The Habit of Winning

by Prakash Iyer

  Walking a little farther, she saw another man, also breaking stones. ‘What are you doing?’ she asked him. ‘Me?’ he replied. ‘Oh, I am helping build the world’s tallest cathedral!’

  Think about it. Apply this analogy to your workplace. How do your colleagues in the organization perceive their roles? As mere stone breakers, or as the builders of the world’s tallest cathedral?

  Does your frontline salesperson see his role as just a ‘sales rep’? Or does he pride himself on being part of a world-class team that is aiming to be the best in the business? Does the woman in your front office see herself as just a ‘receptionist’? Or as the ambassador and the first point of contact of an organization that is aiming to be the best in the business? The difference in the way your frontline members—your ‘stone breakers’—think can spell the difference between a terrific organization and an ordinary one. It can mean the difference between achieving your vision or falling short of your targets.

  And how do successful leaders ensure that their organizations comprehend and share their vision? How do they get individuals to see their roles clearly as indispensable to a larger, grander plan?

  They do that by articulating a vision for the business. By spelling out a dream that the entire organization can identify with and relate to.

  They then make sure that every individual understands his role in helping the team realize that vision.

  And they also make sure that there is respect in the organization for every individual, for what he brings to the table. For his unique contribution in helping the organization realize its dream.

  Thus, every individual focuses not only on delivering the best in his assigned role but also on being a fruitful part of a larger winning team. And he basks in the glory of knowing that in his own way, he makes a difference.

  P.M. Sinha (popularly called ‘Suman’), former CEO of PepsiCo India, was a master at such vision sharing. He created what he called an upside-down organization. And his favourite slide in any presentation was the organization chart, which showed the frontline salesmen right on top, with the rest of the organization under them, supporting their efforts. The CEO was right at the bottom of that inverted pyramid, his role being to support the entire organization.

  There were other practices too that helped foster this culture of togetherness. There were no bosses or ‘Sirs’. Suman was called Suman by the entire team. Everyone wore identical shirts to work, with the Pepsi logo emblazoned on the pockets, right across their hearts. In every visit to the market, in every conference, Suman made sure that he projected his frontliners as his heroes. In fact, the Pepsi salesman was immortalized in a popular TV commercial featuring Sachin Tendulkar. Remember the genial sardarji scolding Sachin for smashing a ball into the windshield of his Pepsi truck, and then cooling down to say, ‘Oye, relax yaar … have a Pepsi!’?

  It isn’t surprising that Suman succeeded in creating a first-rate sales team, where every salesman and every route agent who drove a Pepsi truck saw himself as a hero, out on a battle, ready to kill the enemy (a.k.a. Coke) and make Pepsi the number one cola in the country. In fact, if you stopped a Pepsi truck and asked the salesman what he was doing, chances were high that he’d say he was helping Pepsi win the cola war. Not just ‘selling Pepsi’.

  Once, on a visit to the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, to review the progress on his grand vision of putting a man on the moon, charismatic American President John F. Kennedy saw a janitor eyeing him shyly. ‘What do you do here?’ J.F.K. asked her, to acknowledge her presence and strike up a conversation.

  Pushing her hair back with her hand, she replied: ‘I am helping America put a man on the moon.’

  Indeed, some time after Kennedy ‘shared’ his dream of putting a man on the moon, Neil Armstrong was taking ‘one small step for man, a giant leap for mankind’. And in India, Pepsi took on the world’s most valuable brand, and won.

  Behind these successes were armies of salesmen and janitors—stone breakers, if you please—who saw themselves as part of a larger mission. They saw themselves as builders of the world’s tallest cathedral, as people who were making a difference.

  And what a difference that made!

  ‘How do you and your colleagues in the organization perceive your roles? As stone breakers? Or as builders of the world’s tallest cathedral?’

  Climbing the Mountain

  Folks, it’s quiz time!

  If two people are trying to climb a mountain together, what’s the most important thing they need to get to the top? Is it equipment? Or training? Or teamwork? Or favourable weather conditions?

  Well, they need all of these for sure. But the most important thing is the mountain itself. They need a clear goal!

  Too often, we get obsessed with the equipment and the training but have no clear goals. The best mountain-climbing equipment is of little use if you don’t have a mountain to climb.

  We are all very fortunate. We have the most fabulous equipment there is. We have access to training. And there are colleagues out there, waiting to help us succeed. But we need to have our own mountains. Our own goals.

  And once you have your own mountain to climb, everything changes. Magically. You get a sense of purpose. You begin to want to climb that peak. You become disciplined. You get up early, you brave the cold, you watch your diet, you seek out experts, you read the books … All because you now have a mountain to climb. A peak to conquer.

  So instead of complaining about your equipment or your training, and worrying about buying more sophisticated equipment, set your own goals first.

  Find your own mountain. That could be the first step towards transforming your whole life.

  Go ahead. Write down your goals. Today.

  Get your own mountain. And take the first step towards feeling on top of the world.

  The best mountain-climbing equipment is of little use if you don’t have a mountain to climb.

  Goals: The Secret to Making Your Dreams Come True

  True story? Not sure. But the story goes that in 1963, some behavioural scientists performed an experiment with the graduating class of Harvard Business School. They asked the students if they had written down goals for themselves. Their goals for life. For the future. On paper.

  A mere 3 per cent of the class had actually written down goals. Yes. Just 3 per cent.

  Well, twenty-five years later, the scientists again got in touch with the class of ’63. To find out how they had done in their careers. And in their lives.

  And guess what?

  They found that the net worth of the 3 per cent of the class that had written down goals was MORE than the net worth of the rest of that batch. Not just that; the 3 per cent written-down-goalwallahs seemed to be happier, doing what they wanted and leading far more fulfilling lives.

  Incredible. But, I believe, it’s true. And it could be true for all of us.

  What are your goals? What do you want to achieve? What do you want to be, have, do? In life. At work. In relationships. Whatever it be, write it down. Now. Just write it down. Not later, not tomorrow—now!

  And commit yourself to action. Commit yourself to doing what it takes to achieve your goals. Take action. Make sure that everything you do is taking you closer to your goals. (If it isn’t, don’t do it.)

  And finally, take a step today. However small it may be, but take that first step today. If you want to lose weight, walk that 45-minute walk—today! If you want to be the best salesperson, make that extra sales call—today!

  You’ll see the difference. As the Nike guys would say, just do it.

  It takes just three steps.

  Step one: Write down your goals.

  Step two: Make a commitment to action, to doing what it takes.

  Step three: Take the first step. Today!

  Come on, make a beginning. You owe it to yourself. And you have nothing to lose.

  What are your goals? What do you want to be, have, do? Whatever it be, write it down.

  Don’t
Change Your Rabbit!

  The power of Focus. The power of Persistence. I believe these are powerful ingredients of success, but just how powerful they are was brilliantly brought to life on a memorable trip to China.

  In an auditorium packed to the gills with young Chinese entrepreneurs (mostly of the online variety), I had the privilege of listening to Jack Ma, the charismatic founder of the world’s largest B2B portal, alibaba.com.

  Jack used to be an English teacher in Beijing. His proficiency in the language meant that he was much in demand when trade delegations came into mainland China or when groups of Chinese businessmen went over to the US to seek trade opportunities. Jack saw, first hand, two phenomena at work.

  One, the Chinese businessmen—despite their ignorance of the English language—had a lot to offer and seemed capable of taking on the world. Two, the emerging medium of the Internet seemed to hold the potential to take China to the world like nothing else could. