Hi,
It was one of those days yesterday wherein I felt immensely joyful and fulfilling at the end of the day. This time it was for the learning that I made from a lecture delivered by the Padmashree Awardee and a vastly successful entrepreneur, Mr. Harshavardhan Neotia, current Chairman of the Kolkata-based Ambuja Neotia Group. What a lecture it was! How gracefully he presented it! Highly impeccable! Subtly humorous! Stunningly simple and straightforward! Heart touching with experiences drawn from his own personal/business life examples! He delivered the evening’s speech, the annual endowment lecture jointly organized by Hyderabad Management Association (HMA) and Gelli Narayana Chetty Trust in memory of the late Shri Gelli Narayana Chetty, with utmost ease and eloquence.
Let me share with you the key learnings I made from the speech “Learnings of An Entrepreneur” of this great entrepreneur who made a remarkable success in his own field. Here they are:
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1) Everything happens for your good:
Entrepreneurs often get upset when things are not favorable to them. But great learnings are actually learned when things don’t go well. It is those tough situations that harden and sharpen an entrepreneur’s abilities. Things may appear to be unfavorable, but they may actually be blessings in disguise. He quoted what once the great poet Harivansh Roy Bachchan told his son Amitabh Bachchan when the later was once found to be dejected as he could not do something that he planned and wanted to do. And that quote was “ तुम्हारी मन की हो, तो अच्छा I और मन की नहीं हो, तो और भी अच्छा I जब तुम्हरी मन की नहीं होती है, वो ईश्वर की मन की चीज होता है ” (It is good if it happens according to your wish. And when it does not happen as per your wish, it is much better. When it does not happen as per your wish, it happens as per the wish of the god.”) So, the moral of the story is that you as an entrepreneur have to have faith in God and think that it is all happening for your good and continue to give your best, especially when things do not happen according to your plan. That faith will give you a bit of reassurance that something better is waiting for you.
#2. Believe in people’s capabilities and let them explore:
Being an entrepreneur, you have to deal with people and also with the issues they have. Being an entrepreneur does not also mean that you have all the knowledge and skills that are required to provide solutions to the issues your people might bring up to you. The best people to resolve the issues with suitable solutions are perhaps those very people who experience such issues and all that an entrepreneur as a leader of the business is to have faith in the team and the people and encourage them to work out the solutions and try to be more of a catalyst than a problem solver. Hence, have faith in people and their abilities. They will come up with solutions.
#3. Focus on doing good instead of the rewards:
As an entrepreneur, you are in business to make profits. But it is not that you always make profits, especially in the initial years of any business. What do you do when your business does not go as per your plan you start incurring losses? Should your focus be on the profits which you are unable to make? Or should you be 'focusing on continuing to do the good' you wanted to do through your business? Harshavardhan ji remembered and shared what his father told him years ago when he was also once upset with a business that he started but ran into losses, “Now that you have done it, don’t bother about profits and losses. I will foot the bill. But go and run it the way you want to run it.” As an entrepreneur, the important learning is that instead of focusing on the rewards, you should do what you are supposed to do and focus on getting it done right without worrying about profits and losses, as profits and losses would take care of themselves sooner than later.
#4. Yes, you can do business ethically and make it a success too:
As an entrepreneur, you have to deal with the government for one reason or the other in order to establish your business and also run it and grow it successfully. There will be times when you approach the government for resolving a problem or getting an approval or obtaining some advantage or something else. You will come across situations wherein you have 2 choices: 1) To be a perpetrator or 2) A victim? By being a perpetrator, you are asking for something that you are not supposed to get or trying to get an unfair advantage over others. The suggestion here is that it is better NOT to be a perpetrator. “Don’t go and ask a favor from the government. It never works. Because, when a favor is taken, it keeps lurking around, and it might come back and haunt you at any time.” Then should you be opting for the 2nd choice of being a victim? Ideally NOT! You must work towards getting what you deserve. The important lesson for an entrepreneur to learn from Harshvardhan ji is that it is possible to do the business ethically and make it big too. That will give you not only a sound sleep in the night but also an opportunity to build a company that lasts long.
#5. Understand the futility of anger and recognize the power of love:
When questioned by a participant whether he lost his temper at any time during his 30 long years of entrepreneurship, Harshavardhan ji replied, “No, never.” However, he confessed that he used to have a very volatile personality during his teens when he was in his college. But he mentioned that the lessons he had learned from a specific lecture of Swami Chinmayananda and also the books of Tagore he read, and the stories of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa and Swami Vivekananda that he got exposed to during his studies and development over the years made him understand the futility of anger and the power of love. Possessing control over your anger will take you a long way in business. That you will be able to accomplish when you have true love for your people and appreciation for their contribution to your success.
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So, what are the 5 key actions you may like to practice for the success of your business too? Here they are once again:
1) Have faith in God, and think that it is all happening for your good and continue to give your best, especially when things do not happen according to your plan as an entrepreneur.
2) Believe in people’s capabilities and let them explore. You will be amazed at the tremendous potential they bring to the workplace and the phenomenal results they achieve.
3) Focus on doing good instead of the rewards.
4) It is better to be ethical while in business. Yes, you can do business ethically and make it a success too
5) Understand the futility of anger and recognize the power of love.
To your unstoppable success,
With love,
For other "Unstoppable Updates" published earlier on this blog, please find them at the link given below:
