Staying Hungry and Staying Foolish

At the end of every chapter, each person had advised the young entrepreneurs of today, based on their own invaluable experience. All of them were equally fascinating except one. The one by Anand Halve, co-founder of Chlorophyll, India's first leading brand consultancy, almost sent me to a state of shock.

His story started like this:

Know thyself and the rest follows, they say. As a first year student in medical college Anand Halve knew he couldn't spend everyday of his working life surrounded by people who were "basically looking miserable."

Wow. Definitely not the most impressive, usual or nice way to begin with, in fact it is downright repulsive but his honesty was very intriguing which got me hooked so I continued reading.

His advice to young entrepreneurs was like the following:

On "Goals":

• Follow your heart. The brain can do many things, but only heart can answer the meaningful questions in life.

I almost heard myself shouting - Waitaminute! That is so different to all the "how to-s" I have ever come across my life! It's all in the brain! But somehow I knew he was true because my gut was supporting him. Strange. 

• Think of the intangibles you value first - and let them determine the tangibles. Steve Jobs and Michael Dell are driven by different intangibles... figure out who you'd rather be.

What if I just want to be me? Well, Steve Jobs would be an awesome co-traveler no doubt, with a similar value systems...

• Don't defer your joy at a beach today for some imagined future weekend in Acapulco - by the time it happens your diabetes may not let you enjoy the pina coladas.

True. Life offered me a chance to go for one of the best road trips in my life in the Great Lake Region two years back to enjoy the fall color and I took it. Now I am ok to be home with my parents as they needed me. As a passionate traveler I have been to many places, I am yet to visit many but that doesn't refrain me from enjoying the "now."

On "Money":

• Anu Aga, ex-chairperson, Thermax said: profits are important but not the only thing. Without breathing,  you and I can't live, but if you ask me what is the purpose of my life and if I say "breathing", it is such a narrow way of defining it.

I have already made up mind to answer this big "purpose" question from now on with just one word - "breathing." Oh, I just can't help enjoying the devilish delight imagining the reaction of the person who would ask me!

• Create love and affection in your workplace. People give up their lives for what they love but no one will do it for an EBITDA.

Are you kidding me? Or, you are just out of your mind? Love and affection in workplace? Will it be a workplace or it will turn into a creche? It sounds so juvenile!

Then I paused for a second. Well, will I like to work for money only? Paying the bill is a basic necessity and we all have to do it at every point in our life but what if I don't like what I do? I will stick to it till I figure out an alternative. Mostly I would like to work with those who are people-oriented rather than EBITDA obsessed. If I enjoy what I do, a positive EBITDA will surely follow.

EBITDA stands for - Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. It is commonly used as an indicator of a company's profitability.

The basic calculation is:

EBITDA = Operating Revenue - Operating Expenses + Other Revenue

On "People and Values:"

• Surround yourself with like - minded people. You can't plan together if the guys at the table are Gautam Buddha and Chengiz Khan.

What an impeccably precious piece of advice. Those who are not familiar with Chengiz Khan, think of having Barack Obama and Sara Palin at the same table, planning world peace - ha!

• Define your Do's and Don't's before you start. Post facto, any act can be justified.

Love it. And also sheepishly admit not following the same religiously which has made me learn a few things very hard way. Well, no regret! 

• No deal is worth losing your self - respect. Whether it's for a million dollar or a mere 5 bucks, a whore is a whore.

Absolutely no - brainer. But mostly ignored because of various reasons in life.

On "The Last Word":

• Finally, if you don't laugh enough, your business model is probably wrong! 

I am not a business-owner till date but I believe the point above with my entire being. If I do not enjoy what I am doing then I need to rethink about my life, very seriously.

Life is too short to be grumpy and unhappy.

As a 100% "I" (I am a branded ISTJ according to the personality test based on MBTI) my idea of having fun surely wouldn't match with a party-hopper but nevertheless, I enjoy my life the way I want. Bottom-line, having an inbuilt radar is an absolute necessary and more importantly, we need to listen to it.

There ends his advice. I finished it, sat there, dumbstruck. I never read something so obvious, out there, on my face - that too from someone who owns a brand consultancy firm.

I decided to write to him for his permission to use his "advice" further. I didn't really expect a reply so I kept it short. To my surprise, he wrote back with a great enthusiasm and wanted to have a talk on the subject. His phone number was available on the website so I made an appointment at a mutually convenient time to talk.

My very first question to him was - "how could these advices sound so simple?" After a good laugh he replied - "Whenever you will hear something complex which you think should sound more simpler, rest assured, the person advising goofed it up just because he wanted to sound intelligent."

He also mentioned, there is no one way of following one's heart. He said, "the Jack Welch way is not the only way, the Steve Jobs way is not the only way, even the Anand Halve way is not the only way - no matter how much you like it. Listen to your own heart and you will find yours."

That is so not me. With a 65% "S" it's really tough for me to see anything beyond any apparent logic. But I have an inkling to believe his advice, so I better start trusting it before it's too late.