Story 1: The swayamvar ceremony of Sita. The challenge was to lift and string Lord Shiva’s famous bow, Pinaka. All the big and the mighty present in the ceremony tried but failed until Lord Rama, who not just lifted the bow, but even managed to brake it while trying to string (which led to further complications which are beyond our scope today). (Note: What was impossible for others, was a walk in the park for Lord Rama – He was a genius!)
Story 2: Indians had agitated and fought against the British for centuries until Mahatma Gandhi, who took just 32 years (he came back from South Africa in 1915) to organise and lead a successful change (though some may argue, it would have happened anyways). He not just won, but achieved immortality. (Note: He applied a different strategy and achieved success while earning the respect of his oppressors – He was a genius!)
Story 3: The well funded global scientific community had observed flaws in the “Laws of the motion” by Newton but failed to provide answers for nearly 200 years until Einstein, a Clerk (he was not able to secure a school teacher’s job) at the Patents office in Bern wrote a two pager which became known as the Special Theory of Relativity. (Note: He was able to articulate and theorise complex universal laws accurately with the assistance of nothing but his brain – He was a genius!)
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If you notice, what’s common in these stories is the apparent effortlessness with which these geniuses achieved success which had been a distant dream for many.
For entrepreneurs, success generally would be growth in business.
Here’s one more story, this one is more relevant to the current and future entrepreneurs.
Story 4: A certain small time brass and wood handicraft merchant from Moradabad starts 5 companies with un-inspiring names and a total paid-up capital of Rs. 50 Lakhs. Within 36 months, the balance sheets jump up to more than 300 Crores. He utilised minimum resources and human capital to achieve this miracle, and would surely have one of the lowest “carbon footprints” among the companies of its size today. (Note: He made his businesses grow 600 times in just 36 months without breaking a sweat (apparently) – Is this guy a genius too?)
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It is tough to be an entrepreneur, to start a business and grow it consistently. It’s not just the skill, but also the will to plough through odds. There are taxes to file, paperwork to worry about, partners, employees, investors, electricity bill, printer cartridges, chai and client expectations.
While we slog it out, we perhaps may be missing a few gems which glide-by through our collective consciousness. Sparks of sheer genius; people who make millions and billions apparently without any skill or effort. Is there a plot here that we, Mango Entrepreneurs are missing?
The question one asks is, is politics the most evolved form of entrepreneurship today?
asha chaudhry
heisme…
you are the kind of entrepreneur-cum-writer ‘genius’ – (mango or strawberry – take your pick) who makes our ‘talking points’, ‘thinking points’…!
i think this is a wonderful, relevant read for all of us. thank you for posting it!
p.s: to me, your posts are like a box of assorted chocolates – each time there is a pleasant surprise waiting 🙂
Heisme
Thanks Asha for your kind words… for me, TheRodinhoods.com is the box of chocolates which inspires/surprises every now and then….:)
Vinay Chhoda
a) you don’t need to be a genius to be an entrepreneur.
b) money is not the sole motivation for all entrepreneurs. for some it is one of the factors, while for others it is a by product.
c) politics for me is the most rudimentary form of entrepreneurship there is, if at all…
well written but I don’t agree with the examples given.
Heisme
Hi Vinay, thanks for taking your time out to reply.
– I agree, one does not have to be a genius to be an entrepreneur, I myself ‘am a good example; pardon me for saying this but it is not the point being made here.
– I also agree that money is not the sole motivation behind entrepreneurship, although with all sincerity, nothing else but making money for its directors/partners is the sole purpose for the existence of a business entity, small or big (in legal terms). Having said this, this point too is not being made here.
– I also would agree with you, if you choose to brand Politics as the most rudimentary form of entrepreneurship since that’s exactly the point which is being made here.
I, like yourself perhaps feel a bit dejected to see the system today where “contacts”, relationships and strings can fetch one more than hard work and ingenuity. I hope you’d agree that making money surely is one of the more important scales to measure the success of an enterprise – We have always known that to make money, you need to be relevant to your customers, give them what they want etc etc……and here we see some, who make millions just by being able to corner prime land and resources at dirt cheap rates. Land, Coal Blocks, Spectrum etc are our national resources – which means each an every one of us should have an equal opportunity to harness them – profit from them.
…and here we have a few, who get favors which are certainly un-due – and all we can do is perhaps write a sarcastic post about it and then further explain what we actually mean….:)
Thanks again for your reply,
Heisme.
Vinay Chhoda
Heisme,
I know the feeling. I too have been at the receiving end many times.
Be dejected, be frustrated that is alright but don’t lose faith. I am not talking about faith in the system but faith in yourself and that your hard work will eventually pay off. That is the supreme faith one can have in themselves as an entrepreneur according to me.
I may not be an entrepreneur in the truest sense but life has taught me to look at things without all the noise surrounding them.
People will continue to use contacts and unfair means to get ahead of others. It’s been happening since ages and will continue. How you respond to it is going to determine where you end up.
E(event)+R(response) = O(outcome), if you were there for the last Mumbai OH, you would remember what Nithya said. Our response will decide the outcome because our response can be controlled but the event cannot.
Vinay