Leadership is a Personal Choice

Because every return needs an investment

Mirza Yawar Baig

There are forking times in history. Times characterized by

uneasy rumblings, turmoil, warfare. Times where the
foundations of the structures of society are shaken. A time
when for this very reason, a window opens briefly in the
landscape of life where the actions of a single man or
woman can change the path of destiny.
This is such a time.
Mirza Yawar Baig, September, 2007
Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks
the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it
popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And
there comes a time when one must take a position that is
neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
But one must take it because it is right.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

DEDICATION

To all those anywhere, who made the

choice
To live by what they believe.

Text copyright Mirza Yawar Baig 2012

Cover photo copyright Mirza Yawar Baig 2012
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FOREWORD
For a student to write a foreword for a collection of essays
written, expounded, internalized and lived, by her teacher is an
honour, to say the least. And if that student is someone who has
also had the privilege of listening to most of the essays in
question, in the words of the teacher himself, nothing can be
more satisfying to see that the teacher has, finally, through this
book, ensured that students outside his class are also benefited
by his thoughts and his words of wisdom. His powerful
statements have finally broken the barriers of the closed doors of
classrooms and auditoriums and are now to touch the lives of all
those who aspire to not just wake up each day to greet yet
another day but to actually make that day worth living.
Yawar once told me that I should write my CV every year and if
there was no change in my curriculum vitae in 5 years then I had
stopped being productively and constructively useful to society.
When asked by Yawar to write the foreword for his first book on
Leadership, I was deeply honoured. When he asked me to write
another one, I was completely devastated. Confident that I would
never write a foreword again, I had put my all in the first one and
there he was, moving the goal post again.
I place on record my deep gratitude to him for providing me an
opportunity to add at least one more point to my list as, writing
the second foreword ranks high on my list of I-never-thought-Iwould-be doing-this-again achievements.
Mirza Yawar Baig has always served as a role model for me
personally and for several of those who have had the good
fortune to interact with him. His clarity of thought and
expression, his ability to highlight something positive in every
experience, his strong sense of principles and values, his respect
for all creatures great and small, his passion for a cause and his

courage to stand for it, are, but a few of the innumerable qualities
that stand out in every word of his book.
Leadership is a personal choice is divided into chapters, in
which pearls of wisdom have been effortlessly strung onto a
thread woven out of years of experience and introspection,
creating an awe inspiring necklace to be worn by all those who
read his works or have the honour to listen to the author in
person. Everyday stories used in the book have been easily
converted into parables of learning. (although let me warn you,
his everyday stories are not really every persons everyday
stories, he once had an anaconda trapped in his fishing net, but
for that you will have to read his next book)
His penchant for thinking positive in the most adverse of
circumstances and naturally taking the road not taken, make him
stand out in a world of complacency and status quo. He
exemplifies that courage isnt always a lions roar. It is actually
the silence of an ant working patiently, persistently and never
giving up. In his words, courage is not the absence of fear; it is
the willingness to continue despite fear. Yawars ability to
choose minimum words to say maximum things never ceases to
amaze me as it will do you.
He emphasizes on the power of peace. Violence requires
energy. Energy runs out eventually. Peace needs nothing.
Nothing expendable that is.
Peace needs strength of character, patience and perseverance
which are all inner qualities which require no cost to sustain but
definitely a price to pay. In order to uphold peace one must be
willing to pay that price. A leader is a standard bearer to whom
all look to for inspiration. He has to have both visibility and
credibility to be able to win the trust of his followers who
invariably listen with their eyes.

In Yawar's words, "To understand a system you have to be

outside it. To change the system you have to be inside it.
Because perspective is a function of distance but transformation
is always from within." He addresses those who are prone to
taking a victim stance and successfully converts them to masters
of their own destiny with a simple motto I will not allow that
which is not in my control to prevent me from doing what is in
my control.
These are not mere words which have been written, rewritten
and then typed for publishing. These are long years of, in effect,
practicing what one is preaching, of exercising that personal
choice called leadership.
To quote Mirza Yawar Baig, I am what I am because I do what
I do to get what I get. So only if I do I will get and therefore I
will be. To do you dont have to be but to be you have to do.
And then he smiles genially at the class and says I hope I have
confused you completely, but nobody pays attention to the
humour, and slowly the purport of what he just said, sinks in. I
am responsible for what happens to me, he seems to be telling us
and in order to progress, I need to take responsibility for what
happens to me, stop blaming others and stop making excuses.
Just because you have a good excuse, it doesnt make a wrong
thing right. Wake up people and look inward before you
condemn the world. Did I do what I could? is the first question to
be asked. Most of Yawars sessions end with students repeating
after him in right earnest, I will not allow that which is not in
my control to stop me from doing what is in my control a
simple mantra with powerfully positive results.
While I write this foreword, my pen flows easily as if I were
writing something I created and not repeating what Yawar had
said in his essays. I am reminded here of something that Yawar
forwarded to me once and I am reproducing here to illustrate my
point. I am now unable to trace the source but it went something

like this, the true mark of a leader is when even after he leaves
the place after transforming the entire place with his vision, hard
work and drive, his subordinates are left with the proud feeling
that they did it all themselves. A leader is one who empowers his
subordinates with trust, in their capability and their willingness
to perform. He guides them, but subtly, so that they finally feel a
sense of belonging in the outcome, so that his vision translates
into reality even if he is no longer the leader.
Even if you are on the right road, he suggests, you are likely to
get run over if you just sit there. Success is the driver of failure,
because it can make one complacent and subsequently get one
trampled over. He believes that success is where preparation
meets opportunity. If you always do what you always did you
will always get what you always got. If you want to get what you
never had, you have to do what you never did.
While the running theme of the book is to be a leader who takes
a position that is neither safe nor popular nor politic but is driven
by the conscience and is, therefore, right, the author cautions that
this does not mean that you will not face any difficulty doing so.
Just because you are vegetarian does not mean that the lion will
not eat you if given a chance. He offers the solution as part of the
problem with the simple use of the word yet. The moment we
add YET to the problem, we open the doors to the solution.
Leadership is a personal choice, no doubt. But, do we truly
understand the definition of leadership? Yawar provides
parameters to introspect and conduct a self-evaluation of whether
our brand of leadership is actually what we hope it is. Being in a
position of leadership, we as leaders, have the power to use or
abuse. There are lives that we have the capacity to impact, to
make, or even break, with our interventions. Are we responsible
leaders? Did we do right in making that personal choice? There
is a critical difference, Yawar once said, between being
inspirational and being pushy. Being pushy is to try to force

people to do what you want them to do. Being inspirational is to

set an example where people will want to do what you want
them to do. And that is where the difference lies.
Leadership is about seeking responsibility and fulfilling it. The
question is not as he says, about what was happening but what I
did about what was happening. Speak up before it is too late,
even if it is the only thing you can do. At least it will be said
about you that you did what you could.
This in effect is what Yawar has achieved in his personal choice
leadership. His students speak his language like their own and
over a period of time those words become them and they, their
words. Internalized to the extent that the student feels he owns
them and can freely disseminate them to enrol more and more
into the school of thinking leaders, those who define their own
goals and seek motivation from within, on behalf of his teacher.
Read on and let the power of the words enter every cell of your
being. Tomorrow will be a new beginning, I assure you.
I am grateful for this opportunity to salute my teacher and
dedicate his work to the world of all those who believe in doing
what they think is right even if they happen to be the only ones
thinking so.
I could go on, but he wanted me to write a foreword and not a
book.
In Yawars own words, For the eagle the biggest satisfaction is
to see its fledging soar on his own wings, rising on the thermals
and staying afloat effortlessly. To know that I taught her how to
do that is more satisfying than any medal or material reward that
I can get.
I do believe I am one of those fledglings and I hope that this
book will make the same out of you.

Read on and allow the experience to transform you.

Renuka Mishra, IPS

The Author - as I know him

I have known Mirza Yawar Baig for the past 16 years from the
time he came to the SVP National Police Academy as a part of a
team of psychoanalysts from ISABS. He stood apart from the
rest of the team and left such an indelible impression on the
minds of the probationers he interacted with that when I, one of
that batch of probationers, came back to the Academy as a
trainer, I could think of no better person than Yawar to initiate
the fresh batch of trainees under me to the importance of the
right kind of values, attitudes and leadership qualities.
Since then, he has been a regular guest faculty at the National
Police Academy, Hyderabad, the premier police training
institution in India that trains Indian Police Service Officers and
conducts both, basic training for IPS probationers as well as In
service courses for senior officers at all levels, apart from other
Police training Academies.
His ability to inspire more than teach and his capacity to handle
any kind of audience and leave them speechless, not to mention
change their way of thinking altogether, has confirmed his
expertise and therefore his indispensability as a trainer. His
dependability and prompt response to any expectation from him
as a trainer, consultant, human being are unsurpassed and set an
ideal example for me, as a person and a trainer.
Words fail me when I attempt to describe his personality. Suffice
to say that he has always served as a role model for me
personally and for several of those who have had the opportunity
to interact with him. His clarity of thought and expression, his
ability to highlight something positive in every experience, his
strong sense of principles and values, his respect for all creatures
great and small, his passion for a cause and his courage to stand
for it, are but a few of his innumerable qualities.

I wish him the very best and all success in every endeavour as I
am confident that his success will benefit every Indian aspiring
to be a good human being and a leader, in particular and
humanity as a whole.

Renuka Mishra, IPS

In the final analysis: It all

matters everything that you
do or choose not to do,
communicate brand value and
character.
~Mirza Yawar Baig

PREFACE
I have consciously chosen over many years now, to take a stance
on whatever happens in my environment and which affects me. I
refused to be a silent spectator especially to injustice, no matter
to whom it was being meted out. I took the initiative to step
forward to say and do whatever I could to change the situation. It
was never easy but it was always very rewarding. In that context
was born in my mind, the concept of Master and Victim
which is mentioned in this book. This book is a collection of
essays written over several years from 2007-2011 all on the same
theme making the choice to take a leadership stance. I believe
that this is in the power of every one of us. We just have to
choose.
When I did this, I made two very surprising (for me) discoveries:
It is indeed possible for me to take a stand. People will listen,
give me the space and I can come of this alive and well.
People support and appreciate what I do provided I ensure that I
am fair and not partisan to one side or the other.
I say that I was surprised because these were my biggest fears. I
share this because I suspect these are also the fears of most
people and the reason they dont want to get involved. But
guess what they dont realise? We are all already involved by
virtue of the fact that we exist.
There is only one way to stop injustice. That is to stand up and
speak out. That is what differentiates us as humans. This book is
for my fellow humans.
Leadership, in my opinion, is not a once-in-a-lifetime event. It is
the result of a series of stances and decisions that a person takes
through their lifetime. Over time, these stances and decisions
give that person a certain standing where others begin to look up

to them for guidance. All stances and decisions are choices. And
like all choices they have consequences. It is either because
people are afraid of consequences or because they tried
something in one way once and were hurt and are afraid to try a
new way, that far too many people opt out of making leadership
choices. That is a great pity as the opportunity to change the
tapestry of our social fabric is lost.
As I mentioned above, taking a stance, especially an unpopular
stance is not easy. And it gets reactions. People criticize you.
Sometimes in ways that are hurting. But whenever that happened
I asked myself, Would you have been happier keeping quiet and
not being criticised? And the answer was always a very clear,
No!
There is also the other side. There were always people,
sometimes in the most unexpected quarters, who expressed
support. One of them said, I see you as a candle in a dark room.
The light is not intense. But without it there would be complete
darkness.
Another recited an Urdu couplet which means:
It is true that your gale has blown out my lamps
But on the wind flies a single glow-fly; the Imaam of the light.
And the scales tip.
In the final analysis however the issue is neither of praise nor
criticism. It is of who I am. It is of how I see myself. It is of what
I would like to be remembered as and for.
I see myself as a fakir, walking across the country, singing his
song. Some listen to it and like the tune. Others consider it a
disturbance to their slumber.

I am sure that among those who listen, there is someone,

somewhere, who listens to the words and decides to do
something about changing his or her world. It is not important
whether the fakir even knows about this or not.
What is important is that because of his song, someone made a
difference to their world.
As for the fakir, he sings on. Like the bird, he sings not because
he has an answer. He sings because he has a song.

Mirza Yawar Baig

The Question of Edge

In GE, during the time of Jack Welch, there used to be what
were called, The 4 Es of GE Leadership: Energy, Energizer,
Edge, Execute. We taught this in Crotonville and focused on
them in every GE Leadership Course that we taught anywhere in
the world.
The values statement of GE read:
All of us...always with unyielding integrity...
Are
passionately focused on driving customer success. Live
Six Sigma Quality...ensure that the customer is always
its first beneficiary...and use it to accelerate growth.
Insist on excellence and are intolerant of bureaucracy.
Act in a boundaryless fashion...always search for and
apply the best ideas regardless of their source. Prize
global intellectual capital and the people that provide
it...build diverse teams to maximize it. See change for
the growth opportunities it brings...e.g., "e-Business".
Create a clear, simple, customer-centered vision...and
continually renew and refresh its execution. Create an
environment of "stretch," excitement, informality and
trust...reward improvements...and celebrate results.
Demonstrate...always with infectious enthusiasm for the
customer...the "4-E's" of GE leadership: the personal
Energy to welcome and deal with the speed of
change...the ability to create an atmosphere that
Energizes others...the Edge to make difficult
decisions...and the ability to consistently Execute
I have highlighted the statement in line 4: because I am a
beneficiary of that value as it is lived in GE. This is just to

underline one simple fact: GEs success doesnt depend on what

the values say (there are plenty of people in the world who talk
about the same things); it depends on the fact that in GE, people
live these values.
In GE, the values are not something framed to be hung on the
wall of the Chairmans office. They are daily topics of
conversation, they are commonly used nomenclature, they are
things that people practice, hold themselves up to, feel
empowered and ennobled by and actively demonstrate.
Take the line that I highlighted. How is this lived? Let me
describe my first interaction when I went to GE Corporate
University at Crotonville for the first time in 1997. I landed in
New York and took my suitcase off the belt only to discover that
it had been vandalized. My experience with Delta is another
story which I wont go into here but what do I see as soon as I
go outside a chauffeur with a limousine asking me to hand over
my suitcase so that he can carry it to the car. I ask myself,
Hello! Did you get off at the right stop? This is New York?
People dont carry anyones baggage in New York. So whats
this?
Anyway, I get into the car Continental and off we go. As we
near Crotonville a good while later (JFK to White Plains is not
exactly next door), the chauffeur calls Crotonville reception on
the car phone (no mobile phones in those days) and gives them
our location. As the car drives up, I am received by a young lady
at the foot of the flight of stairs leading to the reception. I simply
sign on the check-in card and 10 seconds later the lady escorts
me to my room a huge luxurious place with a fabulous
bathroom everything in America is king-size to an Indian
shows me around the room and says, Mr. Baig, the telephone is
a direct line with complementary international access. You are
welcome to use it to call anyone in the world. The fact that I
made only one call is another story.

Next day when I go to class, the Course Coordinator, my good

friend, Carla Fisher is with me. Takes me to the class. Is there to
meet me at the interval to take me to the Crotonville dining hall
(refurbished at a cost of $ 2 million in 1996) and then back to the
class. I said to her, Carla you need not do this. I know my way
around and am perfectly happy going to eat and so on, on my
own. You need not take the time out to escort me. She says to
me, Yawar, it is a pleasure to be with you. But even if it wasnt,
I have no choice. This is how we treat people with knowledge. It
is a part of our values.
That sums it up for me: the issue of living by the values that one
espouses. Credibility falls through the gap between what is
espoused and what is practiced. Until one is prepared to live by
ones espoused values, one will never be respected for them.
There are far too many people who claim to have many lofty
values but you dont see any sign of them in their lives. Values
are therefore only as good as practiced. Nothing more. Nothing
less.
So why the title of this essay about Edge. It is because of the
definition of Edge the willingness to take hard decisions. To
live by ones values is very often a hard decision. It is much
easier to succumb, to compromise. But only when one decides to
take the difficult path, does one feel the pleasant cool breeze on
ones face. To enjoy the coolness of the breeze, it is necessary
first to sweat.
I believe that this is the key to success. Be it in business or
society or personal life. It is the willingness to take hard
decisions that spells the difference between success and doom.
Hard decisions about yourself, your career, your family
members, your team, your choices about any issue and your
focus and strategy. Organizations or people dont go down
because of one bad decision. They go down because of
insistence on that bad decision which leads to multiple bad

decisions only, that those are now taken by people who have
deliberately decided to blind themselves to the consequences of
their bad decision making. Ignoring reality only ensures that you
perish because reality doesnt change for those who choose to
ignore it.
In my consulting practice in Family Businesses, I have seen the
sad results of lack of Edge, over and over, when families fail to
take hard decisions when it comes to the entry, exit or behavior
of family members because they are family members. It is
amazing how they dont see that if one doesnt stop the one
making a hole in the side of the ship, the whole ship will sink.
But they dont and it does.
All great enterprises succeed for three reasons: I have added one
of my own.
1. Unyielding integrity in living the values
2. The Edge to take hard decisions
3. Demonstrated willingness to invest time, money, energy and
resources in the pursuit of a vision that spans generations.
Let me elaborate my understanding of these from the many
histories of great enterprise that I have studied and also
personally experienced.
1. Unyielding integrity in living the values
The key word here is unyielding. The ones who succeed are the
ones who refuse to yield to any amount of pressure, logical
reasoning, emotional blackmail, any kind of persuasion, personal
considerations, changed circumstances and so on. They are those
who have espoused the values after deep deliberation, serious
consideration and soul searching to find complete acceptance.
Only then do they consciously espouse the values. They are not
those who sign on after listening to a fiery speech or emotional
4

appeal. They are not those who claim to espouse those values,
Because they are the values of GE or Sony or The Constitution
or anything else. They are those who espouse and commit to
those values because they are their own. These are people who
give thought to what they are espousing before they espouse
them because they are keenly aware of what espousing means,
what they will need to commit to, what it will cost and how it
will benefit them. They consciously espouse those values
because in their estimation, the benefit far outclasses the cost and
is worth all that it will take to live by it.
For some it is money. For others the goal may be social, political
or spiritual. The rule is the same: you need to commit to the
values and live by them with unyielding integrity. They are your
values, you chose to be defined by them, you stand for them, you
will be remembered by them and so you are willing to do
whatever it takes to demonstrate them to a level of excellence.
Interestingly the actual values dont matter to success. It is their
practice which decides whether you succeed or not. Those who
win are not those with the best values. They are those who best
practice their espoused values.
Let me assure you that there will be many who will argue against
this. They will call you rigid unyielding means rigid, see? They
will call you unreasonable all progress depends on being
unreasonable, because the reasonable adapt to the situation,
while the unreasonable try to change the situation. They will call
you crazy but it is only those who are crazy enough to think
that they can change the world, who do.
So let them bleat all sheep do. Leadership means to like your
own company. The tiger walks alone. Sheep have plenty of
company. So make your choice. Consider it carefully. Then
commit.
2. The Edge to take hard decisions

GEs success story under Jack Welch was rooted in Edge. The
Edge to take the decision to be # 1 or # 2 in any business that
they were in or sell and get out. Just ask yourself, for most of the
world, being # 3 globally in a business is not only okay, it is
brilliant, fantastic, something you write home about, something
you put on your website and brochure We are # 3 globally in
this business. But not to GE under Welch. For GE under Welch,
being # 3 was the death knell it meant that you were going to
be sold. And you were sold. Even if you were his aunts son in
law. That was not because he loved you less but because he
loved GE more. Edge in GE meant the famous GE Workout. The
decision making tool that Welch taught us all: where the CEO
was put on the spot and could only say one of three things:
1. Yes.
2. No giving reasons.
3. Get me more information.
No waiting, no procrastinating, no delaying no next week, next
month, next lifetime. If you wanted to remain the CEO, you had
to take a decision. There are a huge number of transformational
success stories about the effect of GE Workout and those of us
who taught it, did so with full belief in it and commitment to it
based on visible results. As I mentioned earlier, I have seen the
result of Edge or the lack of it in my consulting practice in the
many years since my first Crotonville visit in 1997, across
boundaries of nationality, culture and geography. The principle
holds true completely.
Edge is to be able to do two things:
1. Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off
the bus (Collin & Porrass term)
2. Keep driving

Right and wrong people

Who are the right people and who are the wrong people? The
right people are those who believe in the values and practice
them with unyielding integrity. They practice them and this is
visible in their lives, not because someone is watching. But
because the values define them. They do it not because it is good
to do but because their values are who they are. The wrong
people are those who got onto the bus because they liked the
shape or color of the bus. They had no idea where it was going.
They just got on because it looked good. So what must you do
with them? Stop the bus and ask them to get off. That is Edge.

Great enterprises happen because of players. Not because of

passengers. Passengers are deadweight. They are shackles on
your ankles, millstones around your neck. They will drag you to
the bottom, sap your energy, dampen your enthusiasm and assure
you a fate that in the evening of your life, you will gaze back at
the road you travelled, with pathetic and futile tears running
down your cheeks at what could have been if only youd had
Edge. You will know then that the reason it didnt happen was
not fate or the stars or anything else. The reason was you,
yourself. You had no Edge. Not for nothing do I say, If only is
the saddest phrase in any language, because only those who have
lost it all, are forced to say it. It means that your life is over, even
if you remain alive.
Remember that it is kindness to stop the bus and get the wrong
people off. It is not kindness to keep them on, leading them to a
destination they never wanted to go to in the first place. There is
nothing to be hesitant about doing this. No great enterprise
happens because of one man or woman. It happens because of
those who followed the leader. So it is essential for the leader to
ensure that he or she has the right followers. Great leadership is a
followership issue.
7

Keep driving
Once you have the right people on the bus, keep driving. It is an
inevitable rule that the right road leads to the right destination.
And right people ensure that you remain on the right road. That
is the reason to get the right people on the bus and the wrong
people off. With the right people there is no confusion. There is
no noise in the system to distract you and take the pleasure out of
the tune. With the right people you know that no matter who
takes the wheel he or she will keep the bus on the right road and
will not swerve off into some nice looking deviation. With the
right people you know that you dont have to worry about who
will get off to change the wheel or fill gas or anything else that
the bus needs to keep going. With the right people you know that
you dont have to ask anyone to do anything. Right people know
what to do and do it unasked.
So ask yourself, Do you have the right people on your bus?
And even more importantly, Are you the Right Person for the
bus you are on? If not, do yourself a favor get off. Get off right
now.
Keep driving because worthwhile destinations have a way of
being far away. Satisfaction is directly proportional to difficulty.
But with the right people you will enjoy the drive. It is very
necessary to enjoy the drive, to take pleasure in the journey and
not wait until you arrive at the destination. The pleasure in the
journey is a factor of the company you are traveling in. So once
you have the right people on the bus enjoy the drive and keep
driving. To arrive at the destination is inevitable. Right people
ensure that you go to the right destination. Winning is a habit. So
is losing. So choose right or choose to lose.
3. Demonstrated willingness to invest time, money, energy
and all resources in the pursuit of a vision that spans
generations.

The key word is 'demonstrated. You can talk till the cows come
home but until you show it, it doesnt count. All great
enterprises succeed or fail for one reason only; lack of sufficient
investment.
That is the reason to have an unyielding commitment to live the
values and to have the right people on your bus. Only then will
you be assured of the investment that you need in order to
succeed. It is essential that those directly involved in the
enterprise those who are on the bus invest personally,
demonstrably and visibly. That is the proof that they are the right
people. If they dont, they should get off the bus. Investment is
where the rubber meets the road. Investment is to walk the talk.
Investment is what brings other right people on board because
people listen with their eyes and are drawn to others who they
resonate with; share values with; feel good in the company of.
Investment as I mentioned, is in terms of time, energy, money
and in every way that is necessary for the enterprise to succeed.
To invest means to put the enterprise and its demands over and
above everything else. I mean everything in a very literal sense.
There is no work-life balance with those who eventually
succeed in great enterprises. For them, their goal is life. For them
and all those who are with them including and most
importantly their families. There is no great enterprise that I
know of which was done in anyones spare time or on weekends.
All great enterprises demand full time, 24x7 commitment to the
exclusion of everything else. You need to walk, talk, think, sleep
and dream the goal. You need to do this and find meaning, rest,
entertainment, enjoyment and fulfillment in it. It must be
something you do when you are paid for it, something you will
gladly do free and something that you will pay to do. It must be
your legacy. It must be your contribution to life. It must be the
reason you live, the reason you die and the reason you are
remembered.

All great enterprises also demand that those involved in their

founding personally invest significantly in them. Significantly
not in terms of the absolute monetary value but the relative value
in terms of the individuals own wealth. So the investment may
look small in terms of itself but may represent the individuals
total wealth in the world. That is what makes it significant. It
represents the investment which the person is making in terms of
how important that person considers the investment that he
puts all he has into it. He doesnt need encouragement. He is
convinced. So he invests. People engaged in great enterprises
dont know the word sacrifice. They know the word
investment. They are so convinced of the value of the return
that they consider it a great opportunity for reward. Others may
think that what they are doing is sacrifice. But they do it because
for them there is nothing better to do than that.
Investment, as I mentioned, is not only in terms of money,
though that is a very significant part of it. Investment is also in
terms of time, energy and thought-share all of which are
essential for the enterprise to succeed. Investment is also in
inspiring and energizing others. Investment is in transferring
your dream into their hearts. In making them dream your dream.
People engaged in great enterprise are able to do this not because
of amazing oratorical skills but because passion is infectious and
sincerity is transparent. Hearts speak to hearts and words are
immaterial. Without sincerity and passion, no dream can be
transferred into the hearts of others.
Investment is in building teams. In spending the time to train
others, to support them, to have patience with them and also
when required, to part company with those who simply are not
going to succeed. All this investment becomes possible for one
reason only and that is the goal is worth every minute,
moment and measure of it. Only when the achievement of the
goal is seen as worthy of the effort that it will take to achieve it,
does the effort become possible. It is that shining vision in the

10

distance that enables all the difficulties of the path, to pale into
insignificance. It is the glow of the vision that lights the dark
lonely road in the depth of the night when hope is at a low ebb
and fears raise their heads in the darkness. It is the taste of the
sweetness of the vision in the mouth that wipes out the bitterness
of hard labor and defeat after defeat. It is the pull of the vision
that lifts me up every time I fall again and again.
It is written in the laws of nature, that they will not be changed
for anyone. As long as one fulfills their conditions, they produce
the same return time after time without change. The difference
between free flight and free fall is in the landing. Not in the
speed with which the flyer moves through the air. It is the law of
gravity which spells the ending the same one every time.
Success, like gravity, is a law of nature. Those who know how it
works, achieve it every time. Like the smooth landing of the one
who knows how to fly.

11

12

Master or Victim?
In the life of every man and woman comes a time and a window
opens when they have a unique opportunity to make an impact
and influence others. To succeed we need to anticipate, prepare
and act with courage when it opens
Living life is about making choices- the choice to be a victim
of circumstances or the choice to do something about
circumstances and be their master. We are free to make this
choice to be a victim or to be a master but the choices;
each has a different payoff in terms of its consequences. Both
stances are subject to the same givens of society, environment,
organization etc. But have very different implications in terms of
your development and happiness
It is one of the fallacies that people assume: that when we say we
have freedom of choice, the choice is free of consequences. This
is a myth and like all myths, it is a fantasy and a lie. We have
freedom to choose but every choice has a price tag every
choice that we make is the same in this context. Each has a price
tag. Foolish people make choices without first ascertaining the
price tag and are then surprised, shocked, disappointed and so
on, when the time comes to pay for the choice.
To return to our discussion, victims are people who complain
about adversity, think of excuses, blame others, lose hope and
perish. Victims can be individuals, groups, communities or
nations. The victim stance is the same complain and blame.
Masters on the other hand are people who when faced with
difficulty and adversity, first look at themselves to see how and
why they came to be in that situation, own their responsibility
and then they look for solutions to resolve that situation. They
13

have the courage to try new ways and win even if they fail.
Masters recognize that whatever happens to us is at least in
part, if not wholly, a result of the choices that we made,
consciously or unconsciously. The result of what we chose to do
or chose not to do. Consequently if we recognize that we created
the situation, then it follows logically that we can also create its
solution. The characteristic of Masters is that even when they
may temporarily be in a Victim situation, they quickly ask
themselves the key question: Okay so what can I do about this
situation? This question is the key to taking a Masterful stance
in life.
This is in itself a tremendously empowering mindset which frees
a person from the shackles of self-limiting barriers to his or her
development. A master never says, I cant; she/he says, I
dont know if I can! And in that is a world of difference. The
difference between the shepherd and his sheep.
The key question to ask therefore is, In terms of the challenges
that I face today, what do I need to do if I want to be a Master
and not a Victim? What is the investment that I need to make
in order to succeed?
Free fall and flight feel the same in the beginning. But it is the
end which spells the difference between life and death. One
lands safely. The other crashes and burns. Ignoring the law of
aerodynamics does not change the law or its result.
Similarly in life, in our race to succeed, we may well be tempted
to ignore the laws of gain that gain is directly proportional to
contribution. We may be tempted to buy the line that what you
can grab is yours to take, no matter the consequences to others.
Just as the one in free fall may thumb his nose at the one who is
flying, even claiming that he is traveling faster than the flyer
the reality is that his speed is aided by gravity which is rapidly
pulling him towards his own destruction. It is not speed therefore
which matters. It is the direction of flight and the way it ends.
14

Compassion, concern for others, a service focus, measuring

contribution in the same way that we measure profit, willingness
to do what it takes to deliver the best possible quality not
because someone is watching but because we consider the
quality of our output to be our signature and a reflection of our
identity all these are the real pathways to wealth, influence and
prosperity. The critical difference is that prosperity that comes in
these ways is sustainable, long lasting and spreads goodness all
around.
Prosperity that is sought without regard to those who share the
world with us, people, animals, environment; without regard to
values, ethics and morals with the sole criterion being the
amount of money that can be made is short-lived, has a high cost
and spreads misery and suffering, including for the one who was
chasing it.
We live in an intensely connected world and the sooner we
realize that and start taking care of the connections, the better off
we are likely to be. We have seen graphically the results of the
alternative blind pursuit of profit.
Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of the cancer
cell.

