i,ceo sample

8/18/2019 i,CEO Sample

1/40

Nobody can go back and start

a new beginning. But you can

start today and make a new

ending. Prepare for the future

with the master – YOURSELF!


2/40







3/40


4/40


5/40


6/40

THE HANDBOOK FOR A

THRILLING JOURNEY IN

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Claudius Pereira

MANUSCRIPT DEVELOPED BY

Berean Bay Media House


7/40

First published in India in 2016 by ATC Publications, Bangalore, India

Manuscript Developed by Berean Bay Media House

Editor – Russell D`Silva

Copyright© Claudius Pereira 2016

The right of Claudius Pereira to be identied as the Author

of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the

Copyright Act 1957

Cover Design by ALTER–EGOPhoto Credit by Vinay PhotographyLayout Design Primalogue Design

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, withoutthe prior permission in writing from the Author.

ISBN 978-81-7086-756-2

Printed and bound in India by

Brilliant Printers Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore, India


8/40

Dedication

To Daddy, You left ngerprints of grace on our lives.You shall never be forgotten.

To my 6 Siblings, Was it not wonderful to grow into maturity

together? Thank you for your unconditional love for me,the ‘baby’ of the family. You have been my inspiration.

To my Life Partner, friend and wife Monica,

and our heavenly gifts Caroline & Cassius,

You are my joy and excitement – all this eort is for you.


9/40


10/40

Contents

Author’s Note: Do you need a new kind of friend? xi

Foreword xv

Prologue: Noble profession or sorriest of trades? 1

Chapter 1: What are you worth? 7

Chapter 2: How can you win if you don’t even begin? 23

Chapter 3: Which is cheaper, to fail fast … or dope on hope? 41

Chapter 4: Can anything match the thrill of bouncing back? 67

Chapter 5: Do we get lucky or ‘create’ lucky? 81

Chapter 6: Why waste time with a Business Plan? 101

Chapter 7: Look everywhere! Aren’t cheaters prospering? 123

Chapter 8: A message or a massage? What’s marketing about? 143

Chapter 9: Why do people expect me to help them? 163

Chapter 10: The i, CEO Bonus 181

Epilogue: Have I said too little … or too much? 183


11/40


12/40

A U T H O R’ S N O T E

Do you need

a new kind of friend?

O kära!1 But isn’t it said that,“business and friendship are a poor mix”?

Claudius Pereira

You have just stepped into a rare and unique body of work. Somemay call it a book. I would like you to treat it as so much more.First of all, keep it as a mirror.

You obviously have the red-hot blood of an entrepreneur in your

arteries else this publication would not be in your hands at this precise

moment. Leti, CEO

be your mirror; see your reection in it and let thecogitation sift the wheat from the cha in your dreams and plans. I love

this line from Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s, The Shadow of the Wind: “Books are

mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.” Thechapters that follow will reveal everything you ever wanted to know

about entrepreneurship but did not know who to ask.

Take this book also as a slice of life.

You will discover then that like life itself, the bigger the bite, thetastier it gets, the more you go into it, and the greater sense it will

make – for the reader’s life as much as for the writer’s!

1 O kära! is Swedish for “O dear!”


13/40

i, CEO xii

As for knowledge – no doubt, a book … any good book, can serve

as a wellspring of knowledge, but rarely can it be called a font of

wisdom. The reason being that knowledge is simply bundles and barrels of information. Wisdom is something else – it is the abilityto apply knowledge correctly to your life. In i, CEO there is an

interaction section which strives to give you generous doses of both– knowledge and wisdom.

Finally, for the best value for your money, make this book your friend.

Are not books or friends selected for

the same reasons? For comfort leveling,honest encounters, a shoulder (in

this case, a spine!) to whine on and a

companion for a long time; ever so oftenyou can return to either, to savor familiar

terrain, and either will provide reliefand enchantment and true camaraderie

for years to come. A true friend willnever let you remain stagnant but press

you on to the upward way and higherground all the time.

i, CEO is a hard and bold copy with inspirational interaction thatwill make you work for ongoing pleasure and progress in that you

get the opportunity to practically design or redesign your businessoutt as you travel through the narrative. If your problem is that

you constantly view yourself as a terribly little person with a very

big dream – welcome to the club! Many of us have started out thatway but “something” got us to where we are today. You are going

to be privy to that “something” hereon.

Not so long ago I came to Bangalore with Rs 10 in my sweaty shirt

pocket. And today – well, I am not exactly the sheikh of sultandom, but let me honestly tell you that I am far ahead of where I’d ever

dared to imagine I would ever go. God-willing, I still have a largeslice of life ahead of me.

i, CEO is inspirationalinteraction that will

make you work for

ongoing reading

pleasure and progress

in that you get

the opportunity to

practically design or

redesign your businessoutft as you travel

through the narrative.


14/40

Author’s Note: Do you need a new kind of friend? xiii

Does this mean I am going to be preaching to you?

Not a chance! I am not preacher material. I am simply a relentlessdreamer and what is being shared herewith is a record of somedreams that ew beyond the clouds straight to the sky … as well as

an equal number that went acrid and turned to dust. I had no onewith whom I could share my plans, fears or tears, and I could notreally relate to all the high-ying, happy-as–a-lark success stories

and autobiographies of great entrepreneurs in the bookstores. My

feelings were nothing like the lark’s; my entire being was often

haunted with desperate fear – would I make it, would I not andwhich were the turns I would be wise not to take; in what kind of

idiotic moment had I taken impulsive decisions that brought mewhirling to the bottom like a dervish dancer.

There were so many questions but no one to answer them, nothingto reassure me and help me make wise decisions for my future and

cross out the foolhardy ones. I literally had to fail my way to success

and this book is to help you minimize the failures as you start outafter having just graduated from business school.

Maybe you have already launched your start-up some seasons ago

and it either backed down or else is hibernating in a vacuum whileyour spirit rests in your left shoe; or is it that you are frankly “stuck”

in dry mud, rotating furiously like a car tire in a deep ditch, desiring

to take your business to the next level but do not have a clue about

what one needs to do to get beyond?

Whatever the reality is, for you, concealed within the pages of this book is a mentor who will step out every now and then (at the end

of each chapter, in the ‘AHA!’ Moments) and make you questionyourself, weigh your plan and sketch a new map like you’ve never

done before.

If you keep the copy of i, CEO , this new friend of yours, close to

your heartbeat … that’s where your condences (with all theirdoubts, bouts of fear and changing-colored rainbows) will remain,

sealed, only to be reopened when some day you will be recording

your success chronicle (as I am doing in the pages that follow).


15/40

i, CEO xiv

My hope is that i, CEO will ll the vacuum for you – and save you

moments of trial and terror which often make you want to close

your eyes and forget everything like a bad dream.

However bleak things were or are, I implore you not to give up.

I did not.

Claudius Pereira


16/40

ForewordIf it’s not dicult at rst, it’s not real transformation.

So why pursue it?

A sea change is evident in the thinking culture of today’seducated youth and mature adults in the primary choice of theircareers. The trend is to break away from the conventional to acontemporary path.

i,CEO enlightens and will ll the need for a simple,straightforward, no - nonsense guide for aspiring Start-upowners, and all Entrepreneurs who want to better their fortunes.

Claudius came from a small town – Kolar Gold Fields,Karnataka, India - with very little in his pocket and a

pocketful of determination; he bares it all; to make art outof how he has transformed everyday, ordinary momentsand real life stories in his entrepreneurial journey whichmakes the book fully alive – we don’t remember days, weremember moments !

This book helps you when you’ve been sprinting for hours,days and years, and are suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to

pause for a while and look back at how much ground you havecovered, and how many miles more there are still to go. You candiscover your true identity and your worth that is hidden withinyou, and evaluate each emerging skill which may be needed forthe survival of your business.

Having been closely associated with Claudius for over tenyears, I can condently say that he has all the major traits of a

successful entrepreneur and leader. In particular, his willingnessto take on the impossible and make it possible, resilience toensure that all set objectives are achieved, focus on the target inhand and questioning the common approach to any problem.


17/40

The book in your hands is a mélange of his grippingexperiences in the thrilling world of business. He invites you,

in his inimitable style, to introspect your present and future; hesurprises you with a package of AHA! Moments, and he adroitlychallenges you to face up to the world of business. Are you readyto take up the gauntlet? Success is just one of his buzzwords.And success as well as its attendant rewards are what all of usaspire to. True?

i,CEO is designed with YOU in mind. The author shares his

life-fullling experiences and provides a platform to give backto society the wisdom he has gained in thirty-three years of hisfascinating journey in entrepreneurship.

The book is deftly packaged with nine lively chapters anda pleasant surprise, the i,CEO Bonus. You don’t have to be a

business leader or a management student to benet from this book; if it can ignite passion and give you an inspiring lesson, it

would have achieved what it set out to do.

The goal is not to live forever but the goal should be to createsomething that will!

Ivan Fernandes

Serial EntrepreneurSynectics Ltd. (acquired by Logica Plc)

Ducont FZ LLC (acquired by Zylog Systems Ltd.)Regent Technologies Ltd.Mangalore Internet City Pvt. Ltd.

Based in the United Arab Emirates


18/40

P R O L O G U E

Noble profession … orsorriest of trades?

Diamine!2 Is that why the Matrimonial Ads say, “businessmen pleaseexcuse”?

With all its overheads, risks and uncertainties, why wouldanyone with a sane mind and of normal steady heartbeatwant to start a business?

When I address this question to aspiring millionaires in colleges, business institutes and public forums I am invited to speak at, I

come across a variety of reasons which can be summed up thus:some out of interest, others out of necessity, and still others because

they simply can’t see themselves doing anything else.

Translate that last phrase to read – ‘I simply can’t see myself workingunder someone else’, or ‘I consider it a waste of time to spend my

life living out somebody else’s dream.’ I suppose big brother Egowould simply not stand for it.

A few years down the line as they grapple with the everydaychallenges and necessities of running the business, many of the

by-then blurry and tired eyed ‘pioneers’ have forgotten the reasonsthey started out with and in an unguarded moment they have evenconded their dilemma – “I think I made a wrong choice”.

