Anil Ambani Convocation Address @ ISB'04

I have the rare privilege and honour of being part of two convocation functions on the same day. What I thought was that I will not talk about leadership or leadership styles because over the last one year as you have been through the program, you have had enough of showcasing of everything that potentially I learnt, and that, you have learnt at businessschool.It really is a strong endorsement to the fact that just 125 years ago, Sarojini Naidu, one of our greatest leaders, orator, poetess, was born in Hyderabad,in 1879, had to travel to Madras to pursue her school education. Therewas no education infrastructure in Hyderabad at that time. But, today of course, amongst many things, Hyderabad also boasts of ISB.This then takes my thoughts to women in business and politics. Sarojini Naidu played a key role in the freedom movement of the country. And today, in a vast number of states we have had women Chief Ministers.We have had women Prime Ministers, not only in India but, even in Egypt.Then why is it that we do not have them well represented in thecorporate world . And, it starts with the fact that we do not have enough women entering business schools. I was looking at the statistics which showed that close to 17% of the graduating class today comprises of women. Let’s just compare this to a lesser known school called Harvard. In the class of 2005,more than 35% of the graduating class is women. More than double and,the class size is much much larger than where we are today. I said, a lesserknown school called Harvard, primarily because, I believe, Rajat comes from Harvard and I come from a better known school called Wharton.
So, I clearly believe that women, and especially young women have a verylarge responsibility and have to aim for the future.The second thought that really struck me was, the power of youth. It isthe young power of India that has really put India on the global map. Whenwe talk about IT and IT enabled services, the average age of the peoplewho are serving that sector is 26. Why is it that the best and the brightestof our people don’t want to join politics? Is that changing?And, I feel that it is changing. Let’s take a look at newer entrances to Parliament. Sachin Pilot, a Wharton MBA, Omar Abdullah, Jyotiraditya Scindia, an MBA from Stanford. These are all people who are turning to politics. And maybe their fathers have been in politics so they are turning to it but after their education, they really had the choice of every possible alternate career they could think of.And why do we need young blood in politics? I recently looked at the Lok Sabha website, 72% of the members of Lok Sabha are over the age of 50. More than 50% are over the age of 60. More than 25% are even older. Let’s contrast that with 75% of our population really being under the age of 40. And as all of us put our heads together, we are talking abouteffectively running organisations in the future. Can all of us really excel in what we are doing? But we don’t have an inducive, vital and a booming external environment. So, can we truly grow? Can we truly evolve simultaneously both internally and externally? In this case, internally I mean,institutions, organisations, companies and corporations and externally, I am referring to our political environment. I do see this as a challenge thatall of us will have to face.
If there was one thing I would like to do with the advancement of technology, is to rewind, and instead of graduating in 1982 from Wharton, graduatein 2004 with all of you. The world has changed and so has India. Theopportunities and linked with them, the challenges, the threats are sodifferent that I could not have imagined in my wildest imagination, whenI graduated from Wharton that this is where our country is really goingto be. So, I believe, that all of you are very privileged children of godthat you are here at one of the most exciting times that this country hasseen and India is clearly on its way to gain its rightful place of being an economic superpower. All of you are already armed with a lot of detailed understanding and a lot of management and organisational techniques thatare really needed in the new world. But let me make a few observations.
Compared to the past, all of you will live much longer. This is the contribution of rapid progress made by science and so all of you are going to have a much longer working life. Also, you are living in a borderless,seamless techno world where opportunities really know no boundaries.This is the era of intellectual capital. Intellectual capital is king. And with these challenges and these new evolutions what you should be ready with is, competition, at the individual level, at the family level, at the institutionallevel, at the country level and this is no longer local, global or regional.The longer working life, will also mean that career planning and choiceswill have to be made many times as you grow 70 and 80. So, I don’t believe, that there is going to be retirement at 50 or 55. This means that skills will get redundant extremely fast and they will have to be replaced as quickly. This will undoubtedly put tremendous pressure on each one of us. Lifestyle change, faster pace of living puts tremendous pressure on individuals and creates both constructive and destructive tension leading to high stress. So the importance of mental and physical fitness and a balanced life, I think, will also be extremely important. I would really be failing in my comments today, if I didn’t share with you what I call, “Conversations with Dhirubhai”. Because if it was not for him,his vision, his commitment and his dreams, Reliance, my brother Mukesh and I would not have existed.