15

16

O! Teacher, stop teaching

Our present methods of teaching which are inflicted on by far the
vast majority of children the world over are the single biggest
cause for killing the imagination that every child is born with
and making them into square blocks which fit our own
frightened, constrained and slavish worldview. Those who
comply we pass and those who challenge it and refuse to
succumb, we fail. The occasional among those we fail, go on
to great fortune. The vast majority disappear, never to be heard
from again. Destroyed by the education system they didnt
deserve or ask for.
I recall the story of young Tommy; one of the stories that do the
rounds on the internet. It is said that Tommys teacher asked the
class to write an essay about their dream. Next day all the
children brought their essays to class. The teacher read them all.
But when she came to Tommys essay she was astounded and
even angry. She wrote a big 0 at the top of the essay and handed
Tommy his book. Naturally poor Tommys face fell when he
looked at the teachers notation. He took back his book and
silently walked back to his seat. The teacher saw the look on the
little boys face and took pity on him. She called him back and
said, Tommy, your dream is ridiculous. It is fantasy. It is totally
unrealistic. That is why I failed you in the test. However I will
give you another chance. If you re-write this dream and bring it
back tomorrow, I will give you some marks. Tommy listened in
silence, nodded agreement and returned to his seat. The eyes and
smirks of all those who had passed were on his face. They were
the ones with realistic dreams which the teacher liked.
Next day Tommy handed in his essay to the teacher. The teacher
scanned through it and was astonished to see that there was no
change. She called Tommy to her desk in an injured tone and
said, Tommy, didnt you understand what I told you? I said I

17

would give you marks if you changed your dream. You have
done nothing here! So I am sorry I cant give you any marks.
Tommy looked at her and said, Teacher, I thought about what
you said and decided that I will let you keep your marks and I
will keep my dream.
It seems strange to me that if I were asked to define the biggest
challenge of the teacher, I would say, It is to teach children how
to deal with a world that we know nothing about. In such a
world, imagination is the key resource that they will need.
Without imagination they would be floundering trying to find
answers in history or facts that they had been taught. But they
would never find those answers because they simply arent there.
Yet the thing that most schools do with amazing efficiency is to
kill the childs imagination as quickly as possible. And sadly
they are very successful in doing so.
Take for example how science is taught. It is taught in a way that
is no different from history, for example. It is taught as a fact
course. Whereas science is not about fact at all but about
constant discovery. Science is about constantly discovering how
little we know. Science is not about answers but about learning
to ask the right questions, learning to analyze data with a
willingness to be proved wrong, learning to design experiments
to disprove our most dearly loved models, knowing that only if
the experiment failed could we say that our model is actually
correct. Not forever, but until we come to the next discovery.
Teaching is not about answering questions but about raising
questions opening doors for them in places that they could not
imagine. Teaching is about teaching them the tools of learning
which will enable them to pursue learning all their lives. Not
answer questions end all discussion and pass exams. That is the
reason why the vast majority of children never open a science
book once they finish with school. That is the reason why there
is a serious global shortage of scientists. The whole approach to
teaching must change from teaching solutions and answers to

18

teaching tools to pursue lifelong learning. Even when we teach

what we know the answers we need to teach them how we
arrived at those answers and then ask them , If you faced this
issue, what questions would you ask to find an answer. We need
to focus far more on derivation, problem solving methodology
and analytical skills than on actually arriving at some formula or
solution.
The same malaise plagues other subjects as well. In history we
concentrate on dates and places far more than on lessons learnt
and ways of applying them in todays society. When was the last
time you heard a history teacher ask questions like: What did
we learn from the history of the Mughals the reflection of which
we can see in todays society? What can we learn from that
period of Indian history which we can apply to our lives today?
What can we learn from that period which will help us to find
solutions to our problems today? Which problem? What is the
solution? Instead history question papers will ask you for the
date on which the first Battle of Panipath was fought; who was
fighting whom; not why; not what did that indicate about that
society and its implications in todays society. So children hate
history. We dont relate what we teach to what is happening
currently and how learning what happened then can help people
in todays world.
Children hate math, algebra even more. But when did we ever
hear of a teacher teaching math as a problem solving tool? Or of
teaching algebra as a tool to plan a party? Math enhances ability
in reasoning, intelligence, decision making and abstract analysis.
But we only teach dry numbers. Math enables budgeting,
judging and assessment of business enterprises; it is the basis
behind computer programming, music, art, graphic design,
aeronautics and a million other highly interesting things. But
the way we teach math the majority of students hate it, never
use it to any advantage and trash 12 years of learning it as soon
as they complete their final exam. So why should you study math

19

at all. See the answers of some students to this question which

their professor asked them:
http://www.math.uakron.edu/~norfolk/why223f03.pdf
Another very interesting article which turned up on Google on
math is here:
http://drkroiss.com/page21.html
Our education system stinks. It is designed to create mechanics
not learned people. So one can become an engineer without
reading any book other than his course books and without any
understanding of anything except the little machine that he
works on as if the rest of the universe doesnt matter. All the
treasure of human thought, ideas, discoveries, experiments,
reflections and imagination are closed to him. He doesnt even
know that they exist. He lives a life of stress, doing his best with
his very limited understanding of life, trying to reinvent the
wheel, to discover solutions which others, far more gifted and
learned than he could ever be, have already discovered and
written about. But then how would he know about them when he
doesnt read?
That is why we have idiotic product design because the designer
has no concept of relating his design to the actual user. He is
thinking in terms of his narrow area of knowledge, not of the
vast area of application. That is why Haleem makers in India use
washing machines as kitchen mixers. Saves them a lot of labor
stirring the pot when they can have the pot stir itself. Ask the
washing machine designer what he was thinking of when he
designed the machine except dirty clothes?
But great opportunity does not lie in customer demand. It lies in
areas that the customer didnt even know he needed.
The biggest problem with teachers is that they teach. That is the
root cause of all ignorance. So I titled this essay, O! Teacher,
20

stop teaching. Start discovering, learning, enjoying. Start

appreciating that the child is the best thing that happened to you
and every single day try to become the best thing that happens to
him or her. Teachers must never teach. They must be like ushers
in a vast museum, walking quietly with their students tiptoeing
behind them, opening one door after another letting them take
a peek and then handing them the key to the door so that they
can come back in their own time and explore in detail. The
teacher then takes them to another door for another peek and
another key. See?? Imagine how exciting that is for the child!
The teachers job is to give them the keys.
Teaching is about asking questions and teaching them to ask
questions. The teacher who gives answers has failed. So never do
that. Teaching is about keeping the excitement of learning alive
all lifelong. Teaching is about taking the hand of a 4 year old and
leading the whole group to a tree. Then sit down under the tree
and tell them, Let me see who can get me a perfect leaf of this
tree. Actually do this and see the fun. When they all come back,
brimming with joy at their perfect finds ask them if all the
leaves are the same, even though they came from the same tree?
Let them marvel at the fact that they are all leaves from the same
tree but each is different. Ask them, Why do you think this
happens? What is Allah saying to us?
Then pull out a seed of the tree you are sitting under from your
pocket. No it didnt grow there, you prepared for the class,
remember? Then show them the seed and let them all (every one
of them) hold the seed in his hand and explore it, texture, shape,
color and so on. Give them crayons and paper and let them draw
the seed. Give them a few more so that everyone has his own
seed. When they have drawn the seed, tell them, Now look at
this tree. Do you realise that this tree was inside this seed? Can
you draw the tree inside your seed? Let them do that. Every
drawing must be made much of and draw breaths of amazement
from you and indeed, if you have ever taught in this way, you

21

will realise that being amazed is the default setting. It is only

when we kill the imagination of children that they become like
us.
Then tell them about genetics yes to four year olds and
explain how the tree was inside the seed until Allah ordered it to
come out. Explain the whole process of germination and growth.
Draw lessons from each step and show them the glory of Allah.
Of course that will make your own role as teacher much harder
but also much more fun. To be on top of the game you have to
read and prepare @ 1:4 one hour of teaching to 4 hours of
preparation. The kids will come back with answers to the
questions you planted in their minds. You will need patience and
tact and wisdom to deal with some of them. But you will have
the joy of learning, of having doors opened for you where you
didnt know there were doors. Teaching is about learning.
I learned some of the best lessons in my life from someone who
was knee high to a jack rabbit (as the Americans put it).
As a dear friend of mine, also a teacher put it: What a teacher
must inculcate is a sense of responsibility, self-discipline and a
sense of the sacred. These are not easy to teach in a world that
speaks/teaches rights at the cost of responsibility, obedience
and
self-indulgence instead
of
self-discipline
and
debunking/cynicism in place of respect for the sacred. These are
values that were important, are important and will be important
in any age.
Teaching is not a job. Anyone who considers it a job must do
one of two things: re-think their vocation or become a cigarette
salesman. That is a job. Selling cigarettes to people to hasten
their demise. Teaching must be a passion. A teacher is someone
who simply cant imagine doing anything else. A teacher is
someone who will teach not only for free but also if they had to
pay for it. Only then can you light the lamp of the love of
learning in the hearts of others. Teaching is to light the lamp of
22

knowledge and dispel the darkness of ignorance. Do you, Mr.

Teacher, consider what you are doing in these terms?
I often ask people to think of a role model and then ask for how
many of them it is a parent or a teacher. I have never had more
than 10% of the population, across nationalities, races and
genders, raising their hands. That means that for 90% of people
their role model is neither a parent nor a teacher. What a tragedy,
seeing that these two roles have the maximum face time with
children. Yet they seem to do their roles in such an uninspiring
and dull way if not in a positively harmful way that most
children are glad to be away from them as much as possible.
I ask teachers to consider this. Every morning a strange thing
happens at the gate of your school. Parents come and hand over
their most precious assets to you without asking for any
guarantees for anything; for you to do as you please with them
for the next 6 8 hours. Are you conscious of this responsibility
in quite this way and do you plan for those 6 8 to become the
best 6 8 hours of that child for that day? Do you actively plan
this? What would you say if the teacher, who you send your
child to, planned to make those hours the best hours of your
childs life? Do you believe this is worth doing? If not, what are
you doing here?
So when a child asks a question, Mr. Great Crocodile, what
does this mean? You say, You tell me. And then let him go
away and search - watch what he is doing, give him a hint or two
but never make it easy for him. If it looks like he is getting too
close to an easy answer, bowl a googly. Ask a question which
will lead him to dig deeper. Then when he comes to you with
his answer, listen very carefully and be prepared to be
astonished. Dont put any limits or boundaries on what he can or
cant say, what he can or cant question.
Then listen very carefully and take notes. That will do wonders
for his confidence as well as for your own learning.
23

And another thing abolish exams. Or at least have only open

book exams. Exams are the worst evil that ever happened to
learning. They are the final nail in the coffin which ensures that
the child hates learning forever.
May you be the one to illuminate the world by igniting minds.
First of all your own.

24

25

Who is a Standard Bearer?

Origin:
The origin of the term Standard Bearer is in the cavalry where
one soldier would have the exclusive responsibility of carrying
the battle standard (flag) and to keep it flying at all costs. This
person would not be armed and would position himself to stand
out clearly visible to everyone, his own comrades who would
rally to the flag and the enemy for whom he would become the
primary target. Naturally the demoralizing effect of the flag
falling to the ground is clear and so the Standard Bearer would
become the focus of attack of the enemy and would be defended
by his own comrades. He would himself not fight but would
concentrate in keeping the flag aloft so that it was clearly visible
to the troops who would take succor from the sight of their flag
flying high.
In my view a Standard Bearer is:
One who stands out. Not one who blends in. If a
Standard Bearer blended in and became like all the others, then
he would cease to have any value. The nature of the flag would
overcome its meaning and it would be a colored piece of cloth
on a clothes line. Not something you salute.
A flag is a colored piece of cloth, but you salute it, not because
of what it is but because of what it symbolizes and represents.
One who stands for, exemplifies, emulates a standard in which s/
he believes with total conviction.
One who stands out and differentiates on the basis of the
standard s/he exemplifies and is therefore different from the general
population.

26

 A Standard Bearer is the benchmark which the world measures

itself against. For that reason he is of this world but is different from
it.
Gandhiji exemplifies this very well. From being a barrister he
became an ordinary Indian (Aam Aadmi) but nobody can claim
that he was ordinary or like an ordinary man. He stood out and
became the measure for others to compare with.

Living by Values
In my view the secret of his leadership was its simplicity. I have
depicted above what I consider to be the basis of it.
1. A clear and simple goal: Quit India
2. A method which works: Satyagrah: Civil Disobedience
3. A worthwhile outcome: Independent India
It was Henry David Thoreau who initiated the concept of Civil
Disobedience. Gandhiji perfected it as a political strategy, in his
Satyagraha. His method had two distinct characteristics:

27

1. He used the word Satya or truth as his weapon. True it was

his version or understanding of the truth and can be argued
as such to say that this truth could have been interpreted in
different ways. But the critical difference was that Gandhiji
lived his truth very publicly so that everyone could see that
he walked his talk. Even those who disagreed with him about
his vision of the truth, could not say that he did not practice
what he preached.
2. He was able to mobilize enough numbers to follow him such
that the fact that the entire nation was not behind him ceased
to make a difference. The critical mass had been created.
And the reaction took place.

The Dandi March is a classic example of the Gandhian

Satyagrah strategy at work. The British drew a line and said that
anyone who crossed it would be beaten. But they crossed it.
They were beaten. Some got hurt and fell to the ground.
Others picked them up and moved them behind the line to be
cared for and took their place. However nobody retaliated
against the police. The police hit people with their lathis (batons)
without any fear that anyone would hit back. Still the
Satyagrahis came on. This continued apparently indefinitely.
Now, there is only so much of this kind of violence that any
human being can mete out to others. How can you continue to
break head after head if there is no end to the heads being
presented to you to be broken? At some point your own
conscience will not allow you to raise your arm yet again to hit
yet another unresisting protestor knowing that behind him there
are others all the way to the other end of the world. And that is
what happened. That is the key. And the police stopped. In that
they disobeyed their own superiors. In that the power of the

28

British Empire was challenged and forced to bow before a tactic

they had never encountered before.
The British knew how to fight wars. They were past masters at it.
They knew how to suppress violent protests so brutally that the
head of the opposition would be crushed forever.
They knew how to retaliate against those who fought them with
conventional weapons. They had more than 2 centuries of
experience fighting and winning wars. But they had no idea what
to do with people who disobeyed but refused to fight. At least
refused to fight in conventional ways. Armor was no use against
someone who was not throwing anything at you. A gun was not
required and actually proved to be embarrassing against someone
who would just stand there and be killed if you chose to fire at
him. A stick could be used to break his bones or crack his skull,
but the result was most dissatisfying. Nothing would happen.
Nothing would change.
The man or woman would fall because they were human. But
then others would walk up to them and take their place. Not to
retaliate but to present you with some new bones and a new skull
to crack if you so wished. And this would continue indefinitely,
without a stop. It was clearly up to you, Mr. Policeman, to put a
stop to this if you wished. And the way to do that was to stop
hitting people. This became abundantly clear. If you allowed the
Satyagrahis to do what they wanted, there would be no conflict.
If you resisted them with violence, they would resist you with
peace. Violence requires energy. Energy runs out eventually.
Peace needs nothing.
If however you wished to see the error of your ways and threw
down your stick, those whose skulls you had been cracking
would embrace you with open arms and include you in their
ranks. An amazing strategy that was very economical in terms of
the number of people who actually suffered physical damage (in
29

a regular armed conflict far many more would have been killed.
In this case not one died, though many were injured) and in the
end forced the one who possessed superior force to look at the
futility of his own stance.
The key in all this is the numbers. It is not enough to care.
Enough people should care enough. If the Satyagrahis had run
out of numbers willing to have their skulls cracked before the
police put down their sticks, the police would have won. But if
the Satyagrahis continue to walk up to the line, then eventually
the police would get exhausted and see that their method was not
working. The key is to see who lasts out longer.
That is the challenge for those of us today who would like to
lead and solve the issues that face this nation. How can you get
enough people to care enough, to cross the line.

30

31

Your Customers build your

brand not you
Much has been written about building a winning brand and about
the importance of brand and branding in general. In my view
successful branding is the culmination of a 2 step process
which is as follows:
1. Ask: What do we want to be remembered for?
2. Act always and consistently to create those memories in
peoples minds.
So that every time they think of what you provide, they have
only one name that they can recall and that is yours. Like all
truly powerful ideas, it is very simple. The key is in execution;
passionately, seamlessly and consistently.
In my view, if you are competing against anyone, i.e. if your
customers or potential customers are even considering your
competitors as potential fulfillers of their need, then you have
failed. In the words of Sun Tzu, The best general is the one who
wins without fighting. And that is the hallmark of successful
branding that you leverage yourself out of the competition.

So how can you do that?

1. Asking: What do we want to be remembered for?
It is essential to ask this question and the answer lies in another
question: What am I most passionate about? We can only be
32

remembered for what we do best and we can only do best what

we are most passionate about. So ask, What am I most
passionate about? What do I truly want from life? What am I
willing to do anything to achieve? What do I get the most
satisfaction from? Make up your own questions and answer
them and you will arrive at that which you are most passionate
about. If you always do what you are passionate about you will
become known for it and people will remember you for it. So
identify that passion.
2. Act always and consistently to create those memories in
peoples minds.
If theres one word which is critical in this statement it is the
word consistently. It is regularity that creates dependability.
People must become used to expecting the same standard of
excellence when they come to you for whatever it is that you
provide. Consistent Excellence. Flashes in the pan are good to
create awareness but if the pan doesnt flash every time, then
credibility gets damaged very quickly.
When you do this produce excellence and do it consistently
and regularly then dependability ensues and brand is created.
Brand is not built by you but by your clients who tell others and
become your ambassadors to the world. One referral by a
satisfied client is worth a million bucks of advertising. I am not
against advertising and PR but want to emphasize that one must
keep it in perspective and not imagine that it is some kind of
magic wand that once waved will wipe out all the bad taste of
indifferent product and service quality. It wont. On the other
hand the PR will come across as an exercise in deception and
destroy credibility even more.
Many branding experts talk almost exclusively about customer
perception and the mind of the customer as if they can read
minds. They talk about how to influence the customer to think
this way or that as if the customer is a puppet in your control
33

who can be influenced independently of your actions and what

you provide. Their campaigns are almost exclusively about
logo design, ad copy, tag lines and color combinations. They
dont talk about product quality, delivery efficiency, service
excellence or follow up. The result is that branding exercises
are all about advertising and PR and not about creating
sustainable quality. This is a very big mistake because the
damage to the brand which results from the eventual and
inevitable disappointment that the customer feels when the PR
mask is off, is something that cant be measured and seldom
corrected.
So what must one do?
Focus on Moments of Truth and ensure that these are defined,
designed to create the impression you want the customer to take
away and monitored to ensure that every single time, the
customer has the exact same experience.
What is a Moment of Truth?
In the words of Jan Carlson, the CEO of Scandinavian Airlines,
who first used the term in this context, A Moment of Truth is
that moment when a customer or a potential customer, comes
into contact with any aspect of your business and has an
opportunity to form an opinion.
I have underlined the key phrases in this definition to highlight
their importance. Who is a customer or a potential customer?
In my opinion it is anyone in the world. Anyone who meets you,
speaks to you on the phone, logs onto your website, reads your
brochure, billboard or any of your literature or contacts you in
any way at all must go away with the most positive impression
possible about who you are and what you do. This must happen
even if the person decides that you are not the person he/she
needs to fulfill their need at that time. They must still feel that
you are the best thing that happened to them.
34

Moments of Truth are defining moments but are for the most
part handled either mechanically (websites, answering machines
and so on) or by the least paid, least trained employees
(telephone operators, security guards, receptionists) with
predictable results. I am not suggesting that the CEO must man
the phone or stand at the gate (though having said it, is not a bad
idea at all to do once in a while) but must know what anyone
who calls his company or comes to meet anyone experiences.
Most CEOs and managers when I get them to call their company
anonymously are unpleasantly surprised at what happens. Most
Moments of Truth in most organizations go unnoticed and
uncommented upon except by customers, which is a very
dangerous situation to be in.
The key to brand building is to ask, What do we want our
customers to feel when they think of us? Then talk to them and
ask what they do feel and bridge the gap. This VOC (Voice of
Customer) is the most valuable tool for brand building that you
can imagine. It is a thermometer to gauge the warmth the
customer feels towards your organization the warmth of love
and good feeling or the warmth of irritation and anger.
Organizations that listen to customers regularly (by this I mean
actually speak face-to-face not run anonymous surveys) have
their finger on their pulse and are able to leverage that
knowledge. They build relationships that result in customer
loyalty and give them an insight into what their customers want.
Apples iPod and iPad were the result of listening to customers
and the resultant sale success is an indication of how well they
know their market. Singapore Airlines advertising is supported
by in-flight service that even other airlines talk about. BMWs
advertising is supported by unmatched engineering to produce a
benchmark, not merely a car.
Brand building therefore in my view is to listen to the customer,
build a close relationship with him/her and deliver a quality of
service that leaves them spellbound.

35

Advertising and PR then is merely to inform them about new

products and services.

36

37

Advertising
Advertising is not about selling. It is about influencing; about
kindling desire; about fuelling passion. Advertising is about
converting want to need. It is about mind steering.
Advertising is powerful so it must be used responsibly.
Think of your favorite Ad. What does it seek to do?
Then ask yourself, Is it true?
Is it true that my value as a human being will increase because I
wear a certain brand?
Is it true that my possessions are a reflection of my worth?
Or are they a reflection of my character which drives my
choices?
Choices that reflect my wisdom with respect to wealth, concern
for others, compassion and morals.
What do you call someone who uses expensive products because
he thinks they add value to him as a person?
I call him a person who doesnt understand the basic principle in
life that possessions add cost; not value.
Advertising must be responsible. The foundation of
responsibility is truth. Advertisements that seek to promote
products which harm life, objectify women, promote drugs and
addiction, are irresponsible, false and criminal. Alcohol destroys
lives, cigarettes are addictive and cause cancer and you dont
need a naked woman on a couch to sell ice cream or chocolates
or biscuits.

38

We must condemn such advertising which is neither original, nor

artistic, nor attractive. It is harmful, corrupt and promotes evil.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls I call upon you to
support responsible, moral advertising and to fight against the
irresponsible and the unethical.
Because in the end, it is not about them. It is about us.

39

40

Changing the Script

If you always do what you always did youll always get what
you always got.
If you want to get what you never had, you have to do what you
never did.
Many times we find ourselves stuck in a negative cycle,
especially with respect to certain people; parents, spouses,
parents in law, friends; where with great regularity we find
ourselves miserable, angry or otherwise in pain. Every time this
happens we tell ourselves, Never again. I will never let that
happen again. But lo and behold we find that the next time
around, in the same entirely predictable way we are enacting the
same script all over again.
I dont know how many of you have seen the play, The
Mousetrap; the longest running play in London. It has been
running for several decades. Naturally many of the original
actors have retired. Some have died. Many new actors have
come into the roles. But you know something; very strangely, the
ending is always the same. Now isnt that so strange??
Ha!! Ha!! you laugh. How can you call it strange? you ask.
After all the script is the same. So how can the ending be
different?
Ha!! Ha!! Indeed, I say to you. Apply the same logic to your
life Sir. Remind yourself that if you want a different ending,
changing actors is no use. You have to change the script. See?
Cut to your real lifes negative cycles many people change
actors. They get divorces, marry again, change jobs, change
friends, cut off relations with parents (they cant change those
can they?) and so on. And a couple of years into the new
relationship they find that the same problems have resurfaced.
41

And they are surprised. I always tell them to go and watch The
Mousetrap. Not perhaps for the usual reason but to drive home
the point that the problem is not with the actors but with the
script.
So what can you do?
Well heres my solution.
I call it my 3 step solution:

1.

Stop dead in your tracks

2.

Take back the control into your own hands

3.

Then do the opposite of what you normally do

1. Stop dead in your tracks

Remember that until you are in the cycle, it will move in the
same direction it always did. So get off. Stop in your tracks.
Break the cycle. How? Tape your mouth. Say nothing. Leave
the room. Pretend you are having a heart attack. Go to the
toilet. Knock over the water do anything but dont say that
thing which is on the tip of your tongue. DO NOT REACT.
2. Take back the control into your own hands
DO NOT REACT: Remember that when you are reacting
you are merely demonstrating that you are a puppet on a
string. You are moving in whichever direction the puppet
master pulls the string. So break the string. Let him pull it
whichever way he wants to. Since it is not connected to you,
it will not affect you. Remind yourself that NOBODY CAN
MAKE YOU FEEL ANYTHING. People do whatever they

42

want to. YOU DECIDE HOW TO REACT. So stop reacting.

Instead RESPOND. What is the difference?

Responding is what you consciously choose to do. Reacting

is what someone else makes you do. So instead of reacting,
respond. What does that entail? Well, for one thing, it
requires that you stop (refer to step 1 above) and think about
what is happening. Then it requires that you think of what is
the best way to deal with it. Not what is the natural way or
the instinctive way but the best way

Remember that what is instinctive or natural is not always

what is best. Emotional maturity is to act deliberately and
consciously. To do what may not be natural but is wise,
useful and productive. To do that you have to ask yourself
another question, What is the result that I want from this
interaction? Then do that which will get you that result. Not
what you are dying to do to score some cheap point. So
stopping in your tracks is essential. Remember, anger is
natural. Controlling it is not.

3. Then do the opposite of what you normally do

There is a famous story of President Harry Truman (I think
it is about him. Forgive me please if Ive got the wrong
president) who was locked in an argument with someone. It
got to a point that when he was about to say something, the
other man said, Dont even bother. I know exactly what
you will do. Harry Truman stood up, did a summersault on
the carpet of the Oval Office and said, I bet you didnt
think Id do that? That broke the cycle.
43

So do the opposite. Suddenly hug your mother in law and

kiss her. Maybe she will have a heart attack and your
problem will be solved. Or even better she will see the error
of her ways. Do the opposite of what you normally do. A
good way is to be especially nice to those who are nasty to
us. Be good to them. Serve them. Be especially thoughtful.
And do it sincerely. That is important. Insincerity always
shows up and causes more problems. Acting cant be
sustained. Be sincere. And be consistent. Dont be nice only
once. Be nice always.
The Prophet Muhammad (SAS) said, I guarantee a palace
in the middle of Paradise to the person who has the right but
gives up his right for his brother. He said that because that
is tough to do. So do the opposite. What is the best
opposite for you to do? Well, it is your life, see? So think
about it for yourself. One rule though it has to be the best
that you can do. Not simply something to score points
against the other person.
Because remember the fundamental rule? When life
presents a problem for us to solve, if we solve it, we go
ahead. If we dont, the same problem will comes back to us
again and again until we solve it. Complaining changes
nothing. The problem has to be solved to show that we
learnt our lesson. After all there is a reason for the problem
to come in the first place, see? Nothing is without purpose.
So we need to graduate from one class to the next. Until we
are in the same class, no matter how many schools we
change, it is still the same class, same exams, same books,
same lessons; until we pass the exam. Only then will we be
permitted to move to a higher class. So the sooner we
demonstrate that we learnt our lesson, the sooner will be
our graduation.

44

In conclusion, remember it is not about changing actors but

about changing the script. You are the director. It is your
play. But you are not the audience. So you have to act.

