Deep Roots Potent Legacy-All

ONE STEP AT A TIME There is no magic formula for success in business. Great business is a culmination of innumerable steps taken, one at a time. Those who are investing all of their time to find out a magic formula that would transform their business into an overnight success are pursuing a hollow dream. One needs to take one concrete step at a time. One right action in product creation, one act of brand building, one customer won with a quality product, one year transformed into a profitable year… it is these crucial steps that would make one a successful businessman down the line. Small grocery stores have been turned into business empires through - tireless efforts taken over the years; keeping one's eyes and ears open; making hundreds of right decisions along the way; grabbing opportunities as they come along; etc. Don't wait for magic to happen, because there is no magic other than hard work and risk taking. “ Keep walking the walk, one step at a time. - Joyce Meyer

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NETWORKING MAKES A DIFFERENCE An entrepreneur needs to have good ties with his peers, the other businessmen in the same industry, through various associations and forums. This will keep him well-informed about what is happening in the market and ensure that his own business is not caught unawares due to lack of knowledge about latest trends. While gossip is essentially bad, if used intelligently and with discrimination it also helps in bringing vital news to the fore. Just like a doctor who needs to have the latest information about the developments in his field of expertise; entrepreneurs too need to have all the information available at their desk about product development, market musings, consumer preferences, latest research and development, national and international scenario etc. to enable them to take a well informed decision. In short, entrepreneurs need to keep their ears to the ground so that the impending earthquake does not catch them unawares. “Your network is your net worth. - Porter Gale

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THERE IS NEVER A PERMANENT DESTINATION Goals in business continue shifting. Once today's goals are achieved, one needs to think about the goals to be achieved tomorrow. And that is how successful businesses are run, never resting on their laurels. As Henry Miller has rightly said, \"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.\" Every achievement that an organization makes helps in two ways – firstly through the material gain that it brings; and secondly in terms of the maturity it brings to the organization. It widens the business vision of the entrepreneur. A wise leader, post enjoying the feeling which an achievement brings for a couple of days, sits with his Board Members to chalk out the plan for the next course of action. The underlying message here is that the journey of an organization never stops; destinations continue to shift and it is the continuous evolution of the organization, which is the real charm of being in business. “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome. - Arthur Ashe

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THOU HAS A RIGHT TO ACTION ALONE As succinctly explained in Shrimad Bhagwad Gita the only right that one has been given is the right to act. Fruits of the action are never in one's hand. This philosophy is as relevant in business as it is in one's personal life. This has practical benefits also. When one plans an organizational mission without exclusively focusing on results, one is much relieved. One's sole commitment then is to excel in whatever action has been taken up. Once the task is performed and performing it has imparted deep satisfaction, all the fruits that would come are mere incidental benefits. So this is the most practical and scripture-aligned way of doing business, waking up in the morning and putting in hard work for the entire day without thinking of the fruits. More often than not, spectacular benefits accrue subject to patience and perseverance of the doer. “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty. - Bhagavad Gita

“ Ignore the naysayers. Really the only option is head down, and focus on the job. - Chris Pine 26

HAVE FAITH IN YOUR COURSE OF ACTION There will always be the naysayers and the Cassandras who will pose doubts about every mission the organization has taken in hand. Not listening to them will be considered hubris, arrogance and overconfidence. But if once a leader sets forth on mission forward with vision and consideration of every aspect, he need not worry about these naysayers. History bears testimony to the fact that whenever something new was attempted it was initially always scoffed at. However all those sneers never distracted these visionaries and today their visionary acts have become norms of business. Just be patient and let the performance of the organization silence the critics.