2 Diamine! is Italian for “Heck!”


19/40

i, CEO2

This time, why not start out on the right foot? I believe budding

entrepreneurs or struggling ones waste too much time reading and

talking about how to run a business, but they quickly gloss over whythey would like to start one in the rst place. I am inviting every

young person today to go beyond the clichéd “I want to be my own

boss” or “I would like to get as rich as I can as quick as I may.”

Can starting a business be thought to be as virtuous as careers liketeaching, social work, medicine or ghting for your country?

I dare you to say “Yes” to that question. Say it!

I mean it. Of course entrepreneurship can be a powerful response toa legitimate calling in life.

There will be those who will frown at the perspective of

entrepreneurship being categorized as a morally serious ‘calling’ because people normally think of a calling as a term reserved

for a nun or a doctor but not for someone who plans to make a

lot of money. That’s not the full story. Every human discovers,sometimes later, sometimes earlier, that you are good at something– that this something is what you were created for. Just because a

businessman’s calling will prosper the soul that houses it, does thatdiminish the dimension?

Let’s nd out. A ‘calling’ can be tested in four ways:

r One is that the particular task – be it steering a ship, painting

abstracts, saving souls, or striking good business deals – is

something that you are not doing just for the sake of doing it

r Secondly, you don’t just have a pipe dream – you’ve got the skill

that it calls for, you’ve got the knack of doing it

r Third test is that you really enjoy doing it, the adrenalin ows,

it invigorates you, makes you feel at the top of your form when

you’re doing it

r Fourth and nal is that the desire to do it is so intense that you

sometimes run from it or compromise it. The sheer intensity


20/40

Prologue: Noble profession … or sorriest of trades? 3

burns you. So you go to some trial and error popular alternativeand nally realize it’s no good, you are lacking zeal or passion

for what you are listlessly doing, and you stop resisting themagnetic pulse of your calling and surrender yourself.

This can be true of engineering, professional boxing or setting up

your own business and let no one make you feel otherwise.

Many perceive the purpose of entrepreneurship to be only about ‘how

to maximize shareholder value’ so that you can get rich quick. I don’tsee it that way. You know you have a true “calling” to business if you

are able to see that prots are simply a means not an end, but theultimate goal of your rm or endeavor is on creating sustainable jobs

in order to make more prot, create

more jobs, then some more prots,

followed by a lot more jobs, and so on.

The biggest blessing is the way youwill transform the lives of those who

work for you. So many companiesfocus all their branding attempts on

advertising and campaigns that cansometimes cost crores. Yet the most

powerful brand asset your companyhas is the people who work for you. Regardless of what your business

is, building a strong brand requires that all employees feel connectedto the corporate brand and understand their role in turning brand

aspirations into reality. If you are not inspiring your talent to be brandambassadors, then you are certainly missing out. In this way, if your business is providing meaningful and benecial employment to

people while enabling them to realize their maximum potential in life– it couldn’t get more virtuous than that, could it?

A caution; when we say business, we do not mean any business.Therein lies the catch. Your enterprise must provide a product or

service that benets the world, society or even your local communityin a small way. In other words, you cannot say drug dealing or

selling toxic derivatives outside pubs and bars is a business even ifthat creates temporary employment.

Can starting a business

be thought to be as

virtuous as careers like

teaching, social work,

medicine or fghting

for your country? I dare

you to say “Yes” to that

question.


21/40

i, CEO4

At this point you have a choice – you can read this book as ‘time-

pass’ or you can connect with it in a meaningful way by imbibing

the principles/ commandments/ precepts/ axioms to set up anenterprise or empower an enterprise you already have that will makea dierence to our world even as it multiplies your bank balance,

because of you being an eective leader. I am writing this book to

inuence your daily business interactions with clients, vendors and

co-workers, and to transform the behavior of those you interact anddeal within and outside our organization. Is that an uphill task?

Then let me give you some tips that will help you extract themaximum benets from i, CEO:

1. SKIM. You know how they skim milk? By carefully spooning out

just the cream at the top. Do that as a rst step. Run quick ngers

through the pages, skimming the main concepts, and feeling the ow.

2. CATCH. In your second leang, look for something that catches yourbreath because it becomes personally relevant. Highlight that because

you are going to take it later into the ‘AHA! Moments’ Section.

3. RELATE. Stop thinking of others. When you come across my candidadmissions of stupidity, don’t immediately think of people you know

who made those mistakes. This book is about you. Relate to areas that

relate to you.

4. BOND. Spend more and more time with what you have related to. As

your conviction nds its way into the ‘AHA! Moments’ section and you’ve turned it inside out and covered your dream and clothed your

soul with it, begin to draw out a methodical plan of action that will

make the dream unfold, and the miracle grow into reality with every

passing minute. If an idea taps you gently on your forehead when

you’re in deep sleep, resist the urge to go back to sleep – get up and

bond with it, and allow it to express its self.

The excitement is heady – alcohol would not be able to light a candle before that kind of majestic feeling. It is not unusual to feel likean emperor with the whole world lled with your subjects. Slow

down. The very fact that 90% start-ups fold up within their rst year

of existence show that beyond method and guarantees, there is that


22/40

Prologue: Noble profession … or sorriest of trades? 5

intangible something that determines the success\failure between

two similar businesses, just like when there are two patients in ICU

with identical medical charts, scans and MRIs – one survives whilethe other dies.

