The Hindu Business Line : Simple lessons of success

RESPONDING TO MAILS, text messages, sending out simple thank you messages are little acts of kindness. These simple acts define your personality and get noticed. And the more successful you are, the more difficult it is to find time to do simple things regularly and consistently.

Management students and young executives have role models. They are people who are visible, successful and iconic even. And not all of them need to be film stars like Brad Pitt or cricketers like Rahul Dravid. It is people like N. R. Narayana Murthy, the Ambani brothers, Vijay Mallya, Sunil Mittal and Kishore Biyani who matter to today's young Indians, who could well be tomorrow's leaders. Young Indians admire their achievements, carefully study their actions and secretly yearn to be like them.

And yet, when you are just starting out on a career selling detergents or credit cards even to aspire to reach the level of many of these leaders seems a distant dream and on occasion a pipe dream even. Why is this? The reason for that is simple. Every day, these iconic leaders smile at you from the business pages of English newspapers. Their photos are frequently plastered on the cover pages of business magazines. Their family pictures feature in lifestyle media. Their wealth is widely reported and often envied. And every business television channel features their sound bytes. Quickly, naturally and (almost too) easily they assume a larger than life status . This seems quite unreachable to ordinary mortals like you and me. After all, we do not have talented PR professionals (or is it spin doctors) advocating our merits to the media. And yet, I have a contrarian view. While there is no denying the capability or visibility of these giants of Indian industry, we might wish to analyse these successful brands (as they are precisely that) instead of being overawed by them. So what makes these people tick? And more significantly, what can we learn from them that can be internalised and become a part of our persona as well.

Simple things done consistently

Reams have been written about Glenn McGrath's bowling ability. What makes him the most successful fast bowler of all time? It is his consistency and phenomenal ability to land the kookaburra in the same zone ball after ball, over after over, match after match.

It's not a one-off surprise. It depresses opposing batsmen whether it was Mike Atherton or Brian Lara then or Alastair Cook now, and thrills his captain whether it was Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh then or Ricky Ponting now. And it is this consistency that sets him apart.

Let's digress a little to the world of brands. Why do people prefer brands? It is for their consistency. A can of Pepsi tastes the same wherever it is consumed. A spoon of Kissan jam will taste the same whether it is consumed in Kashmir or Kanyakumari. Personal brands have the same consistency in their behaviour and actions. Let me give you some real live examples of these celebrities, which will quickly demonstrate that you and I can get there too, at least on a few critical characteristics.

Be responsive

Usually, one of the characteristics of really successful people is that they are almost inaccessible. They never ever respond to messages unless they want to. They are forever travelling or in board meetings. They also have ogres who double up as secretaries. And as we move up the corporate ladder, we think that these are the traits of success. Hardly. I have talked about this before and written about it as well, but it is still worth repeating.

A couple of years ago, the IIM fee imbroglio was creating waves and needless controversy. Everybody who was involved — and many who were not — had a point of view including the IIM-B alumni association. The alumni association, which I was a part of, felt it was necessary to express its solidarity and support to the board members of all the six IIMs. They were probably around 80 of them (though I must confess that my memory has been increasingly treacherous) and we sent out individual letters to all the directors. Our eloquence, probably, was found wanting as we got one solitary reply. No prizes for guessing that the person who wrote back was N.R. Narayana Murthy in his capacity as Chairman of the Board of IIM Ahmedabad. A simple act you say.

To me these simple acts define your personality and get noticed. And the more successful you are, the more difficult it is to find time to do simple things regularly and consistently.

Responding to mails, text messages, sending out simple thank you messages for little acts of kindness... Another example, not surprisingly, from Infosys is that of Nandan Nilekani. Nandan has an amazing ability to respond to e-mails. Despite his phenomenal and extensive travel, he still finds the time to respond promptly. Even a one-liner, but a response nevertheless.

How do these movers and shakers manage to do something that people who are far less successful than them are unable to? They have got it into their style of functioning. They have internalised it. T

hey manage their time better. And they have realised that simple courtesies matter. And are remembered. Like the former Vice-President (VP) of OBM (as it was called then) who sadly is no more. He was the head of the Chennai (Madras) office.

That was a big job in the 1980s. In the 1980s most certainly, and probably even today, media representatives or space sellers were not respected, often bullied and quite often treated badly. (Agencies get treated so badly by their clients that they returned the favour to unsuspecting media reps).

And yet, this senior VP would treat even the lowliest media rep so well that he would be floored. Imagine the VP of the large agency escorting you to the lift! Simple? Basic? Yes, but do you and I do these simple, basic things? Not me maybe you!

So what's in it for me?

All around us are examples of success and failure. Success is what we want.

And yet there is a price to be paid for this. More so for those who wish to emulate it.

The starting point is observation. Keep your eyes and ears open. Absorb the good habits that you see.

Internalise them. Practice them and some day someone will perhaps write a column about how a simple thing you did, a basic courtesy you extended and describe it as something earth shattering. Your time will come, but remember your time starts now.

(The writer is CEO of Brand-comm)

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