Successful business leaders often associate the success of a business enterprise with innovation, relationship building and sustained excellence. Having read a lot of articles on the aforementioned subject, my thoughts are in line with what these articles had to say.
I've heard anecdotes from people who have been lucky to work with great entrepreneurs. I've been able to see in person some really smart entrepreneurs who per say may not be big household names who have made it to the cover page of forbes or Time. But, have in their own way built up enterprises which have turned out to be lucrative. What has always enthralled me is the fact that they never had any association with a B-school. In this era where big B-school names get a direct entry into some of the best consulting firms, an era where you're acumen in managing business is judged based on your GPA, there are folks who have learnt the tricks of trade without having invested their time or money on a B-school degree. No offence to any B-school grads, I myself am an aspiring IIM-er.
I have a few stories on how I believe Innovation, Relationship Building and sustained excellence buttress the an enterprise.
Story 1 :
It was world war 2 and the Indian soldiers had to side with the Brits and wage a war against the dictator and his allies. There was a short supply of rice all around the country. Hoteliers who ran their small restaurant in the IT capital of India, tried out an entirely new Raw material for preparing Idli, the famous south Indian dish. They added semolina ( Popularly called Sooji ) and walla Rava-Idli was born. Not only that, this tiny restaurant is today a 500 Crore company which has a clear monopoly in the authentic South Indian foods category. Behind this lucrative enterprise was a man who had a taste for the food which sells and the brain of a Businessman. Though he parted ways in 2008 with the company by selling it off to a Nordic conglomerate, his prowess in the field of Food innovation is something that only few can dream off. His way of innovation although offbeat in style, had scripts of success written all over it. It would be another day at the office for him, he enters the kitchen, ask the chefs to prepare something new, goes in the afternoon, tastes the dish. If the million dollar tongue okays it, the product would go on sale from the next day. No market survey, no panel for sensory, no dry or wet recipe, just one simple man in his dhoti and shirt, rest as they say is history. It was as though, the tongue and the brain did super-computation in a matter of seconds and came up with a formula for success. Isn't this how Steve Jobs innovated at Apple?
An entrepreneur always has an inbuilt sense for Innovation, it ain't the sixth sense, it's Innovation sense.
The next story is about a man who had an excellent eye for problem solving and innovation.
It was during his full time job as an engineer in a PSU, he identified a problem where the cutting tool was overheating at the time of operation, due to this, the tool life was short. On further investigating this problem, he found out that this was due to a lack of use of coolant to cool heated tool during operation. There began a quest for answers, it started with going through literature on how to cool these tools, then he started experimenting, his quest became his life, that's when the idea of establishing a Process Cooling company germinated.It started from a garage in his house to a 10,00 sq.ft facility today, the company is burgeoning. As the great Walt Disney said,
" If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing started with a dream and a mouse "
This man's ingenuity not only solved problem, it established a huge industry!!
There is a popular thought among entrepreneurs that says building relationship is as important as having a great product.
I work as a project engineer, where I have to get work done through external contractors. There is one particular electrical engineer who's especially brilliant at building relationship, a trait I've been in awe of.
There is this particular incident that I remember, it was at the time of a major project finalization, he was sitting across the table for a negotiation. I was lucky to be in that room that day. He appeared calm and composed, he was being hurled with some arrogant comments, anyone could've been easily offended. But not him, he defended himself in an honourable way, his mathematics running in the background, he stayed calm and struck a deal easily. This man is always soft-spoken, his head held high, courteous! All this and a Business man too.
Well what's the trait from this entrepreneur??
The answer is simple, relationship building. He is the most preferred vendor in our company. He and his men do an excellent job, not only that, he also builds a strong relationship, one that's bound by mutual respect.
My last story is about a medical shop in the South of Bangalore. It's about this family which has been running the medical shop. They are a bunch of benign folks who have their own way of wooing the customers. Let's just say, Business runs in their blood.
The startling thing here is that the father who started the business has passed the baton to his son, his son to his sons, the consumer experience hasn't changed. They all greet you with the same enthusiasm every single time. The father imbibed in his sons, the tricks of the trade, how not to take anyone for granted, how their biggest asset was relationship building. This I believe is a lucid case of Sustained Excellence, which is pivotal for any enterprise to grow..
Often, enterprises struggle to pass on the leadership to their next gen, they often fail to pick the right set of individuals to take the company forward. Enterprises become obsessed with bringing in new flavor to their leadership when all that the company needs is a good old filial advice to the new set of leaders. Instead of head-hunting for a new CEO, enterprises should stick to teaching their young brigade the tricks of the trade and pass the baton unless there is something fundamentally wrong in the new gen leaders.
