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Like a bucket full of water will find its space and fill a room till each square inch of room available is filled – likewise, yesterday I went for a round table conference with some highly successful people, whose sheer enthusiasm reached out to all those sitting in that room. For starters, I would have never really gone for the meet – it was a working day. And I have enjoyed enough holidays these past few days. But something said I’ll regret not going. And my instincts were right. I was literally right across the room from such eminent personalities from the industry like Kushagra Bajaj, Shishir Bajaj, M.V. Subbiah, Dilip Dandekar, Ramesh Chauhan and Farhad Forbes. Each one had their own style – the common factor being they have made it BIG.
Starting with M.V. Subbiah, a modest man who talked about the importance of Families in businesses. He shared quite a few valuable insights on this topic. But what struck me the most about this man that he was the most HUMBLE. He made references to the Bhagwat Gita. What is it about this one book – so powerful that so many people make references to it. The compared philosophies of different families in the business world – like the FIAT family, the MERC family, the New York Times family. All of whom have an illustrious history to them. And yet why is it that we hear only about Indian family businesses splitting ? Why don’t we have 2 brothers fight unresolved matters in the west.
It was funny because Kushagra Bajaj, very proudly talked about going on WAR – these were his exact words with his paternal uncle. And how he locked horns. His father accepted defeat, but he took him by his speed to do things he wouldn’t have done otherwise. Ramesh Bhauhan made references of his family feud. And how they resolved it.
These businessmen have discussed family – the subject matter being taboo. And they did not twitch and eye once before maligning FAMILY in public. His cool-ness was almost as though he was arrogant. And yet this is a success story worth noting. This stories have become history. What we have with us is the future. Which only looks bright for this young ENTHUSIASTIC person.
Ramesh Chauhan was vividly talking about marketing – even though he corrected himself several times for straying away from the topic. He was ANIMATED and PASSIONATE about the brand BISLERI that he has built. So much so, that when the guests were given KINLEY bottled drinking water, he refused to drink it and insisted someone run down and get him a BISLERI bottle. This is the power of believing in your BRAND and for me, he is the biggest BRAND AMBASSADOR of this brand.
FARHAD FORBES – of FORBES MARHSALL fame was an articulate man in his late 40’s, early 50’s. From the way he had IMMACULATELY designed a power point presentation, to the way he dressed , to the way he opened a simple bottle of water – all had expression SOPHISTICATION written all over it. He made some brilliant points like the family constitution for example. And how some rules should be written down to avoid conflict in later stages. Nothing is constant and that was his central theme. When someone asked him about his daughter joining the business – he said he doesn’t have a crystal ball saying what he would do 10 yrs hence, but he was positive about his GIRL CHILD working. Theirs is a family of workers, from his grand mother , to his mother and wife.
The 3 hours that I spent listening to these brilliant speakers have left me thinking about what I want ot be in the future. HUMBLE, ARTICULATE, EMACULATE, SOPHISTICATED, ANIMATED, PASSIONATE and an AMBASSADOR OF MY GOODS AND SERVICES !!
