Dream with Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey

Dream With Your Eyes Open by  Ronnie Screwvala is an inspirational and incisive book. He has shared his insights from his 25 years of work experience. 

I found this following section on business leadership is a must read. The most valuable skill is knowing to spot the opportunities and avoiding failures.  Identifying “Trucks” and “Trends"- Ability to spot a potential trouble is critical to save time, energy and grief, lest this truck will run over. He says organisations can thrive by having a honest and frank interaction on “trucks” and “trends”. Biggest problems getting in the way of these candid conversations is one word: "presentation".  Invariably we present what people higher on the organizational chart want to hear. 

He shares his many key learning's during his new content production at UTV. Author and his team’s resilience story to obtain a censor certificate for "Rang De Basanti". It is motivating to read as to how his team embarked to create 260 episodes each year in 1994- a television series Shanti. Launch of new kids channel- Hungama TV. They disrupted this space by using content from Japan. Doraemon and Shin-Chan.  Despite pressure, legal and otherwise he & his team were undaunted while producing "No One Killed Jessica" 

'When you’re driven by your peers, you are not being disruptive". After reading this statement- now i keep reminding this to myself on a regular basis. Few instances in this book, made me realize the significance of breaking away from classic conditioning thinking.

Ronnie Screwvala has quoted instances about his failed ventures and his lessons learnt from them. While producing "Chance pe dance" he says it was like a "loaded truck" coming towards them. But they did not take decision and paid the price for it.

Trucks, Trends, Focus, Choices and Empathy are his guiding principles for his future endeavours. Going beyond self-importance and know-it-all-attitude will aid in decision making. This is empathy. These sections are loaded with wisdom.

His view point on business plans - Plan B, is very straight. He says real conviction and focus, not Plan B allow one to stay the course and navigate do-or-die scenarios.

This book contains a section of FAQ’s.  These 17 questions and answers are exceptional and direct. For instance, his perspective on brand building is very simple and intuitive. He says most people believe brand-building and marketing are one and the same. They’re not. Credibility, sustained excellence builds a brand. My take of this book - it will certainly ignite the readers.

Arise, Awake - Rashmi Bansal

Rupesh Shah a youth from Siliguri who struggles to pass 12^th standard board exam, aspires to be an intern at IIT. He is keen to get an experience in the technical aspects of Linux Operating system and explores options to get into IITB. He searches for professor’s number on the Internet and makes cold calls. After several attempts and constant follow up for couple of months– he gets an internship for just 3 months. The story goes on. After 9 years – Rupesh’s idea is adapted in 350 schools and his company achieved sales of Rs.3.6Crs .

It’s yet another awesome book from Ms.Rashmi Bansal.  You will be motivated by reading the experiences of these businesspersons venturing at a such young age. Similar to Rupesh’s story, common traits among these stories– “never give up attitude”.  These following four moved me.

Both Shashank  N D & Abhinav Lal grappled promoting their service concept to doctors during the period 2008 to 2011. There were many moments that pushed them to rethink their career options. But they never gave up.  Sequoia capital funded them in 2011.  Now, we all know about Practo Technologies.

Aruj Garg a student of National Law School, Bangalore decides to venture in fast food business.  Since it’s a totally unrelated to Law his idea acceptability was very low and he may have faced a volley of questions. His conviction in his business was very high. Today, I understand bhukkad has two branches serving over 150 customers daily.   

A young girl from Solapur Ms.Apurva Joshi hunts for a job at Pune. She lands at a forensic accounting start-up firm. “A risky and unchartered profession” – she goes on to become a forensic expert and her firm – Fraudexpress compiles a database of politically exposed parties, first of its kind in the country. To my mind it’s the need of the hour for our country. An example: out of the box thinking.   

Eshwar Vikas & Sudeep Sabat budding engineers set out to create an automatic dosa machine.  After 3 years of arduous work they succeed in producing world’s first tabletop dosa printer. Eshwar draws inspiration from movie Dark Knight – Batman falls into a well and keeps trying to escape using a rope. But he falls, again and again. And the rope saves him. I feel this story is apt to explain about these youngsters.