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CHALLENGING ASSIGNMENTS TEST THE ORGANIZATION'S DNA Once in a while, comes along a customer asking the organization to carry out an assignment, which has never done before. One has two choices – either to promptly take up the same or take it up with lots of hesitation. Remember, it is taking up such challenges only which will add to the charisma quotient of the organization. Creating a customized product for the customer; fulfilling a very large scale order which has never been handled before; responding with an extra step to special requirements raised by a customer - all these showcase the agility and competence of the organization. The rewards of taking up such challenging assignments are multi-fold as they: create a loyal customer base; provide self-satisfaction by upping the confidence level and; exponentially increase the goodwill of the market. So organizations should now and then challenge their limits and see how new horizons open up for them. “Don't limit your challenges; challenge your limits. Each day we must strive for constant and never ending improvement. - Tony Robbins

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PERSISTENCE IS THE KEY TO MARKET DOMINANCE Organizations cannot expect potential customers, the people out there in the market place, to accept them in just one go. Markets are not won that way. Sales team members will better understand this concept. They need to make sales pitches several times to multiple customers and then only are a handful of customers won. But it is worth the effort, because those few customers, who are won, are perhaps won forever and they then become the organization's ambassadors. The underlying lesson is not to give up at one effort. In fact, every single sales pitch which the team considered to be the best sales pitch and which failed to earn them a customer actually taught them a lot. It prepared them to further fine-tune their sales pitch and this fine-tuning is a never-ending process as one continues to strive to win customers. So one needs to endlessly persist and persevere in order to rule over the market. “Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragement and impossibilities: It is this, that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak. - Thomas Carlyle

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BOTH CONTRIBUTION AND SUCCESS ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT IN BUSINESS Profit should never be made the exclusive motive of one's business. Profit is essential, but it is equally important that the business contributes to the well-being of the community at large. After all, the entrepreneur and the organization are an integral part of the community and not separate entities. It is the contribution of the organization, which will ensure a healthy community and environment. It is not only the duty of the government to better the surroundings; this responsibility can be jointly shared by organizations thereby supplementing the efforts of the government through their CSR arm. “We are carrying out our pledge to make every community in which we live and do business better – through our products and services, our culture and business practices and our philanthropy. - Tim Sloan

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THE BEST IS YET TO COME Renowned Management Thinker Peter Drucker was once asked, \"Which of your 26 books, are you most proud of?\" and he swiftly replied, \"The Next One.\" This is what business philosophy is all about. In spite of great many miles already traversed, there still will be many more unexplored miles, as the journey never ends. One can continuously find new ways of producing products and giving something innovative to the customer. In every management meeting, one crucial question on the agenda should be, \"What next can we offer to our customer?\" It is this quest, which sets apart a run-of-the-mill organization from a brand-conscious one. The very concept of closely inspecting all products day in and day out and improving them ceaselessly, reflects one's love and respect for the customer and that is how a loyal customer base is built. “Nothing wilts faster than laurels that have been rested upon. - Percy Shelley

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TAKE CARE OF THAT WHICH IS NOT OBVIOUS When one purchases a product manufactured by the renowned Apple Company, one is rest assured that even those parts, which are not visible to the naked eye, must have been manufactured with the best of craftsmanship, precision and aesthetics. Steve Jobs often cited the example of his father who would make a piece of furniture and ensure that even the parts that are not visible are hewed perfectly well. After all it is the product that creates the image of an organization. Such perfection given even to the parts that are not obviously visible reflects the organization's sincerity towards their products as also their customers. It reflects that there is nothing that has been hidden under the carpet. It reflects transparency and that generates trust culminating into sustainability in business and customer relationships. “ Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. - Aristotle

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DECISIONS, ACTIONS, POSTMORTEM Taking vital decisions and then acting upon them is the responsibility of the Board of Directors. But the Board is equally responsible to carry out an unbiased evaluation of the actions taken since it is this post-action evaluation, which will give the Board many a new insight and further help in fine-tuning future course of action. Several actions that an organization has taken may have led to successes. However complacency should not set it as it may lead to the wrong notion that this is the sure-fire way of doing things in future. Rather, whether it is a successful action or a failed attempt, each one needs to be reviewed post success or failure, because only then can one understand what went wrong or right and what changes are required to be introduced in the modus operandi. This is precisely the reason why the best CEOs conduct a thorough post-mortem of every action taken at their organization. “ I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. - Elon Musk

