The Hindu Business Line : Your career is not a sprint but a marathon

It is very easy to say that the circumstances were bad and, hence, you couldn't succeed, but it is your enthusiasm, energy and courage that will make you successful.

IN THE long run, it's energy that counts. — Vivek Bendre

What are the lessons I have leant from working for the past 20 years? What is it that my colleagues and I look for from people who join our firm as interns or chartered accountants?

Have Integrity

There is no question in my mind that the most important thing is integrity. It is a fundamental value. It is the ability to say no when you see something wrong and not getting tempted by temporary benefits. Without integrity you will inevitably slip, whether it is your business or whether you are working in a company or a partnership firm.

Work Hard

Chartered accountancy is the first real test of hard work. It is not easy to become a chartered accountant and if you think becoming one is hard work, it's only a start. Hard work is critical. No one has succeeded for a long time successively without putting in hard work. You may be very talented, you may have lot of luck and may succeed temporarily because of your past karma, but consistent hard work is required to be successful. Success is 99 per cent hard work and 1 per cent luck.

Respect Others' views

As you work in an organisation learn to respect other people's views. You may not agree with what the other person says, it may not be the right view but if you want to grow, you must hear people and their views. Else, people may not respect you. However senior you may be, people work for you only because you have ordered them to and not because they wish to work with you. Remember you are only as strong as the weakest link in your chain. So respect for people around you, both seniors and juniors, is vital. You will start your careers shortly. You will be at the bottom of the pyramid tomorrow but the day after you will become leaders. You will have to make sure that you adjust well with people and that you get the best out of people. Even if one person is left behind in a team, you will not be successful.

Your career is not a sprint but a marathon. You will need energy for the next 40 years of your life. Not all days will be good and sunny. If your energy and enthusiasm levels are good and it is cloudy, everything will turn out fine, and that is the true spirit of a successful human being. And for that you need the courage of a warrior. Courage to say, "No matter what, I will find the solution". It is very easy to say that the circumstances were bad and, hence, you couldn't succeed, but it is your enthusiasm, energy and courage that will make you successful. Courage comes from within. People can only motivate you only up to a point. They can lull you with big money, share their experience and inspire you a shade. But it is only you who have to motivate yourself.

Winning is not somebody else losing, it is your energy, integrity, hard work and courage that will make you successful. Courage is the most important. Courage to say no when something is wrong and the courage to stand up to the right thing. These are the core values that you imbibed from your parents, teachers and relative when you were small. As you grow, you tend to forget these things. You have to find it within yourselves. If you can find it you will become successful in whatever you do.

Have a Winning Culture

You must have a winning culture, whether as a group, individual or a team. A good example of this is the Australian cricket team. Winning culture in an organisation is the sustainable competitive advantage. Technology is not a sustainable competitive advantage, it can be bought. IPR is not a sustainable competitive advantage, it can be created.

But a winning culture can neither be bought nor created overnight. It is truly a sustainable competitive advantage. Think about that when you start your work a couple of years from now. And finally if you are successful, remember it will come with a lot of sacrifice.

It is lonely at the top

The road to success is lonely. At the top of the mountain you are alone and you have to pay the price with blood. It is painful but you have to go mentally behind that barrier if you want to win. Michael Schumacher is a superb example of someone who wants to win and is determined to win no matter what the circumstances are. But remember, at the top there is place for only one person. You will have certain doubts from time to time, but you will have to overcome them. No one will help you with that. Not your mother, not your father, not your wife not your husband. Those self-doubts have to be overcome by you. It is a lonely place.

There is only one Prime Minister of India. There is only one CEO of Infosys Technologies. There is only one Ratan Tata. And Ratan Tata had to take the important decision on the Corus deal all by himself. His advisors may have told him many things, but finally it was his call. The $12-billion decision was finally his to take, which, if it goes wrong, could significantly affect the Tata group.

So are you ready to make sacrifices to get successful? Are you ready to pay with blood and sweat? Because this is what is required in the journey to be successful.

Be a Nice person

But no matter whether you are successful or not, be a nice person. Because that is how people will remember you finally. And finally do try to make God a part of your daily life. No matter what you do, without God's grace it is really difficult

Good evening to you all. It is a great pleasure for me to be here this evening at the Prime Academy's Valedictory Day function. Today I am going to address you all on three issues. One, on what is happening at the global level; two, on what's happening in India; and, three, on what all this means to you when you become chartered accountants.