I recall, it was 13th of December 1982, when I landed back in Bombay,now Mumbai, after graduating from Wharton. I ran through some summer school, summer program and graduated in 14-15 months. Though I wasclass of 1983, I graduated actually in 1982. So on arrival, when I met him,I told him, look dad I have become an MBA and am just going to takea break as I have really worked hard. He said to me, I am very happy,I am delighted that you have accomplished this. But since I didn’t go to any formal school or college and I don’t have any degree, why don’t you tell me from your learnings at Wharton, what does an MBA stand for?I thought that’s a rather simple and easy question. It’s Master of Business Administration. He said in his imitable style, his interpretation of an MBA was ‘Mane badhu avde chhe’. Literally meaning , ‘I am know all, I know everything’. He said, you are entering India and you need to Indianise your MBA. I said, fine, I am going to work here and naturally that should not be a very big issue.He said, did they at Wharton school teach you of custom duties? About excise duties? About income tax? About sales tax? About Parliament? AndI see in the audience, a former member of the Parliament, Shri. Kamal Choudhary, whom my father knew well. And he said, do you know what is the zero hour question? What is the call in attention motion? What is the starred and unstarred question? He said, if you don’t get to know all these things, let me assure you that all your formal education is not really going to help you. You need your practical Indian MBA and I am going to go and create that environment for you so that you can get that.He then went on to ask me, saying, tell me as you are a fresh MBA, just entering corporate life, what is the definition of a leader? I said, I have really forgotten all my books back at Philadelphia and I have really no interest today to talk about theoretical definitions. He said, no, it’s pretty easy for you if you just admit that you don’t know what the definition is. I said to him, okay, let’s assume that I don’t know the definition, why don’t you tell me since you have all the answers to everything, what is a leader?
He said, in his very simplistic style, “A leader is a person who can attract
followers, if you think you are a leader, please look back when you are walking. If there is nobody following you, you are not a leader of any type”.Very simplistic but very deep rooted meaning.
He then went on to say, you are entering Reliance. I am the trustee of over lakhs of individual shareholders, who are the real owners of Reliance. Anil,you have really a choice. You have a choice to demand respect or youhave a choice to command respect, you choose. You can demand respect being an ‘Ambani’, you are ‘Dhirubhai’s son’, so people will have to listento what you say. Or, you can command respect on the basis of your skills set, your attitude, your upbringing, and your knowledge on issues. And that is what will carry people with you. But you still have that choice to make as you enter corporate life. And I would highly recommend to you that you command respect rather than demand respect. These were very simplistic messages to me. But given to me more than 25 years ago are still very deep in my mind, in my heart, in my soul.I asked him, everybody tells me that your father is a great visionary, can you explain to me, what do you think is your definition of a visionary? He looked at me and said, I don’t even know if you will understand what I am going to say because you are an MBA, and I am a MABF. I looked at him with some puzzlement and said, I have heard of FRCS, MBBS,MBA, B.Com, B.A, LLB, but, I have never heard of MABF, what is that degree? As I was aware that he had no degree. He said, it was ‘Matric Appeared But Failed’.
He then went on to say, Anil, I am very very grateful to god. He was a very strong believer in god. God has been very kind to me and he has given me the power and the ability to dream. But, this difference between your dreaming and my dreaming, is very simple. Everyone of us dreams but there is a small difference between the way we dream. God has given me the power to dream with my eyes open. Dreaming with my eyes open I have a better chance than you to convert my dreams into a reality. For you dream with your eyes closed, you have a lesser chance to make it into reality but a higher chance to convert it into a nightmare. He said, everybody talks about ‘Karma’ and everybody talks about destiny but let me tell you that destiny, fate is not a matter only of chance, it is also a matter of choice. And in my father’s words, for all of you and for all of us in India, I believe, that if you can dream it, you can do it.
Thank you.

IIT Convocation Address by Azim H Premji

This is one of the most inspiring speeches I ever heard. It is a wonderful amalgamation of all ingredients essential for a beautiful and successful life. Many will be aware of it, but this speech should be read by almost everybody. And so I am posting it here. Please put your thoughts too on this as Comments. Here we go:
IIT Convocation Address by Azim H Premji, Chairman, Wipro Technologies
I am privileged to be with you here today and to share this significant moment of your life.
The convocation marks the culmination of all the endless nights you worked through, all the anxieties you have gone through facing one examination after another and all the preparation you have put in, not only to enter this prestigious institution but also to graduate from it successfully. It is no mean achievement.Only a handful of the most talented people in the world have shared this success with you.Let me just say that I am very proud of each and every one of you. I am a little wary about giving you advice-because advice is one thing young people all over the world do not like receiving. I cannot fault you for that. The world does look very different when it is seen with your eyes. You are filled with enthusiasm and are straining at the leash to get on with life.And the world is very different from what it waswhen I was at your age. Never before has the role of technology been so pervasive and so central. The Internet has breached all physical borders and connected the world together like noother force has done before. For the first time, opportunities for creating wealth in India are at par with the best in world. There is no need for you to sacrifice the joy of remaining in your own country any more.
All opportunities are accompanied by their own challenges. I thought I would share with you a few of the lessons I have learnt in my own life, while loading the transformation at Wipro, from a small company three and a half decades back into a global corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange. I hope you find them useful.
Lesson # 1: Dare to dream
When I entered Wipro at the age of 21, it was a sudden and unexpected event. I had no warning of what lay ahead of me and I was caught completely unprepared. All I had with me was a dream. A dream of building a great Organization. It compensated for my inexperience and I guess, also prevented me from being overwhelmed by the enormity of the task before me. What I am happy is that we never stopped dreaming. Even when we achieved a position of leadership in every business we operated in India. We now have a dream of becoming one of the top 10 global it service companies.
Many people wonder whether having unrealistic dreams is foolish. My reply to that is dreams by themselves can never be realistic or safe. If they were, they would not be dreams. I do agree that one must have strategies to execute dreams. And, of course, one must slog to transform dreams into reality. But dreams come first. What saddens me most is to see young, bright people getting completely disillusioned by a few initial setbacks and slowly turning cynical and some of them want to migrate to America in the hope this is the solution. It requires courage to keep dreaming. And that is when dreams are most needed- not when everything is going right, but when just about everything is going wrong.

Lesson # 2: Define what you stand for
While success is important, it can become enduring only if it is built on a strong foundation of Values. Define what you stand for as early as possible and do not compromise with it for any reason. Nobody can enjoy the fruits of success if you have to argue withyour own conscience. In Wipro, we defined our Beliefs long before it became a fashion to do so. It not only helped us in becoming more resilient to stand up to crises we faced along the way, but it also helped us in attracting the right kind of people. Eventually, we realized that our values made eminent business sense. Values help in clarifying what everyone should do or not do in any business situation. It saves enormous time and effort because each issue does not have to be individually debated at length.
But remember that values are meaningful only if you practice them. People may listen to what you say but they will believe what you do. Values are a matter of trust. They must be reflected in each one of your actions. Trust takes a long time to build but can be lost quickly by just one inconsistent act.

Lesson #3: Never lose your zest and curiosity
All the available knowledge in the world is accelerating at a phenomenal rate. The whole world’s codified knowledge base (all documented information in library books and electronic files) doubled every 30 years in the early 20th century. By the 1970s, the world’s knowledge base doubled every seven years. Information researchers predict that by the year 2010, the world’s codified knowledge will double every 11 hours. Remaining on top of what you need to know will become one of the greatest challenges for you.
The natural zest and curiosity for learning is one of the greatest drivers for keeping updated on knowledge. A child’s curiosity is insatiable because every new object is a thing of wonder and mystery. The same zest is needed to keep learning new things. I personally spend at least ten hours every week on reading. If I do not do that, I find myself quickly outdated.

Lesson # 4: Always strive for excellence
There is a tremendous difference between being good and being excellent in whatever you do. In the world of tomorrow, just being good is not good enough. One of the greatest advantages of globalization is that it has brought in completely different standards. Being the best in the country is not enough; one has to be the best in the world. Excellence is a moving target. One has to constantly raise the bar. In the knowledge-based industries, India has the unique advantage of being a quality leader. Just like Japan was able to win in the overseas market with its quality leadership in automobile manufacturing, India has been able to do the same in information technology. t Wipro, we treat quality as the #1 priority. This enabled us not only to become the world’s first SEI CMM Level 5 software services company in the world but also a leader in Six Sigma approach to quality in India.

Lesson # 5: Build self-confidence
Self-confidence comes from a positive attitude even in adverse situations. Self-confident people assume responsibility for their mistakes and share credit with their team members.
They are able to distinguish between what is in their control and what is not. They do not waste their energies on events that are outside their control and hence they can take setbacks in their stride. Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Lesson # 6: Learn to work in teams
The challenges ahead are so complex that no individual will be able to face them alone. While most of our education is focused in individual strength, teaming with others is equally important. You cannot fire a missile from a canoe. Unless you build a strong network of people with complimentary skills, you will be restricted by your own limitations.Globalization has brought in people of different origin, different upbringing and different cultures together. Ability to become an integral part of a cross-cultural team will be a must for your success.