45

Customer Service
What it can be and the difference it can make

Whenever I speak of customer service I am reminded of how

some people from north India, from the Hindi speaking belt of
UP and MP pronounce it. They say, Kasht-mar service. Now
Kasht in Hindi means difficulty. And Mar means to die. So
the literal translation of Kasht-Mar would be (Kasht-say-mar)
meaning die slowly with difficulty. Not a very nice thing to say
but that is what some people in the business of providing service
seem to be saying to their customers (Kashtmars).
Customer service is about customers, not about the content,
technology or industry in which those customers operate. This is
a very important thing to understand and accept if one is not to
fall into the trap of feeling that somehow our own industry is so
unique that the lessons learnt in the airline, hotel, BPO, IT or
hospital businesses are not applicable to us. If we deal with
people, lessons learnt in any industry that have to do with
people, apply to us and we would be very foolish to ignore them.
Customers and people and people think holistically. When we
experience bad service on board a plane we compare it quite
happily (albeit sometimes unconsciously) to the overall service
standard that we are used to in our own environment and feel
proportionately bad about it. If we come from a country like
Singapore where the quality of service is generally very superior
we will tend to feel highly dissatisfied with bad service. But
someone who comes from another country where service
standards are generally pretty low, they may find the same
service to be acceptable because their expectations are so low to
begin with. When experiencing onboard in-flight service we
dont compare it only to our experience on other airlines. Even
people who are flying for the first time feel dissatisfied with poor
service. So lessons are transferable.
46

In my view great customer service is a combination of two

things: a genuine desire to serve and some key things to do
(tools). Let us look at each of them.
Attitude: Whenever I think of an attitude of great customer
service I remember when I first went to Singapore in 1994. I was
there to teach a course in teaming skills at GE Asia. I reached my
hotel by about midday and having had lunch and rested, decided
to go out in the evening to see the city. I came out of the hotel
and stood at the curbside waiting for a cab. One came along in
less than 2 minutes and then it happened. The driver pulled up,
got out of the car, trotted (he didnt walk, he trotted) around the
back to where I was, opened the passenger door at the back and
ushered me into the cab with a flourish. I realized that I was in
the presence of something special and silently got in.
The interior was spotlessly clean and smelled of some pleasant
mild perfume. I sat waiting for the next act of the play. And there
it was. He said to me as I was sitting in the cab, That is todays
newspaper for you Sir and some water if youre thirsty. I hope
you are comfortable. I said that I was and thanked him. He shut
the door respectfully, trotted (once again he didnt walk) back to
his seat and said, looking at me in the rearview mirror, Where
can I take you Sir? I replied, I dont want to go anywhere. I
want to just sit here so that I can enjoy the experience of being in
your car.
I still remember this incident 16 years later as if it happened
yesterday. The point is that he was an ordinary taxi driver who
had never gone to a single training class in customer service. He
was in a business where customers commonly have the least
expectation of service and are only interested in not being
deceived to pay more than their due. His customer is with him
for probably the shortest time of any service; just the few
minutes it takes to drive to the customers destination. And
typically he would probably never see that customer again. Yet

47

here was a man going out of his way to be nice to his customers
and to give them an experience to remember. Why?
The only answer I have is, because for him service was about
who he was. Not about who the customer was. Neither I nor
anyone I know would expect, much less demand a taxi driver to
get out and open the door for them, or keep clean drinking water
(sealed bottle) and the days papers in the car or to keep the car
in an absolutely pristine state. After all we are used to shabby
taxis and as long as it is not horribly dirty we dont give it a
second thought.
He did what he did because he saw his service as defining him,
not because he thought the customer cared about it or wanted it
or demanded it. It was his own pride in his work and his desire to
serve.
Let me give you another example. In 1997, I lived in Bangalore
and wanted to buy a Maruti 800 car. I called a number which I
thought was the number of the agency which financed Maruti
purchases. A lady answered and the conversation went like this:
Good morning, this is Citibank Car Finance. How can I help
you?
Good morning. I am looking to buy a Maruti 800 car and want
to know if you finance it.
I am sorry Sir, we finance only Opel Astra (four times the
price), but if you hang on a minute I will get you the number of
the company which does Marutis.
Once again I knew I was in the presence of someone with that
key attitude the desire to win customers. So I waited. She came
back on line in less than one minute.
Heres the number Sir. And if you change your mind and decide
to buy an Opel Astra, please do give us a call.
48

She knew perfectly well that I was not an Opel Astra customer
but she still said that so that I would not feel bad about not being
able to afford an expensive car.
Once again the power of attitude.
So the first thing I would ask anyone who has to deal with any
customer in any kind of business at all is, Do you really want to
do this job? And if you want to do it, how much do you want to
do it?
1. Is it an, Ah! Here comes another one, kind of thing?
2. Or is it a, Well, since I am here I may as well get it over
with.
3. Or is it, Another fantastic day for me to give some
customers service they have never seen before. I love the
look on their faces as if they cant believe their own eyes and
ears.
Which one applies to you?
Its really as simple as this.
Now how about if you are not the # 3 kind of person?
Well, you have two choices; change your job or change yourself.
Changing your job may neither be feasible nor is it easy to find a
job where you dont have to deal with people. There are such
jobs, like feeding crocodiles in a zoo, but not so many fall vacant
unless the feeder slips into the pool. So like it or not you are
going to have to deal with people. So what should you do?
Here is what you should do:
1. Stand before a mirror and tell yourself, this is the BEST job
that I could possibly be doing because I have an opportunity
49

to make a difference in someones life. Now what is more

worthwhile than that? I was in the airport in Hyderabad and
wanted to use the washroom. I entered the room and found
that the toilets were being cleaned. The man doing the job
saw me and said to me, Please give me a minute Sir.

Then he not only cleaned the toilet but he sprayed air

freshener and then took some tissue and dried the toilet seat.
Did that make a difference in my life? You can bet it did and
I ensured that I gave him the biggest tip he would have
received in a while. Though going by his attitude and quality
of service it would take a shamelessly stingy person to pass
him by without emptying their pockets into his hands.
Once again I dont think that man ever saw the inside of a
Customer Service Training class. So stand before your
mirror and tell yourself, I want to make a difference in
someones life today.

2. LEAD: Listen, Empathize, Accept Responsibility, Do

Something

a. Listen: Listen to the customer. Listen to what they are

saying and to how they are saying it. Sometimes it is not the
words of the customer but his tone of voice or his body
language which gives the one who listens well, the real
message.

b. Empathize: Put yourself in the customers shoes. How

would you feel if someone did to you what you or someone
in your company did to your customer? The reason it was
done is immaterial. That he had to suffer is what the
customer is conscious of. Let me give you an example. I was

50

in San Francisco at the Marriot, having arrived there by a

late night flight at midnight. I had asked for a non-smoking
room as I am allergic to cigarette smoke. When I went up to
the room almost at 1.00 am I found it reeking of cigarette
smoke. I complained but the person at the front desk told me
that they did not have any other room. I was furious but there
was nothing I could do so I slept as best I could. Next
morning I had to leave early for work. When I returned, I
was met at the lobby by the hotel manager who took me up
to another room, this one smelling sweet and asked if I liked
it. I said that I did. She then asked if she could have my
luggage moved there. I agreed. Then (only then) did she say
to me, Sir, I apologize for the problem you had last night.
We had booked a non-smoking room for you but
unfortunately it seems that the guest had someone else in the
room who smoked and so the room smelled of cigarettes. We
did not realize this until too late and there was no other nonsmoking room available last night. I blocked the first room
that fell vacant this morning and here it is. My apologies
once again. The beauty of this response was that she first
solved my problem and then (only then) gave me the
explanation for what happened. It was clear that they were
empathetic about my problem. They did not try to brush it
aside or pretend that it was not really a problem nor did they
try to justify or explain it. They addressed it and solved it
and then explained why it had happened, once the problem
had been solved.

c. Accept responsibility: Accept the fact that the problem

of the customer is really your problem. This is something
that we dont see too quickly and act as if the problem has
nothing to do with us. It is our problem because it is causing
our customer to be dissatisfied. And a dissatisfied customer
is very much our problem. So own your responsibility and
51

dont send the customer to someone else. This is one of the

biggest aggravations that customers face; being shunted from
person to person and having to repeat their story over and
over.

d. Do something: Take action. You take action. Dont tell

the customer what to do. You go do it. And then let him
know what you are doing and how it is going to solve his
problem. Reporting periodically is essential for customer
satisfaction. People dont like to be left in the dark. So tell
them.

3. Pre-empt problems: It is a known fact that in most cases it

is the same things that tend to go wrong again and again. So
identify the three or four major things that tend to go wrong
most often and have preset responses for them. In order to do
this it is essential to document what happens in your
customer interactions so that you can correctly identify what
goes wrong most often. Preset responses take away the stress
from the interactions and ensure the fastest recovery from
failure. Research shows that customers who had a problem
that was solved well are more satisfied than those who did
not have a problem at all.

4. Moments of Truth: Identify and monitor your moments of

truth. A Moment of Truth is defined by Jan Carlson, exCEO of Scandinavian Airlines, who first used this phrase in
the context of customer service as that moment when a
customer or a potential customer comes into contact with
52

any aspect of your operation and has an opportunity to form

an opinion. If you know what that point of contact is and can
control the interaction such that the customers experience is
positive then you have a winning operation. If you either
dont know what your moments of truth are or where they
occur or have no control over them, then you have a losing
operation. It is as simple as that. However knowing moments
of truth and controlling them is a matter of rigorous
measurement and documentation which most organizations
are unwilling or unable to do and so they blunder along and
create dissatisfied customers and lose business and in some
cases go under.

Conclusion
Great customer service is about concern; being genuinely
concerned for the customer. It is about pride in your own
operation and your own identity; wanting to be the best. It is
about wanting to add value to peoples lives; about seeing value
in serving. It is about being a shrewd business person;
recognizing who pays you and ensuring that he/she is not just
happy to do so but simply delighted that you are there to serve
them. Great customer service is the only guarantee for survival
and growth and the only insurance and hedge against bad times.
Customers dont remember what you did. They remember how
they felt. That is the key.

53

54

Definitions influence Solutions

The first rule in problem solving is that the solution depends on
the definition and therefore success in problem solving depends
on the way the problem is defined.
The same logic applies if you want to solve any problem in life.
Define the problem one way and it appears insolvable. Define it
another way and the solution becomes clear immediately. Define
your problem as: I want to solve Indias problem of illiteracy:
and you are likely to give up even before you start as the
problem is so humungous. Define it as: Can I teach one child to
read and can I motivate ten friends to teach one child each: and
you will be well on your way to a solution.
However I believe the issue is a bit more fundamental than
defining. Even before we begin to define a problem, we need to
ask the question, Do I want an excuse or do I want a solution?
Why do I say that? Well think of this; how many times have you
had or overheard a conversation that goes like this:
You know, I am very unhappy because my career is going
nowhere.
Where do you want your career to go? Have you written down a
life goal for yourself? Have you worked out a strategy to reach
that goal?
Man!! Whats the use of doing all that? Theres so much
discrimination in society. It is only the smooth talkers who get
promoted. Sincere people (meaning me of course) are always left
behind.
In that case are you taking some action to enhance your
presentation and public speaking skills? After all what can be

55

better than a sincere fellow who can also present his ideas
powerfully?
Na!! Whats the use of that? I cant be a smooth talker. Its just
not me. See?
Yes, I do see. But perhaps not what you want me to see. What I
see if someone who likes to be miserable and revels in that
misery. I see someone who has no intention of solving his
problems because they give him so much pleasure. I see
someone who is looking for excuses and not solutions. So most
welcome to your problems. Please keep them. They are yours.
But delete me from your list of people whose shoulders you can
cry on. When you are ready to look for solutions, you are
welcome. But until then, Goodbye.
I am sure all of us have either had such a conversation with
ourselves when we faced a challenge or overheard such a
conversation where typically the focus of the individual seems to
be on all the ways their problem is insolvable. So every comment
or suggestion of yours is likely to be met with, Yes but!! or No
but!! These two phrases are the clearest indicators of someone
who is not interested in solving problems but is looking for ways
to maintain the status quo.
That is why I said that the first question to ask yourself when
you are faced with a problem is, Do I really want a solution to
this?
Now you may say that I am nit picking because obviously
everyone wants to solve problems, so what is the big deal about
asking an obvious question. The reality is that many people
unconsciously dont want to solve problems because
instinctively they realize that the solution will need effort, may
be risky and entail some pain. The familiar pain of the problem
is better than the unfamiliar and risky pain of the solution. It can
be statistically shown for example that many women actually
56

choose to remain in abusive relationships rather than walking out

or filing for divorce or even approaching a counselor for help.
Similarly people choose to remain in dead-end jobs but will not
make the effort to change their company or career. People will
talk about having their own business but will do nothing to
actually make that happen. And every time you ask them what
happened to their idea of starting their company they will tell
you all sorts of stories about the difficulty of getting finance and
how the current market is not favorable and so on. Fear of the
unknown is the biggest fear for many people and they choose to
remain with the pain. So we have the Yes but!! and No but!!
conversations.
Definitions influence solutions. But solutions dont come to
those who want excuses. An excuse focus seeks to legitimize
your current state and helps you to keep pretending that you are
helpless. It fools nobody but you. A solution focus faces the
reality that your life is in your own hands; that you are as
powerful as you want to be and that your problem, no matter
how big it may be, can be solved.
Sure, it will need grit, energy, focus, creativity, courage,
forbearance, consistency, strength, patience, vision, strategic
thinkingokay, so I will stop. You are scared once again? Let
me ask you, How would you like to be described as someone
who has grit, energy, focus, creativity, courage, forbearance,
consistency, strength, patience, vision, strategic thinking? Youd
love it?? Sure?? Then what do you think problem solving does?
Whether or not your actual problem is solved, you end up getting
all these things anyway. Now how about that? Still interested?
But remember, You have to be looking for solutions, not
excuses. That is the key.

57

58

Entitlement versus
Contribution
One issue that I have always advocated to anyone who wishes to
enter a different domain and demands representation is to first
prove their value in that domain. For example, workers demand
representation in management. Students demand representation
in
school/college
administration.
Minorities
demand
representation in various legislative bodies. Women demand
representation in various areas. Young scions of business
families demand entry to the Management Board.
Naturally there is resistance because this is a law of nature to
resist anything from outside. Just stand on an Indian railway
platform and watch the behavior of people trying to get into the
unreserved compartment (bogie, coach) and you will see this law
in action every single time. People inside try their best to prevent
those on the platform from getting in while those on the platform
question their right to do so in the choicest language that takes
into detailed account the ancestry of those who are already in the
compartment. In the melee as is inevitable some do manage to
get in. Naturally you would expect these champions of human
rights and opposers of oppression to help all those others who
also want to get in and with whom they shared sweat and tears
until a few minutes ago. But to your ultimate surprise you will
find that instead of doing that, they join the ranks of the
oppressors and do their best to prevent others from sharing their
new found place. To resist outsiders is natural to humankind.
The solution to this is for the outsider to show how including
them would benefit the insiders. When that happens, they are
welcomed with open arms. This follows another natural law
which is the supremacy of self-interest.

59

So I advocate that men, women or children who want to enter

new domains (councils of theologians, parliaments, advisory
councils and so on) for the moment, forget what your
entitlement is and look to see what your contribution is. Now
before everyone jumps on my head and flattens me to the earth
let me assure you that I have nothing against women. I love all
women, especially the pretty ones. But the fact remains that until
they show what they can contribute today, their entry into all
councils will be resisted. And all the strident screaming and
posturing will only harden stances.
Let me give you an example from elsewhere to show the power
of contribution. Take Rand Corporation and its reports on
various issues. Today these reports are consulted, taken very
seriously and are serious influencers of global policy. Ask why?
Because Rands reports are deeply researched and beautifully
presented. Now, did the decision makers of the world put out a
global tender first asking for someone to research and report to
them on all sorts of global issues? Did they promise to listen to
them? Did they promise to pay them? The answers are obvious.
Do global decision makers promise to do what a Rand report
suggests? They certainly dont. But take any issue and trace the
history and see what the Rand reports on that issue have
suggested and see what decisions were eventually taken and you
will see what I mean by the power of contribution. To this day
do you see Rand Corporation or its backers clamoring for space?
They dont need to because they have earned it. To them
entitlement means nothing. Influence means everything. And
influence comes from contribution not clamoring.
Similarly is the case with young scions of business families
carping that their fathers or uncles dont let them take decisions
and dont allow them to take charge of the business. I say to
them, Give them a reason why they should that is not genetic.
Your surname is not a guarantee of anything except your

60

bloodline. But bloodlines are as good for running businesses as

they are for flying planes. You need knowledge and experience
for both, not bloodlines. So do something to inspire confidence
in your parents and uncles and they will not only give you the
business, they will pester you to take it. But carping is easy
while proving your worth takes time, creativity, energy,
perseverance and grit. Reality however does not change because
we dont want to believe it and so the problem remains, no
matter how much anyone wants to carp. Solutions demand
action. Not complaining.
Human memory is short, so what counts, is what one does today
or did yesterday. The day before yesterday is too late. Talking
about the past contribution of people with whom we associate
because of our gender, religion, race, nationality and so on is
worthless. Just because Muslim scientists 300 years ago gave the
basic foundations of the scientific method of research and
major inventions in medicine, astronomy, navigation and so on,
does not mean that the world today must respect us Muslims
because of what those people did. Same logic applies to any
other grouping. If we want respect, we have to show what we
can do today. And we have to do that unasked, unpaid and
unapplauded until it becomes manifestly clear to all concerned,
what we have done and how they gained because of that.
Then we will be honored and invited in. Not before.
Final disclaimer (I have not been happily married for 26 years
for nothing): emotion has no place in decision making. If you
want influence you have to be objective, use your head and do
what needs to be done. By all means cry if you wish. But not in
public. Do it in the night before Allah. That is the correct place
for tears.
Instead of saying in effect, Include me first and I will show you
what I can do. Say, Here is what I can do. Now ask yourself
how can you possibly not include me?
61

In the first instance you are asking them to take the risk of
including you with no guarantee of any gain. And when you
encounter resistance the usual reactions only reinforce all the
fears, real and imaginary about the effect of including women
into the council.
On the other hand in the method that I have suggested, all you do
is to look for issues that are being discussed (this is in the public
space) and send in seriously researched papers about your
solutions to those issues. Take into account all potential
difficulties in implementation and suggest how your idea can be
implemented without any risk to those in power. And do all this
without demanding that you be thanked, acknowledged or that
you make the headlines. Just do it. And then do it again and
again until you build a reputation for adding value. Then a day
will come if you do it well, it will come within 12 months
when they will wait for you to speak before they decide. That is
the time when the doors will be opened and you will be invited
in.
Dont enter. Put conditions. Demand acknowledgement. And it
will be given.
Add value first. Entitlement will follow. Entitlement goes with
the territory. Contribution defines the territory.
Demanding entitlement when there is no territory to speak of or
demanding territory as a matter of right is the best way to ensure
that the process is delayed some more.
I hope someone will take heed and work in ways that are not
simply different manifestations of other senseless movements in
the West which earned nothing but a lot of amusement for
spectators. The lot of women is as hard and cruel as it always
was.

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63

In defense of YET
As they say, By the Law of Aerodynamics the Bumblebee
cannot fly. But Bumblebees dont know aerodynamics and so
they fly.
I believe that there is a word in the English language and its
equivalent in every other language which is a closely guarded
secret. It is my aim to blow the whistle on this secret because I
believe that the salvation for us as a people depends on it.
The word is YET.
Why am I making such a song and dance about this simple
word?
Let me demonstrate. Write a sentence describing and situation, a
state of being or a problem and then add the word YET to it. For
example take the Israeli problem in Palestine and say, There is
no solution to the Israeli problem in Palestine YET. Take the
issue of global warming and say, There is no solution to global
warming YET. Or take the problem with your mother in law
and say, I have not been able to make my mother in law love me
YET.
Do you see what happens? The whole perspective changes.
There is a BY perspective and an AY perspective Before YET
and After YET. The moment we add YET to the problem, we
open the doors to the solution. If there is no solution period
then there is nothing that I can do or be expected to do. There is
no solution and that is all that there is to it. We have to lump it,
get used to living with the problem for the rest of our lives and
so on. All equally hopeless scenarios. But the moment I add the
word YET the situation becomes dramatically different. YET
declares that the quest is not over. Far from it. We are looking
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for a solution. We will undoubtedly find it. We just havent

reached it yet but indeed we will. And we are working on that.
Now that is another world. And that is a world which is far better
than the hopeless, dead world of there is no solution.
So why dont we have this as our normal approach; our default
setting for problem solving? This is because the creators of the
problems dont want us to think in this way. They want us to
accept conventional wisdom so that the status quo will never be
questioned. The status quo helps them because believe you me,
there is always a group that benefits from the misery of others.
They dont want any change or anyone questioning what is going
on. But if we learn to question and if we learn to end our
sentences in YET we will open a new world where to question
will be a virtue. To question is indeed a virtue. All progress
depends on questioning; on not accepting status quo; on not
accepting that change is not possible.

65

66

What makes a Winner?

Before I begin on the three fundamental principles that make
winners, let me state one thing: In life, only winners are
rewarded. So the first requirement of winning is to be passionate
about winning. To realize that a real win is one that is gained
fairly, with integrity and without harming anyone. Only that is a
win.
There are three fundamental drivers of all winners:
1. Drive for excellence
2. Compassion
3. Desire to leave a legacy

Drive for excellence emerges from the winners self-concept. A

winner defines himself by his output. Her contribution is her
signature. Winners are contribution oriented, not entitlement
oriented. They constantly seek to give and to give more and
better each time. Naturally this gives them profit, fame, honor
and popularity but that is not why they do it. They do it because
of who they are. Not because of what others say about them. I
recall a carpenter who was making a table and asked me for 7
grades of sandpaper. When I complained about the time it would
take, he said to me, It is your choice. This is how I work. I want
whoever sees your table to ask you, Wow! Who made this?
Not, Who the hell made this? He was working for his own
satisfaction. That this would result in a satisfied customer was
incidental. He would have worked that way even if he had no
customer to sell to. The table he made for me was of teak wood,
polished to a mirror finish. A delight to see.

67

Compassion comes from a sense of connectedness that winners

have. They realize that they are not alone in the world and that
they became what they became because of what others did for
them, without thinking of a return. Compassion is not merely to
be concerned about the difficulties of others but to be concerned
enough to put our money and effort where our mouth is.
Compassion is what defines us as human beings. Animals dont
have compassion. A wildebeest herd stands and watches one of
its members being eaten by lions and do nothing to help the one
that was taken. It is peculiarly and essentially human to be
concerned for the welfare of others. Winners are concerned and
they act. Today our major problems that threaten the world are
because of a lack of concern, a lack of compassion for others.
We are singularly focused on growth at any cost. Growth for the
sake of growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell. Predatory
growth results in environmental destruction, impoverishment of
people for the enrichment of a few and increase in unrest and
insecurity.
Legacy: Finally winners who have lived all their lives trying to
create an impact on their environment dont want to disappear
beneath the waves without a trace. They like to leave a legacy of
goodness that continues after they are gone. So they build
organizations, systems and processes so that their work will
continue. They spend time, energy and resources to train others,
to teach them what they know, to share their lifes hard earned
experience so that others dont have to go through the same
hardships to learn. Winners leave their mark on the hearts and in
the lives of all those they touch. They dont do this to be
remembered but they are remembered because of what they did.
For the world remembers us not for what we had but for what we
did and how that helped them. The legacy of the winner is in the
smiles of those who they helped.

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69

Reading A lost habit?

Quick self-test:
1. What are the books you have read until now? Please list
them with the authors.
2. What are the books you read in the last 3 months?
3. How much TV do you watch daily? Can you write down
what you learnt from the TV program you watched last
night?
4. How many books do you own? Do you have a library?
5. Do you buy books regularly?
6. What kind of books do you read? What do you learn
from them? Can you list what you learnt? (Kind of
books you read is critical. Not simply reading to pass the
time from which we learn nothing.)
7. Are you allergic to reading? Do you take pride in the
fact that you cant read more than 2 pages?
Numerous surveys have shown that children of parents who own
libraries and who are habituated to reading tend to read more.
Children who see their parents reading like to read. Initially they
imitate the parents, they look at the pictures and later they get
interested in reading on their own. They are in a print-rich
environment, they hear conversation dealing with authors,
thoughts and ideas and this produces a desire to read and acquire
knowledge. Parents who want to encourage children to read have
libraries of their own and encourage children to acquire books.
They present them books, they praise reading, they encourage
them to build their own libraries and they take the children out to
70

bookstores and libraries as entertainment. They discuss what

they read with their children, they give a book that they have
been reading to their child and then talk about what the child
understood from it. Such parents have scholars as friends and
introduce their children to them and ensure that they spend a
significant amount of time in the company of scholars. They
encourage systematic learning, structured questioning and debate
and focus towards application in real life. All these are tools of
dealing with knowledge and understanding how to leverage it to
advantage.
TV watching is shown to be detrimental to reading because it is
addictive and the pace of presentation is pre-set and is not in
control of the viewer. Internet browsing is a little better but
unless one is systematically searching for information, one learns
very little. The best self-test is to sit with a pad and pen after
having watched a TV program and to try to write down what the
learning from that program was. Many people say, I only watch
Animal Planet or National Geographic. But try to talk to them
about global warming or ecology or environmental pollution or
any of the many subjects that are aired on these channels and you
will realize that they may as well have watched MTV or some
other mindless program for all the good it did them. Simply
sitting in front of the TV watching something potentially useful
does no good. Most people watch TV for entertainment, no
matter which program they watch. Not for learning anything.
And unlike in a book, the program is not there for you to replay
and check out what you missed. I am deliberately not speaking
about the vast, by far the majority of programs, which are purely
made to help one to give up ones irreplaceable life asset (time)
free of cost so that others can make some serious bucks. If you
dont know what I mean, ask, What is the definition of Prime
Time? Then check out what prime time TV advertising costs.
Why do people agree to pay that kind of money? Because you
are sitting there in front of your TV screen with your jaw

71

hanging open, oblivious of the fact that it is your time/life that

someone is using to make money for himself. I am also not
talking here about the huge potential to corrupt moral and social
values and the powerful force of social engineering that is at play
in TV programming. All we have to do is to look at ourselves,
our families, our cultures of which we used to be so proud and
our moral values to see the effect.
Finally I have encountered several people who almost take pride
in their ignorance and say, I am allergic to reading. I cant read
more than 2 pages at a time. It is strange for me to see how
instead of being ashamed and working to do something to
overcome this self-imposed impairment, they talk about it
proudly. Ignorance really has no bounds. It is such parents who
produce ignorant children who produce more ignorant children
and so on.
That is why when we talk about the world today being in the
Knowledge Age, I have to ask the question, So what am I
doing to gear myself to live in such a world? If I lived in a
Water World and I did not know how to swim, I would be
seriously frightened of drowning. The same analogy applies. If I
live in the Knowledge Age and I have no desire to acquire
knowledge, no tools to deal with information, no means of
understanding what to do with what I am reading or listening to,
then I am in serious danger of perishing.
Lastly let me point out that all of the above that I have said about
reading is really only the first step. Then comes understanding,
conceptualizing, strategizing, planning, executing and measuring
before one can actually see any results. But if one is unwilling
even to take the first step of reading, then how on earth is
anything else supposed to happen?

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73

Illiterate by Choice
Literacy is to language what driving is to cars. In my view the
single most significant event in human development is the
evolution of languages. It was this process that enabled human
beings to preserve their thoughts, teach others, learn from history
and talk to generations yet unborn. Language is the elixir of
eternal life. Or as close to it as we are likely to come. Literacy or
to be able to use language, reading and writing, is the key to this
world which essentially distinguishes and differentiates us from
animals. Literacy is therefore as fundamental to the human
condition and as essential as food, clothing and shelter. And in a
manner of speaking, even more essential than that.
When adults teach children to read and write, they are
transferring their very humanity and empowering their students
to access the collective wisdom and learning of the human race.
There is no greater service that one human being can do for
another than to teach him to read and write. Societies which are
unable or unwilling to teach their children to read and write are
impoverished and bankrupt in the most essential element of
wealth, knowledge. Without literacy the only door that opens
into the world of the future remains locked. The child stands
before it in mute testimony to the fact that those whose
responsibility it was to hand over the keys, failed to do so. There
is nothing more tragic than that.
In India today illiteracy is almost bequeathed to the child, thanks
to poverty of the parents and an almost non-existent primary &
secondary school system in the country. Primary & secondary
government schools which do exist are extremely poorly staffed
and resourced and the quality of education provided is abysmal.
For illiterate adults there is no place where they can go to even to
simply learn to read and write. Even a cursory journey through

74

the villages of India will show that there is a very large pool of
very bright children available. The tragedy however is that
thanks to a complete lack of support, they are simply allowed to
go to waste and instead of legitimately aiming for the stars they
spend their youth serving tea in wayside restaurants, or as
assistants to truck mechanics. We will never know how many
potential scientists, philosophers and intellectuals we have
already lost only because the rest of us dont care. If there is
something worse, far worse than genocide, it is not to care what
happens to our fellow citizens. Of this we are all guilty to some
extent.
More tragic than the one who cant read is the one who can
but wont.
If you were to compare the reading level, vocabulary and
comprehension of the children of city dwellers you would not
find much difference. This is even though economically many of
them are wealthy. If you go a little further and try to assess the
children of our Indian middle and upper class on perspective,
understanding of their role in life, historical perspective, ability
to appreciate prose and poetry, art and culture, knowledge of
philosophy, religion and cultures other than their own and
current events and what they mean; you may be even more
surprised. I wonder if I should take the very bold step of saying
that if instead of asking the children you asked the parents, you
may well be surprised to know that in many cases, they know
even less. So it is hardly surprising that we are propagating
ignorance and creating a generation of rather moronic people.
Try it and prove me wrong. I will be delighted.
Quick self-test: Ask yourself (or your child), Which books
have you read in the past 3 months which you did not HAVE to
read? By this I mean books that were not part of school-work
and so on. Then go a step further and ask, Can you name 5

75

books and their authors that have had a global impact? Then
ask, When do I plan to read them?
And if the answer is, I have no time, then forgive me for
asking you. I am sorry I asked the wrong person. After all it is
only those who direct the destinies of others who need
perspective. Slaves are like sheep. It is for the shepherd to lead
them to the pasture, the shearing shed or the abattoir. It is not the
sheep who has any say in the matter. For sheep only follow the
sheep who is walking ahead of them.
As always, the choice is ours to make because this life is ours to
live.

