Wit Wisdom and Whoop

One of the challenges in one’s career is that you grow up, become a “boss” yourself and then its not easy to place a person you report to on a pedestal. The relationships grow more equal and you become an equal partner in most situations unless there is a situation that exposes ones own limitations. Yet there can be exceptions and Mr. Dev Avadhani is that for sheer attitude, energy where he could shame a 25-year-old. Dev also provided maximum “thrills” in a manner of speaking. If the reader wants a trailer, then he can read this blog of mine from 2015. Hence, this piece is also written in a light-hearted manner. A Meeting with Dev When I was appointed to the job, I was supposed to join a totally different division. Days before the joining date I was moved to the division headed by Dev. Normally anybody heading a business would throw a fit at being given a 2nd in command he had never met. But Dev simply took it in his stride like everything else. One meeting over coffee and we were frie...

As the world ushered in 2020 nobody except maybe a few knew what was in store and coming. Even those who knew what was coming may not have fully grasped the impact of their actions. Someday in the future hopefully the truth of what happened, why, how and by who will be known. Till then we just need to live with the current reality and grapple with it as best as we can. Statistics of course always tell a story and its tempting to analyse data and jump to whatever hypothesis a writer may want to present. But that would take away the human factor amidst this pandemic. I have not travelled the globe during the pandemic, seen or experienced anything to say who did what, who did better, why etc. But one does read, see even if one does not listen to the commentariat who are busy espousing their views as news. When the pandemic started the logical assumption was that advanced western countries with far greater infrastructure (number of beds and such statistics again), far better knowledge, far...

  The toughest one to write – Where do you start and how do you write about a man who travelled the world on a motorcycle 5 years before I was even born and my father was still a student, who built a Billion dollar business empire that covered 17 countries, 4 business segments and 43 manufacturing locations and ran it as Chairman and CEO, Distributed his entire ownership of the company amongst the company employees in a unique ESOP that wasn’t traded publicly and in a profit sharing scheme paid out profit share to employees on a weekly basis thanks to a daily profit and loss performance report. That man was the legendary businessman, philanthropist, collector, amazing human being, Manager par excellence and my boss as a member of the company board – Mr. Gordon Lankton. For those who wish to know more, please do read the various links I have shared below. When I first met him, it was like meeting your friendly grandfather and within seconds the chasm that I had created in my mind ab...

A tough one on where to start because I had a “destined” meeting at his home in Delhi just a few days before he suddenly passed away. Driving back to my hotel, on an impulse I messaged him, and he immediately called me. He asked where I was and immediately invited me to visit his home. His first comment when I met him was “You still don’t drink, or will you have a drink?”. I spent a marvellous evening with him and his wife Dr. Mridula and for the first & last time I had a gossipy, personal relaxed chat with him and his wife. We chatted till late in the night. He spoke of his visionary plans for identifying leaders, leadership development, marketing them suitably and creating a “pull-demand” for them and placing them in high positions in industry - as a business. It was a fascinating strategy he outlined, and I was hoping to go back to him on this. But destiny played spoilsport. To get back to the beginning. For long I knew him only by name. The only memory of him was the dapperl...

People in general used to be in awe of her – Mrs. Lila Poonawalla or LFP as we fondly called her or Ma’am officially. As one overseas colleague said – She can walk into a hall full of people and you will find a momentary silence as everyone turns to look at her. She has presence. The first lady engineering graduate from Pune Engineering College, joined a global engineering giant in India as an engineer trainee on the shop floor, grew to become the Chairperson and MD of the company and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Govt of India. One can write a book on her. Apparently, the global management felt the Indian company had twice as many people as it needed to do the business it was doing and as with most western organisations, the suggestion was to reduce manpower. LFP said we will double the top line in 3 years and thus was born the slogan Billion Rupee Challenge. This was how I learnt of her on the day I joined the company. 3 years later she said Double Billion Rupee Challenge (DBRC...

New job, just joined, a role which required substantial travel, a new born baby at home and I was diagnosed with a seriously ailment.  Worst case I would end up a life long dependent confined to home or maybe lead a partly normal life. The verdict would be known in 6 months and things get better after that. Till then no travel, driving, being alone. Drugged, I was not at my best and my family had to take the decisions. My father called my boss Mr. Arvind Hejmadi to his office for a personal meeting, explained my situation and offered that I would resign with immediate effect if the company was not comfortable with my situation.  Within a heartbeat Mr. Hejmadi asked whether anybody had sought my resignation and whether my situation had been made public. We said no to both. Mr. Hejmadi said the company did not believe in letting down its employees and it could wait 6 months. He asked me to stay quiet but the moment I had got used to the drugs, to start coming to office. The next...