Even in the midst of great elation and unimaginable achievement,

retain humility and remember the precepts of entrepreneurship thatyou will come across in i, CEO. Keep them and you will prosper all

the days of your life. Compromise them, and it could all be gone –quicker than your eye can blink.

To remind both you and myself of this clear and ever-present reality,the ‘i’ in i, CEO has been put in lower case. The capital I3 belongs to

that spy in the sky who can look straight into what is happening in

our hearts and behind the scenes when we think no one is watching.

3 Usually called God…


23/40


24/40

C H A P T E R O N E

What are you worth?

Id est ,4

What exactly do you “bring to the table”?

Let’s start out with a quick attitude check. When we read a titlelike the one heading this chapter, especially regarding “worth”,what comes to mind? Won’t most of us measure worth in terms of“things” we own such as an apartment, a fancy car or two, mutual

savings, an incalculable bank balance, net worth and so on?

But I am not talking about money and nancial holdings, at least not

just yet. I’d like to take you much deeper today. In any enterprise or business you bring important things to the table and money is only

one of them. The idiom ‘bring to the table’ means bring things ofsupreme benet to the project on hand.

Born in the U.S. in 1834, Henrietta Howland Robinson – popularly

known as Hetty Green or “America’s stingiest woman” belongedto the Quaker family who owned a huge whaling eet and also

proted from trading with China. Her father taught her to read

nancial papers when she was six. By the time she was 13, she

was handling the home budget records. Her parents and many ofher relatives died leaving her their massive fortunes which in that

era amounted to more than 10 million USD (we’re talking aboutthe million measure in the nineteenth century). Hetty married

Edward Green who was extremely wealthy himself; yet before themarriage, she made him sign a document renouncing all rights to

her fortune.

4 Id est is Latin and means “that is”


25/40

i, CEO8

When her only son Ned broke his leg as a child, she delayed so long

in looking for a free clinic that his case became incurable and his leg

had to be amputated. She ate cold oatmeal because it would cost toheat it; however bleak the winter, she never turned on the heat or usedhot water. She had only two old black dresses and undergarments

that she changed only after they wore out. She moved from onesmall apartment to another so as not to attract the tax ocials in any

state. She developed bad hernia but refused to have an operationwhen she was told it would cost $ 150. She hastened her own death

when she suered an apoplectic t

arguing with her maid that it would be more economical to drink skimmed

milk.

When she died in 1916, Hetty left an

estate valued at more than $ 100 million.

What would you say Hetty Green was

worth?In an enterprise or a business deal what

would Hetty have brought to the table?

Your ‘worth’ includes more than just

your money; it includes your time,talents, abilities, skills, health, family

background and above all, your attitudes shaped by your roots; not

to forget your early experiences and everything that has contributedto making you the kind of person you are.

Many people are ashamed to admit where they came from, peoplework hard to disguise a regional accent, or to change their dialect

vocabulary so that no one will realize where they grew up. Ivehemently disagree with the rule that says: ‘It’s not where you

came from that matters but the future to which you’re headed.”

I believe that where you came from shapes your attitude and plays

a large part in determining the future can be yours for the taking.

Your ‘worth’ includesmore than just your

money; it includes your

time, talents, abilities,

skills, health, family

background and above

all, the attitudes that

have been shaped by

your roots – in short,

everything that has

contributed to making

you the kind of person

you are.


26/40

What are you worth? 9

WORTH AND BIRTH

My worth is inclusive of the joy my birth spelt out loud to my family

on June 16, 1965, when I showed up – all 7 robust pounds of me.In the months that followed I was constantly transferred from onepair of eager arms to another as mother, father and six older siblings

smothered me with a love that was immense and intense. Going bythe adage that a newborn babe cannot be spoiled during the rst

four months of life, I would say that those hugs and sweet nothing

murmurs of infancy give a human being a foundational securitywhich nothing in the future can ever shake o. Your condence in

life is born and rmly planted during those primal hugs and kisses.

Despite technology’s triumph in being able to excavate deep

historical facts to explain biological traits in human beings, wedon’t know what made Hetty Green the way she turned out to be. I

hazard a guess when I say if there were some way of glancing intoher rst few months of existence, we might nd an answer there.

WORTH AND DEATH

I lost my mother to death when I was barely 3, and this could haveleft scars as eternal as the above-mentioned hugs except that my

surviving parent, my father Clarence, doubled up to perform therole without leaving any gaps and spaces. Whether it was being

there on the dot of time with a hot meal for me during the lunch break, or listening to the development of my dreams from the time

they were expressed in childish prattle – right to the moments whenI thought of setting out to go to the city in search of prosperity and

a career, there was this Rock of Gibraltar, those ever listening tenderears that took in every word I uttered to be able to suitably play the

role of a sounding board.

I make it a point to mention this specically in today’s times

when society is experiencing fragmentation due to death, divorce,

separation and broken relationships. There can be much damagecontrol if the parent present with the child doubles up to meet the

felt needs of a toddler who is too young to understand the quirksof adult decisions and gets unfavorably impacted if the arms and


27/40

i, CEO10

sweet nothing murmurs are missing during the rst stages and

steps of life. He experiences isolation and alienation and this can

become a barrier in making good business decisions at a later stage.

WORTH AND CIRCUMSTANCE

When I was 12, a relative who I thought was my well-wisher did

and said something that made me feel worthless. I could have stuckwith that and made the rest of my life a pity party, but I did not do

that. I went in the opposite direction.

The point being made is that everything lies in your attitude. You can

look at your past and beat at your chest with regret and complaint …or you can capture the memory of some sure roses that would have

been there amid the thorns. In the chart below note carefully how I

tried to turn the negatives into positives where the circumstances ofmy life were concerned. (You will be doing the same in the ‘AHA!’

Moments, so be attentive.)

SITUATION NEGATIVEPERSPECTIVE

POSITIVE PERSPECTIVE(which I adopted)

Poverty. Fatherworking as atelephone operatorin the Kolar GoldMines, salary66 rupees amonth. 7 children

and paternalgrandmother to behoused and fed.

Could daddy havenot held a better

job, improved hisprospects or hadless children?

“Dad could have committedsuicide or he could have put allhis children in a boarding schoolfor underprivileged children, orhe could simply have left us todrift into a vagabond lifestyle. Hedid not allow that to happen. He

raised each one of his 7 childrento levels of greatness.

Abandonment.Death of the mostimportant personin a child’s life –the mother.

What will becomeof me? Mybrothers andsisters enjoyedsomething of ourmother. I have

nothing. Why didGod do this to me?I must be cursed.Why was I evenborn?

“I thanked God for my elder sisterPatricia who gave up her owndreams for the future and atthe age of 13 donned the role ofmother and teacher for the restof my childhood. She displayed

a heart of pure gold, a will ofundiluted steel and a call to belovingly faithful. It was because ofher that I made it through primaryand high school with greatresults.”


28/40


Disability. Speechdisorder andnon-epilepticconvulsions.

I must have beenborn under a blackcloud. I stutterand stammerand I don’t wantto meet people.What can I do withlife when I amtrapped in theseunpredictableconvulsions? Whycould I have not

been normal likeother childrenor even like myown brothers andsisters?

The positive attitude of mycare givers – my belovedfamily – liberated me from bothimprisoning conditions andtaught me that body is strongbut the attitude can make themind stronger than the body. Myfamily treated me like I was thebest and the greatest and theyconstantly encouraged me to gobeyond the handicaps. “If yougive in to them you are accepting

defeat, and that will be the end ofyour dreams,” they would say. Ifought the conditions and cameout victorious. I told myself againand again, “You are born to be awinner”.

Corruption. Myprowess in cricketwas going places.I played for my

school and collegeteams and alsofor a private club.Selections werebeing held for thenal list of thecricket team forthe south zone.I reached thevenue to nd theselection was overbefore it began.The selectionswere always“xed”. People gotin through bribesand influence.

Honestly? Thistime I felt verynegative. I leftthe place feeling

dejected anddefeated. I askedmyself, ‘Is theworld full onlyof crooks? Isthere no placefor merit?’ Whyhas this countrynot produced rolemodels who willfocus on ethics?Wherever yougo, people areindulging in thewrong things toget to the top.Dad says thatGod rewards therighteous; could he

be wrong? Whereis my reward foralways havingtried to do the rightthing?

After a few hours of roamingthe street and talking out myfrustrations, I came to theconclusion that Dad was not

wrong. I told myself, ‘You arenever wrong when you chooseto do the right thing. Those whouse the wrong means to get whatthey want will always feel hollowwithin. What a shallow victory!Do I want to invest of myself in agame if corruption is at the core?How will any of us then be ableto measure the true worth of ourskill? What should I do?’ I mademy decision that night itself. Ifa system is rotten to the core, Isimply did not want to be part ofit; I wanted to use my energy formore constructive purposes.I hung up my bat and boots andsaid goodbye to the game. I wasnot going to sell my soul – not

even for success which I greatlydesired.


29/40

i, CEO12

WORTH AND CALAMITY

Death hounded me the rst time when I was three and a glass meat

safe (cabinet of sorts) fell on me. A glass bottle broke and a splinterpierced my forehead. I screamed for help but my grandma who wasold, deaf and in her room, did not hear me. I would have bled to

death if a kindly neighbor had not come to check what noise she’d

heard. I was rushed to the hospital, and my life was saved.

Another time – this was after I’d gone to nd my fortune in Bangalore

– I’d gone with friends to grab an icecream at Lakeview on

M.G. Road. As I raced top speed on my mo-bike, I did not see thedivider. I crashed into it with such an impact that I went ying

into the air, somersaulted twice before hitting the ground whilemy helmet went ying into the parking lot at Race Course Road.

Before I could get properly on to my feet, while I was regaining

consciousness, a lorry traveling at least at 80mph whizzed past me. Ihave no explanation as to how it missed me. I only know that death

was feeling cheated for a second time.

