No Taxes Please, We’re Indian

“We have to beg to get out own money!” The middle aged lady uttered these words loudly to no one in particular, but to vent out her frustration.

I overheard this when I was waiting for my turn to withdraw cash from a leading Private Sector bank last week. While RBI allowed me to withdraw Rs. 50,000 from the current account and Rs. 24,000 from the savings account, the Private Sector Bank had imposed limits of Rs. 10,000 from Current Account and Rs. 6,000 from the savings account.

There was another half an hour to go before my turn arrived, so I placed the gaze of my eyes on the branch of a tree across the road, while letting my ears wander. This middle aged lady in her late 30’s or early 40’s had arrived with her husband and now started calling her friends to see if they could help her.

Based on the few phone calls she had made, I gathered that she wasn’t here for a white washing job, but for a colouring job. She was seeking help publicly from friends to convert her hard earned, tax paid white money to black. And I don’t even think she was realizing that she was creating black money in the system. She wasn’t from the mafia, underworld or any other clan which thrives on black money. She was just an honest tax payer participating in this process.

The moment I realized, what was happening, I was in a state of shock. Over the last few weeks, I have not been shocked by the amount of undisclosed non-tax paid money which has come out of the closet. While I have been disappointed by the efforts of a section of society to help people convert such tainted money into legal assets and protect their losses, I haven’t exactly been shocked by this. I perked my ear lobes and started paying more attention to the lady’s telephone conversation.

I don’t know her name, but let us call her Anita. Anita was getting her house renovated and she had to make a payment to the interior designer. I wondered, why does she have to pay her interior designer in cash? I mean interior designers aren’t exactly, illiterate, bottom of the pyramid people having no access to banking system. They would be more in the league of people being serviced by Wealth managers. She could simply issue him / her a cheque.

Well the designer told her that the cost of the work was 10 lakhs, and if he / she were to be paid by cheque, the bill amount would be 11.5 lakhs, out of which 1.5 lakhs would be extortion money, to be paid to the government. Translated, it means Service Tax @ 15%. Anita who has hard earned tax paid money, and working on a tight budget, doesn’t want to inflate her bill. So she is hunting for people who can withdraw cash so that she can give her interior designer. To me this was a light-bulb moment.

In the last couple of weeks, I have attended a couple of weddings, so called low scale due to demonetization, but ostentatious by my standards. The people who were the bride / bride groom’s parents were all salaried class, who had duly paid their taxes. I made a few calls to these people and realized that all of them were in the same state. Nobody was willing to pay the 15% Service Tax and were willing to pay in cash and knowingly / unknowingly participate in the parallel economy process.

I have realized that, in the last three weeks, both whitewash as well as blackening were going on in equal measure. Which is why the queues at ATMs and Bank branches are not going down. Looks like over a period of time, the entire cash economy is going to continue to thrive.

Suddenly a thought struck me. If it was my house to be renovated or my son’s wedding what would I do? I then remembered a famous dialogue from an Amitabh Bachchan movie….”Jao pehle us aadmi ka sign lekar aao….”

Politics of Currency

This blog is not how good or how bad the demonetization move is. It is not an opinion about how the Prime Minister has killed growth and is reneging on his promise of “Achche Din’. This piece is about reading the tea leaves. In trying to do so, I am trying to post facts in a dispassionate manner with some opinions thrown in.

8^th November 2016 will be a watershed day in Indian history. On this day, the Prime Minister of India announced the withdrawal of Indian currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000.

Since then life has changed for everybody. Right from a street vendor, to a senior corporate executive to a top notch businessmen, to a politician life changed for everybody. Across the spectrum, everyone has been subject to hardship. People who had little money, were scrambling to change notes. People who had too much colored money, were wondering what to do.

One thing is sure, the decision has been bold. I am sure it has been unpalatable even for the BJP. It is a known secret that the political machinery runs on cash. This move has just cut out the funding tap not only for other parties, but also for the BJP. There are accusations that BJP people knew about this beforehand, but these accusations are rubbish. Narendra Modi is too suave politically to commit this kind of error. In an operation like this, secrecy was the key, and there is a report in public domain that only 6 people knew of this and the cabinet were told only hours before the announcement, and were allowed to leave only after his television address ended.

The jury is out whether this is a good move or a bad move. You have one section of the opposition crying coarsely from rooftops about how it hurts the common man. On the other hand reports about the resiliency have started coming in. I have seen street vendors move to Paytm and turn cashless. Last week I was in Faridabad and spoke to a whole lot of people from taxi and auto drivers, waiters, daily wage earners etc. Everybody is happy about the decision and is backing the Prime Minister on this.  On the other hand there are reports about how people are suffering at the mercy of hospitals in rural areas. There are also reports about people willing to stand in queues for money, while there is another shocking report (unconfirmed) about people being hired to stand in queues and make them look longer in order to give an impression that the common man is suffering.

The most interesting response has been from the media. A lot of the English media is already predicting this as a Waterloo moment for Narendra Modi. 20 days after the event, media is still talking about unending queues and how if cash is not supplied fast, public patience will shift to anger. They talk about possible riots on the streets and one Chief Minister publicly warning about the same. On the other hand there are quite a few surveys which says that more than 70% of the public is backing Narendra Modi on the same. One of them is a survey by the PMO itself on an app which is called the Narendra Modi app. Do I see a hint of megalomania? The media response, is that the survey is not well designed and have criticized it from a technical point of view. As if the respondent cares!

There are three events that lead me to believe that the media lives in a cocoon of its own making. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, most predictions presented a BJP majority but very few predicted an NDA landslide with BJP getting a simple majority. In 2015, in UK even the Brexit vote was predicted wrongly. And the 2016 US Presidential elections took the cake. Nobody gave Donald Trump even a small chance, they predicted a landslide win for Hilary Clinton. Does the media hear and listen to only what it wants? Has it become so elitist that it cannot listen to the voice on the ground? I sometimes think so.

Now let us look at the timing of this decision by Narendra Modi. It is middle of his term and two and and a half years to go to the next general elections. Diwali is just over and no major festivals in sight. Christmas is 45 days away. Some economists are saying that this demonetization is at a time when the economy is in a take off mode. There is 7% growth, we have had a good monsoon and inflation is coming weaning. By demonetizing 86% of the currency, the PM has shot at speeding tyres. Here’s where the economists get it wrong.  A radical measure like this has to come when the going is good and there are shock absorbers in place. Imagine trying to do this when inflation is high and the economy is struggling for growth. The timing of the move is completely countercyclical which is good. If the pain subsides in three months and some good comes out of it, Narendra Modi will be an absolute hero. Remember public memory is weak and the recency effect is massive. I personally will give Modiji a 10 on 10 for getting the timing perfect.