The world has never seen anything as dramatic and as fast as "change today". The changes that have happened in the last 100 years are equal to the changes that occurred in the last 2000 years. Electricity was discovered not so long ago and from then on literally everything on earth has changed.

The global scene: Look at how Russia opened up from being a communist economy and has transformed itself dramatically. Look at how Germany, destroyed at the end of World War II, through vision and hard work re-emerged as a strong nation. From production of cars and pharmaceuticals to playing football, Germany has come a long way. But today, a huge sense of pessimism prevails there. The economy is growing at only about 2 per cent. There are more old people than young, and because of regulations and certain other factors, scope for growth for the young has been limited.

Look at how the US is changing and because of the environment of continuous change and acceptance of change, the US has been the leading country for a long time. This is because they have the culture for rebuilding themselves and striving for more. But now even they are concerned because for every two jobs created in Infosys, TCS or Wipro, one job is possibly lost in the US. They are now branching out more into research and technology, creation of more IPRs and brands, in short further moving up the value chain to maintain their lead as the No. 1 economy of the world.

Finally, look at Cambodia and Vietnam. Twenty years of war has killed people over there. But now even they are growing. Companies such as Intel, Nike are setting up manufacturing plants in these countries providing that country with huge opportunities. This shows that during dark times, willpower and optimism help people come up. However, the one major dark spot today is Africa. But, in general what we see today is better than what prevailed a hundred years ago.

The Indian Picture: India's GDP is growing at 9 per cent net of inflation. About 2-3 per cent is contributed by agriculture. Services and industry are growing in double digits. This has not happened overnight and without effort. Back in 1991 our foreign exchange reserves were almost nil. The Government had to mortgage its gold reserves. But a lot of opportunity was created out of this situation when Dr Manmohan Singh (the then Finance Minister) and Mr Narasimha Rao (the then Prime Minister) used it to pave the way for the first generation of reforms. The pace of reforms was initially slow, but over the past few years we have been able to reap the benefits. And now India is moving on to buying overseas . Take the Tata Corus deal. An Indian company acquiring a global major is a paradigm shift. Over the past 12 months about 140 transactions of Indians buying overseas have taken place. India is the second largest investor in the UK. Liberalisation and reforms apart, it is people with aspiration, self-confidence, vision and the ability to execute who have contributed to the success. Reforms have been contextual but the aspiration, vision and confidence of Indians is the key to the success of India.

Infrastructure: A study shows that we could increase our GDP by at least 2 per cent if only we had better infrastructure such as roads, ports, power plants, water, sanitation, etc. The most important thing today for India to go forward is its infrastructure. As you progress on your careers, keep an eye on that.

Education: The next most important area is education. Unfortunately, the Government has not done enough for education. And, therefore, whatever little we can do for educating our colleagues and peers, especially in the rural sector, will help India grow really fast. When the IT sector took off, the difference between US and Indian salaries was about 1:15, so the labour arbitrage was fantastic. This has now shrunk to 1:6, which proves that salaries in India are growing rapidly. While it means a lot to you and me as our salaries go up, we must remember that we have a billion people and we must ask ourselves whether all the billion are employable in the role and in the capacity they should be? The answer is "No." There is a need to set up educational institutions both in the private and the public sectors to reach out to people all over the country.

Inclusive growth: When the UPA government came in, they came in with a theme of inclusive growth. People wanted to know what that was. Unless there is real growth in the rural economy, India cannot grow that fast. So when the reforms took place the idea was that there would be a trickle-down effect. But 15 years have shown that has not happened. It has shown that not only a pull factor from the top but also a push factor from the bottom is vital. And, therefore, I fully support inclusive growth, my organisation fully supports inclusive growth and you have to do more and more for the rural sector. Many governments have come and gone but they haven't done much for rural reforms. If we embark on labour reforms and get the supply chain in the rural sector going, then we can really grow the rural economy from 2 per cent to 4 per cent. And that growth will take India's GDP to 11 per cent or even to 12 per cent. It is vital as 60-65 per cent of our population are in the rural sector. If we can unleash this potential, imagine how much can be achieved. Inclusive growth is required, else the difference between the haves and have-nots will become so immense that it will create social unrest.

Best of luck

(Edited excerpts of a speech delivered by the author, who is National Director of Ernst & Young's India Tax Practice, at the Prime Academy, Chennai, on March 31.)

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