I Bought The Monk's Ferrari (14 page)

'Success is money. Wealth creation is the ultimate measure of success!!!' argued another.

'Fame, maybe. That's what Bollywood stars get.'

'Well, no. It's about the difference you make to mankind.'

We debated for hours but could not reach a consensus. How could we? After all, intelligent minds always stay in a state of positive conflict.

The greenest bush will always be
found on the periphery of a well
manured field.

A
NONYMOUS

The definition of success actually depends on where you look for it. And, if you speak to ten different individuals, you are likely to get ten different perspectives. Philosophy and religion will define success as the impact you make on mankind, the suffering you alleviate from this society and will define success for corporate professionals as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).

But, if you ask a youngster of today, the answer will be completely different. For them money, career and fame— constitute the scale on which success is measured. There is nothing wrong in it. If that is where the world is leading to, it is necessary to adhere to it.

Once you have developed your own definition of success, you need to associate with people who have reached the pinnacles in the field of your interest, so, BEFRIEND ACHIEVERS. There are a number of ways in which you can approach the leaders and learn from them. I will tell you of the golden rules for this.

If you work with Fiat Group, the chances of driving around in a Ferrari are definitely higher for you. Tagging along with the achievers may not be the only way to achieve success, but it definitely is a potent way. Many people do not publicly subscribe to this manner of growth but you will have to take my word, when I say that this is probably the most common means of growth in today's corporate world.

This is a long-term approach, wherein you join corporate houses and organisations whose leadership is renowned. These organisations are not only leaders in their respective fields of operation but also believe in developing individuals into centres of excellence. If you become a part of these kinds of organisations, you yourself will achieve wealth and fame by virtue of being associated with them. You join, not for immediate gains but for developing yourself, for learning, for building your own brand equity so that you give yourself an edge over the others.

This is not only true of organisations but also individuals in power and rank. Have you observed what happens whenever new CEOs take up their responsibilities? All the employees who are to report to the new bosses in their respective organisations live on tenterhooks for days at a stretch. They are often uncertain about retaining their jobs. Why?

Because, whenever new successors come in the top management positions, they drag along their own sets of loyal subordinates. This happens all the time in every industry. In my limited career, I have seen this happen several times, when people have shifted jobs, changed careers, tagging along with one individual and moving lock, stock and barrel with him.

Why does this happen? Well, primarily because it suits both sides of the coin. At senior levels, people generally prefer to work with colleagues they are comfortable with. When new CEOs take over in organisations, they would prefer to bring in their own teams, their allies, the colleagues with whom they have worked in the past ... people whom they trust.

On the other hand, those who move along with such seniors, do so because of two reasons: First, they have faith in the capability of the leaders they follow. They tag along with these people believing that they will emerge successful by working under their superiors. Second, they are opportunists, who see some immediate gains in following their superiors.

More often, it is the former of the above two reasons which lead you to the Ferrari. Successful people, build teams, work cohesively, and build dreams and businesses together. Togetherness and trust enable them to achieve impossible missions. An immediate example which comes to my mind is of Tony Singh.

Tony Singh started his career at American Express where he worked for over fifteen years, before he joined as the retail bank head with Bank of America. At Bank of America, he was instrumental in growing the retail business chain. When the bank decided to exit the retail business, he negotiated the sale of their business to ABN Amro in India, wherein he negotiated a great financial deal for the Bank of America staff. At Bank of America he had created his own team, a team of achievers, a team of believers and those who had faith in him. This team was the core retail banking team at Bank of America. The team split when ABN bought over Bank of America.

From ABN, Tony Singh joined ANZ Grindlays Bank as the CEO, and the entire team regrouped. They changed the face of ANZ Grindlays Bank in India, transforming it into a world class enterprise, prior to it getting sold to Standard Chartered Bank. Once this was done, Tony Singh moved on to Max New York Life as the CEO and the same team joined him there, helping him set up that business. As the team moved from Bank of America, to ANZ to Max New York Life, each one of the team members gained in stature, exposure, capability and of course, financially, too ... all this on account of their association with the leader, Tony Singh. They are much closer to the Ferrari now than they ever were.

There is a small caveat here. Your wanting to join a team is not the only pre-requisite for you to get into a Ferrari team. The leaders or the people you wish to associate yourself with, need to perceive you as a performer with a like mindset. And, also you must demonstrate an aligned approach with these leaders. You need to bring some value to their table.

While Tony Singh's example is at the upper end of the spectrum, you see this happening in your everyday life. In fact, you will often see people aligning their careers with individuals in your organisation every day. This comes out in the open when people leave organisations. Along with a senior resignation you will see a host of others resigning ... some of them are genuine believers who follow the leader and others are opportunists who follow in search of the gold.

There is no need to go even that far, within large organisations when senior employees moving from one unit to the other, move with their entire entourage. Their favourites follow them even within the same organisation and the seniors happily oblige.

Remember, a mediocre guy with a brilliant boss gets noticed whereas a brilliant guy with a mediocre boss in a not so successful unit often fails to make the cut. Hence, there is nothing wrong in tagging along with the successful boss to further the desire of getting the Ferrari.

What are the risks associated with this method of chasing the Ferrari? There is one pronounced one.

Successful people will always have adversaries. There are colleagues who may challenge their achievements. By attaching yourself to Mr A, who does not get along with Mr B, you are in effect shutting out any opportunity that may spring up with Mr B. If ever a situation were to arise wherein you have to leave the confines of the secure environment provided by Mr A, you will face some resistance within your own organisation. But at times the benefits of this modus operandi far exceed the downsides and, therefore, it is definitely worth an effort.

The bottom line is, aligning yourself with high performing individuals and backing yourself with reasonably high performance level will take you a few notches closer to the Ferrari.

COMMANDMENT SEVEN

Identify the owners of the Ferrari and align yourself with them.

If you are in the company of successful people, their success will rub off on you. But you need to back it up with stellar performance. If you live in Ferrari town, chances are, you will get to drive one sooner.

I
ndians are generally god-fearing and religious.Every religion across the length and breadth of this country promotes the concept of giving. Take Hinduism for instance, according to dharma, everyone is required to give dana (donation) and the seva(service). Hindus are expected to make donations to the poor as well as to their places of worship. Hinduism even goes on to elaborate that if you SHARE what you have with others, you will get back much more than that. It may not always come back to you from the same person you helped, but will definitely come back in this life.

Indians by their sheer nature feel for others' needs and wants. In an Indian society more than anywhere else, the importance of giving and sharing is paramount.

If you light a light for somebody,
it will also brighten your path.

B
UDDHIST
PROVERB

Speaking of the principle of what you give comes back to you, I would add an anecdote here about Sir Alexander Fleming, which reconfirms this paradigm.