A small voice tells me, that this is Narendra Modi’s defining moment and biggest political gamble. If he pulls this off, I am sure there are other tricks in his bag of a populist nature which he will unleash closer to 2019 General Elections. Something tells me, that 2019 is already in the bag.

Shattered Accountant

I qualified as a Chartered Accountant more than 20 years ago. At that moment it was a matter of absolute pride in qualifying in an examination, where the passing rate is in single digits. A long and bright career awaited me. The entrepreneurship bug bit early and I started my Chartered Accountancy practice. Fate however had other ideas. 

It is said that a lot of  juices flow in washrooms including the creative type.  In my case, that was the place where I chanced upon a great opportunity. While relieving myself, I found myself standing next to a person three years my junior. He casually mentioned that their college was looking for someone to teach them financial management. One thing led to another and next day I was in the B-School meeting the director, and in three days, started teaching. Not bad for someone who believed he had pathetic public speaking skills at that time.

It was a good way to get some money in to supplement the practice. I might have done a decent job, as now more colleges called me to be part of the faculty. I realized I was liking teaching and at one point of time was teaching 12 hours a day.  Life was co-existing as a faculty and as a Practicing Chartered Accountant.

One fine day, the pivotal moment happened. An Income Tax Officer asked me for a bribe and I had to pay to save my client. My client was right, however the ITOs argument was irrebuttable. I paid the cash and moved to the Pizzeria at Churchgate. At 4 in the afternoon, with a muddled head, I had a couple of beers and a couple of pizzas. Alone… looking at the Arabian sea. I asked myself the question, “Is this what I want to do? What use is education, if you are going to have a lifetime paying bribes? “ That evening on Marine Drive, the sun set simultaneously in the Arabian sea and on my Chartered Accountancy practice.

Twenty five years later, I am training a bunch of fresh Chartered Accountants in a technology company. I accompany a dozen of them to dinner and the news arrives. The Prime Minister has declared that notes of Rs. 500 / 1000 are invalid. The rest of the dinner conversation focuses on the appropriateness or otherwise of this move. Some of them are euphoric that this is a great move. One shows me a whatsapp message, where his acquaintance, has 5 cr. in cash and looking for options. One girl comes up to me and asks me for a solution. Being a lady, I have to maintain my composure and 

tell her that I no longer do this business.

There are multiple views about whether this move is right or wrong. There are talks about people not having bank accounts. Small traders are having very little or no business. Who is to blame? People have embraced technology for communication but stayed away from the same when it comes to financial dealings. The Government has been persuading people for financial inclusion. Do you know why financial inclusion is not successful? It is not due to lack of efforts by Government, it is due to people not wanting to transact through the financial system.

A lot of small businesses, who make a lot of money, have not switched to banking systems or credit cards. They do not want to get into the accounting system and pay the necessary taxes be it Service tax or VAT or Income Tax. They are happy to do business in cash.

Gentle persuasion, as a strategy did not work for more than two years. A ‘’Gun to the Temple’’ move was required and is good for everyone. People will suffer for a few days, but definitely the normal has changed. The economy will take a different shape from now on and there are really interesting things in store.

It has been a week now, and I have come across quite a few Chartered Accountants. Apparently they are busy advising clients how to save their ‘’hard earned’’ money from turning into smoke. The more I see these things happening around me, the more I wring my hands in despair. I have mixed emotions. On one hand I am extremely happy that the people with huge cash on their hands have been squeezed. On the other hand, I am sad to see, qualified, educated, people helping these people to work out ways to ‘’protect their losses.’’ Sometimes I feel that a prostitute’s job is more honorable than what these qualified people are doing.  When we educated people participate in the creation of black money, we should not complain if we have some hardships.

Today, twenty years after I left practice, I am ashamed by the behavior of some of my fellow professionals. A lot of them will say, that this service is the need of the hour. From their perspective, they are just meeting the client’s needs. I wonder whether they are trapped in their own success from which they cannot escape. Will these people participate in nation building by discouraging creation of black money, or advising clients how to avoid taxes? I have very little hopes.

Today in a true sense, I have turned into a Shattered Accountant. 

Lessons in Succession Planning – from Narendra Modi

(This piece was written during the run-up to the 2014 general elections. Suddenly looks relevant in light of the Tata-Mistry saga)


Over the last few days we have been hearing how Narendra Modi has been ruthless and shunting out the old guard in the BJP. People have been talking about how seniors deserve respect and Modi is not giving them enough of this.

While by no means is this a piece on BJP politics, one cannot but see similarities to Corporate world. Don’t know if Modi is picking lessons from Corporate or the Corporate world has to learn some stuff.

A lot of times, when the person at the top changes, so does the management structure at Level 2 or even Level 3. The CEO brings with him / her, his/her own set of people whom the CEO is comfortable with. It is extremely important for the CEO to have a free hand in this. While the organization is going through a change, it cannot change its stripes fast enough with older thought processes.

First of all let us understand why, this change is required. The earlier CEO may not have got the results or simply has resigned / retired due to age / tenure. In the first case, there is a need for new ideas and new processes. Each CEO will have their own protégés or trusted lieutenants. Change is the most difficult thing to accept and hence, these trusted lieutenants could cling on their older beliefs, which are not giving results. Thus there is “deadwood” in the system which needs to be removed or else the jungle will just not grow.

The new CEO sets about just doing that. In case a successful CEO moves on, he is replaced from someone within the system, generally who is a protégé. This person goes about on the same path as the previous CEO and hence faces lesser resistance. However this person faces different problems. This person is suddenly now asked to head a team, which comprised of peers. It is a very tricky situation and people are firstly unhappy of not having made it to the top. They believe that they should have been the chosen ones and hence starts the process of “sabotage”.

Hence in both cases, one finds that teams change with change of CEOs. A prime example is of a leading private sector bank in India, where, when a highly respected and successful chairman stepped down, the entire management team was shunted out (or moved out).

The new CEO needs a free hand to succeed. Does it mean, none of the old loyalists survive? Not necessarily. People who are “loyalist” to the person may get shunted out. People who adopt change and accept the new guard will survive in the new system. A prime example is another Advani loyalist, Sushma Swaraj. While she has accepted Modi’s leadership, she is making noises in the way some people are being treated. Why is she not being shunted out ( As I finish writing this she may be…)?

Remember the world at the top is very lonely. It is very easy to be surrounded by sycophants or yes men. Sometimes the advice can be everything the new person does is right and everything the old person did was wrong. This statement can be nothing further than the truth. Also one can be blinded by success or potential success. Jamie Dimon says, you need to be surrounded by people who tell you the truth. If Modi has to succeed, he needs a Sushma Swaraj, who will tell him the truth even if it is bitter. However there is a difference between “sabotage” and “constructive criticism”. While “sabotage” is a word from the world of espionage, it exists in all organizations (political as well as non-political). The perceived dividing line is very thin. As long as it is constructive criticism, Sushma Swaraj has an extremely strong role to play.

