Month: January 2015

What I Learned from my shattered dream… And how it helped me reshape my life!

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

I always wanted to fly fighter jets.

As a young kid of 6 years of age, someone first asked me what I wanted to become! Really. As if I had some idea at that tender age!

I promptly looked at the sky and without any hesitance said “I want to be a pilot”. And as far as I can remember, I was looked at with awe…

As I grew up, that childhood desire became stronger. It became my only dream, to fly MIGs and Sukhois. Others in my class and friend circle continued to treat me as an aberration. Someone who knew what he wanted and also because I didn’t want to do engineering!
When I finally got selected, I realized I couldn’t join the Air Force. It was discovered that I have partial colour blindness and therefore could only join the Army. Second best option was the only option for me and I took it…

The first year at the Indian Military Academy was filled with ups and downs but I came out triumphing on the other side, 7th in my course. This got me my choice of arms in EME and I was all set to rock. Except, that’s not how the script was written!

I suffered a freak accident. It led me to stay close to 6 months in the hospital, facing ridicule from other course mates, and filled me with self-doubts.

Eventually, after getting out on medical grounds, I got my life back on track. Since then, my unorthodox thinking has taken me to many places and experiences. But things that I learnt from my shattered dream have perhaps been the biggest shapers of my life!

Here’s a quick enumeration of these life-shaping attributes that got ingrained in me during those couple of years.

Discipline. Easily the most identifiable thing about the Armed forces. And about me as well. I am credited for it and derided at the same time. But it has stood me in good stead and helped me excel time and again.

Persistence. Armed forces taught me how to doggedly pursue what I want despite trying circumstances. It has served me well throughout, helping me pursue my life’s ambitions and goals come what may.

Integrity and Honesty. A must have in the Armed Forces and something that is ingrained in me for life. Helped me to be successful and forthright in my work all throughout, something I believe I can vouch for in all my dealings to date.

Big picture vision. Doing all those field exercises while in the academy and plotting strategies has remained with me all along. Big picture is what I focus on and figure out all possibilities. As I transitioned into the corporate world and then into business, it’s proving to be a great asset.

Self confidence. To do anything I lay my hands on. Armed forces led me to situations that invariably tested it and helped me become supremely confident. And its an invaluable ally in my life now.

The list could go on. But it would become boring!

What I want to highlight here is that all those positives that I mentioned were there for me to take out. I could very easily have gone bonkers and wasted my life after my dream got shattered. But I chose to go on. I chose to fight my circumstances and triumph over them. I chose to pave my own path towards success. And I took these Positives and rebuilt my life around them.

And if I can do it, so can anyone. Our biggest failures are our biggest treasure troves also. It’s upto us to chose if we become wealthier by recognizing them!

Reverse drain in vogue!

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

Along with conversations about business, another thing in fashion right now is scores of people from abroad returning to India. What’s fuelling these patterns? While on my way to recruit people for my new venture, I thought through these points. You see, wife away for a few days to in-laws’ does help business and thinking both 🙂 So, I looked at some of the history of modern India. Even under the British rule, most affluent Indians preferred traveling abroad for education and eventually ended up working there in most cases. So, Indians have been on the receiving end of brain drain for a century almost! However, after independence, and specially during the license-raj years, this phenomenon accelerated. People felt so shackled by the system and lack of opportunities that they preferred to fly abroad. Grass was indeed greener on the other side, dollars glimmering across the Pacific… Some people did come back post the reforms in early 90’s but they were far and few in between the many who flew in the flooding river of IT upsurge. Many of those who went are now firmly entrenched in the societies everywhere. And they made Indian curry and Indian software professionals ubiquitous in most places abroad! This trend seems to be reversing in the past year or so it seems. If we are to believe news stories, hundreds are wounding up ashore in search of moksha in the hyper growth opportunities that India now presents to the world. And its getting better day by day with the new dispensation promising truckloads of reforms… I guess that this combination of unparalleled opportunities present in the huge nascent market of India and the sea-change in expectations with the new government in the center is what is our best bet if we are to grow to levels we aspire to. India’s potential as a consumer market was never in doubt with its huge population. With new technologies and penetration of mobile phones, it’s become a reality. Companies and entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this to reach out and create new value for consumers across industries. Aiding this upswing is the new government, which is promising reforms and simpler laws to do business. The prime minister’s topmost stated agenda is improving India’s ranking in the ease-of-doing-business index. And the improving mood has bought back those NRI’s from everywhere to invest and do business in India… What remains to be seen is how this upswing is sustained and promises are fulfilled. India is at the cusp of changing forever if things go well. But if they don’t, I believe we might witness never before seen brain drain. Because this perhaps is our last chance of reclaiming long lost glory and become the golden bird again. Here’s to the eternal hope of seeing a better and more prosperous future for our country!