I know it was only God who’d stepped into the picture and said‘Thus far, no further.’ You don’t y o a bike and fall the way I did

without breaking many bones and in most cases losing your life.I realized that there was a purpose far above and beyond me for

which I had been given a new lease of life.

This kind of revelation you take to the table and become an asset at

all turning point decisions you make subsequently.

WORTH AND WORTHLESSNESS

Few things can make you want to succeed than humiliation. When

I was around eight, I’d gone with my father to visit an older brotherwho was doing his engineering. We visited with Don and were on

our way to go to the railway station to return to KGF when myfather suddenly decided to visited some relatives and stay the night.

We met them and sat for a while after which Dad asked the cousinif we could stay the night. My heart sank with sadness when I heard

them turn down Dad’s request, saying there was no room in their

house. Dad said genially, “We do not need a room, we can sleep


30/40


on the ground in any corner; we will not get in anyone’s way; it’s

just that it’s late now so it would be more convenient to take the

morning train.” They atly refused.

The humiliating episode had two takeaway lessons that would holdme in good stead in later years when I began to script my business

success:

r There is no point in taking oence. People will be people, relatives

or otherwise. Dare to see their point of view. Dad was not thekind to be resentful. He bid them goodbye kindly, and said,

“Claudy boy, let’s go.” We walked back to the railway stationand took the train back to KGF. I am not trying to downplay

our emotions. Of course, we were feeling both humiliated and

wounded, but he refused to dwell on it. That’s the right attitude!It rubbed o on me. When I prayed that night, there were no

angry thoughts towards the relatives, but just a deep yearning,“When I grow up, I want to do well in life so that I can take my

father to Bangalore to stay for one night in a lovely place, tomake up for what happened today.”

r You cannot control what people will do to you – they operateout of their own foundational experiences. What you need is to

be possessive about your mental space and stubbornly refuseto allow negativity to take a foothold. The battleground is the

mind, and on the long journey of entrepreneurship you are

going to meet all kinds of people. Worry not about their kind, but focus on what kind you want to be in life. From my father

I learnt that fear and anger often makes people build wallsinstead of bridges; I imbibed the dicult demeanor of trying to

see another’s point of view and accepting it.

It is impossible to express in words how much this has helped me

in my business adventures; it keeps me free of prejudice and issomething of a magnet in building up solid business relationships.

FOOLISHNESS AND WORTH

I hope I am not sounding like a paragon of virtues because I am farfrom being one. I can be a complete idiot if caught unawares and


31/40

i, CEO14

I would like to include proof of that because I believe that there

are important lessons to be learnt from foolish deeds, and like rag-

pickers, we need to scour the debris of past activities to nd some‘teachers’:

What happens when a poor boy comes from a small town to a big

city? He is made the butt of jokes, without him realizing he’s being‘had’. I was often engineered to be the spokesperson for others.

People would say, “You are a good presenter why not you say it!”Vanity made me believe them. Someone I thought was a close friend

actually set me up to rock the boat of a committee with a speechdotted with facts and gures that created a tsunami alright but won

me enemies for life! Moral of the story: I learnt to never again permit

anyone to re the gun from my shoulder.

Another time, I played to the gallery and ended up like a comic

crabby canary! Jealousy was making some members of the Toast-master’s Club committee say some real vicious things about me.

They whispered that the certicates in my oce were fake and Iwas actually a nobody. Instead of ignoring them, I worked myself

up to a state when at an event once, I asked the President to giveme a few minutes to say what I wanted to. He obliged. I went tothe podium, took out my certicates, read out each one of them,

and shocked the entire audience by shredding each one of them in

public glare. I don’t think it achieved much except that it may havegot me the ‘idiot of the evening’ tag. The only positive thing that

came out of the foolish demonstration was that I was the one toinitiate the second club of the kind in India and today we have 400clubs and 8000 members all around the country. Moral of the story:

If you’ve done something stupid, don’t let the story end there. Convert the

blush into something plush.

In normal circumstances, they say patience is a virtue. In business,it is more than virtuous, it’s the crowning grace. In the year 2000 we

had secured a huge order from a telecom company and we executedthe order on the dot of time, to their great satisfaction. In spite of

that, the MD was making us dance for the payment. I’d heardfrom an internal source that the parent oce had dispatched the


32/40


payment; yet we were nowhere close to getting it. When I called the

MD once again, he began to spin a story about how the payment had

not yet come; I interrupted him and told him I knew the paymenthad come. He almost choked, like he’d had an apoplectic t – so

furious was he. Then, in an ice-cold voice, he told me to collect the

cheque the next day. I did - and never again got any business fromthat major client. Moral of the story: Diplomacy is the serving tray forsuccessful deals.

It is important to apprise you about back stabbing business politics

and for this I will have to allow my face to go red as I rememberthe time a local dealer who I thought of in friendly terms though

he was a competitor, called me on the morning of an important

bid to tell me what he’d heard from the grapevine was going to be the going rate for that bid. I thanked him for the info and bid

accordingly, only to learn later that he also bid but much, muchmore; along with that, he’d also informed the MD of the company

that I was spoiling the market for them by under quoting. So he

won the deal! Shocked and saddened though I was, I did not wantto give up without a protest. I somehow engineered a meeting withthe MD of that company (we had been serving them in another

capacity for 5 years), and as I sat in the sink-in-and-go-to-sleepchair of his fantastic oce, I honestly told him about what had

transpired and how Mr. Dhokhebaaz (deceiver) had taken me fora ride. I felt like a double fool when he said to me, “I’m sorry, but

there’s nothing much we can do at this stage.”