As a matter of fact, she could turn out to be Modi’s biggest asset. She is the “mirror” in Modi’s party and has her value in the entire scheme of things.

We could actually be seeing a great story of change management in an organization, where corporates have to learn from politicians!

Standards of Living

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” This is one of the things that I had learnt as a child. Twenty years of Corporate Career have ensured that I do not have any of the three attributes mentioned above.

The first few years of corporate life are spent in proving yourself. 15 hour work days are the norm.  If you leave office at half past five or six, comments about leaving half day are normal. So the entire day is spent having endless cups of coffee networking and then working furiously after 5 to impress the boss and other colleagues. Of course there are fringe benefits like ensuring that your departure time ‘coincides’ with that of some interesting colleagues. Adds a little spice to a completely boring life.

Then when you start getting older, the ‘interesting’ colleagues lose interest in you. So now your late evening journey from office to home gets frequently interrupted at a watering hole. Inherited health, studied wisdom and earned wealth get sacrificed during the journey from office to home. The accumulated balance of all the three attributes is very limited. So one fine day, I decided to quit Corporate life and follow the above wisdom, which I learnt in school.

The time I used to leave from office, is the time I go to sleep today. The time I used to return home after a party is the time I wake up. But leaving corporate life ensures, that wealth of the material kind is a bit scarce.

In order to hoard and save on this scarce commodity, I decided to go to work by public transport last week. The first stop was a shared auto rickshaw which would take me to the nearest suburban railway station. I found myself in the company of two middle aged ladies and a young driver. While I was busy reading an article on my cell phone, one of the ladies shrieked. The auto had just avoided an oncoming car. I suddenly realized that we were in the wrong lane. Majority of the traffic was coming from the other side. It was directly out of the movie Octopussy, where Vijay Amritraj drove James Bond in an auto at breakneck speed through the streets of Rajasthan. Fortunately I was not on a secret mission, nor were we escaping from some gun toting villains.

The next stop was at a traffic signal. We were supposed to go right, and the signal for us was red. However red lights don’t stop daredevil auto drivers. At a speed which would put Lewis Hamilton to shame, he swerved left, cut through the traffic at 90 degrees, took a U-turn and then turned left to go coolly on his way. All the while listening to Bollywood music.

Finally we decided to protest and interrupt his music concert.  He was grossly irritated at listening to a sermon early in the morning. He squarely passed the blame on other commuters. Apparently, in peak hours, commuters pester him to go fast, break all kinds of traffic rules and ensure that they reach the train station quickly. He went on to add that this has been a phenomenon, since fingerprinting has been introduced at the workplace.

Fingerprinting ensures that the entry time is captured accurately to the second. Thus people coming late are easily identified. In an era of 15 hour work days, where performance matters, people are still being pulled up for punctuality. The person who introduced fingerprinting access as a security feature would never have imagined the risk it could bring with it.

In this race to survive, we are compromising basic safety. Apparently it is the educated class which is encouraging people the break the rules. Those of us who drive will vouch that there is no shortage of people driving on the wrong side of the road. I have had cases, where people are honking behind me when I stop at a red signal, making me wonder, whether stopping at a red light is an offence.

On a different note, when I see people in fancy cars throwing bottles, coffee cups and pieces of paper on the road, I wonder whether these people are educated. Education is supposed to make the world a better place. It is also making the world a competitive place. Is it this competition that is making us lose our basic civic sense? Or is it the power which gives people a sense of entitlement to do what they wish.  And where does power emanate from? Does it come from money or from position, status? Wherever it comes from, with a brash display of power especially in simple tasks like not following traffic rules and littering the roads, what kind of example are we setting for our children?

It is very clear that education does not make us wise. Is it the rat race that is making us lose our wisdom? The chase of greater profits, has led to better income, more and bigger cars, better standard of living. But wisdom is lost and we are chasing material benefits even by putting our lives in peril.

The standard of living has improved. The standards of living have fallen.

Junoon

A month ago, I did an author interaction session in a library in Mysore. When Crossword, who is my publisher tweeted about my book, Chitra, the manager of a library chain invited me for an interaction.

My initial thought was, you spend money on a flight ticket and a taxi and hotel stay and what do you get? I started analysing the invitation through an excel sheet. Fortunately for me, there was a work assignment in Bangalore, which ensured that the flight would be taken care of. Suddenly the colour on the excel sheet turned a lighter sheet of red.

Closer to the date, I started interacting with Chitra. I thought she was just a library manager or a franchise owner for whom the author meet is just a tick in the box. I asked her to read the book, and then decide about the audience. What she told me had me thinking. Apparently, she had read the book, even before she extended the invite. It was not just getting an author, but she had liked my thought process and hence wanted me to speak to members of the library. I was flattered, honoured and humbled to say the least. I felt sorry in my thought process in evaluating an invite like this on an Excel sheet.

As the event drew closer, Chitra invested her time in meeting corporates, inviting their HR managers, talking to business schools, sending books to the media and promoting the event in social media. When she learnt that my editor was from Mysore, she personally visited her house and invited her for the function. She even felicitated her, which I thought was a great gesture

 I am sure even a professional event manager wouldn’t have done as good a job. My friends mentioned that she would be the franchise owner. Turns out she was just an employee... with a lot of passion towards her job.

Today, a month down the line, I received the news that she had resigned from her job. I was sad to see her go and hence decided to speak to her and learnt her story.

Chitra was a practising therapist in Chennai who helped autistic kids. She had a roaring practise for nearly twenty five years. Once when she was visiting her in-laws to Mysore, she visited the library, which at that time was a franchise. The franchise owner was closing it down, as it wasn’t doing great business. On the spot she convinced the franchise owner to continue, closed down her practice in Chennai and moved lock stock and barrel to Mysore to work for the library.

Over the next few years she developed the centre, created a reading culture in Mysore. She recruited staff from various backgrounds, trained them, introduced them to reading, developed them in such a fashion, that the centre now functions independently. She would read every new book and promote it among the readers. A city where once library was closing down now has two libraries which Chitra manages.

Both the centres are doing well and hence now Corporate wants to take over the centre. They realise that the staff is well trained and centres can function independently. I am sure the Operations guys must have pressure from finance to cut costs, and hence what do they do? The ask Chitra to resign. Her fault? She created a reading culture, created two centres, staffed them well and made them independent. Her losing the job is not about money or losing income. It’s about Chitra losing a child. The work which she does passionately and likes doing, is being taken away from her.

It is like telling Gopichand, now that Sindhu has won a silver medal at the Olympics, she can train on her own and your services are no longer needed. Trust me, without leadership, Corporate will run the libraries into losses.

In this era of ecommerce, every third young person is opening an ecommerce company and looking at valuations. The key to evaluate is, whether the person is passionate about the product or about money. 95% of them are in this to earn money. Trust me they will never succeed. Only those who have conviction in their product / service and are passionate about their solution will succeed. Rest will fall by the wayside.

