On the face of it, Little Prince is a Children’s book. However as they aptly say ‘Do Not Judge a Book by its Cover’, Little Prince unfolds with each page an intellectual treat. Its quaint words of wisdom obliquely describe daily human life, what matters to us and what we forget. Little Prince leaves his planet ‘probably with the help of migration of wild birds’ to visit six other planets in the vicinity before reaching Earth. On Earth he meets several interesting characters like the Snake, Fox, Signalman, Businessman and the Author. Of all these in this paper we would focus on the interaction between the Fox and Little Prince.

While walking down a road to find Men, Little Prince comes across a garden full of Roses. This saddens him to a great extent as he realizes that his flower is not unique in the world, on the contrary there are five thousand of them in a single garden. If we look at this from a more figurative point of view the Author probably refers to the human tendency of getting glamour struck and then indulging in self pity. A lot many times we look at what other people have got, then we compare ourselves with them, our selective perception focuses on the instances where we judge ourselves to be lesser, all the while forgetting about our blessings.

The Fox appears in the life of Little Prince when he is crying over the commonness of his Rose. The Fox implores Little Prince to tame him. LP does not quite understand this concept. Then the fox explains to him how a person ‘tames’ someone. During this while both of them become good friends, and LP actually ‘tames’ (establishes relationship) with the fox. All this while it appears that the fox wants to teach LP something, but when she asks LP to tame her, she seems to be the student. In the beginning the Fox teaches LP the importance of personal relationships. If we look deeply we realize how these can be extended to professional ones. That is one cannot strike a deal without first striking an inner chord. Conversely good personal relationships mean good business even in otherwise bad times. Apart from emphasizing the importance of these relationships the Fox also teaches LP how to effectively go about building and nurturing them. She explains the importance of Rites or Rituals. That is how doing certain things together, or at fixed times makes the other person look forward to your company. Eventually it is this accompaniment that fruits into relationships. These relationships like the one between Rose and LP have been created on the foundation of patience and responsibility. Thus his Rose is what matters to LP because he has cared after her, nurtured her and protected her from caterpillars. Similarly even in organizational contexts it is important to nurture and protect these relationships.

The most important pearls of wisdom are uttered when LP gets ready to bid farewell to Fox. It is in these lines that we quote ‘It is only with one’s heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.’ Personally we feel that this means inspite of all the chaos around us and all that we can ‘think’ of it, our ‘Heart’ really knows what is best for us. If we really feel comfortable with a relationship we must cherish it, we must lavish on it. We must realize the importance of being responsible towards it. We ought to be responsible towards these personal bonds , take them seriously and assuming that they shall last till eternity. On an organizational level this means leaders must establish a connection a special relationship with their people. This must be nurtured and can be done so with help of understanding, care and rituals. So as not to leave sight of this connection it is important to do so by ‘Heart’ rather than mind. Also it is important to be responsible in this regard. It is hinging on this relationship a ‘Manager’ can hope to become a ‘Leader’.