The people angle in business

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

Business is in fashion across drawing rooms these days!

Reading news of companies and platforms raising millions and billions of dollars has sure got the average Indian interested. There are regular discussion happening over these topics across age groups and everyone wants to know how do these hotshots get built…

Over the past few months, I am in the process of building up my new business. During this time, I have often thought about what makes a business venture successful and how do entrepreneurs succeed. And specially how to build once such company!

I must confess when I started out, I thought it was all about hard work and some luck. But as my journey has progressed, I have realized it’s all about how to manage people…

People management is the mantra to run a business successfully. If I can manage people and build a great team that shares my passion and belief, the business will scale and do well. The execution of the idea shall be as planned and success will be a formality.

Even in jobs, if someone is a good people manager, he or she will automatically do well and excel in the chosen field. Most successful managers I have read about seem to have this trait in common…

In fact, I was reading an article about how Richard Branson, one of the greatest entrepreneur of our time, has scaled up his empire. He mentioned one very simple thing – “I hire good people, leave them to run the business and trust them to do their best. It frees up my mind and gives me time to think about the future.”

A great example of great people management leading to greatness for the founder and group companies!

However, most people neglect this aspect when they are figuring out things in their professional life. They treat others with contempt or neglect the human angle and in turn this gets ingrained in their behavior, leading to future fallibility.

If we also become as steadfast about the all important human aspect as Richard Branson, more companies and empires as vast and efficient as Virgin can be built!

Are we always tinted?

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

While at my home today, I was contemplating various behavioral patterns and observing how people react and respond…

Most times, we are influenced by certain people, situations, ideologies, thought process et al. And a lot of times, what we do or how we behave or react or respond have a direct correlation! This is what I could arrive at.

For example, if I am thinking positively and someone asks me a question, I would be more likely to respond with a positive answer. If I am feeling irritated, something not going my way will only generate more irritation. If I dislike a certain person, his good things will also appear fake or overdone. And so on…

What I am trying to say here is, most of the times our behavior, responses, reactions aren’t from a neutral point of view. It’s always coloured or tinted by some angle or perspective.

Then how fair is it for us to advice someone or point a finger at others! Food for thought!!!

Infact, not advising or giving opinions or pointing fingers has the potential of freeing our minds for better things and might leave us with time and energy to do more. I am going to try this and perhaps will be able to prove my point…

Putting it Mildly…

~ Rishi ~ 1 Comment

Over the past few days, I have been observing and reading a lot on topics ranging from politics to business to sports.

Companies and businesses are meeting and evaluating what went right and how to improve on their mistakes. Congress party had a full blown session to assess their recent electoral defeats. Sports pages are full of speculation of what went right and wrong with teams and sportsmen. And so on…

Sadly, most of these, at least in the public domain, are just putting it mildly! They aren’t going to the full depth of the issue and are papering over the real concerns. As if glossing over the ineptitude and burying the ghosts of past can make it easy to carry on with the future!

I feel an introspection or analysis is to the point and of benefit when it goes deep down and finds out the real truth, however bitter it might be, and associated steps are taken to correct the wrong. Unless one’s mistakes are rectified or at least understood, we cannot benefit from the hindsight to make our future better. Yet, a lot of people shy away from this very truth.

Why is what I wonder? Is it a fear of facing a backlash for failing, making compromises, partiality to favour vested interests, or just plain hiding from the truth! Perhaps it isn’t everyone’s forte to judge oneself!

But I guess the single biggest reason is the negativity associated with failing. The society doesn’t take too kindly to people or organizations who fail. They are ridiculed and made fun of, or written off for their lifetime, or simply ignored as have-beens. And that’s why we shy away from accepting or analyzing failures and learning from them…

Maybe if we all learn to take mistakes in our stride and grow from our failures and associated learning, we can have a better future and the world can become a better place!

Here’s to failing more to learn more!

Terrorism – Can the tide turn?

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

As the world stands shocked by what’s happening in Paris at Charlie Hebdo’s offices and subsequent news updates and reactions and responses, I was stuck by this very starking response, which appeared in the Online and Print media! Kudos to the original creator and please pardon me if I have violated any copyrights, just couldn’t help sharing it!!!

v2-Banksie-main

As I grasped the full import of what this picture said, I was stuck by a rather bemusing thought. Isn’t terrorism almost like entrepreneurism?

