several courtiers. The courtiers were apprehensive and sat quietly, till the Emperor left the Court.
Later when Birbal met Akbar in private, he asked him the reason for his anger. "Oh Birbal, do not ask! It is my son-in-law. The scoundrel is really annoying," Akbar was furious once again.
Birbal tried to calm him down, "Your Majesty, if you tell me what has happened, may be we could find a solution to the problem."
"Birbal, it has been a year since I saw my daughter. My son-in-law does not send her here to see us," complained Akbar.
"That is not such a big problem. I will send somebody right away to bring Your Majesty's daughter here," assured Birbal.
"You think I haven't already done that? My son-in-law is a stubborn man! He refuses to sent my daughter to me. I simply detest such son-in-law. Now there is something you must do for me, Birbal. Please arrange to put up gallows in the open grounds of the city. I will send all the son-in-laws in my kingdom to the gallows", announced Akbar, seething with rage.
Birbal couldn't believe his ears. How could the Emperor go to this extreme! He tried to pacify Akbar, but to no avail.
For the first time the situation was truly out of his hands. Birbal couldn't think of anything to stop Akbar. So he went to the city grounds and made arrangements for the gallows.
After a week the gallows were ready and Birbal took Akbar on an inspection tour. Akbar was quite pleased, "And now I can eliminate all the son-in-laws in my kingdom. What a relief!"
After a while, Akbar noticed a set of golden and silver gallows. "Birbal, may I ask for whom those special gallows are meant for?"
Birbal replied plainly, "The golden gallows are for you, Your Majesty. And the silver one is for me."
Bewildered, Akbar said, "I didn't ask you to do any such things. Why should we go to the gallows?"
Birbal replied, "Your Majesty, you wish to send all the son-in-laws in this kingdom to the gallows. Both of us are also the son-in-law of somebody. How can we exclude ourselves? Since you are the Emperor I arranged for a grand golden gallows for you. The silver one is for me, your Majesty. Don't you think it is appropriate?"
Akbar was amused and impressed by Birbal's wisdom. "What would I ever do without you Birbal," so saying he laughed. He realised his mistake and revoked the order.
Management Moral: When you categorise people in haste and anger, make sure you don't fall into the same category. If we put ourselves in the shoes of the people under us on whom we pass judgement and rephrase it. The result of generalising the judgement we pass on one person, as applicable to a whole class of people, can be very damaging. In order to always be just, vividly imagine yourself in the shoes of your victim.
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