Lesson # 7: Take care of yourself
The stress that a young person faces today while beginning his or her career is the same as the last generation faced at the time of retirement.I have myself found that my job has become enormously more complex over the last two or three years. Along with mutual alertness, physical fitness will also assume a great importance in your life.
You must develop your own mechanism for dealing with stress. I have found that a daily jog for me, goes a long way in releasing the pressure and building up energy. You will need lots of energy to deal with the challenges. Unless you take care of yourself there is no way you can take care of others.

Lesson # 8: Persevere
Finally, no matter what you decide to do in your life, you must persevere. Keep at it and you will succeed, no matter how hopeless it seems at times. In the last three and half decades, we have gone through many difficult times. But we have found that if we remain true to what we believe in, we can surmount every difficulty that comes in the way. Perseverance can make miracles happen.

Lesson # 9: Have a broader social vision
For decades we have been waiting for some one who will help us in ‘priming the pump’ of the economy.The government was the logical choice for doing it, but it was strapped for resources. Other countries were willing to give us loans and aids but there was a limit to this.
In the millennium of the mind, knowledge-based industries like Information Technology are in a unique position to earn wealth from outside. While earning is important, we must have mechanisms by which we use it for the larger good of our society.

Through the Azim Premji Foundation, we have targeted over the next 12 months to enroll over a million children, who are out of school due to economic or social reasons.I personally believe that the greatest gift one can give to others is the gift of education. We who have been so fortunate to receive this gift know how valuable it is.
Lesson # 10: Never let success go to your head
No matter what we achieve, it is important to remember that we owe this success to many factors and people outside us. This will not only help us in keeping our sense of modesty and humility intact but also help us to retain our sense of proportion and balance. The moment we allow success to build a feeling or arrogance, we become vulnerable to makin bad judgments.

If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group of business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high-powered overachievers he said, Okay, time for a quiz.
Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, Is this jar full? Everyone in the class said, Yes.

Then he said, “Really?” He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, Is the jar full? By this time the class was on to him. Probably not, one of them answered.

Good he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, Is this jar full? No the class shouted.

Once again he said, Good. Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, What is the point of this illustration? One eager beaver raised his hand and said, The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it. No, the speaker replied, that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.

What are the big rocks in your life? Time with your loved ones? faith, education, your dreams? A worthy cause? Teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all.
So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on this short story, ask yourself this question: What are the big rocks in my life?

Then, put those in your jar first.

Sand and Stone

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE

windoW

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man had said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man could not hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head: Why should hehave all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn't seem fair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - and that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence--deathly silence.

The following morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendant to take it away--no words, no fuss. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

Moral of the story:
The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice...it is a positive attitude we consciously choose to express. It is not a gift that gets delivered to our doorstep each morning, nor does it come through the window. And I am certain that our circumstances are just a small part of what makes us joyful. If we wait for them to get just right, we will never find lasting joy.

The pursuit of happiness is an inward journey. Our minds are like programs, awaiting the code that will determine behaviors; like bank vaults awaiting our deposits. If we regularly deposit positive, encouraging, and uplifting thoughts, if we continue to bite our lips just before we begin to grumble and complain, if we shoot down that seemingly harmless negative thought as it germinates, we will find that there is much to rejoice about.

Life’s problems

Once a professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see; asked the students,
“How much do you think this glass weighs?’50gms!’?…’100gms!….’125gms’ ….
The students answered, “I really don’t know unless I weigh it.”

The professor said, ‘now, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?’
‘Nothing’ the students said.
“OK what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?” the professor asked.
“Your arm would begin to ache” said one of the students.
“You’re right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?”
“Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis; have to go to hospital for sure! Ventured another student”, all the students laughed.

“Very good! But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?” asked the professor.
“No” was the reply of all the students

“Then what caused the arm to ache; the muscle to stress?” After a pause the professor asked “Before my arm ache what should I do?”

The students were puzzled. “Put the glass down!” said one of the students.

“Exactly!” said the professor, “Life’s problems are exactly like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head; they seem OK. Think of them for a long time; they begin to ache. Hold it even longer; they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.” It’s important to think of the challenges (problems) in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANT to ‘put them down’ at the end of every day before you go to sleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh; strong; can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!
Remember friends to…. PUT THE GLASS DOWN EVERYDAY!