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When I took a plunge into a new business venture, ignoring lucrative offers for employment, I had no idea what type of circumstances and people I would run into. When I did stumble upon both, my respect increased: first for business, later for businessmen whom I happened to meet in the course of my own business pursuit. This respect was more pronounced, bordering on awe, for a particular species of businessmen, the first generation entrepreneurs. It was only after I came across some such extraordinary members of the species that I noticed:
– how challenging their journey is – how arduous it must be for them to reconcile their steely resolve (interior) with their moderate demeanor (exterior) – how onerous it must be for them to manage contradictions such as multi–tasking (that is in their blood) and the focus (that is expected of them); – how obsessive and ultra-radical they are in their single–minded pursuit; and above all – how exciting they are to deal with!
Let us take their ability to manage contradictions first. What they have in their genes is a canny sense of opportunity, though they are well aware that they can’t do so many things, all at a time. Obviously they started with their venture only after they had sensed the opportunity. They have per force to say no to opportunities that fall their way subsequently as they need to focus and fight any tendency of shifting interest.
Their 24 × 7 drive also has to be reconciled with patience, for the former is need for team and the latter for external environment. They carry the burden of expectations of their family, friends and peers, and have to balance their personal and business lives. For them their personal life is just an extension of their business life as they are wedded to their ventures. How else could 24 × 7 focus be possible? Any deviation could be just like telling Sachin Tendulkar not to concentrate on his batting, say after 7.00 pm or to tell Mr Ratan Tata not to think about Nano at home.( This analogy is to explain passion for their respective fields)
They are prone to spells of virtual solitude when they just have to be with themselves. For them, connection with self is an absolute must to allow for end to end thinking that gives them clarity of purpose and a focus for the target. They are prone to have similar spells of association with their teams so as to translate their thoughts to them and carry them along the path.
They remain disquieted for as long as they don’t find solutions to the problems that put them out of balance in the first place. Obviously such angst, such end to end thinking, leads to offbeat results. Could Aamir Khan not have made a successful movie based on conventional formula and star power? Sure! But he was obviously looking for an unbeatable model where he could win on the strength of a theme alone. He didn’t give in to the commercial temptation and conventional wisdom and continued with the courage of conviction. And the outcome was Taare Zameen Par which could easily aspire for and more easily get an Oscar nomination.
The founders, in their pursuit of the big picture, give up on small things like social gatherings and even routine family matters. Does this mean they don’t love their family and friends? It only means that they are looking at the larger frame which may benefit them all. Likewise, they don’t look for short cuts that might make more economic and business sense to their team and to others. The purpose is not immediate and transient, but ultimate and lasting success.
There are disconnects with family, friends and others for another reason. The species keeps trying to connect the seemingly unconnectables – that it can’t even explain to them. There is a strange dilemma, even a risk of ridicule, where others around may not be able to link up the wood, the stone and a strange amalgam that the entrepreneur is trying to bring together. It is much too early for them to realize that he is aiming for the match stick. So the team has to be pushed and prodded, half willingly at times.
It is quite common to find people who are anxious to work with founders and become part of their core team. But often enough such enthusiasts are not able to come up to the founders’ high expectations. The latter are as demanding from their core team as they are from themselves. The enthusiastic riders on the founders’ bandwagon often get disillusioned and desert the ride, sooner than later.
Change is in the blood of this species. They never think of the trivialities. They are not much obsessed with resources, which they consider as nothing but the means to reach an end. They are the change agents that the society so desperately needs to reach one threshold after the other. The journey never ends for them. Achieving one goal marks the beginning of another journey. Where a project approaches fructification, they get rather detached from all the adulation with a sense of ho – hum. They start getting restless because now they are more concerned about the next big idea.
That’s it for now !!
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