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77

7 Keys to Success
One of the hallmarks of our times is that thanks to
communication technology we have a glut of information.
Another is that we have a multitude of communication
instruments but we seem to have stopped communicating.
Similarly with a surfeit of information we now have a challenge,
understanding the reality and even more so, chalking out a path
of action that can lead to some positive results.
What I have tried to do is to conceptualize this into 7, steps
which are easy to follow and which I use myself to decide on
which issues I will tackle and which I will leave alone. That way
I am able to conserve my energy so that the things that I focus on
get the amount of time and attention they need in order to show
results.
The 7 - Steps are:
1. Eliminate the noise
2. Focus on what you control directly or can influence
3. Analyze objectively & face the brutal facts
4. Relentlessly measure results first your own
5. Empower people the doorman is also people
6. Share knowledge & teach implementation tools
7. Dont worry about who gets the credit
1. Eliminate the noise

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The first and foremost thing to do is to decide what to see and

what not to. We are faced with multiple media outputs all
clamoring for attention. If you give more attention to one then it
is at the expense of another. My solution is to create filters in the
system so that I am assured that I will only hear what is
important from my point of view. What I do is as follows:
I.

I dont read newspapers or watch news channels: If it is

important enough someone will always tell you about it.
Especially because today newspapers are more about
propaganda and less about news. They invent language,
twist facts and color events to make them seem the way
they want us to see them. I can and do make up my own
mind without encouragement from anyone else.

II.

I subscribe to two internet news consolidators: One

business, one political. They give me a gist of the
important happenings without any propaganda. Then I
sit back and ask myself some useful questions. Well
come to them later.

III.

Create filters to ensure you see good information.

Analyses of events, situations, trends, circumstances are
always useful. That way someone else does some of the
work for you. But be aware of the bias of the analyst.

IV.

Do unto others what you want them to do unto you: That

applies also to what you must not do. And the most
important of that is NOT forwarding emails mindlessly.
It all comes back and so dont do it. Delete all forwards
mercilessly and tell people to take you off their list for
mindless forwards.

V.

Remind yourself that:

a. Data is not information
b. Information is not knowledge

79

c. Knowledge is not wisdom

d. Wisdom is not power
VI.

The key in value addition means to un-randomize data

and make sense of it. The key phrase when faced with
information is to ask: So what?
a. Organized data is information
b. Leveraged information is knowledge
c. Conceptualized knowledge is wisdom
d. Applied wisdom gives power

VII.

An ounce of power is better than a ton of sterile wisdom

sitting in books and gathering dust in the murky
darkness of library shelves.

1. Focus on what you control directly or can influence

The key is to separate emotion from objective analysis. Emotion
is what drives us to action in the first place and so it is very
important. But unless we separate emotion from our thinking,
planning a clear strategy becomes almost impossible. I use four
operative questions for myself:
I. What is in my control and what is not?
We can only influence what we control in one way or
the other. So it is essential to clearly identify what
factors in a given situation are within our control and
which are not. Among those which are not within our
direct control may be some which we can indirectly
influence to get the desired outcome. We can take those
into consideration in our analysis. But factors that are
clearly out of our control must be discarded. For

80

example we probably cant influence national policy on

education but we can certainly educate one poor child.
II. How much do I care about this thing?
Given that most things need time, effort and money to
be done; I ask myself how much of each I am willing
and able to devote. In some cases it may not be
necessary or even possible to address all aspects of an
issue. So we can choose to address the one where we
believe we can create the maximum impact or where
we believe we are most suited to contribute.
III.

Whose support do I need?

Most goals that concern others need the involvement
of other people for their accomplishment. The key is to
decide who the critical people in this respect are. Not
everyone has the same priority. The prioritization must
be done strictly on the basis of what the individual can
contribute; not who they are. I have seen too many
initiatives go nowhere because the implementing body
was filled either with big names who had no time or
well-meaning people who were ineffective and had
neither the ability nor the resources to do what needed
to be done.

IV.

Decide what NOT to do

A very important step in this whole process is to
decide what NOT to do. This is a very deliberate step
involving consideration of all factors mentioned above
and consciously deciding what the things are that we
will not do. For example you may decide that you will
create a pressure group to work on government to
influence policy but you will not indulge in activism
on the street.

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2. Analyze objectively and face the brutal facts

Truly it has been said that the only one you can really fool is
yourself. Self-deception can be done both individually and
collectively by groups and nations. The fact is that reality does
not change because we refuse to recognize it.
There are four related steps in this process:

1. Have: Assess your assets and liabilities: What do you

have, what can you commit and what are the weaknesses
of yourself, your cause or your group?

2. Will:

Then decide on what of this you are willing and

able to contribute to the cause. Then decide on what the
shortfall is, if any and where you are going to fill it from.

3. How Much:

Then decide on the metrics to assess

your progress. This is often the most difficult as it is the
most painful part of the process. There is always a
tendency to whitewash the results or to make them look
less mean or bleak than they actually are.
There is a tendency to talk about all the hard work that
went into the task and then say, Well you see, after all
the results are not in our hands. This enables us to feel
good about failure. But it achieves nothing. I remember
a lecture on leadership that I attended at the IIT-Madras
by the famous tennis player, Vijay Amritraj. One of the
several insightful things that he said humorously was,
We Indians lose in sports because the British left their
attitude with us along with their language. When an
Indian or an Englishman win a match they shake hands
with the loser and say, Well done old chap! Better luck
next time. But when you lose to an American he says,

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You lost!!! So we need to be brutally frank with

ourselves and assess results without any pretentions.

4. What if: Lastly we need to anticipate the risks and make

contingency plans. One good way to do that is to
conceptualize scenarios and then look at what is in our
control and what is not and prepare for eventualities.

4. Relentlessly measure results starting with your own

What you measure you know
What you know you can control
What you control you can influence
What you can influence gives results
Needless to say this has the additional benefit of keeping you
focused on your goal all the time, since all measurement is in
relation to the goal.
5. Empower people
Remember that the doorman is also people. Empowerment is
an outcome of respect. Not respect for special people but for
everyone. Not a show of respect in terms of rituals or gestures,
but genuine respect demonstrated through practice.
Listening attentively is respect
Responding thoughtfully is respect
Disagreeing giving reasons is respect
Acknowledging contribution is respect
Being fair, frank, compassionate is respect
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 Sharing benefits is respect

6. Share knowledge and teach implementation tools
There are three main questions to answer in this aspect:
1. What do you know?
Do a knowledge audit to ascertain the extent of what you
know. What more do you need to find out? Where will
you get this information from? Many times people and
organizations are unable to use what they know because
they have no idea what they actually know. This is
especially true of on-going learning that individuals
acquire in the course of their work. This knowledge, even
though it is gained at the expense of the employer,
remains the personal property of the individual and leaves
with him, the employer never being the wiser. This is an
avoidable loss provided you are willing to create a
knowledge bank. The knowledge audit is the first step for
that. Then this knowledge must be made freely accessible
to everyone who is interested in it. You will be amazed
how many wonderful ideas come from people because
they read something that they would not otherwise have
had access to.
2. How much are you willing to share with others?
Sharing knowledge is the surest sign of confidence and
trust. By all means exercise discretion but do differentiate
between reasonable discretion and secretiveness. The
latter produces distrust and suspicion.
3. Do you have tools to implement what you know?
a. Finally what is to be done with what you know? How
will this impact all the constituents? How can the maximum
benefit be derived from this?
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Teach people the tools for implementing your solutions so

that they can do things on their own. Being indispensable
may seem nice as it gives the individual a feeling of power
but it is very dangerous for the cause to be dependent on
prima donna individuals for its success. The broader based
the competence the safer is the result.
7. Dont worry about who gets the credit
This is easier said than done of course. We all have the desire to
be recognized and appreciated. The key is to re-define what
appreciation and recognition mean to us. If appreciation merely
means that people must sing our praises then we may well
become blocks to the free practice of our ideas. People use best
what they consider their own. In that process they may well
forget the initiator. But the idea will be genuinely espoused and
implemented. If instead of wanting praise, we look to see who is
using our ideas and derive satisfaction from that, then we
become catalysts for the proliferation of our ideas. For me the
biggest satisfaction is to actually see someone use one of my
ideas and call it his own. That means that the idea no longer
needs me to support it and can exist on its own.
For the eagle the biggest satisfaction is to see its fledging soar on
his own wings, rising on the thermals and staying afloat
effortlessly. To know that I taught her how to do that is more
satisfying than any medal or material reward that I can get.

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86

Same chairs, Different bottoms

Once upon a time there was a beautiful land in which clear rivers
flowed through lush forests. Birds flocked to the trees which
were heavy with fruit until one was almost deafened by the
cacophony of their cries. And if one dared to walk under the
trees, then one needed an umbrella which quickly changed color
and became white with the spirited discharge of processed fruit
ensuing forth from enthusiastic birds. Of animals there were
plenty in this land but only the non-biting kind. All those that bit
had been muzzled and lived on a diet of liquid protein shakes
and Red Bull. So it appeared as if all was right with the world
and the sun was shining and rain was falling and there was
actually a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Never mind that
nobody had actually got to it yet. Good thing that, or there would
not be a pot at the end of the thing now, would there?
However the Wise Ones tell us never to be deceived by what we
see for there can be much under the surface that is not visible to
the naked eye. And that is how things were in this land as well.
There was much pain and suffering under the surface. The
reason for this was very simple. The land was enslaved. People
craved to be independent and free but they were enslaved.
There were two kinds of people in this land, the Fatty Bottoms
and the Bony Backsides. Fatty Bottoms, hereinafter to be
referred as FBs were the rulers. Bony Backsides were the
workers who lived only to serve the FBs. In due form we shall
refer to them henceforth as BBs. Fatty Bottoms sat on special
chairs which were specially shaped to fit their rather large situpons. FBs never left their chairs and when they had to go to a
party or indeed anywhere they forced the BBs to carry them
there, chair and all. This added to the suffering of the BBs
because not only were FBs heavy to carry, the movement
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disturbed the fluid balance in their bellies and they expressed

their feelings in an aromatic manner. The aroma unfortunately
had no competition except perhaps from Satilla the Skunk and
was not appreciated by the BBs who had to carry the FBs to their
parties.
Not unnaturally it was the greatest desire of the BBs to become
free of the oppressive Fatty Bottom rule. For this they schemed
and made many plans but never managed to succeed, because the
FBs had a law called Secret Code 420. This law had specially
and very cleverly been made to ensure that the FBs always
remained in power and the BBs could never become free.
It was a very interesting law because it was only one line.
Secret Code 420:
Whether any action is a crime or not depends on who does it,
not on what is done.
So if a BB protested against the oppression, for example, he was
called a rebel and jailed. If he took any direct action which the
FBs were frightened of, it was labeled terrorism and he was
hanged after first being tortured. If something happened and the
FB police couldnt find out who did it, they simply grabbed the
first BB they could lay their hands on and then beat him into a
state where he would willingly admit to anything including what
the birds did. Then once he had put it all in writing, he would
conveniently encounter a stray bullet while attempting to commit
mass murder of FBs and would be out of the race. This saved a
lot of time and energy of the entire legal system which was much
appreciated by all of FB-dom. What the BBs felt about the
sudden abridgement of their friends lifespan was neither here
nor there, because BBs feelings and opinions were of no
consequence anyway.

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As they lived in this land, the BBs always wondered what it was
that gave the FBs so much power. The Wise Ones told them that
the secret lay in the shape of their chairs. The chairs of the FBs
were carefully shaped with two very large cup-like depressions
to fit the two cheeks of the sit-upon with a little ridge in the
center to ensure that there was minimal lateral slide. The BBs
believed that it was these chairs and their shape that gave the
FBs their power to rule. Occasionally when an FB who had been
carried around for some time desired to commune with nature,
some of his BB chair carriers would try out the FBs chair for
size. Naturally this was a capital offence and any BB caught
sitting in an FB chair would have his head separated from his
body, but forbidden fruit is sweet and so BBs took the risk to sit
in the FB chair anyway. But the experience was disappointing.
The chair was intensely uncomfortable for a Bony Backsides
sit-upon. It poked them from all sides and they could neither fit
into one depression or the other. The central ridge was the worst
as it played havoc with all the delicate parts of the BB. How such
a devilish contraption was so comfortable for an FB, the BB
could never understand. Meanwhile here comes the FB master
and time to go on the road once again.
One day it came to pass that there arose among the BBs one who
was not afraid of the FBs. He carried a stick, wore eye glasses
and drank goats milk. He was called the Great One. The Great
One did great things which all the BBs marveled at and which
were a source of unending aggravation for the FB establishment.
For example, one day he walked to the sea and made salt to
prove that those who wanted salt in their food could very well
make it themselves and had no need to go to Wal-Mart to get it,
thank you very much. He spun thread on a spinning wheel and
made cloth and then wore it wrapped around his waist.
He never got around to making any more cloth as it took too
long and he had much to do and so never wore a shirt. Great One
had several companions among whom was one who always said
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that he had many miles to go before he slept. His name was

Ruby Red. It is not known who he was going to meet at the end
of that long road, but it was a good line to say and so he always
said it: Many miles to go before I sleep. It is said that the time
makes the man. And so it happened in this case.
The BBs with their leader, Great One- the guy with the stick,
followed by the guy going for a walk Ruby Red, managed to
raise enough of a revolution to make life difficult for the FBs.
Their war cry was, FBs go home and take your chairs with you.
BBs were convinced that until the FB chairs were destroyed and
removed from the land they would never be free.
How can you have a one-line law? someone asked.
How can an action be judged by who does it? demanded
another.
Right is right and wrong is wrong and never the twain shall
meet, said the third.
It is a conspiracy to keep us enslaved forever, said a fourth.
Such conversations have the power of a typhoon because they
open the mind and stir the heart. Gradually the noise built up
until it could be heard above the cacophony of the
aforementioned birds and then it grew some more and drowned
out the birds altogether. FBs GO HOME shouted the BBs. FBs
GO HOME.!!
Now wait a minute, you tell me. Did they not used to also say,
Take your chairs with you?
Hmm!! Clever you!! You are observant. Yes they used to. But
they shortened it. Why? Try shouting the whole mouthful as a
slogan and you will see why. So the last part about the chairs
was taken to be understood. After all once the FBs were gone,
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the horrible chairs would be demolished and burnt up because

they were so uncomfortable for the BBs to sit in anyway and the
law would be changed and everyone would live happily ever
after. QED.
So it came to pass, that in the middle of one night, the FBs left
and the BBs were free. There was much rejoicing and dancing in
the streets. Goats milk flowed like water and people spun
spinning wheels like mad. Great One was nowhere to be found
as he had apparently gone off now that he had some time, to see
where it was that Ruby Red was headed towards. Ruby Red on
the other hand took a right about turn and returned just in time to
bid the last FB a fond farewell and then since there was nothing
more to do, he sat down on the FBs chair to rest.
The next day Ruby Red gathered some of his friends together
and called the meeting to order and spoke thus. My friends, he
said. We have been given freedom at midnight. There is
nowhere to sit except these chairs and no law except the Secret
Code 420. I suggest that we all rest for a while and think about
this before we throw out this law. It is true that we did not like it
when we were at the receiving end but notice that today we are
not. The law served the FBs very well for 200 years. We have a
lot of time to change the law so let us not be in a hurry to change
it straight away. Meanwhile let us get used to sitting in these
horrible chairs, which believe it or not, since I have been sitting
in mine for a while now, is not as uncomfortable as it used to
be. All his friends agreed with this plan to put things on hold for
a while and get used to the chairs and let the old law continue.
Someone even asked where Great One had gotten too, but others
were not too interested and so the matter was dropped.
Time passed and those who were watching from the sidelines
noticed something strange. The bottoms of Ruby Red and his
cronies started to change shape. They became fat and round and
took the shape of the depressions in the chairs. Ruby Red and his
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cronies became very comfortable in their FB chairs; though they

were no longer called that. They had a new name; Singhasan.
So much so that they became very resentful if they were asked to
move and go anywhere. Why cant we get someone to carry
us? they demanded. Why not indeed? said Ruby Red. Let it
be done! he thundered and many compliant BBs ran to do his
bidding. Up rose his Singhasan on the shoulders of those who
had been accustomed to carry it for the FB who sat in it before
Ruby Red. And off he went, followed by his whole train of
friends, each on his own Singhasan carried on the shoulders of
its own bearers.
Some BBs resented this turn of events and shouted at Ruby Red
and his friends as they went by, We did not elect you so that
you could behave like the FBs. Another yelled, What is the
difference between you and the FBs? As this started to grow,
Ruby Red and his cronies became worried. They knew the power
of the word, for they had themselves used it to great advantage.
So they issued orders that anyone shouting against Ruby Red or
his cronies was being anti-national and should be arrested. After
all what was the difference between Ruby Red and the nation?
Had he and his friends not sacrificed so many other BBs in order
to get independence from the FBs? So naturally now, loyalty to
the Ruby Red Gang was loyalty to the Nation. And opposing the
Ruby Red Gang was treason. So the hunt started to ferret out the
traitors. If the actual person could not be found anyone else
could take his place. After all it was now a free country.
But shouting against the rulers was what you used to do, isnt
it? his wife asked Ruby Red.
Ah! But the ruler was different, you see, explained Ruby Red.
But you used to say that justice is not about the individual but
about the act. Just because you do something does not make it

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right, when the same thing was wrong when the FBs did it. Isnt
that how the law was in the time of the FBs? Whether any action
is a crime or not depends on who does it, not on what is done?
Today we are independent. We are free. Didnt you used to say
that the law was unjust and must be changed? she demanded.
Ah! smiled Ruby Red. You see, that is still the law. We never
actually changed it. Really quite convenient if you ask me. Suits
us just fine. After all we lived by it for 200 years, so whats so
different now?
You have changed, said his wife, in a disappointed tone.
Maybe, said Ruby Red. But the chair is the same. Miles to go
before I sleep, miles to go before I sleep.
So are we truly independent? she would not leave him in
peace?
That, said Ruby Red, depends on who is asking.

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94

Building a Winning Team

Extract from An Entrepreneurs Diary, Mirza Yawar Baig,

Finally a word about people skills; the ability to build and run
high performance teams. This is what spells the difference
between commercial success and failure. No matter how skilled
and talented an entrepreneur may be, no matter whether he has
the funding or not, in the end what decides his fate and that of
his organization is his ability to take people along with him. Who
is inspired by you? Who wants to work for you? Who is ready to
take a bullet for you? The members of the US Secret Service, the
elite force that guards the President of the United States are
trained to put themselves in the line of fire to save the life of the
President, if need be.
In 1993 a movie called Dave starring Kevin Kline and
Sigourney Weaver was released. The storyline of the movie was
about the affable owner of an employment agency who had an
uncanny resemblance to the U.S. President. He found himself
forced to replace the real President in an attempt by the White
House staff to avoid a potentially explosive scandal. In the
movie there was one scene where Dave, the Presidents double
has the following conversation with Duane the secret service
agent.
Dave: You know, Ive always wondered about you guys. You
know, about how youre trained to take a bullet for the
president?
Duane: What about it?
Dave: Is that really true? I mean, would you really let yourself
get killed to save his life?

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Duane: Certainly.
Dave: So now that means youd get killed for me too?
Duane did not answer this question immediately, but it was so
obvious that he felt its heaviness. Later on towards the end of the
movie when Duane discovers the real character of Dave he
finally answers the question: I would have taken a bullet for
you.
It is this ability to inspire followership that is critical.
I am very fortunate that there have been people in my life for
whom I would have taken the bullet and those who I know
would have done the same for me. That to me is the essence of
leadership that an entrepreneur must be able to provide. Ask
yourself, Who will take a bullet for me?
One of the finest teams I ever built was the one I had when I was
the Manager of New Ambadi Estates in Kanyakumari, the
southern tip of India. I have written in detail about that in my
book, Hills of the Elephants, but would like to share an extract
here about that team.
Reflecting on what went into building that team I can identify 6
factors:
1. Mutual Respect
We treated each other with respect. That may sound like a small
or an obvious thing, but respect is not merely seen in how you
address each other, but in whether you trust one another to do
what is promised and if you deliver on that promise when it is
your turn. We never laughed at one another, we did not talk
behind each others backs and we delivered on promises. A
respectful atmosphere makes for comfort and people like to work
together with those who respect them. This does not mean we
did not have fun. We did. Lots of it. It just means that we took
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our work seriously. It means that we did not need to watch our
backs because we knew that one of the others was doing that for
us. So we were free to concentrate on our own task.
2. Build a common history
I love trekking and so did my assistants in Ambadi. So we used
to go on treks together. On two occasions we did the big one;
Arun, Roshan and I, climbed up from the plains of Kanyakumari
to the top of the ridge of the Western Ghats to Manjolai Estate
(4000 feet), much to the surprise of our friends who lived there.
One day we walked into the Club and discovered that (Ricky) M.
C. Muthanna who was the General Manager and a personal
friend was visiting. They were all at a lunch party in their club
and were amazed when we walked in. When Ricky heard that we
had climbed the Ghat all the way from the plains he was very
impressed and happy, as he was a very outdoors person himself
and everyone there got a lecture on the importance of doing such
things. We got a lovely lunch in the bargain.
There are many benefits of these shared experiences which are
different from merely having a party. On a trek, you get to see
the behavior of each other; who leads, how they lead, do they
help, do they simply forge ahead and leave the others behind in
order to show their own fitness or strength, do they show
concern for others, do they volunteer for responsibility or try to
dodge it, do they build and live up to trust, how it feels to be
cared for by others and how it feels to take care of others and so
on. There is nothing like travel together to test the mettle of a
companion and to build bonds. Climbing also underlines the
whole message of great effort and the resultant gains, better than
anything else that I know. This climb in particular did that with
great power.
Kanyakumari is a hot place. So even if you start out very early,
which we did, it soon gets very hot and sultry. During the initial
stages you are in some shade as you climb through the forested
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foothills, but very soon you come out onto the mountainside and
then it is bare all the way to the top. As you walk there are
nettles and grass with sharp leaf edges and thorny bushes that
you have to cut through or find a way around. The going is slow
and it is up at a sharp angle all the way.
So you are constantly climbing and the sun is looking down on
your insane activity with great glee. The result is that very soon
you are bathed in sweat and your leg muscles start to ache. But
you keep climbing as you have a deadline to meet. You dont
take breaks because the more breaks you take, the tougher it
becomes. You dont drink water because it gives you a stomach
ache. You keep climbing. All talk stops after a while. It just
takes too much energy and nothing is that important or urgent
that it must be said. You keep climbing.
Then a small breeze blows. The sweat becomes a blessing as it
cools you down. The feel of the breeze on your face and the back
of your neck is heavenly. As you continue to climb, your arms
and legs are scratched (like all good planters we wore shorts) and
the sweat dripping in the small cuts and abrasions, stings. Your
legs ache. Your back more than your legs. You are seriously
questioning your sanity in undertaking the task and then you
reach the halfway point. There you stop for a breather, drink
some water and look back at the climb that you have done and
what do you see?
The mountain rising out of the forest, far below you with the
green blanket of vegetation around its shoulders. The patchwork
quilt of rice paddies in multiple shades of green spread at the feet
of the mountain like a carpet that its standing on. Patches of
blue water; tanks and lakes that dot the landscape of
Kanyakumari. And in the distance, the Indian Ocean. You look
up and the mountain still towers over you but it no longer looks
so intimidating. You breathe in the cool breeze. The sun is much
kinder at this elevation and so it is much cooler than it was when

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you began. You take a deep breath and start climbing once again
with new energy.
3. Celebrate Success
Very often it is the failures which get the most attention. Nothing
wrong with that. One needs to learn from failure. But one needs
to and can learn from success as well. We celebrated successes
not simply by partying but by also asking some clear questions:
What did we do right? How did we take those decisions; were
they active choices or lucky accidents? What could we have
done differently? What is the best thing about this win? How can
we leverage that? We gathered data and insisted that all our
conclusions must be backed by clear data. We ensured that we
were not simply telling stories to please ourselves and that what
we thought of as the reasons we succeeded were actually
measurable facts. While we partied we also talked about these
things. One part of celebration was also that I ensured that
whoever on my team had done something critical to success got
the limelight. This built credibility and inspired further effort.
4. Be completely candid
This is a very critical principle of team building; as much
openness, transparency and candid communication as possible.
Say it like it is. No beating about the bush. No mincing words.
No false pretences at politeness. If something is great, say it. If
someone is fooling around, say it equally frankly and clearly, not
behind his back but to his face.
I used the same policy of candid communication with the unions
in Ambadi, which initially they found disconcerting but later
accepted and appreciated. One of them said to me, We dont
always agree with you but we always know where we stand. I
have had many people say this to me in different situations and I
feel good about that. Teams also like leaders who they dont
have to second guess. So tell it like it is. The key thing of course
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is to be willing to listen to others telling it like it is to you. Now

that is more easily said than done, but if you dont shut up and
listen and instead start justifying your stance or actions and
becoming defensive then you will destroy your own credibility
and damage all the good work you did building transparency.
5. Allow, even encourage genuine mistakes
I managed to convince my team of the importance of making
mistakes. I remember the looks of puzzled surprise at this term
when I first mentioned it. Their experience until then was that
mistakes were things you tried to avoid. If ever you did make
one you tried to hide it or to blame it on someone else. And
eventually if all else failed you resigned yourself to bearing
whatever punishment that mistake attracted. But here was Mr.
Baig, saying that it was actually important to make mistakes.
Obviously this was a trap. So do what all sensible people do:
silently wait and watch. For my part, once I had announced the
importance of making mistakes I watched for the first person
who made a mistake. Naturally everyone being human, it
happened sooner or later.
Then I called the person and told him to give me a written
statement of what happened, why he believed it happened and
what must be done to prevent that particular thing from ever
happening again. This statement was then discussed in the next
weekly staff meeting and others added their ideas to it. It was
treated as a regular case study. Not as something bad that one of
them had done. Then once the lessons were clear to all, the
matter was closed. Nothing more to be done on the issue, except
that I would silently monitor it and the individual for a while to
ensure compliance with whatever had been agreed.
No punishment. Not even a verbal reprimand. Actually if the
analysis was particularly well done and the solution was a good
one, the maker of the mistake would be applauded. Sometimes I
would pull his leg and ask him what he had done with all this
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intelligence at the time of making the mistake. Or I would say

something like, Thanks very much for teaching us this lesson.
The person would look a little sheepish but that was all. The
lesson would have been learnt and not only by the one who did
the action but by everyone. So the learning was actually very
cheap as the same mistake need not be done multiple times for
others to learn. The only caveat was that you could not repeat a
mistake. If that happened then there would be a reprimand,
because it meant that you had not learnt from the previous
mistake. And that was not acceptable.
As time passed people started seeing for themselves that making
a mistake was not necessarily bad, as long as it was a genuine
mistake and not a deliberate misdemeanor, and as long as you
could demonstrate your learning and create a system where it
would not be repeated, there was no pain associated with the
learning. People then rapidly became risk takers. I encouraged
other good practices like writing down a plan of action before
you actually take action so that if something goes wrong you
know exactly what happened and are not trying to recall what
you had done or intended to do. Prior planning as well as
documentation encourages deeper thought and reflection which
can only be beneficial. To ensure that we did not get bogged
down by too many planners, I made a rule that you had to put a
deadline to everything.
So any time anyone submitted a plan we asked for a deadline.
We also made the weekly meeting, the place to initiate all these
actions. The idea being that before you went and launched off
something you brought it before an assembly of peers who
helped you to evaluate your plan. This also ensured more rigor in
the whole exercise because people knew that if they submitted
something that was half-baked it would be pulled apart in the
meeting.

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My role in all these meetings was mostly to listen and watch and
sometimes to ask questions. Once people grew comfortable with
speaking before others and asking and answering questions there
was no holding them back. Sometimes I had difficulty getting
my own point across; there would be so much participation. I
was very happy to see all this enthusiasm. When your
subordinates start to override your ideas and challenge your
conclusions and give you measured responses, you can be sure
that leadership is developing.
It is when you get too much agreement that you need to worry.
Too much agreement and too little conflict are often signs that
people are coasting along and there is a shortfall of commitment.
One of the most reliable signs of commitment is conflict.
Unfortunately many leaders fear conflict and go to great lengths
to suppress it instead of encouraging it and channeling it so that
really positive results can ensue. That is why it is important to
understand that conflict resolution and conflict management are
not the same thing. Conflicts, if managed properly resolve
themselves and in the process yield very valuable learnings.
Another process that started happening was that individuals who
intended to present something at the staff meeting would do a
little pre-show to some of their colleagues who had some
specialized knowledge. For example they would run some of the
numbers by the accountant to make sure they had done their
sums right. I encouraged all this informal communication and
collaboration because it is a wonderful team building process.
The whole essence of team building is to help people see how
they need one another in order to succeed. And so when this
started happening I knew we were on the right track.
Having said all of the above let me also say that the most
difficult part for a high energy, action oriented person like me,
was to sit in silence and see a mistake happen. All because you
want to turn it into a learning situation. But there is no

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alternative to this patience. Naturally one does not need to selfdestruct in the process and it is possible to contain the magnitude
of the mistakes so that the learning takes place but not at a huge
cost. However the crux of the matter is that you need to allow the
subordinate to make the mistake and then guide the learning.
This anxiety is compensated by the pleasure of seeing fewer and
fewer mistakes happen over time as people get more and more
proficient in their roles.
The practice of sharing learnings and Best Practices ensures that
the learning gets maximum leverage. Also people are not
ashamed or afraid of making mistakes as they know that there is
no punishment provided they use their heads and can share their
learning. Further because of this people generally exercise more
care and the number of mistakes decreases.
The biggest benefit is the exposure and appreciation that people
get when they share their learnings and best practices and have a
platform to talk about their gains. They also get some ribbing
and leg pulling which serves to make the point about being more
careful in the future and the humor in it softens the pain of
learning and builds relationships among team members. Finally
this encourages them to share information and creates
organizational learning as distinct from individual learning. In
my view this one benefit, is worth more than anything else.
6. Continuously develop people
As mentioned earlier entrepreneurs are usually so engrossed in
the here & now that they ignore the future until it is either too
late or until it becomes a problem. For most, succession is a
mystery which is solved by doing nothing and letting biology
take its course. Their children enter the business at the level of
Directors without having had the benefit of learning the business
from the ground up with predictable results. Many treat the
business like a candy store whose responsibility is to keep them

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supplied with candy; their focus on consumption instead of

contribution.
They look only at what they can get out of the business instead
of what they need to do to grow the business. Predictably this
results in the business being broken up to everyones detriment.
All because the founder did nothing to develop his successors.
What amazes me is how many times this story is repeated all
over the world. We dont seem to learn from experience at all,
neither our own nor anyone elses.
Today (2010/11) we are in a situation where it is
entrepreneurship especially the establishment and flourishing of
small and medium businesses which will signal our recovery
from global financial collapse.
It is all the more reason to think seriously about these matters.