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NOT A MERE CLERK BUT AN AMBASSADOR If there are only mere clerks in the organization, sooner or later, the company is doomed. Every staff that one has hired in the organization should be trained rather inspired to pro-actively work at his job assignment to ensure the success of the company. A clerk who merely carries out his deliverables like - typing letters or routinely answering calls or filing papers - may not add much value to the company. But if the same clerk goes beyond his specified job role and puts in extra efforts in offering something more than expected he then adds to the goodwill and profits of the organization. This staff can do so only if he is motivated to independently take the initiative. Always remember that - a pizza served by a staff with a smiling face and pleasant words is far more appetizing and delicious; than the one which is mechanically served by a staff and that too with a blank face…moreover the former generates repeat customers, too! “If you train your employees to properly engage customers and provide superior customer service, you will have customers and clients who become your very own public relations ambassadors. - Shakira Brown

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OBSERVE THE UTILITY VALUE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN A FAD AND A TREND Whatever is new in the market, which catches the attention of people, can either be a mere fad that will vanish after some time or it can be a new trend that will endure the test of time and become a way of life. The entrepreneur needs to hone his skills to distinguish between these two and the best way to do so is to identify inherent utility values in order to decide whether it offers something lasting to the customers or not. Take the instance of the kit that enabled people to measure their blood-sugar level seated in the comfort of their home – this invention proved to be a trend because of its utility value rather than a fad. The kit is useful because it saves people a lot of bother; and is a handy tool in emergency. An entrepreneur needs to measure every new phenomenon using this benchmark and then decide whether it is a mere fad to overlook or a trend worth investing in. “ Marketing has long known how to exploit fads and how to develop trends. - Geoffrey Moore

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THE FUTURE, WHICH HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE It is the vital responsibility of the organizational head to keep watch on the emerging trends and to wisely identify which are mere fads and which indicate the future that is in the offing. One's ability to identify the future in this way will help take crucial steps right now so that the organization is not caught unawares when today's emerging trends become an actual reality tomorrow and make the known past completely obsolete. A chameleon doesn't need any prompting to change its colours to suit the surrounding atmosphere as this is intrinsic for it to survive the climatic vicissitudes. The same stands true for an organization also. The best people to inform one about changing trends are those who directly deal with customers. This segment should have enough freedom to share this information with the leader and enough access to enable them to directly reach the leader with their information. The next step is discussing this at the Board level and immediately taking vital decisions with regards to changing the product line or business strategy accordingly. This is the success mantra of making organizations future-ready. “ The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision. - Helen Keller

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YOUR TEAM CONSTANTLY WATCHES YOU Remember it is a leader who defines his organization. The team constantly looks up to the leader to catch the behavioural signals that he releases through his various actions. His work ethics will be reflected in their worth ethics; his commitment to the organization will be reflected in their commitment and; his honesty and integrity in doing business will be reflected in their honesty and integrity not only towards the organization but also towards the customers at large. The leader is their role model. So the leader needs to be constantly on his watch to ensure that wrong signals and wrong messages are not sent. If a leader takes his work lightly, if he is not punctual, if he is not hard-working enough – then his staff would soon follow suit; and if not in his presence then in his absence they will also begin cutting corners which in the long run would adversely impact the organization's business. So leaders need to always set the highest standards of character and behaviour. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. - John Maxwell

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RETREAT FOR THE TEAM All work and no play can be harmful for the organization. It is the leader's duty to ensure that there is some recreational time for the work force, away from office surroundings. A retreat planned once in a while will accrue many a benefit. It - provides fun time for the employees; enables them to understand each other better and; plays a pivotal role in team building. If families of employees are also invited then the culture of the organization percolates to the extended family too. Employees and their family members realize that the organization has their best interests and well-being at heart. It is in such informal settings that hidden talents of employees emerge which can be then used for the benefit of the organization. A brief knowledge seminar can also be made part of the retreat along with a short brainstorming session wherein employees can be encouraged to share their thoughts regarding ways to further enhance the company's market share. A retreat is the best way to let employees know that the organization personally and genuinely cares for them. “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. - Plato

