Friday 19 August 2011

DISCOVER THE DIAMOND IN YOU!


I  have often wondered about that one secret potion that can turn any human into a success icon, perhaps a leader who gets counted as motivational & successful real-life tale that generations continue to talk about. Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri, our Group Editor-in-Chief, in his best-seller ‘Discover the diamond in you’, puts it as the 9Ps of success (Passion, Positive Energy, Performance, Perseverance, Personality, People Skills, Perspective, Principles & Patriotism). Lee Iacocca, The father of the Ford Mustang, on the other hand, through his book titled ‘Where Have All the Leaders Gone?’, lays out his cards in the form of the 9Cs (Curiosity, Creative, Communicate, Character, Courage, Conviction, Charisma, Competent & Commonsense). But what if I were to choose one of them all? We could play with permutations and combinations, but let  us keep it simple. Add up the 4th P (Perseverance) and the 4th C (Character – described by Iacocca as the fire in your belly and the real want to get something done) and you end up with two words – Hard Work. This is ‘the’ ultimate secret to discovering the diamond in you.

Even passionate people fail – whether entrepreneurs or hired managers. But those who continue working hard – sans fear of making new mistakes – are those who become motivational parables. This is what makes a true CEO. A successful leader leads by example – by working harder than the pack. Why? They know that with hard work, everything can be worked upon. Your personality, your people skills, your emotions and even the energy inside you – everything can change. 

Steve Jobs is a CEO whose name-calling we relish while describing a success icon. His return to Apple in late-1997 made possible innovations that continue to inspire billions around the world. Since his second term began at Apple as its CEO, the company has added $361.45 billion to its shareholder wealth – a massive increase of 11,659.7% as of date. Many call his power to innovate in quick-time his strength. It wasn’t (and isn't still; forget about innovating, how easy is it to carry around a cancer-stricken pancreas and even think clearly?) It had to be incremental yet magical. And that meant toil. Here is what Steve Jobs once said when questioned about how he managed innovation at Apple – “You'd be surprised how hard people work around here. They work nights and weekends, sometimes not seeing their families for a while. Sometimes people work through Christmas to make sure the tooling is just right.” Obviously, even today, this 16-hours-a-day working CEO, despite being on his third medical leave, expects sweat and excellence from his folks at Apple. While talking about Jobs’ work habits, Terry Hou (Chairman and founder of the $37.64 billion-worth companies Hon Hai and Foxconn) said in a June 2011 shareholders' meeting in Taipei, "I have often asked myself if I would have worked as hard if I was as ill as Steve Jobs…I would have stayed home. But I am not Steve Jobs." Even Jobs’ old employees have sued him for making them work too hard. One instance being that of David Walsh who worked as a senior network engineer at Apple for 12 years until 2007. A year after he quit, Walsh filed a complaint in a district court in Southern California alleging that Jobs adds the “senior” tag to the titles of employees only to make them work harder. For that it does not pay overtime or give real promotions. Walsh claimed that he was made to work more than 8 hours a day and once every 6 weeks, for 7 continuous days, he would have to be on compulsory on-call duty 24x7. He demanded a class action lawsuit. The court dismissed his application [proving Jobs right in the process]. 

How did Alan Mulally turn around the worst affected automaker in Detroit into a $9.28 billion profit-maker (in 2009 & 2010)?  How did Jack Welch turn GE into the world’s most valuable company with a market value of $477.41 billion (when he left in 2001)? How did a poor-Chinese-boy-turned-billionaire-gentleman Li Ka-shing build the Hutchinson Whampoa & Cheung Kong empires out of a small plastic-making factory? Many examples, one answer – hard work. For Mulally, Welch and Ka-shing, from the day they began their careers or entrepreneurial venture, a “normal” day at work meant anywhere between 15-16 hours. It still does. And that is the secret which helped them discover and become the diamond they are today. And for those CEOs who desire to lead the best team in the world, all they require to do is lead by example and work harder than ever before. And others will follow. For this is how the parable of a "real diamond" reads.