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105

The Entrepreneurs Rules of

Success
I have formulated 6 rules which I call Davids rules. These are
for anyone facing the big one the big apparently
insurmountable challenge which the whole world tells you to run
away from. But you are among those who are uniquely deaf to
the advice of those who are too frightened to think straight. You
are among those to whom personal safety is not Goal # 1 in life.
You are among those who recognize that everything has a price
and that if you want to achieve great things, you have to be
prepared to pay the price they demand. Its not that you dont
recognize the danger. To recognize danger is a sign of
intelligence and you are no fool. It is that you are willing to take
the risk for the reward. So you ignore the advice and step
forward.
Davids Rules
Rule # 1 Take the first step forward
Unless you take the first step forward, nothing will
happen.
Once you take the first step, the universe conspires to
make you succeed.
It is safer to stay in the ranks and do nothing but it is
only the General who gets to call the shots. And
Generals dont stand in the ranks.
The choice is yours and every choice has a price. You
pay, you get.
Rule # 2 Confound Goliath

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Goliath does not make the rules so that you can win.

If you play by Goliaths rules, Goliath will win every

time.

Understand the rules then break them.

Make your own rules & play by them.

Rule # 3 Only effort produces results

Talent is what you are given; what you are born with.
Effort is what you make. Effort supports talent. The best
talent is nothing without effort.
In the end it is the effort that brings the results, not the
talent if there is no effort.
So dont ask, What talent do I have? Ask, What effort
am I making?
David made effort using his unique talent. The rest is
history.
Rule # 4 Strength always overcomes weakness
Play to your strength because you can do that best.
David was a shepherd so he used a slingshot.
Dont be overawed by competition, because the winning
post is only at the end of the race.
In the end, it is not the weapon but whether it scored,
that counts.
Rule # 5 Never compromise your legacy
Stay focused no matter what the distractions.

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 Remember, winning is all that counts..and how you

win is a part of that.
Winning without honor is to lose in the worst way.
Nobility is a factor of How not of What. Glory is
only for the noble.
Rule # 6 Thank People
Be thankful to all those who helped you.
It is true that you owe your success to your own effort
but some of it was made standing on the shoulders of
others. And even if you forgot that, they wont.
Thanks builds bridges; for you never know when you
will need one to cross.
Thank people because every ending is a new beginning.
I believe very passionately and firmly in the fact that in the end,
it is quality that scores over everything else. I know that every
entrepreneur worth the name shares this belief with me. I have
met many along the way who cut corners, pretended to be what
they were not and compromised quality for short term gain. Most
of them no longer exist. Those who do, live with a reputation
that constantly sabotages their effort.
I believe that all that we do or choose not to do defines our brand
and reflects our character. Therefore all initiatives and effort
must be measured against this standard to see if it stands up to
the mark. Compromising standards and values for gains is a very
expensive bargain and adds no value at all. Indeed the most
profitable way to run a business is to work to the highest
standards and become the standard bearer in the industry against
which others measure themselves.

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Then you can claim a premium where your competitors are busy
competing on price.
Buy from me because I am cheap, is a slogan I never liked.
Entrepreneurs Tools for Survival and Sustenance
1. Prayer
I discovered the power of prayer. Of asking the One who has the
power for His help. Prayer gave me (and continues to do so) a
chance to have a private conversation and to ask my Creator for
what I needed. He knew what that was better than I did, but
being able to ask and knowing that He listens and helps gave me
the strength that I needed. There is an enormous sense of peace
in standing in the night in prayer after having done all that is in
ones power, asking for those decisions to be sent down without
which all ones effort will bear no fruit. I am aware of the same
sense of communion that the farmer feels when he has tilled the
land, made the furrows, spread the fertilizer, sowed the seeds and
then looks towards the heavens and raises his hands asking for
rain, without which all his effort will be in vain. Yet when he
raises his hands, there is no fear in his heart, only hope. And
there is a smile on his face. For he is looking for the clouds to
come once again, bearing rain as they have done again and again
in his life. So also as I stood, I remembered all the times that I
had been guided, gently away from what I wanted, to what was
good for me though I had not realized it at that time. I was aware
that my Creator knows, He cares and He has the power to do
what it takes. I was content in the fact that I had done my part
and made all the effort that I could. Now I stood to ask for His
help, confident that He would do what was good for me, even if
it meant that in a given situation I would not get what I wanted.
My lifes experience told me that every time that happened I was
given something better. Prayer gave me strength in the dark
silence of the night which otherwise is the home of fear and
confusion.
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2. Discipline and Routine

Anxiety creates disorder and disorder enhances fear. A vicious
circle that debilitates energy and invites despair. So the first
thing to ensure is that you have a routine and to stick to it with
dogged discipline. I had (and continue to have) fixed times to
wake up, sleep, eat and for all major activities including reading,
writing and the gym. A timetable creates order and predictability
in a life that is suddenly devoid of the usual office routine.
Working from home can create lack of discipline that
masquerades as freedom. This is very dangerous. I used to dress
for work, even though I was going into the next room to do it.
Structure is the most powerful aid to fight anxiety.
3. Physical Fitness
Adrenalin is the best natural energizer. And you get a lot of it on
the treadmill provided you sweat enough. The gym became an
absolutely fixed part of my day. I would go to the gym at midday because I was relatively free then. But on the days when I
was teaching, I would go to the gym after work, which
sometimes meant at 10 in the night. One thing for sure; I would
not go to bed unless I had gone to the gym for my daily
adrenaline fix. Exercise is both a physical and psychological
booster and I benefited hugely. Another thing, at least in my
case, I think better when I am walking. So when I have some
complex problem to work on, I go for a walk. By the time I have
walked a few miles, I would have worked it out and it becomes
clear. Whatever be the physiological reasons for this, I know it
works for me. Try it out.
4. Financial Discipline
The best thing about being poor is that you learn to prioritize.
Prioritizing is not always painless. Sometimes it is very painful
when you have to choose against something you really would
have loved to have. But you learn to choose based on what is
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important and what gives a return. You also learn to be very

careful with what you have and to see how you can make your
rupee/dollar do the most it can in more than one way. Waste
becomes a synonym for death and re-cycling the norm. You
learn to depend on other things than the brand of shirt or watch
you wear as indicators of your status or worth. You learn to
make all your resources count sometimes several times before
they are used up. You learn the importance of planning and
information because it helps you to save. The mountain men of
the American frontier were crack shots with the long rifle
because they were very poor and had to learn how to make every
bullet count. They simply could not afford a wasted shot. For us
in Bangalore, there were some months in the first year when I
did not know if we would have enough money to pay the rent.
But the Grace of God ensured that we never defaulted. Tight
financial control, prioritizing and planning are all learnings; the
benefits of hard times.
5. Self Development
This is a very tough one but in my view it is the single most
powerful differentiator what do you invest in your own
professional development? Talking of investing in learning
without any guarantee that it will ever yield a return, when there
isnt enough money to put food on the table, sounds ridiculous.
That is the reason many people subscribe to this thought in
principle but do nothing about it in practice. That is a very
expensive bargain. I would identify a training course that I
wanted to take and then save up for it month by month. Then I
would take the time off (which for the entrepreneur has a cost
value) to take the course. I set myself a target that I would do at
least one course every year, preferably a certification course.
After some years, I ran out of certifications that I wanted to take
but the annual course routine continues. The benefit of all this
was that this strategy gave me a clear edge over my competitors
which I never lost. My clients got used to seeing my resume

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change every year with additional certifications, papers, articles,

books. Not that they necessarily gave me business in the new
areas but the thought that they were hiring someone who was
focused on his own development was a big differentiator in my
favor when they were comparing consultants.

Another thing which I did in this line of self-development was to

write and publish. Every year on an average I write more than 15
papers, 40-50 articles and every two years I publish a book.
Writing is the single most powerful tool to develop thinking
ability, which in my line is the soul of business. The ability to
think clearly and strategically is always helpful no matter what
business you are in, yet it is something that most people only do
accidentally. Writing helps to structure thought, it forces you to
express it in the clearest way and it helps you to put yourself in
your readers mind. Writing also gives you credibility like
nothing else. We have a respect for the written word and those
who write and if you can write well (anyone can write well if
they try) then you will find that you add value to yourself as well
as to your image while clarifying issues in your own mind.
Writing also gives you exposure in the best possible way and
your name becomes known widely. Writing gives you both
visibility and credibility; a big advantage. These are my tools. I
hope they will help you as they helped me. If they do, pass them
on.
One final word: I want to underline the importance of
conceptualization. The reality of life is that raw experience
teaches us nothing. What we do with it, is what matters. What
we dont conceptualize we dont learn. Just being alive is not a
condition for the acquisition of wisdom. It is how we live, what
we do with what life presents to us, how we change ourselves
and how we teach; these are what make us wise. But to do
anything at all with raw experience we have to take time out and

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go off into a quiet place physically and in our minds and reflect
on what happened.
We need to do that reflection objectively even mercilessly and
ask the question, So what did I learn? Sometimes the learning
may be painful but it is the only way to avoid further pain. It is
the only way to make amends and control any damage that our
action or the lack of it may have done. Sometimes in the process
of conceptualizing one needs outside help; an objective listener
who can give feedback and help to draw the lessons that we need
to learn. It is only such learning which is useful and which can
be related onwards to others. But for all this we need to allocate
time and as I said, develop the ability to go off into the quiet
place in our mind.
I have always been very conscious of the need for this and build
this time-out into my annual routine. I consider it an
investment in myself and benefit from it hugely so I take it very
seriously and dont grudge the cost that is often involved.
Now hold on a minute; reflection time does not always have to
mean climbing mountains or secluding yourself in a log cabin in
the middle of nowhere. It can be done very adequately and at no
cost on your daily commute, provided of course that you are not
enslaved to the car radio or your iPod or whatever. Whatever
else you do, you need to eliminate noise and invite silence if you
want to achieve anything in this line.
I am one of the most connected people in the world and have
always been keenly aware of the edge that connectivity gives
you. Yet when I am away on these retreats, I shut down totally
except for emergencies. Ive worked very hard to be in touch
with myself and to listen to my inner voice; to be at peace with
myself without the need for some noise or the other constantly
intruding into my mind. This stillness is not to be confused
with lethargy or boredom.

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This is the stillness of the hunting leopard which is crouched in

the grass just before the final assault. She appears to be carved in
stone. Not a muscle twitches; you cant even see the rise and fall
of her chest as she breathes. Her every sinew is taut to its
maximum torque, waiting to be released in the explosion of
speed that will catapult her onto her prey before it can properly
register whats happening. She is totally still, totally focused,
totally aware of everything around her and everything inside her.
This is the moment of highest awareness that one can get, the
moment before the leap. That is stillness.
One of the reasons why many people today cant get past first
base when it comes to conceptualizing is because they are unable
to focus onto something long enough. It is supposed to be a
characteristic of the present generation which in the US is called
The Millennials. I say, Most welcome, because it will be so
easy to compete against people who can only give partial
attention to anything. But for the world that is dangerous as it is
distracting. Imagine being led into the new world by people who
are only partially tuned in. I think people today are afraid to
think and reflect and therefore seek refuge in endless activity.
Without depth or breath of knowledge how can anything of value
emerge, I wonder. Strangely even the protests that we see today
have no depth, no ideological underpinnings. They are like
adolescents throwing tantrums because someone did not give
them their toy. That is why they are easily satisfied with the
immediate, even when it is abundantly clear that it is coming at
the expense of their own future. Most young people read nothing
or very little, other than their course syllabus.
Almost nobody reads the classics. Almost nobody reads or
quotes poetry. Conversation is a badly linked chain of
monosyllabic grunts, words which say something but are
supposed to mean the opposite (very bad means very good,
believe it or not) and an endless repetition of non-words to
describe every conceivable situation and experience. Words

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reflect thought and depth of intellect. But for this generation a

vocabulary of 50 words seems to do very well, thank you very
much. It is as if all the enormous effort of human thought and
civilization has been suspended in limbo perhaps to be read by
those who come to pick up the pieces and then wonder how
people who knew so much could have done this to themselves.
Nothing that I know which is worth achieving can be achieved
with partial attention. Excellence demands total attention and
focus. It is focus that gives ordinary light the cutting power of
the laser. Without dedication and focus nothing worthwhile can
be achieved especially in a world that constantly raises the bar of
success all the time.
It is impossible to think seriously and consider things in a
structured framework seeking beneficial conclusions, if you have
some noisemaking instrument plugged into your ear all the time.
This is the downside of technology today which is the trap that
some of us fall into and are unable to control. So our minds are
taken over by the disc jockey, talk show host, news reader,
propaganda artist or advertiser to be molded at will and steered
into channels of their choice, to think the thoughts they want us
to think and come to the conclusions they want us to come to,
irrespective of whether or not such conclusions benefit or harm
us.
I think best in the open, in the middle of nature and when I am
engaged in some physical activity, so I go trekking or to a
wildlife sanctuary or mountain climbing where I spend part of
the day in the activity and the rest in reflecting on my life, sitting
beside a free standing, self-powered, self-propagating, shade
giving, oxygen generator which we so easily chop down to make
still more toilet paper. If you still did not recognize the
description, try the word, Tree. In the nights I read books that I
take with me after careful consideration. I have always read two
or three books simultaneously and enjoy holding their various
themes in my head simultaneously. The mind, like the body,

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improves with exercise and considering different concepts,

sometimes divergent ones is an excellent way to challenge
yourself. Reading has always been and continues to be a
significant and hugely beneficial activity in my life on which I
spend substantial time, energy and money.
This reflection is not a random activity leading to sleep. It is a
structured pre-planned activity that I do as follows. Before I go
off on these retreats, I ask myself some questions:
1. In the last period (since the last retreat) what were my best &
worst experiences?
2. What are the lessons that I am hoping to learn from them?
3. What are the most difficult potential blocks to this learning
that I can foresee?
Then when I have finished my climb to the top of the hill, I pour
myself a hot cup of tea and reflect on each incident/situation and
jot down my thoughts as they occur. Once the thoughts have
dried up I then read what I wrote and analyze to see what I can
learn. All this needs discipline and practice but can be easily
learnt and is a huge benefit.
Especially to top it all is the fact that sitting on a hilltop watching
the sun setting on the horizon, with a forest and all its sounds at
your feet is just about the most enjoyable way that I know of
spending an afternoon.

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117

Football So what did I

learn?
I have a habit of asking, So what did I learn? with everything
that I do or experience. Cant say that I actually followed the
World Cup in South Africa, much to the disgust of most of my
friends who are keen on football but I still thought Id share
some thoughts on what I learnt, nevertheless. I have used he for
convenience alone. Please read it as he or she.
I learnt four lessons:
1. Focus on the goal
I remember once while I was in school in grade 6, kicking the
ball into our own goal and everyone else remembered that ever
since. Redundant though this statement may seem (Focus on the
goal? So what else is new eh!) it is surprising how many of us
work without any clarity about what the end result should be or
what we would like it to be. Just ask how many people have a
written down life goal. They may well the desire to achieve
something but rare it is that a person actually sits down to
visualize what that means and writes it down as a goal. That is
why though everyone wants to succeed, not everyone manages to
do so. Success has a price and one must be clear about what
investment his own goal requires. Without that when we come to
the checkout and have to pay for the purchase we realize that we
dont have the money and we have to put the article back on the
shelf. I give this analogy because it illustrates what happens in
life, all too often only because we are not clear about what
exactly we want to achieve and what it will take to do it.
It is essential before we begin any task to be clear about the end
result that we want to achieve; what the consequences of our

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actions are likely to be including the unintended ones and what

options we may have other than the course of action that we may
have chosen to adopt. The last one is important also because it is
natural to like ones own ideas above others (sometimes to the
exclusion of everything else) but this liking can sometimes lead
to trouble especially if one ignores contradictory information.
Many people are very reluctant to listen to the dissenting opinion
and ignore negative data to their own peril. Remember, it is
better to listen than to fail.
Focus on the goal is important because it is only scoring the goal
that counts. A team can hardly go to the referee and ask to be
declared the winners because they tried so hard or because they
intended to win or for any other reason. It is the number of goals
scored which is the only criterion to decide the winner. All our
effort in the end must be judged on the basis of whether or not it
helped us to score the goal. If it did, then it was good effort.
If not, it failed. Naturally all these efforts have to be within the
framework of the Rules of the Game and so our focus on the
goal must take into account the rules. I dont mention the
importance of following rules because breaking the rules
automatically disqualifies you and throws you out of the game.
To follow rules is one of those self-evident truths which need no
elaboration.
Means are important because without the right means scoring the
goal has no value. A win by dishonest means is a loss far more
harmful and shameful than merely losing a match. A medal can
be bought in a shop but has no value unless it is won in the field
as a result of great and honorable effort. So it is not merely the
end but the means by which that end is achieved which are both
equally important.
2. Develop the skills to win

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The second lesson I learnt is the importance of skill; the right

skills to play the game so that we can win. Winning is a matter
of skill. The achievement of the vision; the scoring of the goal
depends not only on trying hard but on having the necessary
skills to win. On working smart more than merely working hard.
On having a strategy that is superior to that of the opposing team
and on talents honed and sharpened with tools to implement that
strategy at a level of excellence which will leave the other team
standing.
Developing skills is a matter of hard work and discipline because
to acquire skills at an expert level is never easy. Developing
skills means the hard work to get up every morning to run the
laps of the track no matter how tired one may be. It means the
discipline of sleeping early so that one is not tired in the
morning. It means developing some key attitudes. Curiosity that
leads to reading and research to acquire knowledge. Humility
that enables us to listen and accept feedback even if that is
sometimes painful. Observation so that we can watch what
others do and learn from their experience. Structured thinking so
that we can extract concepts from all the information that we
have collected. Conceptual ability is absolutely critical to
learning. What we cant conceptualize we dont learn even
though we may have lived through the pain of the experience.
Raw experience is the material from which learning must be
extracted. That process is called conceptualization without which
there is no learning. That is why wisdom is not a factor of
lifespan but of thought. A person does not have to be old to be
wise nor are all old people automatically wise. Reflection,
introspection and deductive reasoning are all essential to
conceptualization so that learning happens. It is only when a
person learns that the experience acquires value. Thats why they
say, Experience is not what happens to you but what you do
with what happens to you. Thats the differentiator.
3. Learn to cooperate with others

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Nobody can score alone. At least not consistently and

consistence is the secret of winning. The lesson I learnt from
winning teams is that they played as teams; not as groups of
skilled individuals each playing his own game. They were a team
playing one game, all together. We have abundant evidence from
all sorts of games and teams about what happens when there is a
team that has not gelled; has not really become a team except
in name. On the other hand a team which does not have so many
stars but which cooperates and passes the ball to the one
positioned the best to score, wins. I am not promoting mediocrity
or playing down the importance of great players but merely
underlining the fact that without cooperating and playing as one,
in the end the team is almost certain to lose the game.
Cooperation is easier said than done, as many of us realize.
Cooperation is more a matter of attitude first; in being clear
about what each team member can contribute and
acknowledging the importance of that contribution and doing
everything possible to enable that person to play to his strength.
To give a rugby analogy the only result of placing a player who
is slim and very fast on his feet, as a center forward is to bring
him to a messy ending. A player must be placed and helped to
play to his strength so that he can give his best. That sometimes
means passing the ball and allowing the other team member to
score the goal fully aware of the fact that in the final tally it will
be his name and not yours as the one who scored the goal, even
though both of you know that he would not have been able to
score if you had not passed the ball. What is also true in this
scenario is that if you had not passed the ball and tried to score
the goal yourself, the team would have lost because you were not
in a position to score and would have been stopped by those
tracking you. You pass the ball because it is not your win or his,
it is the teams win.
Cooperation means therefore being more concerned about the
teams win than about your own personal glory. Therefore my

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definition of a team is, A group of people committed to a

common goal who understand how each one is essential for the
team to win and where each does all he can to enable the other
to play to his strength. At the risk of repetition, understanding
how each is important and allowing him to play to his strength
this is the meaning of cooperation.
4. Play hard
When all is said and done it is total commitment to the game in
the field, giving it your best shot without holding back anything
which decides success. The last lesson I learnt is that in the end it
is a passionate commitment to do anything it takes that makes
the difference. Because passion rarely fails.
The leopard stalks her prey with great cunning and stealth, trying
to get as close to the antelope as she can. She is fully conscious
of the fact that an antelope is faster than she is and desperate fear
for life will add wings to its feet. That is why when she finally
launches her charge she puts her complete heart into it. Every
muscle explodes with energy, adrenaline flows into her blood,
her heart pumps like an engine and in two or three bounds she is
on top of the antelope almost before it can even register that its
life is about to be extinguished. The leopard in that final rush
sees nothing but the antelope. Her whole being is concentrated
on the antelope. She is conscious of nothing else. That is what I
mean by passion. A complete and exclusive consciousness of the
goal combined with demonstrated commitment to do the best
that one can possibly do. And that as I mentioned, rarely fails.
Finally the last learning underlying all of the above dont
forget to have fun. Winning can be consistent only if one is
having fun doing it. So enjoy playing, look forward to it, think
about it, dream it and play for the joy of it.
Happy winning.

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123

124

Democracy and the Corporation

"The two

greatest obstacles to democracy in the United

States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor
that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror
among the rich, lest we get it." - Edward Dowling
Of late we have been seeing many articles lamenting the role of
the Press and Media in todays society and complaining how it is
no longer objective and principled but seems to be more a
propaganda machine than anything else. I thought it therefore
necessary to try to put things in perspective so that we can
recognize what is really happening to our world. That way we
will either take the trouble to change matters or at least see how
entirely expected and appropriate the role of the media and press
is, under the circumstances.
The play Mouse Trap is the longest running play in history. It
has been going on since 1947. But strangely the ending is always
the same. Now isnt that very peculiar? Or is it really quite
understandable because though the actors have changed since
1947, the script is the same and so no matter which actor comes,
he or she is forced to speak the same lines and so the play begins
in the same way and the ending is the same.
I would like you to remember this analogy while I recall a quick
history lesson. Once upon a time there was a multi-national
company, run from a warehouse in London where its Board sat.
It sent out its managers at first to trade with Indian kings. They
took permission to build trading posts, then permission to recruit
a small force to secure their goods. Gradually these trading posts
metamorphosed into forts, the security guards into a private army
and the country managers into Governors. The enslavement of
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India was well on its way, before the Indian leadership such as
there was, even woke up to the fact. That India was more a
geography than a political reality at the time was no doubt
helpful to those who had a more global view. Robert Clive,
Country Manager, British East India Company, became the
Governor General (notice the title and its implication) of India,
annexed independent states and assassinated their legitimate
heads and installed his own Agents to administer what had been
in effect independent countries in their own right.
It was the so-called Mutiny of 1857, which only the last of the
Great Mughals, Bahadur Shah Zafar had the courage to call by
its real name, The Indian War of Independence, that brought in
the British Crown. The slavery of India did not end however; we
just changed our owners. Bahadur Shah Zafar was accused of
treason and banished from the land of his forefathers. He
defended his position and pointed out that it was he, who was the
king of the land, not the British East India Company and so he
couldnt possibly have committed treason against himself. It was
the Company Sahib (note the address of respect, enforced on
India) which was the intruder into a land where they came to
trade and stayed to rule.
Of course the plea fell on the deaf ears of the British East India
Companys judge and Bahadur Shah Zafar was banished from
the home of his forefathers forever.
Cut to 2008; a century and a half later and what do we see? The
names have changed. The actors have changed but the script is
the same and so the play continues. The objectives are the same
and so are the methods; grabbing raw material, fuel, land, labor,
power and markets in any way possible using any means at ones
disposal and treating any attempt by the rightful owners at selfdefense as rebellion, to be crushed mercilessly with
overwhelming force. The foundation of this method is of course
even more ancient. The industrial-military complex and its

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methodology for global domination is first recorded more than

2000 years ago in the annals of the history of the Roman Empire.
The Empire is long gone, but ideology outlasts its proponents
and so the lessons have been learned and are being practiced.
The centurion replaced by the present day soldier performing the
same role; following orders from on high.
The world however has changed in some ways in that public
opinion does have a bigger say in things, than used to be the case
with the Romans or the British Empire. So thought-steering
evolved to a fine art. That and the art of influencing others by
means of repeating a lie over and over. Lessons once again learnt
from a master, the head of Hitlers Propaganda Ministry,
Goebbels. Only, we are not silly enough to actually call it
Propaganda Ministry. Instead we call it the Free Press. So the lie
becomes the truth. The victim deserves to die and the law is a
handmaiden of the tyrant, designed to give his every action the
veneer of legitimacy.
The New World Order is well on its way to achieving its aim of
global domination, called by yet another harmless, even
benevolent sounding name, Globalization.
Just reflect a bit on this: what differentiates a Corporation from a
Democracy?
Corporation
1. Hereditary or nominated
head
2. Absolute authority of
leadership

3. If people dont like the

leader, they have to leave
4. Attempts at asserting
equality, freedom or
127

Democracy
1. Elected head
2. Participatory authority

3. If people dont like the

leader, the leader has to
leave
4. Collective bargaining &
decision making is
encouraged. Citizens

questioning decisions are

seen as Opposition =
Rebellion = Treason =
Punishment = Death:
Firing
5. Master plan for everyone.
Others must align to it
6. Freedom is anathema
except for the top
leadership. Everyone else is
free only to follow orders,
couched in nice language.
7. Test of success = alignment
to values. Mark of a leader
= Can break unions. Mark
of a trouble maker =
represents the people =
Union leader.

participate in leadership.
Questioning &
Opposition: Signs of a
healthy democracy
5. Participatory master
planning open to change
as necessary
6. Equality and freedom are
sacred; supported and
defended by the
constitution
7. Constituents are citizens,
equal participants in the
future of the collective
8. Citizens are free, even
encouraged to influence
the government

8. Inequality is accepted even

expected

9. Democracies seek to
consult citizens

9. Corporations seek to
influence consumers

10. Media/Press is the agent

of the people. It gives
them a voice, it
encourages debate, it
provides a space for
national debate/dialogue,
it encourages divergent
ideas and ideologies, it
reports facts and it
questions authority and
official decisions. It is the
interface between the

10. Media/Press = the PR

Agency. It sings the official
tune, its success lies in its
ability to influence minds
by interpreting (not
reporting) facts, it invents
language to ensure that all
official actions appear good
and all opposition to them

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appears bad: Freedom

fighter = insurgent/terrorist;
dead civilians = collateral
damage; genocide = ethnic
cleansing; murder =
encounter. Its job is to
ensure that the
establishment always
appears to be noble, good,
pious and kind; no matter
what it does. It can never be
objective.

government and citizens

and by its role it tells the
government what the
people really want or what
they think of one policy or
another. It keeps
authoritative tendencies in
check by its ability to
expose them and redresses
the wrongs committed by
those in power.

Corporations see people as consumers. Democracies

have citizens
I can go on but I wont. I will leave you to add to this list as you
wish. Those of you who have read Collins & Porras, Built to
Last will read with interest the reasons for greatness that they
cite for what they call Visionary Companies. Among them;
Total Alignment to a Core Ideology and Cult-like Cultures are
most critical. The single most critical need for a Cult-like
Culture is a profusion of mindless followers, who will do what
they are told, without question. That is what alignment is all
about. And incidentally that is what the fascist state also needs.
The success of the corporation is measured by how it can
increase shareholder value. This is a direct result of high profits
through good margins or high volumes or both. Everything else
is subordinate to that goal.
That is the reason why in British India, the British rulers forced
the farmers of North India to grow indigo instead of food and
precipitated a famine that resulted more than one million deaths.
But the commercial success of the venture justified the cost in
human lives. Especially when they were not British lives but
those of some nameless poor black people in that colony of
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ours. Similarly to create a market for the produce of the cloth

mills of Yorkshire, the vibrant textile industry of Northern and
Central India was deliberately destroyed including the smashing
of looms and the amputation of the thumbs of master weavers.
Millions of small weavers were reduced to penury overnight.
And the cloth from Yorkshire had a free entry into the huge
Indian market. After one must wear clothes, no matter their
origin. It is not an accident that Gandhiji took Swadeshi as his
slogan, burnt his British clothes and donned the dhoti. He used
the spinning wheel as his symbol and spun thread and made
khadi cotton cloth. Unlike many today, he knew his history very
well and was a master at putting his finger on the nerve that hurt
the most.