Its very impressive that these young entrepreneurs have picked up the nuances of Sale & Marketing very early. For instance Practo Technologies team during their sales call focussed on creating a wow experience in first 5 minutes. This helped them to clinch the deals faster from doctors.

Prakash Mundhra, Sacred Moments product & brand name - The Shubh Labh ‘Puja Kit’  & ‘Blessingz’. These are captivating.  Prakash chose the names so aptly – this will attract positive attention due to the perceived value among target customers.

Bhukkad positioning is so distinct. We make food that's fast, natural, exciting, awesome to taste and easy on the pocket. This book is a must read for parents as it gives insights about pursuing entrepreneurship at an early age. I presume that most of the colleges may have encouraged their students to read this.

My Previous posts on Ms.Rashmi Bansal's books: 

connect the dots

I have a dream

What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Marshall Goldsmith’s credentials compelled me to read this book.  He is one of the select few consultants who have been asked to work with more than 80 CEOs in the world’s top corporations. He is one of the 50 great thinkers and business leaders who have impacted the field of management.  He is a pioneer in the use of customized 360-degree feedback as a leadership development tool. What Got You Here Won't Get You There is a New York Times best-seller, Wall Street Journal #1 Business Book.

Off late, I have been reading articles on how to get to the corner office and the key qualities one needs to possess to thrive in the corporate world. After reading this, I realize that interpersonal behavior can get us there than technical skills. Author has quoted innumerable relevant case studies and examples to explain this attribute.

I could relate to one of his examples of a financial consultant in New York firm who manages HNI clients is highly skilled and takes seven-figure salary but is not aware about the impact of his behavior on his prospects and customers. The story goes on that he could not on-board a very high profile prospect. He thought he had all the answers, but the prospective client saw it as ‘self aggrandizement’. One gets deluded to success and resists changing. Author cites’ the Ad by Unum – An Insurance company – you probably feel like the bear. We’d like to suggest you’re the salmon. An apt example.

Author’s role as a coach is to help one to identify a personal habit that is annoying their co-workers and help them to eliminate and take it further. His questioning skills to get clients into coaching ‘mode’ are amazing.  This one is very relevant to sales professionals – salespeople who think their pushy and belligerent sales tactics with customers are the reason they close more deals than their peers. Author asks, how do nicer colleagues sell anything at all? Could it be you are selling a great product or making more sales calls?

The unique content in this book is ‘what to stop’. Peter Drucker says ‘we don’t spend enough time teaching leaders to stop. Leaders need to learn what to stop. Author says Instead of the usual ‘To Do’ list, start compiling ‘To Stop’ list.  Author has listed 20 common faulty behaviors at work place as ‘to stop’ list. After reading this, I believe that seeking feedback and good listening skills are crucial variables to get a leader to the next level.  

Yesterday, I was reading an article about McDonalds and reasons for the CEO’s exit. I found a high correlation with the key takeaways in this book and Mr.Donald Thompson’s (now Ex CEO) story. Quoting from Forbes the ousted CEO thought ‘In his eyes, McDonald’s was still mighty, and could overcome the global movement to healthier food and ingredient knowledge by running some new marketing or adding items to the dollar menu. These questions crossed my mind, Was he deluded by his past success? or did he ever have a ‘To Stop’ list? 

Gurus of Chaos by Saurabh Mukherjea

We associate investment related books with authors from Western world and seek experience from best money managers from U.S. and U.K, however here the author has made an attempt to break this pattern. Gurus of Chaos by Saurabh Mukherjea is about ‘experiences’ of fund managers in India and his key learning’s on investments.  The author’s narrative is simple and the book is a quick read for the professionals in financial services industry.