Sigh, but then, this was what I should have expected. I thought briey of my father who’d always been honest and insisted on

integrity. I got up and thanked the MD for his time; then, prompted by something very basic within me, I looked at him in the eye

and said, “Sir, we were the faithful dog who delivered the breadfor 5 years and now you are giving the milk to the cat.” He looked

startled but I walked out before I made a greater fool of myself.

That same evening, my company was recalled and we got the order. Moral of the story: Like in cricket, in business too, it’s never over till it’s

actually over.


33/40

i, CEO16

WORTH AND SURVIVAL

A sharp survival skill is one of the greatest assets that determines your

worth in the jagged eld of entrepreneurship. There is a challenge tosurmount every other day. You can oscillate between being on top ofthe world and being at the bottom of a bird cage on the same day. Thereality is that if you don’t learn to bring in a balance of controls andpush buttons, it can be one long and lonely journey.

It makes me grateful for survival skills I had to cultivate andconsolidate long before I actually set foot in the business world. I

have already shared how attitude helped me survive my mother’sdeath. The presence and encouragement of my sister Patricia lled

what could have been a hole in the heart.

Then came the day when my sister left! No, she did not abandonme, she got married as she had to and though I was happy to seeher as a radiant bride, I spent the night feeling crushed and dejected.It took a year to get over it and realize that life goes on no matter

what. Through every dicult phase you have to remind yourself,“This too shall pass.”

Once more I had to summon the art of looking with anticipation attomorrow when four of us siblings (my elder brother, my sisters andI) who’d gone to make a life for ourselves in Bangalore decided torent a room at Rs 95 a month. They were supporting me since I stillhad to complete the course. The minute I passed out, I began to look

for a job so that I could pay my share of the rent and food.It was a long and arduous search. The IT industry was in its nascentstage and very few companies were employing computer personnel.After two months of disappointment and rejection I nally decided

to take any job that would accept me. I began to attend interviews;more shock and humiliation; everyone wanted experience – I wasamazed; like I told one of the hiring experts, “If you don’t give me a

job, how will I ever gain the experience?”

I would go home soaking in despair. During those months my brother stood like a tower to support me. He told me again andagain, “There is a job waiting for you somewhere; when you nd it,

you will click.” I attended 33 interviews.


34/40


The break came during the thirty-fourth interview. One of my

sisters had arranged the interview through a common friend. I met

the Managing Director of this company, a wonderful man full ofpassion and with a very positive attitude to life. He interviewed meand within ve minutes, he told me I was hired!

The relief of nally landing a job after a long search cannot be

expressed in words. The salary that was oered was Rs 300 per

month; I would have worked for half of that if they had deemed so.I was at the end of my tether and for me this was a breakthrough

with a capital B. (The whole experience and the long wait made mecompassionate towards job-seekers when I was at the employing

end after my businesses succeeded. When an applicant did not meet

the requirements we were looking for, I made it a point to highlighthis strong points so that he should not be discouraged but try forsomething that would benet him and his skills.)

Thus began my career. My boss became my mentor in business for the

next three years. He gave of himself, unselshly and without holding back; he gave me invaluable lessons about start-ups and how to run

a business. I was raring to go. I worked like a machine for 14 hours,sometimes 16 hours a day, all through the week. I worked like there

was no tomorrow. I wanted to earn not just to better my life but alsoto pay back my father and my siblings in whatever small way I could

for the pivotal role each one had played in my life.

Nothing was above, beyond or below me; I wore dierent hats

– tea boy, marketing executive, salesman, delivery boy, account

executive, typist as well as packing boy. Sometimes I wondered, ‘Isthe company taking advantage of me?’ I would quell such thoughts

as soon as they came. I had wanted a job; I served my employerfaithfully; he was my motivator and teacher. I will always be grateful

for his inputs into my life.

WORTH AND RELATIONSHIPS

Ere now you will have grasped strong relationships need to be

accorded an important place in the arena of entrepreneurship.However successful my business ventures may have made me, the


35/40

i, CEO18

family has remained closest to my heart. My bedrock family - my

siblings - are still No. 1 in my life as is the family I helped create with

wife Monica, including daughter Caroline and son Cassius.

Taking a vision and turning it into a reality is not a simple endeavour– there are going to be long days and late nights at work and the all-

consuming passion that tries to gobble you up. But what about theother side of living life – what about families, friends, spouses, and

partners who require large chunks of time too?

It is hard to create a company, but it is equally hard to create and

sustain a lasting relationship. Tackling these challenging demandsat the same time compels you to heighten your awareness about

communication, expectations and shared values. Of course, your

business always needs you, but then, so do the people on the otherside of your life’s equation and it is up to you to ensure that you do

not allow your enterprise become the demanding

‘other woman’ in your life… or allow entrepreneurial

business suck the entirefamily into its vortex.