Corporatizing of Democracy: the Totalitarian State

The ideal situation for the corporation is when the state becomes
a corporation. Then the head of state is actually proudly called a
CEO. Productivity is at a peak, trains run on time, there is no
disruption of work, students study, workers work, teachers teach
their subject exclusively, parents condition the next generation
properly and all government is left to those who walk the
corridors of power. Indeed this is as it should be and all is right
with the ant colony. It is not accidental that countries like China,
Israel and even Pakistan have long had most favored nation
status with the US/Europe but India (when we were part of the
Non-Aligned Movement: what an appropriate name it was!) did
not. Those were the days when the trade union movement was
vibrant though for those who worked for corporations this was
something of a problem. Then came the criminalization
(totalitarian control) of trade unions by political parties who
floated their own unions and eventually trade union activity
became a memory.
The Corporation is interested in one thing only as I mentioned;
maximizing profit. Social, religious or political ideologies are of

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no interest to it in any way except in terms of how they support

its goal. In most recent times, Afghanistan was invaded because
the Taliban were too dumb to play ball and insisted on giving the
rights to build a gas pipeline to a South American company. Iraq
was invaded because Saddam refused to play ball and insisted on
selling his oil for Euros and not dollars. Consequently he met a
fate the purpose of which was to also put the fear of god into his
brothers who are also sitting on oil reserves. Nobody can blame
them of being slow on the uptake, so they welcomed the killer of
Saddam with open arms, dancing girls, falcon hunts, gifts of
jewelry and what-have-you. In return they got promises of arms
aid for which they pay first and then wait to see if the arms do
come. Arms to do what, you may ask. Take 3 guesses, I will
reply.
Of course the PR (Free Press!!) was hard at work talking about
the repressive regime of the Taliban and the well hidden
Weapons of Mass Destruction of Iraq. The fact that among the
friends of the Corporate State are others who are even more
repressive than the Taliban is immaterial and naturally goes
unreported. That the Weapons of Mass Destruction were so well
hidden that they were never found is brushed aside. The saddest
part was to see how even the best and most noble prostitute
themselves to be in the good books of the Corporate State, when
none other than Colin Powell stood before the United Nations
and lied through his teeth. Today Iran is in the doghouse because
it is threatening to do a Saddam; i.e. deal in Euros for oil instead
of dollars. Some people never learn it seems.
Above all the corporation needs order. It calls it by many names;
peace, harmony, goodness for all mankind, but what it really
needs is order. The fastest and surest way to create order is by
the use of overwhelming force. Zero tolerance. All protest,
debate, demonstrations, criticism and confusion must be
eliminated to get silence and order. Corporations and corporate
language finds immediate resonance in the military because

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many if not most of modern corporate thinking has roots in

military command theory. That is the reason why if you read the
history of the development of any fascist totalitarian rule, you
will find that the first collaborators of fascist rulers are always
industrialists, businessmen; in short those who run corporations.
For it is they who understand and empathize with the fascist
leader the best.
When Hitler took control of Germany it was the industrialists
and businessmen who supported him. So also Mussolini was
supported in Italy and many others whose names you well know.
When Narendra Modi successfully managed the genocide of
2000 of his own electorate in Gujarat he was applauded first and
addressed as the CEO of Gujarat and proposed to be the next
Prime Minister of India by none other than the Confederation of
Indian Industry. When the President of the CII made a critical
comment about the genocide he promptly lost his seat and was
replaced by a compliant CEO who understood the value of Mr.
Modi. A man in the audience who protested Mr. Modis
felicitation was physically thrown out of the hall on the orders of
the new President.
Corporations are the most undemocratic structures in the world
and stand for the exact opposite of all democratic values.
However now we have a problem. And that is, what do we do
with public opinion if we express the truth as I have done? The
solution is language. Say the same thing but differently.
So the Voice of the Corporation (their Media/Press companies)
talks of freedom (they mean freedom to obey), equality (you are
exactly equal to the next man on the assembly line), meeting
aspirations (provided you keep your head to the corporate
grinding wheel for 30 years first), progress (corporate goals are
being met) and welfare (good living conditions for the
enforcers). Crime and patriotism are both redefined. Any action
that seeks to slow down or change the corporate goal is a crime.

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Any opposition to official ideology is treason. Patriotism is not

love of and loyalty to the country but loyalty to the government
of the day. Criticism is defined as disloyalty. Curtailing of
freedom and human rights are justified in the interest of security.
In order to get people to not just agree to their freedoms being
curtailed and human rights being reduced and violated, terror is
used by the state or its agencies so that fear crazed people will
come running into the open arms of the police asking for
protection and gladly ratify the most draconian laws which
imprison their minds, tongues and actions.
Security is inversely proportional to functionality. People are
taught this valuable lesson so that they tamely accept hours of
waiting for flights, strange security guards delving into their
most personal belongings and their probing hands and eyes
rampaging all over their bodies, ostensibly searching for hidden
arms.
People who have learnt these lessons also learn to keep their
mouths shut even if they dont actively support legislation
legalizing torture, murder, detention without cause and
disappearances in the night. And those who dont learn this
lesson become examples whose fate enables others to learn.
Freedom of speech is a very well-rehearsed charade. The
Corporate State allows you to say whatever you want and to hold
demonstrations of as many people as you want. This serves two
very important ends: it supports the illusion of freedom of speech
and allows people a way of letting off steam so that there isnt
enough buildup to bring about fundamental change. This also
allows the Corporate State the opportunity to identify potential
threats to itself and to take care of them later once the noise has
subsided and all the demonstrators have gone back to their TV
screens and popcorn. Then the Corporate State does what it
intended to do anyway. The Iraq war, the ongoing genocide in

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Gaza, Tiananmen Square massacre in China are all good

examples.
There are many others but I will leave you to think of them. The
same is the case of Judicial Enquiries where compliant judges
sign on dotted lines and the case is always closed in favor of the
Corporate State. Ask, when was the last time that the State was
indicted in a Judicial Enquiry and its agents went to jail?
The last thing that a Corporate State needs is a thinking,
questioning, middle class that has options. So it seeks to remove
them and to change their situation where the people are
completely dependent on the state which then becomes the best
way of controlling them. Financial meltdowns, whether they are
deliberately engineered or the result of excessive greed are a
very useful tool to bring the middle class down to earth. It is the
middle class which loses the shirt on its collective back and has
its homes repossessed and suddenly higher goals like freedom,
liberty and human rights have to be subordinated to the
immediate goal of putting food on the table or ensuring a roof
overhead. After the meltdown the Corporate State steps in with
its bail-out plans, all neatly packaged with a veritable spaghetti
of strings attached. All sensible people fall in line. Those who
protest or worse, seek to show others the reality are struck down,
often by their own badly frightened compatriots. If they escape
that fate, the Corporate State removes them from circulation for
the common good, silently watched by the mute majority.
Ask, in the present meltdown whos suffering the most?
Corporate heads who are responsible for the meltdown or the
middle class who were their faithful employees? Ask, how is it
that heads of corporations which went bankrupt went home with
multi-million dollar pay and bonus packages? What are these
rewards for?
Ask, who are the direct and immediate beneficiaries of the
bailout packages? Ask, how many corporate heads lost their jobs
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or suffered pay cuts or lost their homes in the financial

meltdown? Ask, where were the decisions that created the
meltdown taken; in board rooms or on the assembly line? Ask,
yet who is the one who lost the shirt on his back and the roof
over his head?
The Corporate State is a great supporter of technology. It funds
and supports without limit all research that enables it to control
the people better and more powerfully. The official line of
course is that this is in the interest of the people themselves to
better be able to protect them from harm. Anyone thinking of
raising his voice against more and more invasive surveillance is
silenced by his own people. Some truly amazing technological
developments are being mentioned. Bugs with solar powered
cameras which will transmit real-time images and audio to a
satellite which will beam it back to a central console monitoring
the doings of the target group. The term fly-on-the-wall
suddenly has a very different and sinister meaning. Satellite
maps that pinpoint your home, car and yourself exactly and can
track your every move. Cell phones, credit cards, ID cards, retina
scans all to identify you positively and to track your every move.
Once again I wont go on.
The point is that the vast majority of research and development
that is currently going on is not in the areas of health, food
production, environmental protection, education or economic
development but in the area of what is euphemistically called
security systems. In fact these are not security systems but
surveillance systems, control systems and more sinister systems
which all dovetail to focus on the overarching goal of enhancing
the hold of the Corporate State on the world.

How can we do?

What the Corporate State cant stand is the light of day on its
activities. And so accurate reporting of facts, shining the light of
enquiry on shady deals, asking the unasked, speaking the unsaid
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and raising your voice against injustice right at its inception.

Technology today gives us the ability to do all of this without
depending on the Corporate Media to give us space. We know
they will never do that but we dont need them today. Thanks to
the internet, camera mobiles, blackberry and the ability to upload
images and text from almost anywhere, it is possible today to
ensure that at least those who are interested can see the side of
the picture that the likes of CNN, Times, Fox and other
mouthpieces of the establishment have been hiding.
Ultimately to act or to sit and watch is the decision of the
individual. We cant force anyone to act. What we can and must
do however is to ensure that people have access to correct
information so that they can make good decisions. What we can
and must do is to ensure that critical questions are asked and
brought into the debate so that people can demand more and
better information from the agencies of the Corporate State.
Whether they get that information or not immediately is not the
issue. When they start asking the questions this in itself will
generate positive trends where citizens will stop acting like
consumers and start to exercise some of their rights. The right to
information is one. The right to justice is another. I believe that
as citizens of democracies, no matter how flawed, if we can
enforce accountability by sharing information and asking
questions we will have achieved a great deal in ensuring that
men and women can still walk free in the land, long after we are
gone.

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137

Give to Get
Its strange how Allah created this world networked so that the
only way to get, is to give. Want respect? Give love. Want
influence? Give support. Want wealth? Give quality. Want
wisdom? Give time. Want clarity? Give thought. Want power?
Give service. Want peace? Give justice. What you have in your
hand is the harvest. What you plant is the seed. Hang on to what
you have and thats all you'll have. You want more? Then plant
what you have. Give up what you have so you can get more.
Thats the only way to get more. So you see this is not utopia. Its
hard reality. Even if you want to see it as pure selfishness the
rule is still the same.
I learnt this lesson early and practiced it all my life. I've freely
shared all that I know. Sure I charged a professional fee but I
gave it free to those who couldnt pay. Even to those who paid I
ensured I gave more than they paid for. Some people always told
me that I'm a fool to give away my intellectual property free. I
always ignored them. After all who wants to listen to someone
who calls you a fool eh?
I have never considered what I know as my property alone.
Nobody owns knowledge and it increases only when you share
it.
I believe that all knowledge is from Allah. I know something
because others shared their knowledge with me. So I share what
I know freely. The theory of planting. One result of this
philosophy is that I havent made a cold call in 10 years. All my
business is either repeat business or client referral. I have a
highly credible group of friends promoting me. Now whats the
value of that eh? More later on my philosophy of Give to Get. If
you want a secular name for it try Newton's 3rd Law. I call it
Islam. Same principle. Allah made it. Newton discovered it.

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GIVE WHAT YOU HAVE

TO GET WHAT YOU NEED

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140

Planting Seeds
Plant seeds for whatever you want to harvest. So ask yourselves
what you want to harvest. Then plant those seeds. I believe that
the seed that leaves my hand does not leave my life. It goes into
my future and multiplies. And unless it leaves my hand it can do
nothing. So anything that leaves my hand and gets planted in my
life is my seed. Anything that I retain in my hand is my harvest.
We need to be able to give up what we have to get what we have
been promised. Nothing leaves the heavens until something
leaves the earth. When we give Allah what we can see, He gives
us what we cant see.
Only Winners are rewarded in life. So every time we ask for a
blessing we get a difficulty. Difficulties dont come to harm us.
They come to open the doors of blessings for us. If there was no
Goliath, David would have remained a shepherd boy.
Believing that you can get without giving is fantasy. Thats how
the family got destroyed in America. Thats why the present
financial crisis in the world. People trying to get for themselves
and others be damned. The world does not work that way you
see. The formula is, you want to get, then give. You want a bag
of grain, then plant the handful thats in your hand. If you dont
plant you cant harvest. Simple. But we have been conditioned to
believe that life is not simple. So we need to break out of our
conditioning and re-think all the stuff that we've been brought up
on.

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143

Excellence
Excellence in measured in many ways, one of the most important
of which is your confidence and ability to stay on your chosen
path. You will find when you do that, that other people will often
be scared of your high ideals and goals. To remain on the path
and not be discouraged by their lack of confidence is a measure
of excellence. I have always measured the strength of my goals
from the number of people who they scare the daylights out of.
Currently the same is true for my dream of the SBA - it scares
the daylights out of a lot of people. To me, it means that I am on
the right path. You see, the only path that doesnt scare sheep is
the path to the pen. I personally have never had a liking to being
penned. Especially since every pen has two doors. One towards
the pasture and the other towards the abattoir.
Danger is both exciting as well as mostly imaginary. But when
we embark on lofty goals which are rooted in integrity,
truthfulness and the desire to do something worthwhile, the
world - what we know of it as well as what is unseen - conspires
to make us succeed. Angels walk with you though you can't see
them. Doors open for you where you would not have imagined.
People come out of the woodwork to help you not because you
asked them to - you didnt even know that they were there - but
because they were sent. The resources that you need to
accomplish your goal will flow in your direction. Very simple
principle of physics - water flows down a slope, not up it. So
when you are climbing a hill and rain falls, water will flow in
your direction. If you are running away and going downhill,
water will flow away from you. Your position on the hill doesnt
matter (no matter how far from the peak you are). It is your
direction which makes a world of difference and quite simply
spells the difference between reaching the peak or not. Many
people believe that they can climb a mountain walking
backwards. I personally dont know of anyone who managed to

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do that. If you want to succeed, you have to face your fears and
stare into their eyes until they look away. Not turn your back on
them. Especially because what is behind your back becomes
even more scary. I was never very good at walking backwards
myself.
That is not to say that one must ignore honest feedback or not
check one's assumptions against emerging data and change them
if necessary. That too is a measure of excellence in itself but the
final goal must not be watered down and diluted because of fear.
One is to change the approach because someone has a better
way. That is good to do provided that other way stands the test of
rigorous proof-of-concept. The other is to give up the goal itself
because you became afraid. That is to betray yourself.

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Remember that we all start in the same place - as idealists. But

then we allow others (at least most of us do) to dictate what we
will do, how we will live, what goals are 'realistic', what goals
are 'worth it' and so on. So the leaping flame of idealism that was
in our heart takes a beating and gradually gets reduced and
dampened.
When you are idealistic people will initially oppose you and
push back and try to discourage you, not because they dont like
what you are planning to do but because in your eyes they see
what they were themselves like one day; until they allowed the
rest of the crowd to dampen their idealism. But remember also
that the spark of idealism lives as long as we are alive. You can
dampen it but you can't kill it. So when they meet you, their
spark starts to get some energy and that scares them. Their initial
reaction is to try to put it back in its 'place' and dampen it once
again because that will justify what they did to themselves all
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their lives. But if you refuse to internalize their fears and are true
to your ideals, you will see that their own sparks will start to
grow and will once again become the leaping flames that dispel
the fears of darkness and light up the world in ways that neither
they nor you thought possible.
The key is to remain true to your ideals no matter what the world
tells you. That, to me, is a measure of excellence. That is why I
am a shameless idealist and I hope I remain that to the end of my
days. For what is a life worth if one is to live it like a sheep?

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148

Leadership Essentials
The What and the How
Preface
In more than 28 years of teaching leadership to people from
multiple nationalities, cultures, religions, genders and races on 3
continents, I believe Ive learned some important lessons on
what constitutes the essence of leadership. I am writing this to
share them with you.
I asked myself this question: What is essential for leadership?
Not what is nice to have, useful, beneficial and so on, but what is
essential.
My definition of essential is, something without which it cant
be done.
Naturally as in everything today, first a disclaimer: My opinions
are my own. They are presented for dialogue and not as
definitive statements or laws. I am a passionate fellow and so
may state things strongly but the passion is my own and not
intended to impose on anyone. Whew!!! Now with that over, we
can begin..
One last line before I get into the article: All this stuff will seem
simple. It is. The trick is in implementing. The rules are the same
for everyone. They are:

Rule # 1:

Excuses dont change facts

Rule # 2:

If in doubt refer to Rule # 1.

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There are 7 essentials for leadership

1. Vision
2. Inspire followers
3. Single-mindedness of purpose
4. Strategy
5. Faith
6. Deal with Ambiguity
7. Execution
Needless to say as you practice them you will and must add to
this understanding and share it with others, including myself.

Vision
In the beginning is the Vision.
Naturally, if we want to go somewhere, we need to be clear
about two things:
1. Where is that somewhere?
2. What is it that is so compelling and attractive about it?
The more clearly we are able to visualize the benefits of
achieving the vision, the more staying power we will have to
achieve it. The reality of all things worthy of striving for is that a
lot of that striving will have to be done, unsung, in the dark of
the night when our energy and inspiration is at the lowest ebb. It
is at these times when we need the glow of the benefits of
achieving the vision, shining uncompromised on the horizon so
that we can ignore the pain and discouragement and continue to
put one step ahead of the next.

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Inspiration to me is not something that comes like a bolt out of

the blue and takes the unsuspecting soul unawares. Inspiration is
often the result of a great deal of dissatisfaction with the current
state that leads to honest questioning about the purpose of life
and deep reflection and a sustained inner struggle with the real
issues that one faces in ones life. This is sometimes very painful
and never easy to do. But when one stays with the questions long
enough, the answers start to appear.
These answers again are not in the form of clear cut road maps
but more like a hazy sign, on a dark and misty night, seen at the
very edge of the limit of your headlights. You can just about
make out the direction it is pointing in. All the rest is up to you
and your ingenuity. And it does not tell you anything about the
difficulties of the path. One common factor that you can rely on
is the fact that there will be difficulties. That is something that I
believe the potential leader can bet on. The trick is to understand
what to do with the difficulty when you are faced with it.
The common tendency is to moan and groan and say, Why
me? Not so common is to be happy to face the difficulty since
you believe it indicates the promise of reward, once you can
surmount it.
The truth is that in life rewards have to be earned and that
happens by overcoming challenges. So every time you stand up
and say, I want to gain something, a challenge stands up to face
you. Then if you overcome the challenge you gain the reward.
Another way to understand this is to think of surfing the higher
you want to go, the bigger the wave that you have to ride. Yes,
you can go under, but that is the spice of it. That is what gives it
the taste.
We dont choose our purpose in life. We discover it. When we
find it, then our life enters a state of grace. It is like the
difference between a fish in water and outside it. Out of water, a
fish is a clumsy creature, gasping for breath and flopping on the
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sand. When you throw it into the river, it vanishes in a flash; the
epitome of beauty, grace and speed. Same fish; different worlds.
It is the same with us. If we are in a role that is not in sync with
our purpose, we find it hard going, energy sapping and a drag all
around. But when we are doing something that ignites the heart,
we have boundless energy, ideas flash like lightning and we
energize everyone else around us.
A method that I use is to ask what this difficulty has been sent to
teach me. This comes from my belief that nothing happens by
accident and that all of life is a prepared plan that is unfolding
and that I am the one who has the exciting task of walking the
path as it appears before me. So every difficulty comes with a
fortune cookie inside that tells you what the lesson is, provided
you can get to it. Blaming others for creating the difficulty or
carping about it only indicates that you are not ready to become a
real leader yet.
When we question the purpose of the difficulty and ask, What
can I learn from this? we find that our perspective takes on a
whole new meaning. We are no longer grounded in the
negativity of blaming and feeling sorry for ourselves but are
freed to look for creative and new ways of overcoming the
difficulty. The enormity of the task itself becomes the biggest
motivator, as one is conscious only of the prospect of great
reward. The fact that this is not easy, then becomes easy to
accept and understand, and one even says, If it was easy, I
wouldnt want it. It would not make the victory so sweet!
Interestingly, the route to the state of grace is through great
effort. It is a path that is difficult and strewn with the wrecks of
those that went before. It is easy to see this in physical examples
of martial arts, sports and other physical-skill related things. The
reality is that it is the same path in challenges of the mind and of
the spirit. And very often, in the latter events the route is even

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more difficult, for the goal is in the wining of peoples hearts and
the change is in their minds.
I have reflected very often on why it is more difficult in the nonphysical endeavors. My understanding is that it is because of the
paradox that in the physical effort it is very often impossible or
very difficult to give up once you have gone beyond the halfway
point, often called the point of no return. Take mountaineering
as an example. Once you have made the effort to reach halfway,
it is easier and shorter to go on no matter how difficult it looks,
than to turn around and return. What aids this is the fact that the
path is not entirely unknown and you know it has an end and you
know where that is.
In the journey of the spirit, the path is unknown, the duration of
the effort needed is unknown and it is extremely easy to give up.
There is no point of no return.
You can give up and get back to your original state in an instant.
That carrot is always hanging in front of the nose. And to make
matters worse, the pain and suffering of confusion and emotional
turmoil, which is often worse than the physical pain, is unseen
and uncelebrated by others, who in a physical challenge, often
provide the necessary impetus by cheering from the sidelines.
And when you give up the spiritual and emotional struggle, there
is no fear of shame and ridicule by others, since nobody knew
you were in there anyway.

That is the reason why most people shy away from accepting
challenges of the mind and spirit, even though they may know in
their hearts that those are the true challenges that have the
capacity to change their destiny. It requires a strong internal
focus, a real desire to make a mark in life, no desire for approval
from others, and a willingness to stay with the task irrespective
of the time it takes or the apparent lack of progress.
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It is a path that challenges all previously held beliefs and that is

full of the fear of the unknown. It is a path that tests one with the
challenge of living the life that one previously only talked about.
It challenges us to not only put our money where our mouth is
but to demonstrate commitment by taking the leap of faith into
the new way of life with no guarantees of safety nets.
But the good news is that history is full of examples of those that
accepted this challenge and succeeded. It is important to
remember that the wrecks on the path of leadership are of those
who gave up midway. Those that persevered, are the ones that
went through and whose leadership often lives on long after they
themselves passed on into history.
What seems to be critical in this struggle and something that
gives sustenance when one is moving through an arid waste is
the enormity of the goal. No heroic effort was ever made for a
minor goal. Enormous goals call for enormous effort and have in
them the capacity to keep the motivation alive in the face of all
odds.
I believe that this is in the very nature of the goal. If you find
your dedication flagging midway, look at your goal and ask
yourself, Is this goal worthy of my effort? Aim for a larger
goal and you will find that the wellsprings of your energy once
again start to flow.
No vision worth the name is possible to achieve alone. So one
needs others. And that is where the catch is. So two skills are
necessary to acquire.

2. Inspire followers
How can I make you dream my dream?

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My dream is in my heart. How do I transfer it into your heart and

that too in such a way that it fires up your imagination as it fires
up mine? It is not about explaining.
Have you ever tried to explain some very powerful and sublime
lines of poetry, especially in another language? You will realize
what I mean.
Many times, explanations kill the spirit of the dream. Yet what
choice do we have but to explain? So explain we must but in a
way that retains the spirit.

How?
By total and complete, even irrational, belief in the dream. Why
is this total belief and passion required? Because passion drives
behavior and behavior drives results. If there is no passion the
behavior necessary to achieve the dream will not appear. Passion
can be seen and heard in your voice. Passion speaks louder than
words. And only passion convinces; not words. The finest words
coming out of the mouth of someone who doesnt really believe
in them, fall flat. Broken sentences, bad grammar, even a loss of
words, goes straight to the heart if what is in the heart can be
seen. All sorts of studies on non-verbal communication support
this. It is what is in the eyes, what the body says and what the
tone of your voice conveys that convinces far more than the
words themselves.
That is not to say that one does not need words. But that words
only support the message. They dont convey the message. Now
that may sound strange to you to hear me say that words dont
convey the message. But I am convinced as a result of speaking
to literally a couple of hundred thousand people in my life that
hearts speak to hearts. The words are the same. In one case, they
penetrate. In another they fall on deaf ears. And that has to do
with the speech of the hearts.
So our own belief in our dream and our own conviction about
what will be accomplished and how critical, essential, beneficial,
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enriching, empowering or whatever the benefits of realizing the

dream are; that is what will penetrate to the hearts of the
listeners.
Inspiring is not only about making speeches but even more about
demonstrating commitment.
The only rule to remember is:

People listen with their eyes.

Credibility is the single biggest asset of the leader. If a leader
loses credibility he/she is finished; more so because not only is
credibility very difficult to regain but in most circumstances it is
impossible to regain with the same set of people or in the same
place. The thing which reinforces or destroys credibility most is
when the leader does not follow his/her own rules. When there is
a gap between your talk and your walk, credibility falls through
it and disappears. People dont care what you say; they look to
see what you do. This is the reason why the courage to lead from
the front is critical. A leader who makes an exception for himself
loses respect.
The best way to not only demonstrate your own sense of
responsibility and courage as well as to reinforce the message
that there are no exceptions is to create a clear system of
accountability and to follow it. The metrics must then be adhered
to scrupulously. I have not used the word, enforced because I
believe that with good leadership the need to enforce becomes
progressively less.

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Not to say that you should not enforce if there is a need to.
Indeed you must and make an example of it as well. But if you
as the leader are the person who is most adherent to the ethics
and values then enforcing these on others will not be necessary.
People will develop a culture of self-accountability and will
govern themselves. It is then only necessary to watch it happen.
The leader must epitomize the vision. There are no exceptions to
this. When followers think of the vision, it is the face of the
leader that they must see before them. Leadership is a contact
sport. It is about getting out there in the field, fighting where it is
thickest, falling down and getting up every time but never giving
up. This is not about using a losing strategy over and over. It is
about staying true to the vision but changing strategy and tactics
as the situation and challenges demand. Flexibility, openness and
the willingness to change are huge assets and very critical to
success. However the goal, the standard of excellence, the bar
must never be compromised.
If you settle for anything but the best, then you have betrayed the
vision. And that, is death.

Compassion
Finally but not lastly is the importance of taking care of
followers. They used to say, An army marches on its belly.
This refers not only to managing supply chains but to the whole
philosophy of leadership. Bonding between the leader and
follower is a matter of the heart. And that happens when the
follower feels taken care of, over and beyond the call of duty.
Just as the follower gets a medal for doing more than his due, so
also the leader gets an emotional medal translating to
faithfulness when he/she demonstrates concern and compassion
for their people.

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There is the story of the woman, a single parent at the checkout

desk in a store on Christmas Eve; very sad because she did not
have time to buy a baseball glove for her 5 year old. As the store
closes and she is about to leave, the manager walks up and gives
her a gift. Guess what it was. The issue is not about what it costs.
It is about the thoughtfulness, the understanding, the concern and
the compassion for the team member that the action
demonstrates. When people feel understood and they have
confidence that their leader is in their corner, then they are
willing to push the boundaries and do more than merely what is
expected.

I call this the Critical Moment. The leader must live with
awareness; must be observant and sensitive to people and
atmosphere. Critical Moments are incidents that have the
potential to create great influence on the minds of many more
than those involved in the incident itself. Critical Moments cant
be created by the leader but they can be leveraged when they
occur provided the leader is aware of them.

I remember an incident one of many such that happened to

me which illustrates my Critical Moment theory rather well. It
happened when I used to work in the tea gardens in South India.
One day just before coming home for lunch I went to Iyerpadi
Hospital as I had a headache and needed some medicine. When I
reached there I found the staff in a frenzy running here and there.
I caught hold of one of them and asked her what the matter was.
She said, We have a woman in labor and she is extremely
anemic. She needs a blood transfusion immediately or she and
the baby will die.

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So why are you all in such a tizzy? I asked.

We are looking for her relatives (Dalits) to donate blood, she
said. But they are all in the field and we cant get hold of any of
them.
Take my blood, I said. I am O+ and have blood that looks
like lube oil; it is so rich in hemoglobin. So take what you need.
The nurse looked at me in shock. You will donate your blood
for this woman? she asked me in surprise. Her surprise was
because the woman was a poor Dalit and I am not. So how could
I be agreeing to have my blood flowing in her and her childs
veins? This was unimaginable for her given the local social
system that she was also a product of. She looked at me in
astonishment and disbelief, quite prepared if I had done a retake
and withdrawn my offer. However I didnt. I told her to get on
with it and take my blood. But she still would not move, almost
rooted to her place, simply looking at me as if I was speaking a
language that she could not understand.
While we were talking, the RMO Dr. John Philip (a wonderful
physician and good friend) came along and asked me what was
happening. I told him the story and he said to the nurse, He
wants to give his blood. What is your problem? Just take it or the
woman will die. That broke the spell and in short order I was
laid down and bled. Two bottles of blood were taken and I was
then given a cup of coffee and sent home. No idea what
happened to my headache. Maybe donating blood is a cure for
headache.
I went home, had lunch and my afternoon nap; a very civilized
activity that I had to give up when I left the plantations. When I
woke up to go to the office, my butler Bastian came to me and
said, Master Golden Mountain (literal translation of the name of
the man, which was Thangamalai Bastian used to do these

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things sometimes) is here to see you with the whole Works

Committee.
At that time there were some rumblings going on about the
annual bonus which was to be paid in 2 months and so I
immediately thought that perhaps it was some agitation on that
account that the Works Committee had come to tell me about. I
was a little irritated as well because I didnt encourage the union
leaders to meet me at home as I liked to keep official and
personal business separate. A very sound policy at all times.
When I went out to the front of the bungalow, I saw the whole
Works Committee, all 24 of them lined up behind Thangamalai.
They greeted me in the usual way by making namaskaar,
Namaskaaram Dorai, Thangamali said on behalf of all of
them. I returned the greeting, Namaskaaram. What can I do for
you?
Wordlessly, Thangamalai came up to me and touched my feet.
And behind him all the others started to do the same, one by one.
I stepped back in amazement. What on earth is this for? Dont
do this. You know I dont like people touching my feet and
bowing before me.
Dorai, today you have to let us do this. Dont stop us today,
said Thangamalai. Why are you doing this? I was still upset
with them. What has happened?
Dorai, today you did something that has never been done before
in the history of these hills. You gave your blood to one of us.
So whats the big deal? Wouldnt you have done it for me, if I
was in need of blood?
Dorai, we have always given our blood and even our lives for
the managers of these plantations. But your people never do it
for us. You are the first of them who has ever done this for one
of us. So we bow to you with love and respect. You are our
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Kadavul (term of high respect which literally means god in

Tamil).
I am not anyones god. I am a human being like you and I did
what I consider my duty. How are the mother and child?
They are both well Dorai and they owe their lives to you.
The point here is that I could not have made this incident happen
even if I had wanted to. But the fact that I was fortunate enough
to be in the right place and then had acted according to my
principles paid great dividends in enhancing my credibility and
was very useful during some very stressful times that were to
come later that year. Compassion is essential for the leader to
have.