I liked his opening research data point – In the past 20 years, over 80% of listed Indian companies have failed to give share price returns better than the rate of inflation (which is around 7%).  Certainly, there is an interesting story to narrate about our fund managers who have generated substantial returns. This book contains such stories of fund managers/investors.  It’s worth reading all of them; however my favorites are these two interviews.

a)      Sanjoy Bhattacharya , Founding CIO of HDFC Asset Management: his experience in the initial days at CRISIL are very insightful.  His principles on exiting a stock are intuitive.

b)      Akash Prakash, CEO of Amansa Capital: his perspective on mutual funds in India is a must read. He says funds sometimes act sub-optimally and don’t have freedom to invest.

Author’s case study approach on Asian Paints and TTK to decipher the quality of financial statements is a good read. I respect his viewpoint on giving importance to the promoter’s competence and integrity. His simple rules for successful investing are  

1. Only buy a stock if you understand the business model          

2. Only invest in companies which can generate cash flows and high return on capital employed for long periods of time.

3. Buy the franchises identified by rule 2 when they are available at prices which build in ‘margin of safety’.

 In the later part of book, author dwells on investor psychology.  He has referred to the most acclaimed book Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and many psychologists. He drives the point that we all can rewire our brain and can become disciplined investors.

I felt that this book could have had a separate section for beginners or novice investors. It’s high time that successful investment professionals in India connect to the prospective investors by writing such books. This may motivate investors to relate to Indian context. 

David and Goliath-Malcolm Gladwell

Let’s look at disadvantage situations with a fresh perspective - this thought crossed my mind after reading David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell.  Normally, we get deluded by advantages and avoid disadvantage positions, but if one reads this book it will encourage pursuing ‘desirable difficulties’.

Vivek Ranadive example sets the tone of the book. A businessman and techie, who digitized Wall Street, decide to coach his daughter in basket ball and her team goes on to win the national championships. Since he was an underdog and misfit he attempted something new. Certainly a must read chapter – the advantages of disadvantages (and the disadvantages of advantages)

I liked the author’s viewpoint on parenting, classroom size, children with dyslexia and upbringing in adverse conditions. As a parent, we all strive to provide resources – how much wealth is important to grow children? At what point wealth starts to negatively impact well-adjusted children. He gives many examples to explain- excess wealth goes against good parenting. These children may end up as Goliaths later in life.  Parents who have excess ought to ponder this point – how much less?

On a lighter side for an Indian middle class person – the answer to this question on how much wealth is important to grow children?  - It’s always more… J .  Five days of the week we expend all our time and energy to make ends meet. Wealth is very important to provide consistent love and attention for a healthy atmosphere at home. The key question the author is asking – at what point does money stops making a difference?

You wouldn't wish dyslexia on your child. Or would you? This chapter on theory of desirable difficulty is the best part of this book. An extraordinarily high number of successful entrepreneurs were dyslexic.  His interpretations as to why people with dyslexia thrive are remarkable. His example on Gary Cohn- President of Goldman Sachs is sharp. He goes on to explain geniuses are those who grow up in adverse conditions. After reading this section I felt – there are many talents in each one of us which we aren't aware, and some situations ignite these, but most of us don’t step-up.  

Author’s viewpoint on Big Fish-Little Pond, Little Fish-Big Pond is very energizing. His findings on relationship between number of children in a classroom and academic performance are insightful.  We all spend lot of time debating, pondering on student class size – too small doesn't help. I felt this theory can be extended to our corporate career. Which pond do we want to be in?

What’s missing in this book? – I would have loved to know author’s opinion on David vs. Goliath in the corporate world. 

GET to the TOP

I was little surprised when I saw Suhel Seth in Guzaarish (2010) movie - A corporate chief, moved into Bollywood. I am sure you will also recall watching Suhel in one of the news channels.

Naturally, I was curious to read his book ‘GET to the TOP’ – The ten rules for social success.

When I saw Vijay Mallya’s endorsement on this book cover, I thought author's timing has gone wrong.

Why did the Suhel Seth choose Mr.Mallya during the 'bad times' of Kingfisher Airlines?