As I am writing this, I realise that the correct word is not passion. It is ‘Junoon’. A lot of times I mention about my inadequacy to use the English language to bring out the correct description of the underlying emotion. In this case the word passion is inadequate to describe the motivation behind Chitra’s actions. It has to be Junoon... to make a difference. I would think the English meaning of ‘Junoon’ will be Passion X Madness.

Business can be evaluated on Excel Sheets, but cannot be run using the same. You need one mad person with Junoon for every business to succeed.  As for Chitra, I am sure she will get back on her feet and find another Junoon. Thank you madam for teaching me the value of Junoon.

(Names have been changed on request)

Well Played

“Shooters misfire.” This was the headline in one of the major national newspapers of this country after some of our shooters did not make it to the finals of their respective events at the Rio Olympics.

Being a sports fan, I was following the qualification process live and was completely incensed at the senselessness of this headline. That the media has a lack of sensibility is being proved from time to time. There are a huge number of loose comments that flow after every performance in an Olympics or a World Cup which does not result in a medal. Coffee conversations flow from, how our sportsmen are underperforming, how a small country like say Vietnam can generate a  Gold medal, while India with it’s large population cannot do so etc. I am sure there will be jokes about how the Indians went to Rio for sightseeing etc. This piece is to ensure that we don’t lose our sensibilities by blindly following the media.

Take the case of the women’s 10 m Air rifle event. Apurvi Chandela and Ayonika Paul shot 411.6 and 403 to finish 34^th and 47^th in the qualifiers. The cut off for the finals came at 415.9. Let us understand the score in perspective. Each participant has to fire 40 shots in the qualifying round. The target is 10 mts away which is nearly 30 feet. I am sure half our cricketers will not be able to hit the stumps from 30 feet... regularly.

A bull’s eye is a score of 10. Chandela has an average score of 10.29 per shot and Paul has an average score of 10.075 per shot. This means that they are hitting bulls eye with almost every shot.  To do this for 40 shots in succession is completely inhuman. There is a small inner circle, absolutely at the centre, where you score more than 10 points. In the gold medal winning shot at Beijing, Abhinav Bindra hit a 10.8. A perfect score is 10.9.  So it is just a matter of how close to the centre your shot is which separates the best from the rest.

Yes I am disappointed that India did not get a medal. But for a moment, let me put myself in the shoes of Apurvi and Ayonika. The collective disappointment of a billion Indians will not match the individual disappointment that each of the girls have. None of them went to Rio, just to participate and make up the numbers. Each one of them is here to win. A collective effort of 4 years is judged in a matter of 45 minutes of performance and 2 seconds of headlines.

This brings me to another incident, which cringed me. India vs. Columbia, Archery team quarterfinals, Rio 2016. The match is tied and we are in the last set. The Columbian archer misfires and scores a 3, where most arrows score 8,9 or 10. This one bad arrow cost Columbia the match. I am sure that the Columbian archer did not put in practice for four years to shoot a 3.. something snapped at the last second. The Columbian archer was un-consolable. I don’t know how the Columbian media works, but if it was an Indian, the Indian media would have barbequed her. And so would have the 1 billion population.

Every negative comment that you make about the performance or lack of the same at the Olympics of our sportspersons is akin to shooting a bullet through their heart. My sincere request to you all... be cognizant of the sensibilities of the athletes... and just say “Well Played” irrespective of the result.

Happy Olympic viewing.

Smaash!!!

My love for sports has taken me to watch the Mumbai Super League held at the NSCI Worli, which is a local, IPL style league for Table Tennis. It is a ten team franchise based league, with each franchise bidding IPL style for players. Apparently this is the second year for the league; I came to know of the same, only because my batch-mate Samir Thakkar owns a team Kool Smashers.

While the IPL is a money spinning machine, there is no way any franchisee or anybody can make any money out of this event. The franchise owners are people in love with the game, who get a high from playing. They are investing money in a real sense to give it back to the sport. The total purse available for bidding for players is a princely sum of Rs. 80,000 which is to be used for buying 6 players.

I think it is a great move which inculcates team spirit in a sport which is largely individualistic. It was fantastic to see 70 players, the team owners, the coaches, parents of the players and a whole lot of people who are interested in the sport coming and watching. For me personally it was a great learning experience watching matches sitting with the team, speaking to the players, coaches and interacting with them.

What was heartening is there was no ugly rivalry, as everybody knew everybody. While there was aggression on the table, everyone was friendly. Rival teams sat next to each other, indulged in banter and technical discussions. It was extremely heartening to see a senior member from the opponent team, come and encourage the cadet – the kid who is less than 10 years. Every good point was cheered. It was great competition with camaraderie.

One thing that struck me was what happened after the end of the match. In an unwritten protocol, the winner; after shaking hands with the opponent and umpires, went to the opposition benches and shook hands first with the opposition coach and their team members, before being congratulated by their own team.

I am amazed by the values that this four day event is teaching people. During a side conversation, my friend Samir taught me a huge aspect, something which struck me very hard. He said, every kid should play a sport, as it teaches them how to cope with failure. The casual conversation had a deep impression on my mind. In a format like this, failure, bounce back and redemption is instantaneous. The junior team has to play doubles as their first match and half an hour later come back to play the singles. I was amazed, how the players were able to put back the defeat out of their mind instantaneously and come back motivated to play the singles.

In Corporate Life, one failure, one bad conversation with the manager spoils the rest of the day. Carpe Diem or Live in the Moment is really what sport teaches people. One bad shot, one mishit, one bad judgement, has to be put away instantaneously only to focus on the next point. Samir… thanks a lot for this, I am definitely going to ensure my son plays some sport.

While I am watching this over Wimbledon, a quote from Serena Williams caught my attention. For long there has been a debate about equal prize money for women in sport. In tennis the matches are three sets long for women, while five sets for men. Physically men are supposed to be better than women in any sport. With this aspect at the back of mind, an incident at the table tennis league, sparked my imagination, which led to this post.

For this league, the organisers have introduced an innovation – the power play. In doubles, the team can use the power play to change one of the players for two points… only to receive the serve. For example in a team of say Ajay and Atul, if Atul is to receive the serve, Ajay can call a power play, and get another member of his team to receive two serves in place of Atul.

In one of the mens doubles matches, Paresh Murekar called the powerplay. His team was up game point at 11-10. In a very close match the next point was very crucial. He asked the veteran player to wait and called the junior girls player to take serve. I personally was amazed at the decision. One, he was replacing a men’s player with a girl, in a discipline, which is inherently sexist. In any mixed doubles game, the women player is generally the weakest. Secondly, he did not call the women’s player, but the girl’s player, a junior. Whatever the outcome of the game, I thought it was a gutsy decision. If they won the point, Paresh would be a hero, if they lost it, he could be a villain in a tight game. Paresh Murekar take a bow, for taking such a decision on game point. If I was a recruiter, I would have hired Paresh on the spot. It is a different matter that they won the game.