In subsequent chapters,we will be going deeper

to understand the nature

of overwork and stress,how to make time

for one another andthe children, and the

vital need to prioritizecommunications so that it

helps the family weatherthe ups and downs of an

entrepreneurial venture.I have found talking to

my wife and children to be very helpful, aording

» The amount of money you have

does not determine your worth.Your health, family background,

skills, attitude and experiences have

contributed to the kind of person you

are.

» Attitude is the key. The right mindset

can help you convert the most

twisted scar into a scintillating star.

» When death stalks but gains no

ground then you know it is destined,

your life has to count for something.

» Your good as well as bad

experiences can contribute to your

worth.

» Without a family’s full-heartedsupport and involvement,

entrepreneurship can turn out to be a

very lonely journey.

M

E L T I N G

P O T


36/40


each one of us a learning experience. I ensure that we regularly

evaluate how well we’re managing to balance the equation.

Discussing feelings, the equal sharing of child care, monthlygrievances (missing dinner, or an important family function) andwhether we are expressing enough appreciation for one another is

something I highly recommend.

After all, there is a spousal lifetime value, one that you need to

seriously consider and pay keen attention to when you are at thenegotiating table, remembering all you are worth and practically

weighing of what you are ready to sacrice for your business.

i, CEO: Sometimes others say what I feel

as well as I do … well, almost

1. What do the words UNIQUE UNBREAKABLE UNSTOPPABLE have in

common?

They all begin with U

2. Take care how you SPEAK TO YOURSELF because YOU are listening

3. Never say anything about yourself YOU do not want to come TRUE

Brian Tracy

4. If you nd yourself constantly trying to prove your WORTH to someone,

you have already forgotten your VALUE

5. One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning

James Russel Lowell

6. SELF-WORTH comes from WITHIN. You can’t give it to someone and you

can’t expect others to give it to you.

Daily Inspirational Quotes

AUTHOR’S FAVORITE QUOTES


37/40

i, CEO20

AHA! Moments

self awareness … acceptance … change

Want to know more about what You don’t know about Yourself?

That’s what I’m here for, my friend. All you need to do is respond straight

from your gut and heart to my ten – tackles. For greatest benet, I suggest

you pen down your response before you read my ‘coaching advice.’

1. Look in the mirror and tell me what you see – describe yourself

in this one line:

I hope you have considered your ambition, condence, organization, energy,

leadership qualities along with risk-taking and humility. Be honest, it will

help you enhance your strengths and deal with weaknesses.

2. When others look at you, what do you think they see – (each

one of us knows at a subliminal level how others view us)?

Here is the hierarchy of whose opinions should matter: (1) Spouse,

children, and parents’ opinions matter the most. (2) Opinion of a boss and

close friends matter a lot, although not as much as family. (3) Opinions of

colleagues, neighbors and acquaintances should matter somewhat less. (4)

Opinions of people you encounter in the street or casually at a party should

not matter at all.

3. Are you happy living with yourself as you are or do you feelyou need to make signicant changes in your life to get where

you want to be?

If it will make you a better person, accept the idea of change. Realize that

change implies progress, introduces unknowns into your life, and can be

transformative.


38/40


4. Several elements contribute to a person’s worth. What things

– negative as well as positive – have made you the kind of

person you are?

Remembering that, leave the negative which happened. The only thing left

is the memory of it. Stop dragging it into your now; that is too heavy a

burden to carry. You are who you are NOW. Always remember the negative

things have made you a stronger person.

5. Think of at least three turning point, events that have shapedor misshaped your life?

Continue with the introspection started in your response to Tackle 4.

6. Considering the environment in today’s market place, imaginea hypothetical potential business partnership. Get out of

your body, look at yourself and all that you stand for and listobjectively what this person (you!) is bringing to the table.

You are willing to take a good look at where you are already strong and

where you could stand improvement – you are a strong person already!

Write down your various activities during a day and rate them from one

to ve, depending on how much you enjoy doing them. Reect on yourvalues; examine your responses for themes and patterns. See if your life

aligns with your values.

7. Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?

Power?... Freedom?... Money? … Opportunity? … Responsibility tosociety? … Impact?... Family?... Change?... Legacy? …Accomplishment?

Or control? Be honest about what has motivated you to set up your own

business – and then work in the advantage of an acknowledged truth.


39/40

i, CEO22

8. How strong is your desire to be successful? Are you readyto sacrice anything at the altar of success? What is the one

sacrice you would not be willing to make?

Think this through deeply and let what you have written be imprinted in

the values section of your heart, so that in future you will never compromise

on this score.

9. What is your greatest fear at this moment?

Not knowing where to start? Not being an expert? Being considered crazy?

Not nding funding? Not being believed in? Not attracting customers?

Being incapable of handling success? When you speak a fear out loud, you

arrest its onward journey into your mind and heart. So speak out.

10. Were you to meet real huge success, name two things youwould use your success for?

See if your answer has anything in common with what these three greatshave said: “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”- Robert Byrne.“Success is a journey, not a destination.” – Ralph Arbitelle. “The testof our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those whohave much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Roosevelt


40/40






ATC PUBLICATIONS

i,ceo sample

Documents