For successful entrepreneurs, the mantra is ‘Believe, Build, Become’

It was three Bs that dominated this year’s TiE Chennai’s conference, be it the awards ceremony or the day-long discussions.

As Raju Venkatraman, TiECon 2013 Chairman, pointed out, even the winners had been selected with the Bs in mind.

Now the Bs – Believe. Build. Become. That was the theme of the conference itself, capturing three essential stages in an entrepreneur’s journey. First the belief in oneself and one’s idea. Then building the business. And, finally becoming something big.

If it was Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev in conversation with Subroto Bagchi of MindTree that was the highlight of last year’s TiECon, it was the keynote address by former India Davis Cup tennis player and now television commentator Vijay Amritraj that held centre stage at this year’s edition.

High stakes game

Even last year there was a session that featured three sportspersons in a panel discussion. That makes one wonder what is common between sportspersons and entrepreneurs. Quite a lot, it appears. For both, it is a high stakes game. One that requires a lot of fire in the belly, pride and belief in one’s ability, team work and that determination to succeed against all odds.

A point that Vijay Amritraj made quite eloquently, during his nearly 45-minute session. He narrated an incident from his own career to drive home the message that if one wants to succeed, one has to fight against all odds. Towards the end of his career, representing India in a Davis Cup match against Argentina in Delhi, against a much younger opponent, Vijay recalled how he went back on to the court against the advice of all concerned, came back from nowhere to win the match and take India into the finals.

“Every challenge is an opportunity and pressure is a privilege,” Vijay told the assembled entrepreneurs, “not all of us are put in that situation of trying desperately to do the impossible.”

Sachin & Mental strength

Prakash Iyer, Managing Director, Kimberly-Clark Lever Pvt Ltd and author of The Habit of Winning, made the same point during the awards presentation function. He recalled Navjot Sidhu’s remarks after a test match between India and Pakistan in Sialkot. A still-in-the-teens Sachin Tendulkar was hit on his face by a Waqar Younis lifter and when he was pressed by Sidhu and the team physio to go back to the dressing room and get his bloodied nose treated, Sachin said with bloody resolve mein kheloonga (I will play). He went on to score 57 valuable runs. What separates champions from ordinary mortals isn’t just talent, but attitude and mental strength, Iyer said.

There will be times when you feel it is time to quit and things aren’t going too well and you will say those two words that Sachin uttered and continue, Iyer told the gathering.

He also gave the example of Hasil Adkins, a one-man band who would play the guitar and the drums and sing. A young Adkins heard a music album on radio and when the jockey announced simply that it was Hank Williams, Adkins was awestruck. One man singing and playing numerous instruments all by himself? wondered Adkins.

So, Iyer said, Adkins wanted to emulate Hank Williams and trained to sing and play different instruments. Adkins would play rock ‘n roll, country music… Something similar to what entrepreneurs do when they start a venture – play various roles. “What we achieve in life is limited only by what we believe,” Iyer told the entrepreneurs.

This is more or less what Vijay conveyed the next morning, when he referred to a plaque he had seen in astronaut Buzz Aldrin’s house where he had gone to the interview the second man to set foot on the moon. The plaque had an inscription that read: “Who says sky is the limit when I left my footprints on the moon.”

“Believe in your strengths. Build. And be patient.” This was Iyer’s message to the entrepreneurs.

The young entrepreneurs got more valuable tips from Mallika Srinivasan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Tractors and Farm Equipment, who was given the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Srinivasan said entrepreneurs should know when and what to delegate. For instance, she said, all pricing decisions should be taken by the entrepreneur. Only an entrepreneur will know how to price a product, how to position it in relation to the second product and so on. She referred to the commonly used acronym VUCA, which stood for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. Instead, entre- preneurs should think of it as Vision, Understanding, Clarity and Agility.

Srinivasan said she had grown up in an era where a collegial atmosphere prevailed among the business families of Chennai. A word of advice from an elder here or a suggestion there… This, unfortunately, had gone missing.

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>ramakrishnan.n@thehindu.co.in