I then look back at corporate, and wonder, whether when faced with a crunch situation, would I depend on experience or youth. 99 times out of hundred it will be experience, and then I wonder whether the corporate world can learn something from sport.

I am waiting for the day, when we form a team in companies which is an amalgamation of people with all levels of experience, and the best person leads it, and not the senior most. Till then.. Carpe Diem.

Ek Ladki Bheegi Bhaagi Si...

I was woken up by the hard landing of the Indigo flight on the runway at Mumbai airport at midnight. After training for 8 hours daily, continuously for five days, I was as tired as one can be and looking forward to a quick ride home and lots of sleep. I picked up my baggage and moved to the multiple taxi counters picking one by using the eeny-meeny-miny-moe method. When my turn arrived, the attendant received a call from somebody. After answering the call, she asked me whether I am fine with a lady taxi driver.

In a half asleep mode, I said yes, but was wondering why did this question arise? I am not averse to lady drivers. Since childhood, I have seen women in the family drive. There are quite a few ladies driving in Mumbai, and hence I was wondering about the appropriateness of this question. I decided to explore this question during the one hour taxi ride home.

Veena was not a day older than thirty and had a slim frame. Her figure could give any of the models a run for their money. She was not just size zero, but maybe a size negative if there is anything like that. The torrential rain was dripping into her teacup, which she expertly balanced on her mobile phone in one hand. She offered to take my suitcase with the other hand. I am sure the suitcase weighed more than her. Thankfully chivalry is a virtue I have learnt since childhood.

I started having a conversation with her. Apparently, even single women travelers, refuse cabs driven by ladies. They don’t seem to be convinced about the driving skills of the lady. Interestingly a lot of these women, may themselves be driving cars, but don’t trust a lady cab driver. Hypocrisy is alive and kicking.

Veena’s husband had ditched her leaving behind three kids. Two years earlier, she used to cook food at people’s houses. One of the families encouraged her to learn driving, and get a license. And now here she was driving a rented cab.

Her eldest son who was 9 years, had failed in school. So she decided to send him to a boarding school, with the hope that the discipline would help him study. She also wanted to send him away from her neighborhood, where the local boys would have a bad influence on him. Her daughter who was 7 years, was sent to a missionary school, as she did not have time to take care of her. Her younger son of 5 lived with her. The neighbors took care of the five year kid every day.

Veena dropped me home at 130 in the night and then would reach her residence by 230- 300 a.m. Then she would get up in the morning, do the house work and start her car by noon. She has to pay a sum of 850 rupees to the car company, daily, irrespective of whatever she earns. A car breakdown, or accident or a political rally, strike will hit her hard. Over and above this, she has to spend on diesel and then if she makes any money, she will use it for her household expenses I am sure she would struggle to save more than 1000 bucks a day… and no weekly off. No support system, no manager to listen to her grievances. And she was not complaining, she was happy that she was able to support her family in a dignified manner. She was not blaming her situation on anybody, no blaming government for increase in diesel prices or increase in price of dal. She was too busy making two ends meet. I am sure she starts her day with hope in her eyes and a revenue target. No corporate employee can ever understand the meaning of revenue targets as Veena does. Reality bites these people and how.

We as middle class complain about an increase in service tax by 0.5% sitting in the comfort of our air-conditioned homes. I now know why we complain - we have time and are overpaid. We work hard for our living, but do not have to struggle, the way a common man does. These people are too busy making two ends meet, to think about Krishi Kalyan Cess or whatever. This girl’s size negative was not due to eating less carbs and working out, but simply because of forced dieting. I am sure she skipped a meal or two to ensure that her children got two square meals

After listening to her story, frankly I had a flurry of emotions. I wondered, whether I will be able to manage a situation where I lost my job. How will I be able to deal with deprivation? What happens if so many things which I take for granted, go away? I was scared!!!

I was ashamed at myself for complaining about the unfair and unjust (from my perspective) appraisal system at work. There was a fixed amount coming in the bank at the end of the month, I had nothing to complain about

That rainy night, Veena taught me a huge lesson of life – I need to be grateful for what I have. Veena has one quality which I doubt exists in me – resiliency and the ability to fight back. It was my biggest motivational lessons ever. Salute to everyone who works hard for a living. 

Infidelity

No, I am not going through a bad marriage. I love my wife, like her company, but one of the reasons we still have the spark in our marriage after fifteen years, is infidelity.

It is an open secret that I love so many people over and above my wife. The list of people I have loved begin with Kapil Dev, John McEnroe, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virendra Sehwag, Sanjay Manjrekar. Currently my favourites are Jeev Milkha Singh, Anirban Lahiri, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane. In case you are worried about my sexual preferences, let me add Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Gabriela Sabatini, Jhulan Goswami  to the list, with my current heart throbs being  Saina Nehwal, Ritu Rani, Rani Rampal, P.V.Sindhu and Heena Sidhu. No Heena Sidhu is not Navjot Singh Sidhu’s wife, she is an international shooter in her own right and is a medal hope at the forthcoming Rio Olympics

Last month my parents completed 45 years of marriage. That is more than a lifetime of staying together. Notice I used the word ‘staying together’ and not happy married life. By the way ‘Happily Married’ is an oxymoron. Last twenty years, I have seen them greet each other early morning ‘politely’ with an argument.  Then the acidic politeness continues throughout the day. It’s a wonder they are not killing each other.

Then I reflect on my own marriage which has completed nearly fifteen years.  I slowly realise both of us are going our parents way. And then I look around, I find that a lot of people are all in the same situation. The only good thing that me and my wife do, is we clearly ensure our paths don’t cross during the day. I work for 12 hours, sleep for 6 and travel for 3. In spite of just having three hours, we manage to find time for arguments. There is a Hindi movie song, which goes as follows, “Where is the time to hate, when there is so little time to love?” Today the situation, is “Where is the time to love, when there is so little time to argue?” I am sure thirty years later we will be as severe as my parents.

There was one more interesting thing about my parents’ generation. Along with having one spouse, quite a few of them were also married to their jobs. It was not uncommon for them to work with one company throughout their entire careers.

A marriage is similar to a job. The first two years, are the honeymoon period. Then differences start developing and slowly reach a point where we can’t stand each other

When I look back at my career, managers seem to be great at the beginning of relationships. Slowly they start developing faults.  I then start having differences in the actions of my managers and my organisation. The increment is not good, the rating could have been better, we could have handled this issue differently, my manager does not stand up for me; everything is bad. My constructive criticism is viewed as cynicism. I then get into a negative spiral, where I try and see negative even in any positive action of my manager or organisation.