The dictionary defines an Entrepreneur (word origin French: ‘entreprendre’ or to ‘undertake’) as a person who sets up a business taking a risk, in hope of profits. We could argue Terrorism is the same. It is a setup which takes a huge risk (of the terrorists lives) for a windfall profit – acceptance of the group’s ideology, and so on. Quite so…

Going deeper in my thoughts, I realised some of the essential traits for an entrepreneur are – a guy next door who has an idea (product\service), is willing to bet on it, takes a risk putting it out in the market, obtains financing from various sources for it, forgoes financial and material gains in the short term while focused on the long term, builds a team and a company that has to be constantly motivated to achieve the seemingly impossible, puts self in the line of fire at all times, fights all fears and uncertainties and emerges victorious at the other end, achieving a disproportionate success for self and society.

Compare it with terrorists – normal people who subscribe to an ideology (ok, it might be skewed by their view of things), who bet their very lives on it, take all risks during operations, get financed from secret sources, focus on the long term fulfilment of their ideals, operate with a team in a state of constant motivation to achieve their purpose(!), are literally in the line of fire, fight all fears to install fear, and emerge dead\captured\sheltered (the last one’s the favourite) to be called a martyr or hero in their circles!

So it shouldn’t be a surprise then – just like entrepreneurism is becoming a preferred choice for majority of today’s enterprising youth, so is terrorism fast becoming a successful way of leading life for some of the other enterprising ones. It has become a mainstream industry today for hundreds and thousands of youth who aren’t hesitating to be a part of it! Not to mention the headline grabbing notoriety and the free publicity that they and their causes get in the media, drawing people into debates of right and wrong, and pushing their viewpoints to influence more and more normal people.

The only difference is while entrepreneurs seek to create something which can endure, terrorists seek to destroy that which endures! And herein lies the key difference, which gives me hope. For those who seek to destroy are almost always destroyed from within! Time and history have been witnesses…

We may be seeing an unprecedented rise in terrorism in our times but I believe it will all come down just as swiftly it has risen and subsume itself in the flurry of time. The factors aiding its rise – lack of opportunities, resources, education, intolerance of others etc. are sooner or later going to go away. And in their place will rise an abundance of opportunities, resources, learning and a belief that we can all peacefully subsist on this planet! It all depends on we, the people within this society, to make it all happen.

And then perhaps those youth who turn towards the extremism of terror will instead utilise all their “enterprising” traits to start creating things that endure, which will not only change their lives but will be so much better for the society that they and their families and children want to live in – a society which respects their faith and ideals and let them be, in lieu of they respecting the society and letting it be… Imagine what a wonderful world full of possibilities it will be then.

Amen!

Practice vs. Theory…

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

Today in a casual meeting with an elder cousin, we got into a discussion about what’s practical and might not be taught in the books but is how things actually get done in real life. This got me thinking about the wide gap between our education and real life.

Well, I am an idealist, sort-of, and I keep observing that most things that happen around aren’t how they are supposed to.  And it creates a frustration sometimes –  why is our education system always focused on the theories rather than practice!

Why are we taught so many things which never come to our aid later on but we unnecessarily cram them to pass? Why can’t we chose what we want to study early on in our lives and if later we feel so, change over to a completely different stream and pursue it? Why is there so much of emphasis on getting it right the first time?

These questions always cross my mind and I keep wondering if there’s a way to overhaul the complete system and let children discover and learn and find their way in life all on their own. I haven’t yet come across some radical idea though!

Maybe we ought to change the way education is imparted right from the beginning and through the teenage. More of practicals, on the field trainings, visits to actual places of work – all imbibed with the regular stuff on other things that we are taught, to give the angle of practice and reality. And then the students who would come out wouldn’t have to struggle in the real world. And we wouldn’t waste so much time studying unnecessary things.

Welcome your suggestions on this and hopefully there’s something different that can be done in the field of education…

In My Humble Opinion! Really???

~ Rishi ~ Leave a comment

Everyone loves an opinion. Specially as the giver! And there’s nothing humble about it.

In my observations, I have seen a lot of people giving unsolicited opinions all across town. They just love telling anyone who would give an ear, everything they might or might not know! And they rarely shy away from this practice, whatever might the situation be…

So what’s the real reason behind this high-handedness? I have been thinking about it for sometime, and the only relation I can see is the need to make oneself heard. To feel superior. To boast!

But all of this should be uncool. Should be… Then why is it not?

One plausible reason is, its a kind of rub-on on others. Many people see others give opinions and add their own to propagate their beliefs and arguments. They supplement to feel more self-worth. And the chain goes on…

And what about the person on the receiving end? Poor soul feels the burden but lets it be, to not offend the aggressor. And in turn gets more IMHO’s. That’s precisely how it’s encouraged!

The simplest way to deal with such guys and situations – Ignore completely and feign arrogance. That’s a easy way to dissuade further transgressions!

As I believe, each person thinks, behaves, acts as per his/her understanding and its nobody’s business to give unsolicited opinions to anyone. Period.

Except, if it’s your wife then all this becomes not so true! 🙂