Winning At Life & Sports – Monday Morning Motivation As Olympics Conclude!
One Of The Finest Talks By The Wise & Accomplished Harsha Bhogle – A Trailblazer!
Indian Institute Of Management Ahmedabad Is India’s Best & World’s Finest Management Institute – Watch A Life Masterclass By Its Alumni Who Succeeded In The Non-Traditional IIMA Profession
– Can you work as hard as you can when no one is watching?
– Humility and gratitude matter the most
– Patriotism is in paying taxes, not Instagram posts
– Big orchards encourage other trees to blossom
Happy to see the reinforcement of these amazing nuggets laced with cricketing and non-cricketing examples! Loved it!
MIT’s First International Visually Impaired Student
Indian President Abdul Kalam’s Hero
Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30
What a list of accolades! Srikanth Bolla’s is an inspirational figure with hordes of achievements that even fully abled can only dream of! Srikanth is a visionary who happens to be visually challenged.
I had the great honour of interviewing the legendary Srikanth Bolla in a fireside chat at Apexon. Anand Kabra, our Chief People and Transformation Officer, facilitated the event as part of Celebrating Apexon.
Srikanth shared his journey from a sightless newborn to an award-winning industrialist.Srikanth’s life is indeed extra ordinary – an ecstatic father names his son after legendary cricketer Srikanth but is shattered to see a sightless baby. He is about to be buried alive, but mother begs for his life and saves him. The bullying in school, the rise in a special school, fighting and winning the case against Indian education system for not allowing visually challenged students to study science, getting a place in Indian cricket team, rejection by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), selection by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), life in America, return to India, struggles for setting up his business and his entrepreneurial success. He was President Abdul Kalam’s hero and he invested in Srikanth’s startup.
Srikanth shared the journey of his life with all the ups and downs with an unprecedented level of candour and authenticity – he even revealed his mistakes and bad habits.
Apexon associates and their family were highly inspired by Srikanth and the non-stop flow of questions was a proof of his impact.
A few excerpts of Srikanth’s quotes:
I am sightless, not visionless. Sight is of the eyes, but the vision comes from the mind.
I can do anything.
The challenges, insults and bullying motivated me further to do well in life.
The fight is in my internal DNA. I will not accept things as they are – I will fight for the change. I am not afraid of anyone or anything.
I believe in equality and equal ability. I do not want reservation, nor I tick the ‘blind’ column in any form.
I aspire to be India’s first visually challenged president. India can be a first world country. And I have a vision for the new India.
Loneliness is the biggest poverty.
I am a workaholic and restless person, but I do appreciate and endorse the need for a healthy work life balance.
My company employees’ people with all different abilities. I believe compassion is what makes you rich.
My favourite movies are Mahanati, Dhoni, and Soorarai Pottru. I can watch my favourite movies even 100 times.
I would love to play myself in a movie.
Srikanth movie was made in 41 days, and everyone was very committed. The movie was made in 20% less than allocated budget. Sharad Kelkar charged only Rs 111 for the movie.
Tu Mil Gaya is my favorite song from Srikanth movie
I love non-vegetarian food.
Truly, it was an amazing and enchanting evening with Srikanth who indeed is a living example that everything is possible when one has a clear goal and is totally determined! If Sri can, so can we!
The roles may differ as per life stage and situation but leaders drive change and are always willing to share. Influencing change, driving action, defining trends and making things happen!
Covid was one of the biggest disruptors of our times – which forced us to evaluate our whole lives and existence. Our perspectives towards everything changed – career, health, family, relationships and self. We reprioritised our life and made several promises to self and the world.
As the world has bounced back to normal, we seem to have forgotten the covid lessons. How many of us are still living the covid promises that we made? Are you?
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s ‘An Uncommon Love: The Early Life of Sudha and Narayana Murthy’ covers all of the above and more themes!
Like its iconic subjects, Uncommon Love is a simple, candid and honest story of the early life of Sudha and Narayan Murthy. The couple have led a very private life and hence it is quite insightful to get a peek into their personal world. The book is filled with rich anecdotes which are a delight for everyone. These tales give us a clear understanding of the individual traits of Sudha and Narayan.
Indeed a few stories stand out:
Sudha Murty is a movie buff and a certified ‘First Day First Show’ fan. She won the title of Miss Cinema, after winning the bet to watch one movie every day of the year in a theatre! I can relate to it totally!
She was the only woman in the engineering class of 150 men and had to face a lot of challenges including derogatory comments and total unkindness. Her admission conditions included compulsory wearing of saree, no access to canteen and no chatting with boys! The college had no toilet and she had to travel to home in break. But not only she excelled despite the systemic misogyny, she won the respect of everyone!
She got prestigious MIT admission but she gave it up for a shop floor job at Telco – A job where she challenged J R D Tata for ‘men only’ employment policy of Tatas and won the coveted job. She faced similar challenges like the engineering college but her persistence and diligence and professionalism won the day. Later in life, she cried profusely when she visited MIT.