I am sure, even my manager experiences similar feelings about me. I am sure he /she thinks my enthusiasm has waned, am no longer as committed, have become lazy. He / She thinks that I am resting on my laurels and am no longer self-motivated. He / She finally concludes that I am well past my expiry date.

What do we do? The organisation tries to give me a bad rating, or a low increment, hoping that it will help me pull up my socks.

My reaction? I think the organisation and manager is against me. The manager thinks that an experienced person like me needs no motivation. I think the organisation will not improve, sulk and stay in a corner, become more and more silent at meetings. I am accused of not contributing; I think, what difference will my views make, manager is not going to listen to me. I become more cynical, my performance dives further.

There is no such thing as ‘Negative Motivation.’

Be it a marriage or a job, the courtship and honeymoon period is the most productive. Both parties put their best foot forward. Somewhere along the way, we start taking each other for granted.

I think that is the reason, I keep on changing jobs every few years. I have taken a few risks, some of which have paid off and some haven’t. But end of the day I am happy. Am I satisfied where I have reached in my career? I believe I have underachieved, and could have done more. Is it a result, of changing jobs frequently and not building a career? Don’t know.

The solution is Positive Encouragement. Be it me and my manager or me and my wife, we need to get into a heart to heart conversation, sort out the issues. We need to keep reminding ourselves of the reasons for which we entered into the union. The spark, the fire needs to be rekindled every now and then for a fruitful long term relationship. Remember, people leave managers not organisations. My advice, is if the current manager is not able to excite you, look at another manager who will. Change managers and roles frequently but think twice before changing the organisation. After all relationships are like wine, they take time to mature.

Thankfully society does not allow me to change spouses so frequently. Else I would be bankrupt paying alimony. Be it a marriage or a job, boredom is a classic recipe for disaster. Familiarity breeds contempt, which can be a breeding ground for infidelity.

Big Data and Bakasur

It is seven thirty in the evening. I have had a tough day, extremely busy, no time for lunch. Five more minutes, before I complete the task on hand, and head out for dinner. That is when I hear a big noise and go out on the balcony to investigate. I don’t find anything and as I look at where the 3X optical zoom vision, limited by the buildings in the horizon, takes me I find a car parked across the street with its hazard lights on.

Not a sight, which should make you think twice. Just when I am about to head back, a piece of data from the brain sends information that my car was parked in the same place. I look back and instantly recognize that it is my car, which has these hazard lights on. These are times when you realize that the brain is a supercomputer. Its ability to retrieve information from different segments and piece it together to give the analysis, result and repercussions can give any advanced analytics program running on high speed processing machines a run for its money. In simple English it is called intuition

.

I suddenly realize that the hazard lights have been blinking from noon; for seven hours. Reality strikes that the battery of the car would have drained and it will not start. I run down the stairs, cross the busy road in James Bond style, getting a few cars to screech and shout at me. I open the car, enter it, switch off the hazard lights, and hoping against hope insert the key into the ignition. As expected the car doesn’t start.

I call the car’s on road toll free assistance number and am promptly greeted by a tele-caller. My wife says men are like kids. When kids bawl, mom knows that they are hungry. When men get angry, the major reason is hunger, the incident confronting them is just the trigger. So if anybody of you has an irate boss, check his food schedule, chances are he overworks and skips food. So my brain was at a flashpoint because of the hunger and anger at my stupidity. It was no surprise that it exploded on the tele-caller.

Before I say anything about the process, I will commend him, and say that he did his job very well. 

Kudos to him, for tolerating an irate customer. However I did an analysis of my call. My call ran for sixteen minutes out of which I spent last three minutes on berating the tele-calling process, not more than two in telling my problem and my location and spent more than ten minutes either on hold or providing a host of data.

The guy asked me my details about my car and then sent in a bouncer. “Sir can I have the chassis number?” I started wondering, how did he know I was working with Chase and gave him my employee number. “That is incorrect sir, can I have the chassis number.” In the next five minutes I started going through the documents of the car hunting for the number which would decide whether I would go home in four wheels or three. It was nearly eight at night: I found it and tried reading it with my blurred eyesight (I am forty plus) only to find that it is a forty eight digit alpha-numeric number. Sorry maybe it is fifteen. All numbers beyond six digits are the same to me. Come to think of it, there can be no safer password than the chassis number of your car.

Finally he gave up on me and retrieved it from customer care. I was told that a complaint can’t be registered without the chassis number. Then he went to ask me so many other questions, before he asked me my problem and location, I broke into a sweat. I seriously hoped he would not ask for my grandfather’s PAN number. Thankfully he didn’t.

I then began wondering, why did they need all this information. The answer -  data and analytics. This information would one day find its way into my insurance records. Does this guy leave his lights on, and hence, how often do I have to provide him road side assistance? At what mileage did the problem happen? What color is the car?

It is the age of data, Big Data as they call it. There is an entire industry out there which thrives on analytics and compressing big data. Sometimes I wonder, whether we need to massage data on 30 parameters or 5 to get ‘accurate’ results. Will there be a substantial difference in results by increasing the number of parameters and different types of analysis? Or is advanced Analytics a mirage by itself?

From a customer service perspective, I only cared about two things:

1. Have they recorded my problem correctly?
2. Have they got my location right

I am sorry, but as a customer in a problem I do not appreciate the car company’s need to collect data for analysis. Not all functions can be a source of data collection, and someone needs to just look at what that function is supposed to achieve.

Accuracy has a cost. The more variables, parameters you analyse, more data you collect. Sometimes I think, there isn't much difference between‘B’ for ‘Big Data’, and ‘B’ for ‘Bakasur’, a monster, with a great appetite. The villagers had to provide him huge amounts of food and one member of the family, whom he would eat. ‘Big Data’ and ‘Analytics, have a similar voracious appetite. I hope it does not 

end up devouring the users.

I am writing this blog sitting in the car, as I have to charge the battery for a minimum of an hour. Time to refuel.

Unearthing the next Dhoni

Once upon a time, the India cricket team comprised of players from big cities. The current CEO of a big outsourcing company was once a budding cricketer who was interested in making a career in cricket, till a senior counseled him. “How many people from your Ranji team have ever played for India?” This one sentence changed his life.

Today, if you look at the Indian cricket team, the big city representation is limited. There are an equal number of people from small towns. Ravindra Jadeja, Cheteshwar Pujara, MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya… the list is endless.. Talent is coming from the hinterland. What has happened? Where has talent suddenly sprung from? The answer is talent was always there, talent scouts were absent. The people from small towns did not have the confidence to compete against the boys from big cities.

One of my ventures has taken me to Pune to run a finishing school. Last week, we gave an advertisement in the local vernacular newspaper for admissions, which has a geographical reach upto a 100 km radius.

