MKG - United Nations & The Metropolitan Museum of Art

MKG as an Entrepreneur

Roshan D’suza and Hari Chava from the Indian School of Business www.isb.edu visited me last Sunday; they are a part of the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club. We met to share my thoughts on entrepreneurship and journey so far as they plan to publish this interview in their newsletter. We explored, discussed and shared for over 90 minutes.

One question got me thinking and I wished to share the same:

Roshan : If you could talk to one person from history, who would it be and why?

Birad: Mahatma Gandhi is one person who has influenced me through his story. My latest book is a pictorial journey of his life. One thing that struck me about MKG was that he would have made a great entrepreneur, thankfully for all of us; he realized he had greater things to achieve.

Why MKG would have made a great entrepreneur:

1. He was a phenomenal brand manager: Observe any picture of his and you would see only one man without a shirt standing in the midst of clothed people. In 1930 he moved 300 Million people towards a single goal of Swaraj; very few people have had such an impact on such a large number of people.
2. He was an extremely smart negotiator: He used the conscience of his opponent as an ally; however you can do that only if you are morally right.
3. He was an excellent strategist: He knew how to derive optimum benefit out of a situation and leveraged that to the maximum benefit of society.
4. His capacity to raise funds was legendary.
5. His ethics can be lessons in management.
6. His style of communication was simple and effective
7. His perseverance to a goal was unshakable.
8. Failure was never a deterrent for him.
9. His ability to delegate the right job to the right people.

His life is a must read for every budding entrepreneur.

Point number 8 – Failure was never a deterrent is significant; the fear of failure is the single largest reason why most of the graduating students around the world avoid becoming entrepreneurs, we all grow up in a society that looks down upon failure, its time we explore the success of failure as it’s usually the reason behind Success.

……. Get this t-shirt … if I recall an ISB alumina 2010 is an entrepreneur and in the business of branded clothing.

Satyagraha an opera

Satyagraha is an opera in three acts for orchestra, chorus and soloists, composed by Philip Glass, with a libretto by Glass and Constance de Jong. The opera is loosely based on the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi, and is the second part of Glass's "Portrait Trilogy" of operas about men who changed the world, which also includes Einstein on the Beach and Akhnaten. Philip Glass's style can broadly be described as minimalist, but the music in Satyagraha is somewhat more expansive than is implied by that label.

The title of the opera refers to Gandhi's concept of non-violent resistance to injustice, Satyagraha, and the text, from the Bhagavad Gita, is sung in the original Sanskrit.

Satyagraha was commissioned by the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, and was first performed at the Stadsschouwburg (Municipal Theatre) there on September 5, 1980 by the Netherlands Opera and the Utrecht Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Keene.

Philip Glass website

A review from The Sunday times
A mere 27 years after its world premiere in Rotterdam, Philip Glass’s Gandhi opera Satyagraha has finally been staged in London. It has taken the sixtieth anniversary of Indian independence, a co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, and substantial support from Sky Arts (which dedicates an evening to Glass next Saturday) to bring it about. On the first night, standing ovations greeted the 70-year-old composer as he took his bow.
Full review