Sudha supported the entrepreneurial dreams of Murthy emotionally, physically and even financially! Murthy would be broke and she would loan money and fund their expenses. She had a notebook of loans which she destroyed on their wedding day.
She regularly financed Infosys and saved it – even pawned her wedding jewellery. She had to be away from her young daughter Akshata to help Infosys as well as manage her job.
Narayan Murthy got an IIT admission but his father’s financial situation forced him to turn it down. He was devastated.
He learnt English due to the nudge and kind help of a roadside shopkeeper!
He proposed to Sudha in an autorickshaw. Though she agreed, her father was not convinced. Narayana also had worn a Red Shirt when meeting his prospective in-laws and gave weird responses to their questioning.
He turned down a lucrative job offer at Hindustan Lever because of the ‘separate toilets’ policy.
Azim Premji interviewed Murthy but did not offer him the job as he thought Murthy was too simple. What if Azim Premji had hired Narayan Murthy?
Narayan Murthy founded Infosys but he gave a lion’s share to all other colleagues. All the other co-founders got big equity share – more than the normal business parlance. He kept only 30% and distributed the rest. He took a 90% salary cut while gave a 20% hike to others. He always focussed on the comfort of the employees. Compassionate Capital is his mantra!
Narayan Murthy did not allow Sudha to join Infosys as he wanted to create a totally professional company. He told her that if she wants to join Infosys, he will support her decision – he would leave and let her run the show. Sudha was very disappointed, hurt and angry. These hard decisions created Infosys as a different company (there was a brief departure from this position when Rohan joined as EA for a short period).
What if Sudha Murthy ran Infosys?
Murthy was busy building Infosys and could not spend time with the kid. The children felt that Infosys was the third sibling – the favourite child that never grew up and required constant attention.
He continues to be the simpleton. He cleans his own toilet.
Sudha clearly emerges as the brighter, smarter and more generous with her untold sacrifices. But Narayan Murthy’s simplicity, humanity, ethical approach and care for everyone else is his distinguishing hallmark. As Sudha said, he was the trapeze artist in the circus and she was the safety net!
In summary, Uncommon Love is a great read. The author’s grip on the content is not consistent and the book is bereft of any pictures – the one big disappointment in such a rich historically important biography. While the childhood, career, courtship, marriage, childbirth and entrepreneurship is captured well, the rise of Infosys and Sudha’s author career is very rushed.
The love, understanding, respect and support that Sudha and Narayan gave each other is the core message of the book. They do not need anyone else other than each other’s company. They are mirror to each other and their bond strengthened by shared values and idealistic principles.
The book also gives a glimpse of the challenges that Narayan Murthy faced in setting up Infosys after his first failure as an entrepreneur. Indeed it is due to persistence of him and likes of Fakir Chand Kohli, that India has emerged as an IT superpower – that would change the glo
One of the most pivotal points of ‘The Scam 2003’ is the turnaround of an upright, ethical and faultless government officer Madhusudhan Mishra. The vrituous and disciplined soldier has been toiling for years but has been ignored and often overlooked for promotions. He turns away the conniving scamster protagonist Abul Karim Telgi and his bribes. In fact, he invites Telgi to his office and publicly humiliates him in front of the entire staff for attempting to corrupt the system. He is impregnable.
Telgi is smart and ensures a promotion for the officer by greasing palms at the central government. The officer finally gets the promotion but he is devastated and unhappy. He questions that the system never saw decades of his work and loyalty. His entire career’s work was neglected but a scamster’s one act got him the promotion! His unhappiness and sense of bertrayal is real. On that fertile ground, Telgi ploughs his charisma and soft spoken charm to sow the seeds of his empire. By winning over Madhusudhan Mishra, he won a lottery and builds his network.
What are the lessons?
Majority of the corporates and government offices work because of the diligent and righteous professionals. Failing to create a system that acknolwedges, respects and encourages these individuals is a recipe for sub optimal success. The top management and HR function believe that the people stay for the paychecks but the outliers are driven by their own professional values and moral compass. Extraordinary leaders like Rockerfeller, Carnegie, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Tata, Narayan Murthy & Abdul Kalam shine as examples for pushing the envelope for a true meritoracy with human touch!
What can one do as an indvidual? Be an ambassador for rewarding excellence and challenging the system for true causes. Communicate often and openly with team and acknowledge their contributions. The biggest paradox of love and respect is that it is earned, not begged for. One loses it the moment one asks for it. The corporate and personal world is full of skeletons of relationships that could have endured and thrived with a little more attention, communication and gratitude.
And yes, Madhusudhan Mishra is based on the true character. Personally, I think Madhusudhan Mishra should have resigned and continued his journey….
Recommended Reading: Energy & Enthusiasm Accelerate The Journey To Achieving Personal & Professional Goals. A Wonderful HBR Article That Reiterates Timeless Principles For Ensuring All-Round Success & Happiness!
Reflections: Get The Big Picture Work On Core Values Develop Rituals Energy – Body, Emotion, Mind, Spirit
Practical Tips: Focus For 2-3 Hours & Take A Break For 15-20 Minutes Walk & Talk Sleep Well Eat Well Exercise Regularly