The response was a flood. People travelled more than 2 hours to apply for a job. People aged 30 plus called asking whether they stood a chance. I met three ladies who came from 75 kms away, all engineers, instrumentation engineers, a commodity which is in short supply. For a moment I forgot my role and started speaking to them about engineering and their careers. They were brilliant, but had one drawback… they were not fluent in English. Engineering jobs on the shop-floor were very low paying- lower than even the minimum wage. Travelling  two and a half hours one way to work on the shop floor with a largely male dominated work force and spending entire money in travel and not saving much at the end, really doesn’t make sense.

I met another person, who literally begged me to give him a job. He lives on a cot basis, can’t go home to his villages as there has been no rain and the crop had failed. To those who are uninitiated, cot basis means, he lives in a big hall where there are 20 cots. Our friend gets a cot, and lives out of a suitcase which he keeps locked beneath his cot and access to a washroom shared by 20 people. All these people are in search of jobs. Every day, when I meet five such people, I struggle to hold back my tears. Clearly meeting these people is a humbling experience and reminds me of how fortunate I am.

There was another girl, who was even willing to pay for the course, which I am offering, but can’t speak English to save her life. She is hugely talented, has great hunger and I can clearly see her succeeding …if given an opportunity.

At the same time, I see that the recruiters still come from good B- Schools. The interview will be conducted in English. At the third question in English, this girl will clam up, which means she will not answer. It is not she doesn’t know the answer, she will be overawed by the language and will have no confidence to reply in English. I clearly see, that she will be rejected by the corporate.

And that is where my dilemma begins. I have invested money, big money in my venture, have fixed costs and need admissions to sustain my venture. Should I give her admission, take her money and cut my losses? The socialist in my heart wins over the capitalist in my brain. I reject her… to her utmost disappointment. My principal and partners will be unhappy with me for not generating enough sales. At the same time, I cannot be at peace with myself if I have given a wrong admission. What is right is not always good, and what is good for me may not be the right decision. Life never ceases to surprise and teach you.

I am reminded of something I did nearly 15 years ago, when I was on the admissions panel of leading B-School. There was a brilliant chap, who I quickly realized was not comfortable in English and I conducted the entire interview in Hindi. That is when he opened up and was free flowing. We selected him, and today he is at a very senior level in a leading Private Sector Bank. My question is does corporate India have a similar mindset?

In the early 2000s BCCI spread its wings, and had talent development officers scout the hinterland. Munaf Patel was picked from obscurity. Dhoni’s Ranji team was Jharkhand, which was just a speck on the domestic circuit, one of the teams which turned up to make the numbers. It is time for Corporate India to do a BCCI. There is talent, raw talent which is available in the villages.

Make in India and Skill Devlopment are good initiatives. Corporate support is needed. Over and above the funding and the CSR, what is required is a change in the recruiting mindset and patience in nurturing these people. There are enough and more Dhoni’s available there to be unearthed.

In Duryodhana's footsteps

Duryodhana will be proud of me. Now that I have attracted your attention, don’t worry, I have not succeeded in disrobing any Draupadi, nor do I intend to. Unfortunately Duryodhana is remembered only for his one wrong act of ordering Draupadi’s vastraharan or disrobing. However, I respect Duryodhana for his quick decision making.

During the graduation ceremony of the Kaurava and the Pandava princes, Arjuna excelled in Archery and was the favourite to be crowned as the champion. Suddenly an unknown masked warrior entered, and proceeded to do everything that Arjuna had done and even bettered them. However he could not be crowned as a champion, as he was Karna, the son of a charioteer and not a Royal. To cut a long story short, Duryodhana  on the spot crowned him as king of the kingdom of Anga, thus raising his stature. He did not ask for permission from his seniors, parents or elders.

Just imagine, if he had been asked to prepare a proposal. Come to think of it, how many of us cringe when we have to prepare a case and write up to justify a junior’s promotion? And then it is questioned and half the promotion cases don’t go through. What were the chances of the masked warrior’s proposal sailing through a discussion in the ‘evaluation committee’, or in this case the learned people in the court? Zilch – Zero, not a chance in hell. First of all he would be pulled up for not having come through the ranks… he doesn’t have enough experience to promote him to a king straightaway. His qualifications, caste etc. would be questioned and he would be discriminated against. In today’s corporate environment, Duryodhana would never be able to crown Karna the king. Instead he would be disciplined for insubordination.

In this case, Duryodhana was extremely quick on his feet and took a very fast decision, and capitalized on the opportunity. That is exactly what I did, when I began my entrepreneurship three months ago. I got into a deal, where my counterparty increased the price and in a fraction of a second, I said yes, and signed the deal, before my counterparty could even react. I am sure he was caught completely off guard.

Prudent businessmen would say that I should have bought time and negotiated etc. But the fact remains that I saw value in the price I was paying. I followed two principles :

1.      You don’t look at a gift horse in the mouth

2.      Opportunity doesn’t knock twice

I am sure that if he had gone back to his partners with the decision, they would have done their math and would have upped the price further. I still tell him that he sold me his business very cheap. Excel sheets don’t make decisions. Back of the envelope calculations, gut feel and conviction is what you need to take a decision

Now that I got into a deal committing a certain price, and was wondering how to get the funding. I spoke to a few friends, and they agreed, but subjected my proposal to a complete body scan. I hold no grudges against them; they are completely justified, as they are putting in their hard earned money. As discussions progressed, they wanted me to lay down all the risks on the table.

That is when I learnt a huge lesson, maybe one of my biggest learning over the last six months. Their entire perspective seemed to be what are the risks and what can we lose. My perspective was how soon we can fly and I had started building castles. Actually both perspectives are right as well as wrong. Let me explain.

Raj Kapoor (Kareena Kapoor’s grandfather for the younger generation) was bankrupt after producing his dream project “Mera Naam Joker” which bombed at the box office. At that time it was the costliest movie made. He was blind to the fact that his movie could fail, and maybe he could lose everything.

When Ratan Tata announced the ‘people’s car’ at a price of one lakh, everybody laughed at him. It was a rare case, where the product selling price is announced and then the design is made. A classic case of gut feel and conviction.

Now let me look at the risk evaluation perspective. Too much risk analysis paralyses you. At that time, you allow the projected negative of the project to overpower the projected gains.  And then your conviction begins to falter. A lot of achievements and innovation happen because, people who set out on the journey never believe that it can’t be done.

Some madness is required for innovation, at the same time the madness needs to be controlled so that you don’t lose your shirt as well as underwear.

I have the following takeaways from my experience over the last few months

1.      Projects should not be evaluated on past performance, but on future potential. No innovation would have been possible if all projects were evaluated on past performance

2.       For a new project, or innovation to succeed, you need one mad or passionate person who is blinded by potential success. His / Her thought process should not be clouded by fear.. Remember Gabbar Singh said in Sholay “Jo dar gaya, samjho mar gaya”

3.      The second partner should be risk focused, with a very clear focus on when does one bail out and exit the project.