To sum it up, I've tried to put in the traits that are necessary or prevalent in entrepreneurs, in my view.
I've heard anecdotes from people who have been lucky to work with great entrepreneurs. I've been able to see in person some really smart entrepreneurs who per say may not be big household names who have made it to the cover page of forbes or Time. But, have in their own way built up enterprises which have turned out to be lucrative. What has always enthralled me is the fact that they never had any association with a B-school. In this era where big B-school names get a direct entry into some of the best consulting firms, an era where you're acumen in managing business is judged based on your GPA, there are folks who have learnt the tricks of trade without having invested their time or money on a B-school degree. No offence to any B-school grads, I myself am an aspiring IIM-er.
I have a few stories on how I believe Innovation, Relationship Building and sustained excellence buttress the an enterprise.
Story 1 :
It was world war 2 and the Indian soldiers had to side with the Brits and wage a war against the dictator and his allies. There was a short supply of rice all around the country. Hoteliers who ran their small restaurant in the IT capital of India, tried out an entirely new Raw material for preparing Idli, the famous south Indian dish. They added semolina ( Popularly called Sooji ) and walla Rava-Idli was born. Not only that, this tiny restaurant is today a 500 Crore company which has a clear monopoly in the authentic South Indian foods category. Behind this lucrative enterprise was a man who had a taste for the food which sells and the brain of a Businessman. Though he parted ways in 2008 with the company by selling it off to a Nordic conglomerate, his prowess in the field of Food innovation is something that only few can dream off. His way of innovation although offbeat in style, had scripts of success written all over it. It would be another day at the office for him, he enters the kitchen, ask the chefs to prepare something new, goes in the afternoon, tastes the dish. If the million dollar tongue okays it, the product would go on sale from the next day. No market survey, no panel for sensory, no dry or wet recipe, just one simple man in his dhoti and shirt, rest as they say is history. It was as though, the tongue and the brain did super-computation in a matter of seconds and came up with a formula for success. Isn't this how Steve Jobs innovated at Apple?
An entrepreneur always has an inbuilt sense for Innovation, it ain't the sixth sense, it's Innovation sense.
The next story is about a man who had an excellent eye for problem solving and innovation.
It was during his full time job as an engineer in a PSU, he identified a problem where the cutting tool was overheating at the time of operation, due to this, the tool life was short. On further investigating this problem, he found out that this was due to a lack of use of coolant to cool heated tool during operation. There began a quest for answers, it started with going through literature on how to cool these tools, then he started experimenting, his quest became his life, that's when the idea of establishing a Process Cooling company germinated.It started from a garage in his house to a 10,00 sq.ft facility today, the company is burgeoning. As the great Walt Disney said,
" If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember this whole thing started with a dream and a mouse "
This man's ingenuity not only solved problem, it established a huge industry!!
There is a popular thought among entrepreneurs that says building relationship is as important as having a great product.
I work as a project engineer, where I have to get work done through external contractors. There is one particular electrical engineer who's especially brilliant at building relationship, a trait I've been in awe of.
There is this particular incident that I remember, it was at the time of a major project finalization, he was sitting across the table for a negotiation. I was lucky to be in that room that day. He appeared calm and composed, he was being hurled with some arrogant comments, anyone could've been easily offended. But not him, he defended himself in an honourable way, his mathematics running in the background, he stayed calm and struck a deal easily. This man is always soft-spoken, his head held high, courteous! All this and a Business man too.
Well what's the trait from this entrepreneur??
The answer is simple, relationship building. He is the most preferred vendor in our company. He and his men do an excellent job, not only that, he also builds a strong relationship, one that's bound by mutual respect.
My last story is about a medical shop in the South of Bangalore. It's about this family which has been running the medical shop. They are a bunch of benign folks who have their own way of wooing the customers. Let's just say, Business runs in their blood.
The startling thing here is that the father who started the business has passed the baton to his son, his son to his sons, the consumer experience hasn't changed. They all greet you with the same enthusiasm every single time. The father imbibed in his sons, the tricks of the trade, how not to take anyone for granted, how their biggest asset was relationship building. This I believe is a lucid case of Sustained Excellence, which is pivotal for any enterprise to grow..
Often, enterprises struggle to pass on the leadership to their next gen, they often fail to pick the right set of individuals to take the company forward. Enterprises become obsessed with bringing in new flavor to their leadership when all that the company needs is a good old filial advice to the new set of leaders. Instead of head-hunting for a new CEO, enterprises should stick to teaching their young brigade the tricks of the trade and pass the baton unless there is something fundamentally wrong in the new gen leaders.
To sum it up, I've tried to put in the traits that are necessary or prevalent in entrepreneurs, in my view.
