Why I Failed: Lessons from Leaders by Shweta Punj

WHY I FAILED: Lessons from Leaders by Shweta Punj (2013), Random House India, p 184

We have grown with the story of Thomas Alva Edison on the learning from failures.  Few months back I came across a statement by former Indian President Abdul Kalam that it is more important to read failure stories than success stories as they teach you better insights into the reasons of failure and help avoid them in order to achieve greater heights. Kalam says FAIL means First Attempt In Learning.  Though I had read about many failure stories of great people through their autobiographies or other articles published in periodicals and other publications, however when I came across the title of this book WHY I FAILED, I just ordered the title and got it shelved in my collection.  Around a week back I picked it up from the shelf and started reading through.  I have no hesitation in saying that the book kept me on till I turned its last page.

The book narrates the journey and experiences of sixteen successful personalities from varied fields and focuses on their respective failures.  There are hardcore entrepreneurs in the real sense of the term whether they belong to fashion world or sports, movie making or pure business, they followed their passion, they have gone beyond rules and made their own rules, they are all first movers and have taken risk beyond and capitalized on the opportunity available in the market.

How Thermax was revived against odds by Anu Aga and how she recognized her weaknesses and overcame them is a well briefed story of her entire experience. The journey charted out and the road followed by Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (of Biocon), Dr Pratap C Reddy (of Apollo Hospitals) and Narayana Murthy (of Infosys) and the resistance and red-tape they faced during their effortful and challenging trail is an excellent account on the background of taking up initiative and holding on to that till it gets through. 

In the Indian corporate circles sacking of a CEO is something quite unheard of. The plight of Sunil Alagh after being shown the gate by Wadias of Brittania is quite known by the followers of Indian business stories. The contribution that Sunil made in developing Brittania as a prominent brand is not unknown to many and it is believed that it was during his tenure that Brittania gained the competitive advantage that it still capitalizes on.  Sunil’s dealing with this setback and coming out of it successfully is discussed in the book nicely.

The man behind the Lavasa township project Ajit Gulabchand’s (of Hindustan Construction Corporation) constant belief in the project and how his perseverance paid him in dealing with the bureaucratic and political pressures successfully has been narrated by Shweta very lucidly in the book.  He learnt that at times speed, overconfidence and preposterous actions may bring down even one of the most strong leaders and his decision so one has to be over cautious at times while taking strategic decisions.

The lady behind the success of Jindal’s SAW plant, Sminu Jindal has been able to control the affairs and followed some of her original practices overcoming her personal physical weakness. She has shown immense courage and perspiration in managing her plant and office successfully. The popularity of the brand called Fabindia is the result of hard work, personal belief and commitment of William Bissell who have dealt with many challenges and developed an unique company based on community entrepreneurship. The growth of the company in last ten years is the fruit of involvement of the communities at different locations in feeding Fabindia stores through their collective craft culture. I am sure this needs replication by other entrepreneurs in different other segments of the market and it shall certainly help build self-sustaining India and connect the market with the back-end suppliers and craftsmen. Fabindia stores are an excellent modern day version of khadi ashrams, which are spread across India. I am sure these stores shall be able to provide the texture of khadi with experience of Indian culture and craft and expand its reach to the modern day urban youth.

Goenkas of Kolkata have a rich history of entrepreneurship and enterprise when we look at the business history of India in last two hundred years.  They have been operating in different businesses and have provided job opportunities for sizeable population. The story of Sanjiv Goenka in taking up Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) is well told in the book as in case of Sabyasachi Mukherjee in going against the decision of their respective patriarchs.  A strong resistance from the employees and workers initially did not deter Sanjiv from his belief that he can reconstruct CESC and make it a viable and profitable venture. His approach showed the strong spirit of ekla chalo, though later people involved in the process understood the conviction reposed by Sanjiv and his honest intention of rebuilding CESC and cooperated with him.  The fate of Shankar Sharma and his wife is well explained in the book and their admission of a mistake about their investment in media firm tehelka makes their story conciliate and convincing.

Gold medalist Olympian, Abhinav Bindra’s reasoning of the loss in the subsequent olympics provides an excellent insight and psychological defense for the loss.  I have reasons to believe that there must be theories around this phenomenon defending that the efforts and rigor are determined by the force to prove.  Passion driven Sabyasachi Mukherjee who defied his father’s decision and went ahead with pursuing his career in fashion designing is an inspiring tale between traditional and modern choices of career and the believe in oneself to pursue one’s dream.  The journey of Madhur Bhandarkar and Subhash Ghai (both from movie world) traversing through disturbed past in problems of poverty in one case and of poor upbringing in another case reassures a belief that suppression both material as well as emotional drives one to prove a point and put forth all of the energies into that direction.  The story of these duo reminds of the past of many great people in different fields.

