Optimism & Resolve
Chances are that when you decide to share your views or unveil your
grand designs to pursue against the odds or in contrast to conventions, there
are likely to be more naysayers or pessimists lining up questions and casting
doubts than supporters who earnestly offer gesture towards willingness to
assist. So to begin with it is better to be an eternal optimist than look for
affirmations and reassurances. As a caveat, although not all optimist ends up a
success, chances are that if you are an optimist, success will eventually
follow.
The classic case of an optimist is Colonel Harland Sanders, who was
fired from a variety of jobs throughout his career before he first started
cooking chicken in the 1930s when he was 40 years old, that too during the Great
Depression. However, in the 1950s the Colonel was forced to close his business
and retire, being almost penniless, but not without hope, surviving on only his
$105 monthly pension check. He didn’t give up, and was rejected more than 1,000
times before finally finding his first partner. His optimism and resolve allowed
him to franchise Kentucky Fried Chicken when he was 62, and become an
international icon after he sold his company at 75.
Calmness & Passion
As anyone with many responsibilities to fulfil and roles to play
understands, things eventually will go wrong, and you will be reminded of the
Murphy's law and dread over it, whilst being in the centre of the storm, with
expectations and may be employees , looking upon you to pull you out of this
trouble. So at this time it is important to stay calm, and although a tornado
might be wrecking up your confidence inside, it is pivotal to hold the fort in
front of those that matter and be calm - easier said than done though - and at
least masquerade to be in control, and be so self confident or even ignorant
enough that you are sure that you will get out of this, even if it takes all
that you have.
Calmness and passion is epitomized by Mr Elon Musk who made $180 million
when PayPal was acquired by eBay in 2002. He invested $90 million into SpaceX and
Tesla, but the company as yet were only losing money. In 2008 all felt lost
when SpaceX's Falcon 1 rocket failed for the third time, and Tesla almost went
bankrupt two days before Christmas.
Mr Elon Musk didn’t mean to go down without a fight nor did he show the
real trouble he was in, but now he only had about $40 million left. So he made
a prudent, well thought out, yet hard decision to put in all his money into the
companies to make sure it doesn’t die as he believed in himself and the
company. Furthermore, now Mr Musk got divorced and had to borrow money from his
friends to pay his rent. Today both his company, although still fledgling as per its potential wonders,
is one of the most recognised and Mr Elon Musk’s personal wealth is estimated
to be $22 billion approximately. He has already started tests for a trip to
Mars.
Innovative
& Prudent
Complacency and lethargy has brought great colossus to their knees.
Those who refused to shift their emphasis from their core area of expertise or
deviate from their beloved product or brand that has paved their way to the top
could see a cascading descent to the bottom with enterprising and innovative
entities taking over by beating the established behemoths at their game, just
played with updated, more flexible rules enabled by technology and inspired
ideas of that eureka moment ilk to push aside the status quo.
The pulsating power of innovation is illustrated by the success of the Pulsar
brand of motorcycles by
Bajaj, headed by Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, and
salvaged by Abraham Joseph, now the company’s Chief Technology Officer. The mid-90s also witnessed a major shift in the preference of Indian
consumers from the trusted scooters to the masculine motorcycles. By 1999,
motorcycles had overtaken scooter sales for the first time in the country.
Bajaj Auto was caught in a flux and the company was no longer number 1 but was now
relegated to the 4th spot behind Hero Honda, Yamaha and TVS Suzuki.
The Pulsar not only transformed the way Indians commuted, but also
changed the DNA of the country’s second-largest two-wheeler maker that till
then had been successful but was stuck in the glory of their past laurels like
the blockbuster scooter, Chetak.
Other than priming Bajaj to be a major player again in the booming
segment, and transforming Bajaj Auto into a respected maker of motorcycles, the
Pulsar did plenty more for Bajaj from a branding, reinvigorating an
unimaginative delivery line and advertising standpoint. Pulsar was not just a
bike for Bajaj Auto. It was a do or die product. It was one single product that
virtually saved the company.