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DON'T LOVE YOUR PRODUCT SO MUCH THAT YOU CAN'T GIVE IT UP! There was a time when the product an organization manufactured was extremely popular in the market. It used to fetch huge economic rewards and considerably enhanced the goodwill of the organization. However with changing times - the market has moved on; consumer's tastes and preferences have shifted and; better products are now available in the market. In such a scenario if one still continues to invest funds and resources in the same old product, just because of emotional attachment this would be committing professional hara-kiri and be fatally detrimental to the organization and its market share. Every organization must have the ability to move on with changing times and the ruthlessness to dis-continue product line or services that are no more viable. Eventually it is the products that should serve the organization in generating profits and not the other way round. “Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls. - Jack Welch

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INSTEAD OF ADVERTISEMENT TRUST THE WORD-OF -MOUTH One definitely needs to advertise the organization's products and services through traditional media. However even more important is admiration that is generated through word-of-mouth. A satisfied customer does a far better job in advertising one's product than a traditional advertisement can do. A positive feedback about the product coming straight from the consumer i.e. a satisfied customer is contagious and generates a chain reaction. Once it becomes a critical mass then there is no stopping the sale of product. However the pre-requisite for this is a truly impeccable product. If an organization has - completely understood customer preferences; ensured that the quality of the product is one-up over other similar products; kept the costs competitive - only then can customers be motivated to continue to use the product following which they will speak in favour of the said product and help increase its share in the market. “Free publicity and word of mouth is probably the best and cheapest form of advertising. Learn to use it to your advantage. - Richard Branson

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YOUR BEST SOURCE OF SUCCESS IS HUM AN RESOURCES Businesses are built around proactive, sincere and honest people. All circumstances being equal between two entrepreneurs, one who has invested best in human resources will have far better chances of capturing a large chunk of the market share. And for this to happen, the first thing one needs to ensure is that each staff member views the organization the way the owner views it - not merely as a source of their pay package, but as something that brings them genuine pleasure and pride. Look at any organization and one will find that there is a huge volume of untapped human potential; because human beings are not machines, which function at their most efficient level at the mere clicking of a button! Pro-actively taking care of the holistic health of employees - their mental, physical, social and spiritual well-being, would ensure that they far exceed one's expectations as far as their performance is concerned. This is precisely why - HRD (Human Resource Development) is an area worth investing in. In fact, a better terminology would be - HRN i.e. Human Resources Nurturance. “ Human resources isn't a thing we do. It's the thing that runs our business. - Steve Wynn

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DON'T BE IN A DENIAL MODE It is far more harmful to deny a challenging situation that has arisen than to actually face it. Basically, one gets so frightened of the problems ahead that one finds it far more convenient to resort to excuses and keep oneself in the denial mode believing that no such problem exists. Business owners must have the guts to face inconvenient situations and bitter truths and start finding solutions to overcome them without any kind of delay. One may not have a readily available solution to the problem, but that does not provide one with the liberty to not acknowledge the reality. Acknowledgement of a problem in the first place, facilitates a situation where one can invest necessary thoughts, ideas and resources to find out solutions. Decision makers never behave like a pigeon, who keeps its eyes closed to avoid the approaching cat and is soon devoured by that very cat! The solution lies in taking the bull by its horns and putting in sustained and immediate efforts to tame it. “You can always improve your situation. But you do so by facing it, not by running away. - Brad Warner