3. Single-mindedness of purpose

Never compromise the standard

I have found that as you embark on your vision, if the vision is
difficult, then there is pressure to settle for less. People give you
examples of others who are doing more or less similar things and
are successful. They will ask you, Why do we need all this?
Why cant we do it with less?
The answer is, Because of the value of differentiation.

Differentiation creates Brand

Brand creates Loyalty
Loyalty creates Influence
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Without differentiation you are a grain of rice in a sack. It is

essential never to lose this focus. Never to allow anyone to
compromise the standard. Never to settle for less. For we will be
remembered by our legacy. So the legacy must never be
compromised.

What will help to keep on track is clarity about the vision and its
benefits which make it unique. This is the reason that in my view
the vision that many companies articulate about becoming a
billion dollar business by year so-and-so is not very energizing.
After all how charged up can you get about selling more
widgets?

Money is an important consideration in terms of returns but

money does not motivate. Increasing turnover is not the reason
for which your people will want to come to work. It is not the
reason that people will dream to join your organization. It is not
the thing that they will speak proudly about to their peers and in
their groups nor the reason why they will defend you and your
vision or root for your success. Money is what they buy bread
with. Not what they will be willing to sacrifice their best for.
People must be clear how they are unique. Money is the lowest
common denominator for all business. It is not anything unique,
no matter how much of it is there. So do give some thought to
what makes you unique.

4. Strategy

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How will you get to where you want to be?

Having a vision and being able to convey it successfully to the
Core Group leads us to the next challenge i.e. What is the way to
achieve this vision? This is a very big challenge for many
visionaries and many succeed because they have had the good
fortune or the foresight to have someone in their Core Group
who can do the math, draw the lines and create an actual road
map.
The visionary temperament is often very impatient with detail.
But as they say, God is in the details. Without the details, the
vision will remain a dream, to energize people for a while and
then to disappear; perhaps even to be lodged in the back of the
mind somewhere in a box labeled, IF ONLY but never to see
the light of day. It is strategy that must be built; a good honest
simple, robust strategy that will lead to the achievement of the
vision. Let us look at the elements of strategy to see what makes
it good.

There are three requirements that any strategy must fulfill if it is

to be successful.

1. Simple to understand
2. Simple to implement
3. In your control

Simple to Understand
There is a difference between being simple and being

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simplistic. If you are one of those who likes to devise

complicated methods that need your personal intervention to
work and this makes you feel indispensable then you are looking
at a model which will at best grace some research thesis on all
those strategies that did not work.

Gandhijis strategy of civil disobedience was simple but by no

means simplistic. It was easy for anyone to understand, had a
clear target, stood on admirable universally accepted principles
of truthfulness, honesty, integrity and non-violence. Nobody can
argue against any of them. Yet it was these same principles
which shook the foundation of the mighty British Empire and
eventually gave India its freedom.

Simple to Implement
This is the second most important principle in a good strategy; it
must be simple to implement. Not everyone who will work with
you will be as educated, intelligent, handsome, sexy or brilliant
as you are. So creating complex models on fancy computer
programs and making dazzling presentations as part of the
implementation process will fail.

The Bombay Dabbawalas are a classic case of a simple to

implement strategy creating a business that does not merely
conform to global standards but sets a new benchmark for global
quality and delivery standards. It is run by, for the most part
illiterate, village folk and has no MBAs or computers in sight.
Maybe that is a reason for its success. Many times I have seen
people taking refuge behind smokescreens of feasibility reports,
financial scenarios, and breakeven analyses and in the process,

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forget to do business; to hit the street and sell. That unfortunately

is the only economic activity.

In your control
In my view this is one of the most important touchstones for any
strategy to succeed. Is it in your control?

Once upon a time there was a sparrow which had built a nest in a
corn field. As the corn grew, so did her chicks until they were
now learning to fly. One day when the sparrow returned from
work to the nest in the evening, her chicks were very worried
and said to her, Mom, the farmer and his sons were here and
they said that they are going to cut the corn tomorrow. What will
happen to us?
Tell me exactly what you heard, said the sparrow.
Well, the farmer said to his sons, Go to the village council
tomorrow and tell them that we need help to cut our field so can
they please announce this so that our neighbors will come to help
us. We can start cutting in the morning.
Dont worry, said the sparrow. Nothing will happen.
Meanwhile you keep doing your flying lessons.

Nothing happened for the next few days. Then one day the
chicks reported, Mom, the farmer came today with his sons and
said, None of the neighbors have turned up. The field is now
ready to be cut. Go to your uncles and tell them to come
tomorrow. We will cut the corn. The sparrow said, Dont
worry, nothing will happen. Keep flying.

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Two days later, the chicks reported, Mom, today the farmer
came and said to his sons, Your uncles also did not come.
Tomorrow morning we will start cutting the corn ourselves. The
sparrow said, Okay kiddos, time to go.

I have seen many excellent strategies which depend on

government ordinances, community support, social change and
so on in order to succeed. They all fail. On the other hand we
have the excellent example of the many womens self-help
groups in the field of education, microcredit and so forth which
are huge success stories. The golden rule in strategy is, If it is
not in your control, it is not in your control.

In that case you will need to redefine it and take responsibility

for it to make it work. One way is to create a pilot project which
may gain for you the initial interest to convince others to back it.

Metrics: measuring with merciless accuracy

The difference between a brilliant strategy and one that is merely
good is measurement. Metrics dont make a bad strategy good
but they make a good one brilliant. Metrics dont necessarily
correct faults but they show up faults before they become
catastrophes. Metrics catch mistakes early so that they can be
corrected.
Metrics catch good ideas early so that even more importantly
they can be rewarded. The key in good metrics is not only to
measure but to be clear about what to measure. This requires a
thorough knowledge of the subject to know what a certain
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measurement is telling us. Time spent during the planning stage

in creating good metrics is time very well spent. Needless to
state, no metric is good for all time or even necessary. So metrics
must be continually examined, revised and changed to keep them
useful.

Metrics measure progress in all sorts of ways; speed, use of

resources, waste, or satisfaction. Metrics tell us not only how we
are doing but also how that measures up against global
standards. Metrics help us to put things in perspective. Metrics
are not a way of policing. Metrics are meant to help us to be fair,
objective and responsive to the contributor, customer and
ourselves. Metrics help us to establish the value and worth of
what we are doing. They help us to prove that we are fair and
just. They help us to prove that we are better, faster, more
economical and more conscious of our social and other
responsibility. Metrics take performance out of the foggy realm
of personal opinion into the bright light of objective assessment
against standards. Metrics are what makes Professional,
professional.

5. Faith
"When you come to the end of the light of all that you
know and are about to step off into the darkness of the
unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things will
happen; there will be something firm to stand on or you
will be taught how to fly." ~Barbara Winters
This is my favorite quote that exemplifies for me the meaning of
faith in terms of leadership.

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It is the willingness to go on when others have stopped. It is the

belief, sometimes even irrational, that you will succeed. To
believe that you will win and to show your commitment to this
belief by continuing to go forward despite the lack of support. To
go beyond what is reasonable because in the end, it is the
unreasonable who win. Life is full of examples of great leaders
who held on to their vision even in times of no support, only to
be proven right when in the end they won. The South African
anti-apartheid movement is a classic example of people fighting
racism for decades in the face of tremendous opposition, firm in
their belief that one day they would succeed. History is proof
that they did. As I write this, there are others who take strength
from this and other such examples and continue their struggle
through the night of oppression.

This staying power, this psychological strength is essential and

without it the best efforts fall by the wayside.

I discovered the power of prayer. Of asking the One who has the
power for His help. Prayer gave me (and continues to do so) a
chance to have a private conversation and to ask Allahe for what
I needed. He knew what that was better than I did, but being able
to ask and knowing that He listens and helps gave me the
strength that I needed. There is an enormous sense of peace in
standing in the night in prayer after having done all that is in
ones power, asking for those decisions to be sent down without
which all ones effort will bear no fruit. I am aware of the same
sense of communion that the farmer feels when he has tilled the
land, made the furrows, spread the fertilizer, sowed the seeds and
then looks towards the heavens and raises his hands asking for
rain, without which all his effort will be in vain. Yet when he
raises his hands, there is no fear in his heart, only hope. And
there is a smile on his face.
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For he is looking for the clouds to come once again, bearing rain
as they have done again and again in his life. So also as I stood, I
remembered all the times that I had been guided, gently away
from what I wanted, to what was good for me though I had not
realized it at that time. I was aware that Allahe knows, He cares
and He has the power to do what it takes. I was content in the
fact that I had done my part and made all the effort that I could.
Now I stood to ask for His help, confident that He would do
what was good for me, even if it meant that in a given situation I
would not get what I wanted. My lifes experience told me that
every time that happened I was given something better. Prayer
gave me strength in the dark silence of the night which otherwise
is the home of fear and confusion.

I feel calmness and tranquility descend on me, my thoughts

become clearer and new ideas emerge.

Deal with Ambiguity

Complexity is a source of profit

If there is one factor that is a certainty in all unique
entrepreneurial ventures, it is ambiguity. The more path breaking
your idea, the greater will be the number of things unknown. In
most cases you will be the trend setter, the benchmark for those
who come later, the poaching ground from where they will
recruit their people.

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Ambiguity creates anxiety and stress. I have two tools to deal

with this:

1. Discipline and Routine

Anxiety creates disorder and disorder enhances fear. A vicious
circle that debilitates energy and invites despair. So the first
thing to ensure is that you have a routine and to stick to it with
dogged discipline. I had (and continue to have) fixed times to
wake up, sleep, eat and for all major activities including reading,
writing and the gym. A timetable creates order and predictability
in life.
Lack of discipline can masquerade as freedom. This is very
dangerous. Structure is the most powerful aid to fight anxiety.
Seriousness about work is not detrimental to having fun. The
greatest fun is to win. Losing is very tragic.

2. Physical Fitness
Adrenalin is the best natural energizer. And you get a lot of it on
the treadmill provided you sweat enough. The gym must become
an absolutely fixed part of your day. Exercise is both a physical
and psychological booster and a source of great benefit. Another
thing, at least in my case, I think better when I am walking. So
when I have some complex problem to work on, I go for a walk.
By the time I have walked a few miles, I would have worked it
out and it becomes clear. Whatever be the physiological reasons
for this, I know it works for me. Try it out.

Resolve conflicts

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Ambiguity creates multiple options and opinions. Multiple

opinions create conflict. However this conflict if managed
properly can become a binding force and create much better
team cohesion. Also discouraging multiple opinions is a very
good way to destroy all creativity and alternative thinking and
hugely detrimental to eventual goal achieving.
So the first thing to realize and convince yourself as the leader is
that conflict is desirable because it indicates that people are
interested, engaged, concerned and see a stake for themselves in
the outcome. It means that they see benefit for themselves in the
task which is a very good sign.

Conflict resolution requires two things:

Be aware of and able to deal with your own feelings and

emotions

Being able to deal objectively with issues

It is important to remember that you are also human and that in

any conflict it is entirely possible that unconsciously you may
prefer one side over another. However to show that or to allow
that to influence you is detrimental to resolving the conflict.
Emotion always gets in the way of resolution of conflict so
though to feel emotion is entirely natural it is important to be
able to control its expression and operate as objectively,
dispassionately and fairly as you can. To be able to do this,
structure is a very major tool. So use structure to resolve
conflicts. I use the following method:

1. Define the issue in terms of what is important to you.

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2. Share the definition and identify common areas of

agreement.
3. Agree on a mutually acceptable impartial, external, global
standard.
4. Apply the standard and create a solution.
5. See if a better solution is possible.
6. Practice Active Listening (Paraphrasing)

It is very useful to keep the focus on the task and remind people
not to become personal. There is a big difference between
disagreeing and being disagreeable. Many people confuse a
difference of opinion with opposition. This must not be allowed
to happen or it will undermine relationships and destroy trust.
7. Execution
In the final analysis, it is the ability to deliver which is the game
changer. Nothing else matters. Execution depends on two critical
parameters:
1. Decision making
2. Edge
Decision Making
This has to do with the basis of decision making as well as the
willingness to make decisions. Leadership after all is about the
willingness and ability to take charge of other peoples work and
accept accountability for it. The worst self-indictment of
leadership is for the leader to complain about his team. So the
leaders ability to take good decisions is a critical factor. Good
decisions are the result of applying systems as well as of
systematically learning from experience. I want to emphasize the
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importance of systematic structured learning because not

everyone who has a similar experience learns the same lessons.
The value of the lesson depends more on how you learn than on
what happened. I use the following system:
1. Record what happened: hard data, recorded as
dispassionately as possible.
2. Reflect on the reasons for it: and on what alternatives existed
at the time.
3. Conceptualize a lesson: what do I learn from this?
4. Apply the lesson: with awareness.
It is a simple process the efficacy of which lies in the rigor with
which it is applied. Many times we dont want to accept our own
culpability in the issue; or we dont want to accept that we could
have acted differently. So we dont learn anything and make the
same mistakes again and again. But if we have the courage to
look at our own actions and accept responsibility for them, then
in fact we empower ourselves to create solutions. It is a strange
paradox that when we accept responsibility for our own role in
an incident, we simultaneously empower ourselves to change our
future. As they say in Gestalt Psychology:
What I resist persists. What I accept is transformed.
Edge
To understand edge, imagine the edge of a knife. If you dont
sharpen a knife then it needs far more force to cut and then cuts
badly with ragged edges. We all know the old adage about
sharpening the saw or sharpening the knife. Edge is about
sharpening the knife of our decision making the willingness
and ability to take hard, painful decisions.
In my family business consulting practice I have seen case after
case of business families refusing or unable to take hard
decisions when it comes to succession, to the ultimate detriment,

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even destruction of the family business. One hard decision with

respect to one individual, if not taken in time, leads to suffering
and misery for the whole family. The strange thing is that this
happens so many times.
An excellent example of the opposite a hard decision taken at
the right time is the case of Pick n Pay Stores in South Africa
founded by Raymond Ackerman. Not only did Ackerman plan
succession for 25 years, as he says and has a record of every
single succession planning meeting for all those years, when the
time came for his own retirement, the top job did not go to his
son Gareth but to Sean Summers, the CEO of the retail business.
Gareth elected to oversee other family business interests. The
interest of the business came first, over any aspirations to glory
as the chairman of South Africas premier retail business and the
job went to the one who was considered best for it. Interestingly
when Sean Summers resigned last week, his successor Nick
Badminton was named immediately and smoothly, a proof of the
effectiveness of Ackermans succession planning philosophy. No
vacuum, no searching, nobody from outside the organization.
Talent identified and ready in waiting.
Edge is critical to success for any leader. Without edge there can
be no leadership. Some hard decisions are painful, but this pain
is like the pain of cancer surgery it saves the life. When you
come to an edge decision, it is good to remember this example
and remind yourself that death is even more painful. One last
thing: a hard decision postponed, is harder to take and more
painful when it is finally taken, perhaps too late.
Conclusion
In conclusion, leadership is a teachable and learnable skill. Even
those who consider themselves born leaders can benefit from
following the structure and practicing the skills that I have
mentioned here.

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I have used every one of the things that I have mentioned here
and my own theory of Leadership Essentials developed out of 27
years of practicing these tools. I know this works because I have
seen it work. Like any skill however, it is as good as our
expertise in it. So correct practice is essential. Remember,
practice does not make perfect. Practice makes permanent.
Correct practice is essential if we want to become perfect.
Otherwise we only learn to do the wrong thing very efficiently.

I wish you practitioners out there, all the best in your

endeavor.

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176

Beating the Rat Race

How to become a Cat?

It all begins in the mind

In the beginning was the thought.
It then focused on material and created the plan.
The plan manifested itself into a working model.
The model asked, What happens after me?
The intellect answered,
That depends on what you want to happen.
Seek to give and so you will get.
Seek to take and it will be taken from you.
And the rest is history.

Genesis of the idea

A friend asked me to show him a way to get out of the rat race
and on the spur of the moment I said, Become a cat. Then I
reflected on the qualities that a cat represents and those which a
rat represents and I tried to see how these can help us to create
life quality and satisfaction. What differentiates and rat from a
cat? And how does that help us? That is what this article is
about. One word of caution; like all analogies this also ends at a
point. The point being that this is meant for people, not rats or
cats. So please dont get too stuck to the zoology and remain
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with the concept and philosophy of how we can power-up our

lives. Happy reading
Rat versus Cat
Now what distinguishes the Rat from the Cat? In my view it is
the focus that distinguishes the Rat in the Rat Race from the Cat
which is watching from his perch.

In the Rat Race, the focus is self-aggrandizement &

destructive competition:
There is constant comparison with others. This produces
dissatisfaction with ones own situation and so one strives harder
to beat the other. Naturally this focus also produces the need to
show off, because what is the use of gain if it cant be flaunted?
People dont feel good because they have more, but because they
have more than others do. So if everyone had the same or
similar, if everyone developed, the satisfaction would be less.
One feels very satisfied not by being wealthy but by being more
wealthy than ones friends, companions, family, and being able
to show off that wealth so that they will feel jealous, envious,
frustrated. Since material things are easier to accumulate and
display, the focus of the Rat Race is very materialistic. People
build houses not to create warm and loving homes but to create
edifices to their egos. They fill them with artifacts bought in
antique stores that came there from the houses of other rats of
times gone by, who also filled their houses with artifacts from
the homes of rats gone by.
Little do they reflect on the irony of this. Cars for rats, are not
transportation but statements of their position in society.
Weddings are not about the young people starting a new life but
an opportunity for the parents to flaunt their wealth. Victims of
the Rat Race beg to be invited to such high society weddings

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and then gaze with longing eyes at all that they are never likely
to have and go home and complain about how wasteful the hosts
were and in what bad taste their party was. This is because rat
parties are not about meeting friends and feeling good, but about
looking to see what others wore and feeling bad. That is why all
the good feeling of wearing a nice dress or a good piece of
jewelry becomes saw dust in the mouth the moment they see
another person wearing a huge rock on a rope.
Aah!! And of course in the Rat Race there is a great deal of
rejoicing in the misfortunes of others. Nothing is more satisfying
than to talk about the robbery in someones house in which they
lost all their jewelry or the accident in which their Bentley was
totaled. All this is of course spoken of in pained tones, but one
only has to look at the eyes to see the undisguised glee in them.
Rat societies are very uncaring places in which personal gain is
the only consideration. Means fair or foul are not a matter of
interest to anyone. Results justify the means. As long as I gain, it
does not matter how I gained. It matters even less at whose
expense I gained. Moral values, codes of behavior, principles,
religion are all means to be used in gaining advantage over
others. There is no real loyalty to any of these things. They are
tools to be used, ruthlessly and without apology and to be cast
aside when they are no longer useful. In the end, worship is only
of the self and of personal desire.
Since accumulation of material possessions is essential to win in
the Rat Race, rats become stingy and hoard resources. They
wont share what they have with others because it will reduce
their own store. Even when some things they have may be time
sensitive and can get spoilt or redundant unless they are used,
rats will still hoard them and will not give them to others or
allow others to use their resources. Rats will also not share
knowledge to ensure that others never have a chance to succeed.

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Rat societies are characterized by a lack of education and

disparities in learning and capability. Safety becomes the key
driver. Risk taking disappears. Fear of losing possessions
dominates all thinking and various means are sought to prevent
that. Security agencies do good business in rat societies. Rats are
unwilling to face the fact that societies in which disparities
between people are less or non-existent, crime automatically
disappears. Rats dont like to face this fact because in order for
disparities to disappear, wealthy rats must share their wealth. But
this goes against the very grain of rat-ness especially since the
source of all satisfaction is to see that others have less than you.
So there is a vested interest in rat societies to ensure that
disparities remain.
Interestingly this focus on the other also produces complacency.
When you have more than others and when everyone else is
staring at you in envy, then there is no need to strive more. So
enterprise dies once a certain amount of acquisitions have been
accumulated as there is nobody left to impress or there is too
much to protect. Real progress, be it in knowledge or power,
stops as rats dont like to take risk. Risk is essential to stretch the
boundaries of the known and explore ways of dealing with the
unknown. Risk is essential to learn how much more one can
achieve. But risk has within it, the possibility of failure. Since
rats are afraid of failure as this can result in their losing some of
their possessions they hate risk and constantly seek safety. So
progress stops.
Since satisfaction comes only in comparison with others, rats in
power are despotic and tyrannical. It is from seeing others
kowtowing to them that they get a sense of wellbeing. Loyalty to
the king rat becomes the primary virtue. Questioning of those in
power or of whatever they stand for is the cardinal sin. Rat
societies become inward looking and lose perspective and have
no vision. The boundary between the ruler and the state
disappears. The ruler says, I am the state. Difference of

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opinion is seen as opposition and disagreement with or

disapproval of those in power becomes treason. Rat societies
equate the government with the country and disagreement with
one is seen as disloyalty to the other. That is why in the Rat
Race, even if you win, you are still a rat. Ask yourself: How
many rats do you know? And is the one you see in the mirror
also a rat?
Now let us look at what it is to be a Cat.
The Cat is focused primarily on himself but unlike the rat the cat
focuses on developing its skill as a hunter. Cats dont hoard, so
every day is a new opportunity to hunt. To improve skills, to
learn from previous mistakes, to take risk and pit ones own
strengths and talents against external forces. If cats are not
successful in the hunt, they sleep hungry. So that is a great
driver. Cats teach their hunting skills to their children and group
mates because the survival of the whole pride depends on the
skills of everyone. (Lions are also cats, right?).
Cats dont live in a fixed place and cover huge ranges in order to
find prey. So they necessarily develop perspective. They learn to
create strategies for a successful hunt. Cats know that their own
survival depends on the wellbeing of the entire pride and so they
care for one another.
For the Cat, the focus is self-development & collaboration
Arising out of this I have identified some key characteristics
which I believe if a person develops he will become
entrepreneurial in nature and will become a winner in all ways. I
have described them in detail below but the way I conceptualize
them is as one arising from the other in a glow of goodness.
Becoming a cat is a lifelong journey of delight. For cats dont
die. They turn into mist that rises from the forest at dawn.

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Faith is the foundation of Courage

Faith: Small word with big meaning. Means different things to
different people. So let me define what I mean by Faith. To me,
faith is a dynamic process that is based on the individuals
understanding of him/herself in the context of physical,
intellectual, psychological and spiritual strength. That is why
self-awareness and emotional understanding is very important.
Based on this s/he takes risk and has success which reinforces
the faith. When there is a failure, if they analyze it and create a
new strategy that also reinforces the faith. Otherwise, faith can
be shaken sometimes with failures.
Faith is the sure knowledge that one will succeed in ones
endeavor. To do all that is required and then to trust that the
result will be favorable. This may sound irrational. But it is a
very critical element of the combination. It is the final ingredient
in the mix that produces success. Without faith you reach the
end of your strength and find nothing to sustain you across the
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leapthe leap of faith. I like to use the words of Barbara

Winters to describe faith: When you come to the end of the
light of all that you know and are about to step off into the
darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two
things will happen; there will be something firm to stand on,
or you will be taught how to fly.
For me faith is knowing with complete certainty that Allah will
do what He promised in the Quran: Sura At-Talaaq: 2-3: For
the one who has consciousness of Allah (and fears His
displeasure has taqwa) Allah will extract him from all his
difficulties. And will provide him from sources that he could not
imagine. For the one who has faith in Allah, verily He (Allah)
will become sufficient for him.
It is this faith that gives courage. The courage to take the
unpopular stance. To speak the truth before the tyrant. To stand
up for the oppressed. To do what needs to be done no matter how
difficult. To follow your dream. It is this faith that lights the path
on the long, dark road in the late reaches of the night when all
about you are asleep and you are sitting wondering if the road
that you have chosen to walk is really worth it or not. When
human awareness and resistance to adversity is at its lowest,
faith is the small, clear voice in your heart which tells you that
what you are doing is right and gives you the courage to carry
on.
Courage enables Risk-taking
When one operates with courage, taking risk becomes possible.
Courage is not what you have before you start. It is what comes
when you take the first step. When you first stand up, your heart
is fluttering, your knees are weak and your throat is dry. But as
you stand up and all eyes turn to you, a cool breeze blows and
you suddenly find steel inserted into your spine. You stand taller,
your senses are enhanced, your eyes are bright and the voice that
comes out of your throat is firm and confident. It is as if you are
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standing to one side listening to yourself speaking words you did

not know you had in you. Explaining things that were
themselves unclear to you until then. Yet when you start to
speak, you find that not only do the concepts become clear but
you are able to explain them with examples that take the breath
of people away in that moment of Aha!! that comes not too
often but is remembered for all time, when it does. What you had
thought of as risky until then seems so easy and winning
inevitable. And all that you are aware of is the excitement of it
all.
Risk-taking creates Excitement
Excitement is the adrenalin flow no doubt. But more importantly
it is the door that opens onto the vista of new possibilities. Of
things unspoken and only dreamt of until then. Of concepts still
in the shadows on the far boundary of knowledge. Of what may
be, of what can become. Imagine that you have just reached the
top of a steep mountain pass. It was a long hard climb,
sometimes even dangerous. But you made it. And now you step
into the pass towards the gap in the rock that is like a doorway.
As you enter the door, you come to the lip of the escarpment that
overlooks a valley spread out below, at your feet. Undulating
grassland, hints of blue suggesting a stream flowing into a lake
in the far distance, clumps of thick shade trees, the distant
cacophony of parakeets and other birds flying around from tree
to tree eating at will. The mist rising in the early morning from
the forest floor. Myriad smells, sights and sounds. A cool breeze
comes up to greet you and invite you to step forward taking the
first step on the path leading to what new discoveries you dont
know yet. I will leave you to imagine the rest. Fill it with the
images you want.
Experience the shortness of breath, the sparkling of your eyes the
warmth of the early morning sun on your face, the hint of
coming rain. Not the rain that spells cold and damp. But the life

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giving rain that the dray earth prays for and waits every day.
This is the excitement that creates energy, commitment and
drive, for excitement after all is fear which anticipates a happy
ending.
Excitement drives Passion
Passion soars on the wings of excitement. When a person works
with passion all the forces of nature collaborate to help him.
Much can be done with little. All the numbers add up correctly.
Time slows down to let him finish his task. The train comes on
time. The taxi man returns to him the things that he forgot in the
cab when he got off. Passion invokes passion. Others who come
into contact with the person who works with passion get
energized. Suddenly they start to see meaning in what they do
which until then they had been doing mechanically. People who
work with passionate people report an enhanced sense of
satisfaction and accomplishment. They look forward to each day,
to be with their leader and to do what pleases him.
I believe most firmly that one must identify what one is
passionate about and develop expertise in it. Then when one
does that work there is no stress for one is doing what one loves.
It is but natural that if you love something and learn to do it, you
will do it well. There is a clear difference between the work of
someone who is merely doing a job and another who is
answering a calling. For the one it is earning a living at best. For
the other it is fulfillment of his lifes purpose. Imagine a life that
is led, every day of which is a joy to live. That is what doing
what you are passionate about bestows on you.

