WHAT MAKES ONE SUCCESSFUL?

There was an excellent programme on the television when NDTV celebrated its 25^th. birthday. Twenty five living legends of Indian origin were honored by His Excellency, the President of our republic, Pronob Mukherjee. Now you can have your own list of another 25, and undoubtedly they too would be equally deserving, but barring a few glaring omissions like Lata Mangeshkar, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, T.N. Seshan and Atal Bihari Vajpai, I am in full agreement with this list. But that is not what I intend to deliberate upon today; what caught my attention was when asked to share three secrets of their success, though these ladies and gentlemen were from diverse spheres of life, how remarkably common was their road to success, how uniquely same were their enemies and how outstandingly similar were their ammunition to fight these enemies and surmount their obstacles!

The most outstanding commonality which all these icons of success, in alphabetical order, right from Amaratya Sen to Zubin Mehta  possessed was their ferocious drive and hunger for success, their refusal to accept status quo and their child like inquisitiveness and eagerness to go where no one has ever gone before. They were, to start with, like any one of us, not succeeding at every step. They got lost, stumbled and failed many times, but unlike others who give up, they pulled themselves up and started afresh with new vigor! Mukesh Ambani summed it up beautifully – if we focus only on the goal, the obstacles will be of not much significance, but if we focus on the obstacles we will loose sight of our goals. 

Henry Ford’s first venture to build a motor car got dissolved in 18 months because his share holders lost confidence in him. Walt Disney - one of the greatest business leaders who created the global Disney Empire of film studios, theme parks and consumer products didn't start off successfully. Before the great success came a number of failures. Believe it or not, Walt was fired from an early job at the Kansas City Star Newspaper because he was not creative enough! Richard Branson dropped out from school at 16 and started a student magazine which flopped. He then set up a mail-order record business which did so well that he opened his own record shop called Virgin. Along the way to success came many other failed ventures including Virgin Cola, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Clothes, Virgin Vie, Virgin cards, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Music and Virgin Active! Oprah Winfrey got fired from her job as a reporter because she was 'unfit for television', and J.K. Rowling, a divorced single mother, when she approached publishers with Harry Potter, received endless rejections from countless publishers. Many rejected her manuscript outright for reasons like 'it was far too long for a children's book' or because 'children books never make any money'. Steve Jobs got fired from Apple, the company he founded. Only to return a few years later to turn it into one of the most successful companies ever! But all these achievers had one thing in common – they had a clear vision of their goal, and they did not allow the obstacles to pull them back. 

What also came out very clearly this evening was the role a stable family had to play in the success of all these great achievers – inspiring parents, supportive and encouraging spouses and friends who were ready to travel that extra mile. Those who are successful set daily achievable goals, goals that are S.M.A.R.T. — smart, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely. Repeatedly it was stressed throughout the evening that we should not loose focus of our long-term goals and establish small daily goals to achieve our vision more easily. And once we are successful, it should be not only our duty but our religion to help the next generation to succeed, because there is no success without a successor! 

Believe in yourself and believe in India was one common massage from all these super achievers.