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DO YOU HIRE PEOPLE MORE TALENTED THAN YOU? The inscription on the tombstone of Andrew Carnegie reads, \"Here lies a man who knew how to enlist in his service better men than himself.\" The ability to employ people who are more talented than you is crucial to the success of the business. This ability is all the more relevant in today's world. This is precisely the reason why highly successful entrepreneurs go out of their way and pay incredible amount of money to hire talented people. But naturally an entrepreneur does not have all the inherent talents at his disposal – however one crucial talent for an entrepreneur is the capacity to identify talented people and then hire them. There is a famous anecdote about Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company. He was once invited to give an interview to a news channel. He brought along with him the best people on his team and whenever any question was posed to him, he would ask the relevant team member to answer the same. This was an ample demonstration of the fact that the huge success that Ford enjoyed was owing to his ability to hire people who were far more talented than him in their respective fields. “Set an incredibly high bar for talent and quality, and never ever compromise. It's better to grow slowly and have higher quality people. - Laszlo Bock

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ENSURE THAT YOUR BODY LANGUAGE SENDS OUT POSITIVE SIGNALS Whatever may be the situation; a leader's colleagues and subordinates look upon the leader to receive some vibes and signals. It is up to the leader - to emit positive signals and inspire his team to face the situation head on; or to show that the leader has already succumbed to the circumstances and let the team accept defeat even before the battle has begun. So, as a leader, however critical the situation may be, he must convey positive vibes thereby lending enough confidence to the team that he and the team are jointly going to win under the given circumstances. As a leader he may be fully aware of the gravity of the situation, but that doesn't mean that he dampens the spirit of his teammates by sharing all the bad news he knows! Rather he needs to ensure that their confidence is further boosted by his words and his body language and they get prepared to give their very best whatever may be the given circumstances. “Play with your physical workplace in a way that sends positive body language to employees and visitors. - Tom Kelley

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DO YOU CONTINUALLY RAISE THE BAR? A leader must continually raise the bar higher-and-higher both for himself and also for his team. The current year's goals and targets mandatorily need to be higher than what was achieved during the previous year. There is no limit to human potential except the one that is imposed by the individual himself. It is the leader who is responsible for ensuring that his team doesn't fall into the deadly trap of complacency and the attitude of \"business as usual\" doesn't set in. Not only does the bar of performance need to be raised higher-and-higher for both the leader and the team; but the leader also needs to be the cheer leader so that the team continues to perform with renewed enthusiasm and genuinely believes that it indeed is capable of responding to the challenges posed – thereby performing beyond the leader's and the team's wildest expectations. “A competitor continually sets new goals. He feels the need to keep raising the bar. If the first goal is to make the team, and he achieves it; he immediately sets the goal to : I want to be a starter. - Pat Summitt

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NO DISPARITY BETWEEN SHORT-TERM AND LONG TERM PRINCIPLES Good governance and ethics need to be woven into the organization's DNA right from the word go! This is not something taken up as a badge of honour post achieving substantial success, as then being honest may not cost much to the organization. Organizations that are at the zenith today did not begin their game this way that is by compromising with their ethics in the beginning and post being well-established taking up an ethical stand to flash as a badge of honour. On the contrary these organizations were fair in their dealings right from the first day they set up their shops; and have been persistently maintaining their ethical standards until today when they have carved a niche for themselves. It is their fairness demonstrated through thick-and-thin that has earned them their awesome reputation. In a nutshell, there need to be ironclad standards of ethics that should not be violated however challenging the circumstances may be. “Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do. - Potter Stewart

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PROFIT IS THE COST OF STAYING IN BUSINESS As an entrepreneur, it is the surplus profit that one has generated - after fulfilling all the obligations towards the stakeholders - that enables one to equip one's business for unforeseen eventualities. It is this surplus profit that provides the freedom to – innovate and indulge in creative destruction; envision future needs of customers and; create systems and processes to design and make products that will help one remain the market leader even when the preferences of the customers may change. Always keep in mind that the huge profits that today's systems and processes generate are no guarantee of an equally profitable tomorrow. Therefore, a wise entrepreneur will always re-invest some of his profit to innovate and ensure that his company is not relegated to the status of a white elephant in the future. “In the end, all business operations can be reduced to three words: people, product and profits. - Lee Iacocca

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