4.      You need a third partner, who is a referee between the risk taker and the risk averse guy.

When I was working, and getting a fixed income, I used to think ten times before spending. Today, in entrepreneurship, when I am earning half my earlier salary, I have lost the fear of money. Is it me, or does it happen to all entrepreneurs? Am I looking at the bigger picture or am I foolish?

I have no clue. One is wise only in hindsight.  Duryodhana never regretted the decision to make Karna the king of Anga.

Freedom of Speech

Over the last few days, I have seen an interesting phenomenon. There is a daily soap going on, and interestingly, the same soap is being played simultaneously on different channels. One rarely sees all channels colluding in unison. As an advertiser, I think I have missed out on the biggest ‘eyeball grabbing’ opportunity. Debates on nationalism (or anti nationalism depending on which side of the political spectrum you are) gather higher TRPs than an inconsequential India Sri Lanka cricket match or the latest Khan movie.

I shall refrain on commenting on the appropriateness or otherwise of the slogans raised or the arrest made or whether there are curbs on freedom of speech or limits to freedom of speech, as the matter is sub-judice.Saying that the matter is sub-judice is a great excuse to conceal the fact, that I am confused. 

I then wonder whether speech is really free. If I were to talk about the situation at home, speech is free for one spouse, while there are extreme curbs on the other spouse. After listening to all these debates on TV, I think of filing a writ petition in the Honorable Supreme Court for protection of my rights under Article 19 of the Constitution.

Unfortunately this thought is the by-product of watching debates on TV which happen at prime time, when the throat is being lubricated by nectar of the evaporating kind. A heady combination, leads me to think about Article 19 and exercising my fundamental rights. Unfortunately at that time, the only two bones in my body that move are the hands and the tongue for all the wrong reasons. By the time I get up in the morning and get a nice smile with a cup of coffee, all these thoughts evaporate. Yes even after fifteen years of marriage, I get a warm smile, which is nothing but softening of the target before going for the kill.

Driving on the way to office, the thoughts come back. I think about exercising my right to free speech. I want to talk about everything that is wrong at work. How I think my manager is an idiot, my co-worker is wasting his / her time at work, with a Machiavellian streak and would be fit for politics, organisation policies suck, life is unfair at work, performance management systems are doctored to work against you, targets are impossible. And then I see my family photograph on the desk. I come back to mother earth and look at the monthly pay cheque which hits the bank account regularly, and all thoughts about Article 19 evaporate. I dream about the promotion, being a yes man, sucking up to my manager and other senior people and come back to reality

Come to think of it, the number 19 has always been a stumbling block since childhood. I dreaded mugging up the table of 19 and now Article 19 is a nemesis.

No sir, Freedom of Speech is nothing but a figure of speech. The sooner we understand it the better.

Big Runs and Tall Tales

This one is going to be controversial. The headline must have indicated very clearly what I am going to write about. As part of my maverick ways, what will follow is a discordant note. In India, there are only two things on which you write a discordant note and stand the danger of being controversial.

No, it is not Patriotism, Journalism or Politics. Only two issues spur emotions which are at the core – Cricket and Religion. As I don’t want to risk stone attacks and dharnas outside my home, I will refrain from speaking on Religion. I will instead speak on the next big religion in India, cricket.

First of all, let me give compliments where they are deserved. Pranav Dhanawade of K.C.Gandhi high school, take a bow. Scoring 1009 runs unbeaten, is no joke. Whatever the quality of the opposition, and the size of the ground, a thousand runs is a thousand runs. It is more than a test of the cricketing ability. Ability decides, whether you score four runs or forty runs. Temperament decides whether you score forties or convert forties to hundreds.

For those of you who don't play cricket, scoring 1009 runs is akin to running... say 4 marathons continuously.. say 100 miles. To score those many runs, you need temperament, patience, focus and fitness. M.S. Dhoni has written one very important thing, “I would have been bored.” One can get tired and throw away the wicket, knowing that the job is done.

Now let me begin the real reason of this post. I think, his coach needs to be sacked. 

Long long ago, in my career, I got an award for an ‘individual’ contribution. The prize was a lunch with the Managing Director. I was excited and looking forward to the same. On the day, my MD asked me about my achievement and the award. I proudly talked about the scheme that I had created. I was beautifully floating in a balloon of achievement that I had created myself, only for the Managing Director to puncture it in one sentence and bring me back down to earth. He asked me, “Was your scheme successful?”  I had no answer. Actually the scheme was one of the biggest failures of the organisation. I could have said, that “I had created a great scheme, but the sales guys did not know how to sell it.” I decided to swallow my ego and pride and keep quiet.

Today, ten years later I have understood the meaning of that statement by the MD. It was one of my first lessons in teamwork. I wish I had understood it earlier, I would have been a better corporate citizen.

Corporate India rewards Individual excellence over Team Performance. Non- Performance is always externalised. I have seen teams which have performed extremely badly, but one person in the team getting a promotion for good individual work. Even as private citizens Indian believe in cleanliness in their own house and don’t care about cleanliness in the vicinity. What most Indians lack is 'Ownership'

At this juncture, another cricket match comes to mind – October 1998, Australia vs. Pakistan in Peshawar, Pakistan. At the end of Day 2, Australia were 599 for 4, with Mark Taylor being unbeaten on 334. What is the significance of 334? At that time, it was the highest score in a Test match by any Australian, jointly shared by Mark Taylor and Don Bradman. Taylor had an opportunity to bat for 15 minutes on the next day, and surpass Don Bradman, and be the sole holder of the individual score. What do you think happened? Mark Taylor himself was the captain, and declared the innings overnight, thus denying himself the opportunity. It was a great example of putting the team above self.

Something similar happened in March 2004 in Multan. The then Indian captain declared the Indian innings at 675 with one Mr. Sachin Tendulkar not out on 194. The next day the headlines were about how Tendulkar had been robbed of a double hundred by his captain. Conspiracy theories started doing the rounds, and not about a great strategic declaration by the captain.

A great opportunity was lost by the K.C. Gandhi coach by not declaring overnight. We need to build team spirit and ensure team success than individual success. 652 not out on Day 1, World Record achieved, team score at 956, what was the need to play on further? The additional 350+ runs scored by Pranav have no value in my books, as they have not made any difference to the team result. For the record the team won by and innings and 1382 runs.

A lot of people are known to say, I will give my best at work. I disagree fundamentally with this statement. Please don’t give your best, give your optimum. Confused? Let me explain.

If Usain Bolt plays soccer, and runs to the best of his ability, what will happen? He will overrun the ball and will be a bad soccer player. He needs to run at the speed of his teammates, to ensure that the team succeeds, and only when he has the ball, he needs to run faster than the opponents, at the same time controlling the ball. His best will actually be a failure, his optimum a winner.

All the Best, Give your Optimum and Take Ownership; wishing you lots of Success in the New Year.