Many times in our lives we tend to take decisions based on our gut or based on hearsay or fall victim to herd behavior. Many times we get carried away with our previous achievements. Many times we do not plan things in right earnest and it all results in failures, though with some few exceptions.  At the time of the event, decision or action we do not realize the shortcomings and mistakes but at a longer span of time we tend to relate things and actions, we then compare and realize the mistakes that we have committed.  The realization of accepting the reason for failure is the first step to correct the future course of action. This book tends to help the reader to reason out the failures or mistakes and provides a boost through going through these stories that if one is determined one can learn from mistakes and act cautiously towards achieving higher goals. I remember a quote by Ratan Tata - Ups and downs of life are very important to keep us going, because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive.

The chapters are well planned and leave the reader with the nuggets on why they failed and an advice to avoid failure. Shweta Punj has written this book conspirito and her approach has been very candid. The basis of selection of these personalities is not mentioned anywhere however the common thread that I could find is that all of them have been first in marching out of the way and established themselves in their respective domain. I missed the presence of Kishore Biyani, Subhash Chandra, and Vikram Akola in this volume. But I can understand the limitations of the author and it is extremely difficult to have many or to come upto the expectations of every reader.  She has really toiled hard to document these stories and for that she deserves appreciation.  May be we can expect some similar stories in the times to come profiling other achievers. 

Failure and success are two sides of the same coin.  They move together.  This is where this book helps one understand the importance of failures in driving one towards success.The future of failure is success and the future of success is achievement.  I recommend this book to every individual who believes in failure and success as two different islands.  I am sure their belief shall get transformed as they turn the pages of this book.

The East India Company - the world's most powerful corporation by Tirthankar Roy

THE EAST INDIA COMPANY - the world's most powerful corporation by Tirthankar Roy (2012) Allen Pane - an imprint of Penguin Books, p 237.

While doing graduation we had a paper entitled 'Economic Resources' and the teacher (Dr KC Jaiswal) who taught us that course was an alumnus of Allahabad University and Lucknow University, and student of Prof JK Mehta (of Allahabad Univ). I have no hesitation in admitting that it was he who pushed me into teaching profession. I never thought that I would lead a career in teaching. Anyways, he used to tell us 'India is a rich country but its residents are poor'. We grew up with this thinking that India was a country which had surplus milk production, huge exporting country for textiles and spices, and strong mineral bases apart from rich cultural heritage. It is true that during the middle of the 17th century India contributed to around one fourth of world manufacturing output which went down to around 3 percent by middle of 19th century. These two hundred years contributed to the fall of India as a manufacturing hub as well as destroyed the institutions. We all know that the major role was played by the erstwhile known as the world's most powerful corporation - The East India Company. We have grown with very many stories about The East India Company (EIC).  

In the series of The Story of Indian Business, an acclaimed scholar of the business history at London School of Economics, Tirthankar Roy brings this book with rich historical narrative, telling the tale of the rise and fall of EIC and its role in controlling the resources available on the soil of Indian subcontinent.

The EIC was formed in 1600 in London by a group of merchants, mariners, explorers and politicians to finance the trading voyages to India, China and Southeast Asia. It is quite evident from the book that the author has gone through the documentation of several voyages of this company into the Indian subcontinent and cross verified them through the literature available, both in highly acclaimed academic journals as well as popular writings of the time.  The journey of the company (from a trader to an empire builder), its patronage by the British royalty (the Crown) through assent by charter, its profiteering endeavors, internal quarrels, its selfish relationships with the local rulers in India have been very well narrated in the book which makes it an authentic tribute to the business history of India.  

The author mentions in the introduction part of the book:

In this short history of the Company, the well-known story is retold, but by using an angle of vision somewhat unusual in the historical scholarship on the subject (p 29)…In this book by contrast, the Company is in the main a window into the distinctive globalization that occurred in the Indian subcontinent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  The story suggests that any attempt to deal with Indian business history during this time needs to refer to Europe’s own expansion overseas, show how the concept of a firm changed, connect traditional modes of doing business with the modern, Britain with India, India with China, politics with economics, and one empire with another (p 30)… The story begins with the combination of enterprise and exploration for which Elizabethan London has earned a unique place in global history. (p31)

The EIC made its entry into the Indian subcontinent through the coastal towns in the earlier part of the sixteenth century when major part of India was ruled by the moghuls. …the first fifteen years were not smooth sailing for the EIC. The working of this company and its relationship with the rulers, especially in the coastal towns like Surat, Coromandel, Hooghly, and the exchange of resources between China (Tea) and India (Cotton and Opium) are explained with evident authority and utmost care in the book.   The emergence of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta as prominent business centers apart from being the power centers has been elaborated (with historical facts related to individuals) very nicely in the book. For example at page 86 the author writes:

The most experienced Company officer in Bengal at the time was Job Charnock (1630-93).  Charnock had served the Company in India for thirty years. He started his career in Hajipur and Patna, where he procured saltpetre, needed in England as raw material for gunpowder. In Patna, Charnock married an Indian widow said to have been rescued from burning herself on her husband’s funeral pyre and had three children by her. While in Patna, he began to dress in Indian costumes, a habit that lasted lifelong, and learnt to speak fluent Persian and Hindustani.  In 1669, he moved to the Bengal establishment in Hooghly where he was the fifth in the hierarchy of factors.  In 1685, he became the second in command in Bengal.