But I got the answer after I completed reading this book.

Suhel ensured that you don't loose interest after reading few pages. It is largely divided into three parts
A) How to draw people to you?
B) How to make friends?
C) How to keep your friends?

A) How to draw people to you?

Suhel strikes the chord with the reader in the very first section by advising - 'be interested and interesting' and ‘have an opinion’.
These are his first two rules viz., self development and the impact.

It's so revealing!!!

We would have met many academically bright people in our career, but the successful is the one who is interesting & creates an impact.

B) How to make friends?

Suhel says the trick is to not judge people and accept them on their own terms. Judge their opinions, but not them as people. It's a great piece of counselling, as invariably we exclude people based on their idiosyncrasy.

Being non- judgemental opens up to engaging with all kinds of people and as a result more popularity.

He is critical the way we use Google, to know the background about people and jump to conclusions before we meet them. I agree, generally net savvy people deduce based on the postings in the social networking websites. It's artificial.

Suhel substantiates his views by giving several examples from his experience.
For instance, by being non-judgemental he has friends like Russi Mody, Ananda Shankar- musician, R.K.Laxman and Subhash Ghai.

I liked his trust rule - he says gossip and bitching are key factors of creating distrust among friends.

Networking rule- he says aim always to make friendship, not contacts. Networking should not be seen as transactional. He also suggests seeking for accomplished people, not important ones, as designations are transitory.

The work rule is a brilliant one - make friends out of clients, not clients out of friends. Work must be merit driven and friendship is often driven by values and emotions.

C) How to keep your friends?

He advises the readers to be loyal and consistent with friends.

I am impressed with Suhel, as he seems to be publicly defending Mr.Mallya during the bad times.

I found social success mantras in this book very pragmatic and useful as he substantiates with numerous examples.

This book will be very useful for those who manage HNI clients as he quotes various examples from his work life.

I have a Dream by Rashmi Bansal

Why isn’t Media reporting these types of articles in the cover stories?

This question crossed my mind after reading ‘I have a Dream’ by Rashmi Bansal.

‘I have a Dream’ is awe-inspiring. The author has narrated twenty social entrepreneurs stories who chose to follow their heart and made a substantial positive impact in our society.

Preview of a couple of sections.

a)Vineet Rai of Aavishkaar Social Venture Fund.

Vineet who failed getting into the Army, worked as sales rep. selling taxation books and later on worked in remote areas after completing Forest Management.
In a while Mr.Rai emerged with an idea of ‘micro-venture fund’ – sponsor business ventures between Rs.1 and Rs.20 lakh to rural entrepreneurs.

I believe, initiatives like these will bring a ray of hope to rural youth as 69% of total population stay in rural India.
Source: 2011 Census report.

b)Ms.Ishitha Khanna of Spiti Ecosphere

A back bencher in her school days and after completing her Masters, Ishitha fell in love with Nature. She started a NGO which harvested ‘orange berries’ in Spiti valley, Himachal Pradesh. Subsequently from harvesting these shrubs she got into eco-tourism as well. It’s inspiring to read that Ishitha’s venture is profitable and employs local youth.

After I read about Ishitha , I remembered Dr.Sudarshan* of BR Hills.

Just think about it – what if we had many entrepreneurs like Ishitha and Dr.Sudarshan?

Rural youth can be gainfully employed.

Author has prudently chosen 20 stories from different strata of society.

It’s pleasant surprise, that she has covered three stories in Spiritual domain as well- ISKCON and Belur Math. There are hardly few authors in India who appreciate social entrepreneurs in the Spiritual society.

May be the author’s dream has come true as her third book is also one of the ‘best selling’ in non-fiction category. Other two books are ‘Connect the Dots’ and ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish’

*
Relevant links which you make like to browse
http://www.aavishkaar.in/investee-portfolio/

http://www.spitiecosphere.com/index.htm

http://www.soligahoney.com/about/soliga.htm