Passion drives Excellence

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It is but natural that someone who is passionate about something

will want to do it in the best possible manner. And that is what
excellence is all about. To continuously search for a better way,
a more profitable, compassionate, beautiful or exciting way to
accomplish the goal. It is excellence which makes you do that
which the world may consider strange.
Excellence is to care more than others think is wise; to risk more
than others think is safe; to dream more than others think is
practical; and to expect from oneself more than others think is
possible. It is only in the search for excellence that new
discoveries are made and better ways are found. It is not
competing against others but a race to achieve ones own
potential by pushing the boundaries of ones own knowledge,
capability, power and influence. Striving for excellence
generates respect, attracts followers and enhances ones
influence.
Excellence creates Brand
And in the end the result of this virtuous spiral is
differentiation.
Why differentiate? Because differentiation creates brand. Brand
creates loyalty. Loyalty creates influence and is the foundation of
leadership. Brand creates identity. It enables the leader to stand
out and not blend in with the crowd. It makes him the standard
bearer to whose standard the others rally. It makes him the light
in the darkness which those who are lost seek to find the way
once again. Positive differentiation creates customers who are
loyal and who choose you over your competitors. Producers of
products and services strive to differentiate from their
competition in ways that are desirable to their customers and
which address a particular key need of their clients so that their
clients will choose their product or service over that of their
competition. The same logic applies in human development. The

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drive for excellence enables the person to create that positive

differentiation which makes him a brand in himself.
The home is where it all starts
In my experience parents spend far too little conscious time on
the upbringing of their children especially in inculcating the
value of contribution. Of each generation creating its own legacy
and not being content to ride on the back of the earlier
generation. They dont prepare their children for the
responsibility that they will have to shoulder. Ive met many
parents who struggled very hard initially in their lives and who
say to themselves (and to everyone else) with great feeling and
tears in their eyes, I will never allow my children to face the
hardship that I had to go through.
When I hear this statement I say to them, Please change the
wording. Say, I will never allow my children to build resilience,
character and strength. I will never allow them to have the power
that I have, to succeed.
Say this because in effect that is what you are really saying.
Many are shocked to hear this statement because they had never
thought of it in that light.
They equate expense with quality. They give their children the
most expensive education which insulates them from the realities
of life and so they never learn to fight the real battles. They give
them the most expensive toys which in reality teach them to
define human value in terms of material worth (the best kids
are those who have the best toys). They insulate them from
poverty, deprivation, lack of resources and thereby they protect
them from being exposed to the power of drive, ambition, single
minded focus on achieving big, ambitious, scary goals. They
build walls between their children and the people who they must
in the end, deal with.

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People who will one day, work with them and decide their fate.
People who need to be inspired, led, cared for and supported.
And therefore people who must be understood. Not simply in
order to do good and be charitable but because their own success
depends on these people. The fond parents forget or ignore the
fact that one day the time will come for the soft little molly
coddled baby to enter the jungle of the real world without any of
the tools it needs to survive, much less to lead others. Children
must be carefully watched, nurtured and mentored from the
earliest age. They must be given tasks of graduated difficulty so
that they learn to win on their own. They must be allowed to face
their fears and to conquer them.
They must be supported but not protected. They must be advised
but not told what to do. They must be allowed to take their own
decisions but not without the benefit of the frame of reference of
the value of honor, fairness, responsibility, accountability,
nurturing and trusteeship. They must be allowed to feel, to cry in
the night for the hardships that others undergo, to build
friendships and relationships that span the boundaries of color,
race, religion, nationality and much more difficult, social order
and prejudice. They must learn that to be poor and to be
honorable are not mutually exclusive; just as to be rich and to be
honorable are not the same thing and dont happen
automatically.
They must learn that virtue is a state of mind. A stance, a
decision, a position that one takes, not because someone is
watching but because of ones own sense of ones identity.
I do because of who I am. And I become, because I do. They
must learn that our actions define us. They must learn that people
will define them on the basis of both what they owned and what
they contributed. But they will honor them only for what they
contributed. Because we are remembered, not for what we had
but for what we gave. Only when they are taught to focus on

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contribution from their earliest childhood will they be able to

fight the force of consumerism that is focused on consumption.
Blind, self-centered consumption that in the end will consume us
all, if it is allowed to proliferate unchallenged. Parents must
bring up children who will challenge these norms and create a
society that is focused on contribution instead of consumption,
so that in the end we leave behind a place that is the better for
our passing because wealth and power are the result of intelligent
effort. Not its objective.
Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the
shape of the spoon.
E.M. Forster
The biggest mistake that parents make is not to define
boundaries. Parents must parent. Many parents today seem to be
too focused on being friends to their children at the expense of
parenting. In this endeavor they bend over backward trying to be
nice to the children and basically do whatever the children want
them to. Boundaries are therefore never firm and clear.
They are always open to being negotiated and children push the
boundaries until they get what they want from parents who have
confused parenting with being friendly per se. Parents must
remember that their children can have many friends but they
have only 2 parents. Parents have been assigned the role of
parenting. Every other role is optional. The only assigned role is
that of parenting and so they need to do that first and foremost.
Children are forever testing boundaries. So these must be clear.
For example, that you can disagree with parents on issues
provided you do it in the right way by being respectful and not
cheeky. That cheekiness is not cute, it is insulting. That joking
and insulting are two different things. That assertiveness is to
insist on your rights without violating the rights of others.

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That aggressiveness is to violate the rights of others. One is

commendable, the other is reprehensible. That caring for your
environment (read: home, office, bathroom, car, garden, pets
etc.) is your job and not the job of parents, or servants. Servants
are supposed to clean the home once in a day. Not every time the
child makes a mess. It is a common sight in the East, especially
in wealthy family homes, to see the mother or a servant picking
up after the child who is a moving litter creator. Children must
learn that making a mess of the home or your own room is not
acceptable. That your room is your own but not to do with or in
as you please. That the rules of the home apply even inside your
room. Children must be taught that meal times are sacred
because the home is not a hotel where one can simply order
room service. Meals, especially the one meal at which the whole
family eats together, may not be missed or interrupted. Mealtime
is for the family and any family guests. It is okay to invite
friends to a meal at home but not okay to talk to them on the
phone while the rest of the family eats. Children must learn that
their guests must also follow the rules of the family home. That
exams, games, TV shows, football, cricket or basketball matches
and so on are not acceptable excuses for missing the family
meal. The meal itself is not only about eating but about bonding,
caring for one another, concern for common issues and learning
social skills. It is amazing how many children (some in their
20s) who have no idea of the manners of eating. This actually
becomes a social barrier for them later in life. But if they were
never taught how could they learn? It is the responsibility of
parents to teach these things and more.
Naturally it is the parents who have to set the norm. If the father
misses the meal without comment, then so will the child. If the
father sits in front of the TV because he wants to see what
happened to his favorite team and to be able to do that, moves
the meal to the living room so that everyone eats mechanically
with eyes glued to the screen, then this will become the norm
and he will have no moral authority to insist that the children do
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something different. If parents sit in their favorite chair and

shout out to the servant to get this or that, so will the children. If
parents litter, children will too. If parents pay children to wash
cars, mow lawns, clean attics or garages, instead of personally
doing these things taking the children along with them, then
children will learn that as long as they can throw money at some
poor person to do their work, they need not care for their own
environment.
Not only will they not learn to take care of their common spaces
but they will also learn to treat some jobs with disrespect and to
look down on those who do those jobs.
Each of these things above can be linked to one or more of the
evils of our society. A society that is stratified according to
economic circumstances, not according to knowledge, moral
values or being honorable. A society where people dont care for
other people. Where the self is worshipped and indulgence is the
supreme goal. Where freedom is defined as the ability to indulge
your whims with impunity, even when some of this indulgence
may be breaking the laws of God or country. Where the law is
applied differently based on who has the money to circumvent it
or to get out of trouble by paying their way. Where the ones who
create the corruption by paying to get benefits out of turn, then
turn around and whine about what a corrupt society we have.
Where justice is denied to some because others pay speed
money to an educated judge and then they complain about
how corrupt the judiciary has become. Where the fact that the
effect of ones own activity, speech or conduct may be infringing
on the rights of others, is not even part of any discussion.
Children, especially of families who come from high income
homes must be taught the value of service. They must endure
hardship and learn that for some people air-conditioning, cars,
unlimited hot & cold running water, fridges bursting at the seams
and clean sheets on a soft bed are not even novelties; because a

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novelty is something that you do have, even if only occasionally.

But those people still live and laugh and play. Children must be
taught the value of compassion, courage and service. They must
be allowed to experience the joy of sharing. Of giving and then
seeing the light of disbelieving delight in the eyes of the receiver.
Nothing compares to the joy of giving something to someone
who did not even dream of getting it. They must be taught that to
give someone what you dont really want is still good but not as
appreciable as giving away something that you love because
someone else needs it more. This demonstrates genuine care and
concern.
For example for a teenager to volunteer to spend time with old
people (related or not) is to give away their time, which may not
have any monetary value but which is something that is dear to
young people. This and other such activities must be encouraged
and appreciated. Not by giving money in exchange but by
talking to the child and asking what they believe they gained
from the action. It is only when they learn to take pleasure in the
giving of itself that this giving becomes sustainable.
This is a power that is given in the hands of those who have
resources, who actually hold the resources of others in trust, to
be delivered on call, when they need it. Those who use these
resources for themselves without any concern for others are
really violating their trust for which they will be held
accountable. Children must be taught that value is not equal to
cost.
For example that the cost of learning may be negligible but the
value of knowledge is immeasurable. And so the scholar must be
respected and honored for his knowledge even if he is poor.
That the muddy handprints of your little daughter may well have
ruined your Armani suit when she rushed to give you a hug as
you returned from work, but the value of the hug is far more than
the value of the suit and so you keep silent and return her hug
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with a bigger one and add a kiss as a bonus. The suit can be
cleaned or replaced. The broken heart of a little girl cant be
repaired. Children must be taught that the mud and brick
structure that they live in is a house, not a home. And no matter
how big yours is, there is always another somewhere else which
is bigger, shinier, taller, wider or more beautiful. How expensive
or big it is, does not show how happy and contented are those
who live in it. And it is this happiness and contentment that
make the home, not mud and brick.
Possessions add cost, not value.
Children must be taught that humans have more intrinsic value
than anything material which can be bought, sold or junked. That
cars, branded clothing, watches, gadgets, material possessions,
expensive houses dont add value to the people who use them.
Possessions add cost, not value. Anyone sensible will seek to
add value to himself, not cost.
People who believe that possessions add value or seek to
convince others of this, have no value for themselves. They have
low self-esteem and are seeking to lower the value of the human
being. Children must be taught that a car, no matter how
expensive, is transportation, not a symbol. Except of bad
judgment which makes someone put huge amounts of money
into a depreciating asset. A shirt is clothing, a watch is meant to
tell the time and shoes are meant to walk in. None of these define
you, are not statements, nor indicators of what kind of human
being you are. It is your character, your actions, what you stand
for, your principles and your values, which define you. Not what
you possess. What you possess can be stolen or taken away from
you. Your character, your values, your principles are the stuff of
memories that you leave behind. By these you will be
remembered, honorably or otherwise. Live a life such that you
will be remembered with honor. Teach children these things by
personal example. Because that is the only way to teach them.

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Children must be taught the value of money. The value of

earning it, of investing it, of making it earn for you. They must
learn the difference between spending and investing. They must
be trained to be wealth creators, not wealth spenders. They must
be taught that spending is to incur an expense for something that
can give no return but instead, itself depreciates in value.
Investing is to incur an expense for something that gives a return
on your investment. Children learn to handle money by actually
handling money. So give them an allowance and then ask them
to present monthly P&L accounts and an annual Balance Sheet.
See what the headings are, under which they spent their
allowance. See if they have found ways to make their allowance
earn for them instead of simply spending it on consumables.
Show them the alternatives they may have missed. Warren
Buffet started trading when he was in his teens. When asked he
said that his only regret was that he had not started earlier. Once
children see how they will actually gain and have more money
by this kind of thinking you have won. See if they spent some
money on the welfare of others. Guide them by example. Teach
them to be rich. For as I have said earlier, being rich or poor is a
function of how you think. Not of what or how much you
possess.
As we bring up our children, so we create the society we live in.
We have succeeded in creating a society that is rich in resources
and poor in the willingness to share. That is why we have hunger
and poverty. Our society is rich in material and poor in morals
and spirit. That is why we have evil and sin. Our society is rich
in information but poor in wisdom. That is why the most
educated nations among us are the most barbaric. That is why
we have people in some countries starving to death while in
2007-8 more than 1 billion worth of food was thrown away in
Britain alone. Is this an issue of food production, distribution or
simply of lack of concern for others?

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We have created a society that has concentrated power and

wealth in the hands of a few who have no concern for others.
These are people who have the resources to actually create a
world without hunger, educated, with proper medical care, where
there are none homeless and which is free from crime. But
instead they have created a world that has the capability of
destroying itself 40 times over. Nobody stops to ask how this
will happen the second time, let alone for another 38 times.

The correction has to begin in the home.

And that is the essence of being a Cat. To be the best that you
can be, without worrying about what the other is doing. You still
do the best that you can do even if nobody is looking. You
behave with grace, nobility, compassion, wisdom and honor not
because of what others are doing or not doing but because you
are YOU. You do it because your behavior defines you and it
arises from your beliefs and values. You do, so you get, so you
are. And that is what your legacy is.
To live the message that success is to do the best that you can do
because only that, is worthy of you.

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196

Giving up too soon

Have you ever seen a traditional weighing scale in a shop in

India selling food grains? It is called a Balance and has two
pans on either side of a pivot, hanging from a horizontal beam at
the top. The weight measure is put in one pan and material being
weighed in the other. There is an extremely important life lesson
to be learnt in this. The next time you go to buy rice or some
other grain, notice what the seller does.
First he puts the weight measure in one pan. Say 20 kilos. Then
he uses a scoop and starts to put rice into the other pan. As the
pan fills, even when he has put 19 kilos in it, what do you see
happening to the pans? Nothing. There is no change in the
situation. The pan with the weight remains firmly on the counter
top. And the pan with the rice remains in the air. However you
notice that the man does not stop putting the rice into the pan
because he is not seeing any result to his efforts. He knows the
result will come and continues to put the rice in with his scoop
until he sees a small movement in the pans and the pan with the
rice starts to descend. Once that happens and the pans are almost
level, the man changes his method of putting in the grain. Now
instead of the scoop, he uses his hand. He takes a handful of rice
and very gently he drops a few grains at a time into the pan. And
then lo and behold, the pan with the rice descends to the counter
top and the pan with the weight rises in the air.

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When I saw this, I learnt two essential lessons in life; both

equally true:
Lesson # 1:

Until 19 kilos, nothing will happen.

Lesson # 2:

The last few grains always make the difference

So also in life, even when 19 kilos of effort have gone into the
issue and we start to lose hope because 'nothing is happening' it
is good to remember that nothing is supposed to happen. One
who understands this does not lose hope or energy but smiles in
anticipation of reaching the last stage when he knows that the
pan will start to descend to the counter-top.

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199

What makes a winner?

Before I begin on the three fundamental principles that make
winners, let me state one thing: In life, only winners are
rewarded. So the first requirement of winning is to be passionate
about winning. To realize that a real win is one that is gained
fairly, with integrity and without harming anyone. Only that is a
win.
There are three fundamental drivers of all winners:
1. Drive for excellence
2. Compassion
3. Desire to leave a legacy
Drive for excellence emerges from the winners self-concept. A
winner defines himself by his output. Her contribution is her
signature. Winners are contribution oriented, not entitlement
oriented. They constantly seek to give and to give more and
better each time. Naturally this gives them profit, fame, honor
and popularity but that is not why they do it. They do it because
of who they are. Not because of what others say about them. I
recall a carpenter who was making a table and asked me for 7
grades of sandpaper. When I complained about the time it would
take, he said to me, It is your choice. This is how I work. I want
whoever sees your table to ask you, Wow! Who made this?
Not, Who the hell made this? He was working for his own
satisfaction. That this would result in a satisfied customer was
incidental. He would have worked that way even if he had no
customer to sell to. The table he made for me was of teak wood,
polished to a mirror finish. A delight to see.

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Compassion comes from a sense of connectedness that winners

have. They realize that they are not alone in the world and that
they became what they became because of what others did for
them, without thinking of a return. Compassion is not merely to
be concerned about the difficulties of others but to be concerned
enough to put our money and effort where our mouth is.
Compassion is what defines us as human beings. Animals dont
have compassion. A wildebeest herd stands and watches one of
its members being eaten by lions and do nothing to help the one
that was taken. It is peculiarly and essentially human to be
concerned for the welfare of others. Winners are concerned and
they act. Today our major problems that threaten the world are
because of a lack of concern, a lack of compassion for others.
We are singularly focused on growth at any cost. Growth for the
sake of growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell. Predatory
growth results in environmental destruction, impoverishment of
people for the enrichment of a few and increase in unrest and
insecurity.
Legacy: Finally winners who have lived all their lives trying to
create an impact on their environment dont want to disappear
beneath the waves without a trace. They like to leave a legacy of
goodness that continues after they are gone.
So they build organizations, systems and processes so that their
work will continue. They spend time, energy and resources to
train others, to teach them what they know, to share their lifes
hard earned experience so that others dont have to go through
the same hardships to learn. Winners leave their mark on the
hearts and in the lives of all those they touch. They dont do this
to be remembered but they are remembered because of what they
did.
For the world remembers us not for what we had but for what we
did and how that helped them. The legacy of the winner is in the
smiles of those who they helped.

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202

Today is our 25th wedding

anniversary
March 21st, 2010.
March 21st is also the beginning of the Summer Solstice;
interestingly a very important day in ancient calendars, where the
day in the Northern Hemisphere starts to get longer not
because of our wedding of course.
So what did I learn?
I learnt that a marriage is a game of give and take in which the
more you give, the more you take. And that unless you give you
cant take.
I learnt that the trick is to collect memories. What kind of
memories? Any kind you want. That is up to you. Only, in the
end, you will only have what you collected.
I learnt that not only can you collect memories but you also get
to make them. Once again, you get to make whatever kind you
want. Those that will bring a smile to the face, warmth to the
heart and perhaps a tear of happiness. Or the other kind.
I learnt that to be married is to be prepared to be surprised. All
kinds of surprises that the delicate person in lace who smells
sweeter than a rose garden has a core of steel. And the day you
have to lean on it, you are very happy indeed that it is there.
I learnt that to share meant to give up your ownership then you
get back what you gave up, enhanced and enriched. She said to
me once, a few days after we got married, If you call everything
mine then what do I have to call mine? To give up
ownership is sometimes nothing more than to use the term we

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instead of I, me, mine, my. I learnt that it is not about the

semantics but about the soul of being married.
She is an artist in many ways, one of which was as a painter. She
was painting a seascape. Stormy clouds, lashing waves and one
boat. Then she started to paint another boat in the scene. She
worked on it for many days but the second boat would simply
not fit into the scene. It looked out of place. It looked alien. It
looked clearly as if it did not belong there. So she rubbed it out.
It took me some years to realize that it was not about the number
of boats in the scene but the number of people in the boat.
I remember the strange warm glow when I was introduced for
the first time as, This is my husband. Never knew that there
was so much pleasure in being owned. My husband. Hmm!!
I learnt that it is not always necessary to say, I love you,
Thank you, I miss you. But it is always necessary to say, I
am sorry. I also learnt that leaving your partner to read your
mind opens you to the danger of your partner never having
learned how to read minds. I learnt also that in the end even
though you say the words, it is what you do, the light in your
eyes, the charge in the hug that conveys more than the words
ever will.
I learned the joy of opening my mouth to say something only to
hear my words coming out of my wifes mouth and then we both
laugh. Who said telepathy doesnt work? Maybe it doesnt work
all the time. But then neither do the phones.
I learnt the value of being thankful. Thankful to Allahe for
granting me someone who I neither asked for, nor could have
hoped for and to see us through highs and lows such that at the
end of 25 years, all I can do is to thank Him. Thankful to my
wife for walking with me on the road of life walking on my
road, perhaps at the cost of the road she wanted to walk on
(never had the courage to ask her). Thankful to her for being the
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only person about whose support I never had to wonder or guess.

Thankful to her for always being in my corner, even though
sometimes that meant giving me some tough feedback (that is
part of being in the corner after all).
I learnt that in the end, the only thing that matters is trust. Not
beauty, not wealth, not status or grace although I must say that
I was blessed in her with all of these in full measure but trust.
And that I was blessed with even more. I learned also that trust
must be built, one day at a time; one incident at a time. I learned
that trust is the most valuable of assets and so must be guarded
accordingly.
It was 1985. We had just been married and arrived on the estate.
The workers knew we were coming and organized a grand
welcome. They lined the road from Sholayar Dam all the way to
Candura and threw flowers as we drove slowly along. They sang
songs of welcome. When we reached Candura they led us to a
pavilion made of branches lined with their best sarees, nailed to
the wood. They sat us down in decorated chairs, garlanded us,
gave us gifts and then served tea and sweets while they all
surrounded us, laughing, talking and so joyful to welcome the
new bride of their manager. As the tea was served, to my horror I
noticed that a desperate fly perhaps in a fit of despair had
decided to commit suicide in my wifes tea cup. Before I could
even collect my wits, what did I see her do? She calmly picked
out the fly very discretely and put it on the saucer and drank the
tea with a smile. Nobody noticed. Hospitality after all must be
honored.
It was 1987 monsoon in the Anamallais; the tea district in
Southern India; perched on the ridge of the Western Ghats. Apart
from the elephants after which it was named, the Anamallais was
famous for its rainfall. And that year it decided to prove that to
the doubtful. So it rained. It rained continuously, thunderously
for almost ten days with furious winds. Result? On my estate

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alone Lower Sheikalmudi 1200 trees fell, electric and

telephone lines were broken and landslides locked us in. When
you have no power, no light, no telephones and no roads to go
anywhere for 10 days in a row, what do you do? You sit by a
roaring fire and play chess. Or rather you first teach your wife
how to play chess and then watch her beat you at it after two
days of practice.
Some days after the roads were restored to some semblance of
order, one weekend I decided to take my wife out for a ride. I
had an ancient Royal Enfield Bullet motorcycle which I loved
and we both rode along the winding road from Sheikalmudi to
Valparai. It is a very beautiful ride with tea along one side of the
road and forests in the ravines and a very good chance of seeing
or meeting some wildlife as you ride along. A motorcycle ride is
a different level of enjoyment that a car can never give you. On a
bike you are in the scenery, unprotected. The wind blows in your
face (we didnt wear helmets) and through your hair (I still had
some in those days for the wind to blow through) carrying the
smell of the forest. The Royal Enfield has a typical signature
beat which is a delight to listen to as you tool along. We came
very well all the way to the bottom of the slope in Valparai
Coffee Estate leading up to the Tata Tea Workshop and then
Murphys Law kicked in you always get a puncture at the
bottom of the slope and we did. What do you do? You learn
the meaning of sharing in new ways start the engine, use the
drive to help you push the bike, guide it by alternately walking
and running alongside holding the handlebars and have your
wife walk up behind you.
I learnt the difference between a house and a home. A house was
what I would get and a home was what she would make it. We
lived in many beautiful bungalows. To make them even more
beautiful and enjoyable was perhaps not so remarkable. But one
of them we lived in was not beautiful. It was set in a very
beautiful location, in a small forest glade in Carolyn Estate in the

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Mango Range. But it had been vacant and neglected for many
years and when we moved in, what I remember most vividly was
a wall that was a shade of light green the result of fungus
growing on a wall damp with a mysterious water leak. We lived
in that bungalow for 6 months during which I was in transition
between assignments. But the result of her attention to it was that
every day when I would return from the factory I was studying
CTC manufacture in Carolyn Factory I would look forward to
coming home. It was in this bungalow that I wrote the Guide to
Tea Plantation Management. I learnt that a home was where
there was harmony, comfort, peace, grace, beauty and caring.
And I also learnt that all this was possible to do with very little
money. To give you an idea of how little; one day I went to the
bank to update my passbook and returned with delighted surprise
to note that I had all of Rs. 500 in my account. No I did not miss
a few zeros. It was Rs. 500. So there was very little money to
spend on beautifying a house.
I learnt that support sometimes means to be left to face your own
fears and to overcome your own terrors with the knowledge
that she would back me no matter what path I chose. But the
decision was mine to take. I was debating whether I should risk
living my dream of being an entrepreneur. I was in a very nice
cushy job at that time, based in Delhi, earning a very
comfortable salary. Being on your own meant the freedom to
starve if things went wrong. It meant taking all the money we
had and investing it in a business management consulting
which may just as easily fail. I said to her during a long
conversation, If we move to Bangalore, we wont have a house
like this or a car and driver. We may not have a car at all
initially. She said to me, I did not marry you for your car or
your house. What she was telling me was, If you want to live
your dream, I will support you no matter what it takes. But if you
want to cop out, then you will have to face that yourself. Was
that hard? No, actually it made the choice much simpler and I
never regretted it.
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Companionship, a meeting of looks, a smile. Language and

words that nobody else can understand. Shared memories over
25 years. Hard times, easy times. Alhamdulillah life goes on,
each day a new discovery. A life of thankfulness for what we
have been given.
PS: Believe it or not, it is actually possible to fall in love afresh
every time I look at her face and I do. As for your unasked
question, All this is good. But surely there must have been
something negative. My answer, If you had to choose between
keeping roses and garbage, which would you choose?
Remember what I said about memories earlier? We get to keep
those we want to remember. Having said that, the truth is that at
least for me, there are none that are negative. And Allahe knows
that is true.

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209

How to become an author

Someone asked Arthur Hailey (I think it was him) what the
secret to his prolific writing was. He replied, I wake up every
morning and I write.
I have what I call my 7 rules of writing which I have found to
be very useful. I am sharing this with the hope that they are
useful to all the potential authors who are waiting in the wings to
be read. For the first requirement for being read is to write.
1. Forget inspiration
The biggest block to writing is to wait for inspiration. That is not
to say that you will never be inspired. You will be. There will be
times when the words will flow faster than you can type. The
right words will come. The sentences will form themselves and
you will watch as if from the sidelines what is flowing from your
fingers. But if you wait for that to happen you will wait a long,
long time. So do what the famous author quoted above said, I
wake up every morning and I write. The big secret of writing is
to write.
2. Good research
Depending on what you are writing about, research may be a
very important aspect. Whats worse than making a fool of
yourself? Making a fool of yourself in writing. The protection
for that is research. Another thing; research and quoting the
sources adds credibility to your argument. It shows that you are
not the only bright spark in the world and that others before you
also thought on the same lines and reached the same conclusions.
And of course, research may result in your changing your line of
thought or argument altogether depending on what you find out.
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What is good research?

Search honestly: Look at all sources; not only the friendly

ones.

Dont read selectively: Actively look for contradictory data.

If you dont, others will.

Dont use data to prove argument. Build the argument

based on what the data reveals.

Data is supreme: Be willing to change your whole approach

if the data warrants it.

3. Create structure
Create an overall structure for the book. You can change this as
you go along but a structure is a huge aid in writing. Structure
also gives form to the story line and points you in the direction
of information you need. Structure gives you ideas about the
kind of research you need to do. Structure helps you to visualize
the overall size and form the book will take.
4. Allocate time
Make a time table and allocate time for writing. During this time
dont do anything else. No emails, chores, phone calls, browsing
or anything else. Just sit there and write. Discipline is the key. If
you can make yourself sit at your computer every day and write,
you are well on your way to becoming an author. The time of the
day is not material. With a little reflection you will realize which
your most productive time is. For me it is the early morning and
late nights. Midday is not productive for writing and so I go to
the gym at noon. Nothing like adrenaline to get the brain
working.

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5. Keep a notebook handy for ideas

Ideas are funny things. They come when they want and they
vanish when you need them. Then you are left with a form of
sublime torture; having that idea hovering just at the edge of
your consciousness; a hazy memory that you cant access. So
dont pretend that you have a photographic memory. Only a
camera has it and cameras dont write. So keep a notebook
handy. That means next to your pillow at night and in an
accessible pocket all day and jot down the ideas that come. I
have a way of having my book idea floating around in my head
24x7. Then as ideas occur they automatically fit in or get
rejected. What emerges I write down. Writing down ideas is very
important.
6. Delete is not a 6 letter curse word
Never get wedded to what you write. If you think of a better way
to say it, do it. Rewrite is the best phrase in the book. Where
practical get someone else to read what you have written and
take feedback seriously. I am not suggesting that you must
necessarily accept all feedback and change what you have
written or change the way you have written it. But I am saying
that reflecting on feedback is a very good idea and where the
situation warrants it, make appropriate changes.
7. Writing and publishing are two different things
Writing in the end is a form of self-expression. It is about you. It
is the pouring out of your heart. It is the closest that you will
come to becoming immortal. So write. If it gets published that is
great. If not, it does not matter. Writing will still give you
satisfaction that otherwise you would never have got. Today with
the internet and blogging and online publishing there are many
alternatives to the standard publishing company. So you need not
dread getting the famous editors letters which is the hallmark of
all block busting authors. All of them were summarily rejected
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by several self-important editors who couldnt see beyond their

noses until they found the one who accepted their work and went
laughing all the way to the bank. Explore a way to get published
by all means but whether you find a way or not, keep writing.

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MIRZA YAWAR BAIG

Founder of YAWAR BAIG & ASSOCIATES.
International Speaker, Author, Life Coach,
Corporate Consultant, specializing in
Leadership Development helping technical
specialists transition into Management and
Leadership roles. He helps Family
Businesses make the critical transition
from being Person-led to becoming
Process-driven and create robust systems
that will enable the business to be handed
from generation to generation. Yawars
book, The Business of Family Business
shows business families how to grow, yet
stay together, by drawing on his extensive consulting experience with both
family businesses and multi-national corporations. Yawar is a life coach and
mentor for prominent family businesses in India, South Africa & Sri Lanka.
His latest book, An Entrepreneurs Diary traces his own journey as an
entrepreneur. Yawar specializes in helping Start-ups make the transition into
their growth phase, helping them to look at challenges and take difficult critical
decisions. In 27 years of training and consulting Yawar has taught more than
200,000 managers, administrators, teachers, technologists and clergy on 3
continents. He combines Eastern values with Western systems to transcend
cultural boundaries. Yawars style reflects openness, commitment to quality
and value-based professionalism. Yawar speaks five languages. He writes
blogs, articles and books on topics ranging from leadership to politics to Islam,
focusing on applying learning to create models of excellence in local
communities.

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