It was my last day as CMO at HDFC Bank, and I had decided to start a new venture. As a Marketer, one works with many partners, advertising agencies, media companies, etc. I had begun to realize even then that I could learn from many of the leaders of these advertising agencies & other partners. Many of them showed great character & leadership skills from which I have learned a lot. But one such partner called my assistant incessantly asking for a meeting over the last 7 days. He was a printer who had a large business with us.
Initially, I thought he might be calling because of some payment matter, and I didn't want to leave him in the lurch. So I agreed to meet. On my last day, my partner was at my office first thing in the morning. Let's call my partner Manish & I can tell you he was one very earnest personality.
Manish had three conditions for my meeting, he must meet me alone, not be in my cabin & I must give him at least 45 minutes. Now my curiosity was piqued entirely; what was he up to & what exactly did he want from our meeting? It could not have been a payment matter.
So my office had a large reception & this old style bench was in one corner. Manish seemed ok for us to sit there publicly & talk. This made me even more curious as it was not confidentiality that he was after!
He began by telling me that he was proud that I was taking a call to become an entrepreneur. He enjoyed working with me & he hoped for the best for me. Then he told me about himself & how he has the Gujarati blood to do business. How he has nurtured in him throughout his life & how he has painstakingly built his printing business. He told me about the struggles that he has had & the values that have guided him through it. I was losing patience; I thought the guy wanted my help accelerating a stuck payment. Before I met him, I had checked with the team & only small amounts were due to him. I was now getting irritated & it was my last day at the bank & many people to meet & thank for the experiences I had been exposed to there.
Then he said, can I tell you an old Gujarati saying? I said sure, go ahead & enlighten me! He says, "kisi bhi dhande mein, paise banane ko, hazaar din lagte hain"-"It takes 1000 days to make money in any business". I looked at him, wondering why he was telling me this. And then he said that you have been a senior executive. Can you wait more than 1000 days to begin making money patiently? Would you happen to have the patience & staying power? He said he didn't want me to make a wrong decision & then regret it later. So all that persistence in getting this meeting was about his wish to give me good advice.
I could not believe it & I thanked him & tried to give him confidence that I would stay the course. He then took out his next piece of advice. He said I didn't want to meet you in your cabin & you must have wondered why. I said yes; I was inquisitive. He said I wanted to welcome you to a world where you could wait outside people's cabins for an audience as you strived to build your business. He said he was worried whether I would be able to do this. Having been a CXO at HDFC bank, could I wait outside the cabins of both junior & senior people at this mid-career stage? Did I have it in me? As a Gujarati businessman, the only two stocks he believed in were Reliance & HDFC Bank. And here I was, leaving my HDFC bank stock options to do something in a field no one had heard of. He asked me whether I could overcome my ego as I created a new company from scratch.
Manish had no vested interest in coming to meet me & give me this advice. He was doing it as he felt it would be valuable to me. We often believe that success is about being a go-getter & taking victory from the jaws of defeat. It seems to be a lot about "taking." Taking the initiative, taking opportunities, and taking the rewards. But what if these weren't the most critical aspects of success? What if, instead of taking, it was more about giving? This is the counterintuitive thought that Adam Grant has outlined in his book "Givers & Takers" - "Why Helping Others Drives Our Success." It's a counterintuitive thought.
I am reminded of the above story today when I coach senior leaders looking to leave the comfort of their corporate careers behind & forge new paths. I often remember my gujju business friend Manish, both in good times & bad. And my key takeaway has been the concept of "Give & Take" that Adam Grant popularised & Manish acted out for me. And for the record, it took us over 1000 days to begin making money in our venture!