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.