The book is full of such stories of the officers, factors, and staffers who played important role in the EIC. It was a learning experience through the book that the EIC had allowed its employees to run their business individually apart from working with the company. At times it raised suspicion over the integrity of employees. There were cases where the individuals benefited much more than the company. With this legacy we also witness at present some of the employees of the companies in India following this trend at the cost of loss to their pay masters. As the communication with the Crown was not very fast, much of the things were not reported and at many times the factors (employees) used to make their own empire at the cost of the EIC. 

Europe had a good market for the Eastern Spices, Chinese Tea, and Indian Cotton, which was capitalized by the EIC into its advantage primarily. The objective of the company was never to rule this part of the world, however during the course of doing business and exploiting their relationships with the rulers and enjoying a strong patronage of the British government, it realized that it was possible for them to spread their wings and through initiatives of expansion beyond the coastal towns and into the courts of the kings and markets of the mainstream India of that time, it started actively learning the nuances of controlling power through a back door.

From 1833, the Company ceased to exist as a trading body. It existed as an administrator of India in partnership with the Crown (p 200). It was in 1858 when British government assumed direct control of India. There were instances when the Crown was not happy with the functioning of the EIC and there were cases when many of the officers were called and punished in different ways. As the book is written on the EIC, it does not go further from here. 

As Tirthankar also writes in the book, though there are many people who have written on the business history of India and the functioning of East India Company, there is much little literature on the contribution of the EIC in the thinking of organization and institution building, my understanding is also on the same line. The organizational practices as to hierarchy, delegation, division of work, communication, inter-personal and inter-group relationship, etc have not been explored. I have reasons to believe that the practices followed by the EIC must have impacted the functioning of other organizations operating at that time as well as the ones which were established in the later years.  This is still required to be explored with evident authenticity.

The book is divided in 10 chapters and there are some historic pictures and maps which help the reader to refer and preempt the prevailing conditions during that period. A detailed foreword by Gurcharan Das makes the book more important and authoritative. Timeline is put towards the end of the book which provides a chronology of events which took place during the working of the EIC in India. A detailed bibliography provides a rich source of references. The book is written in a story telling style which keeps the reader attentive and inquisitive towards the next part of the book. I strongly recommend this title for the minds which are interested in learning Indian business history and the functioning of one of the world’s most powerful corporation.

Impatient Optimist - Bill Gates in his own words

IMPATIENT OPTIMIST: BILL GATES IN HIS OWN WORDS (2012) edited by Lisa Rogak, Collins Business - an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, India, p 184

While I was in Hongkong attending a conference few years back, I planned to visit IFC mall with some of the friends. A big board displayed in the mall read as - Whoever said money cant buy you happiness, did not know where to go shopping. I always believed that Happiness can never be bought with money.  Thoroughly convinced about Easterlin Paradox on Money and Happiness. However when I read about Bill Gates and went through the collection of his quotes by Lisa Rogak, I started believing, yes one does buy happiness with money. There is a person who is proving this.  And that person is Bill Gates. Having tasted the money, which is sweeter than honey, he has reached to a level where the fifth position of Maslow's need hierarchy in the form of self-actualisation is achieved through the good deeds of charity and looking at the projects contributing to the welfare of society for different causes. He seems to be enjoying and really feeling happy through making others happy. A classic case of teaching the whole world The Art of Giving. Apart from money one requires a big heart to think like that. And that is where Bill Gates shows his concern and commitment. I am sure he would be remembered by many generations later, may be even after 300-400 years to have contributed to the eradication of HIV AIDS, eradication of many such cancerous diseases and to have respected human lives.

This book is a collection of statements made by Bill Gates throughout his career. The collection of the statements by Lisa is really remarkable and they are not really put in chronological order, rather she has chosen theme based alphabetical order which makes it easier to the reader to find related statement. If one has not read the biography of Bill Gates, after going through this book, much of his life become clear and in that effort Lisa really deserves appreciation. After reading the whole book I felt as if I read a story about a great person, about a person who dropped from his college, went on to take risk through his entrepreneurial venture, and after achieving greater heights in life through developing excellent products and creating blue oceans, comes back to his college and collects the degree (honoris causa). The journey of this great person is portrayed through the words borrowed from many of his speeches, few books and write ups. I really liked the milestones section very much where the chronologically his achievements are reported.

It really makes a good book for collection and reference for students to whom he really inspires through his deeds. It makes a good as well as a simple read. Really the title is very catching, impatient optimist, who does not want to be one. However if one is looking for some serious stuff on Bill Gates, one can very well ignore this title.

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FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY
I think short of the transporter, most things you see in science fiction are, in the next decade, the kinds of things you'll see. The virtual presence, the virtual worlds that both represent what's going on in the real world and represent whatever people are interested in.  This movement in space as a way of interacting with the machine.  I think the deep investments that have been made at the research level will pay off with these things in the next ten years.

 -D5: All Things Digital Conference, 30 May 2007. (Impatient Optimist: p. 57)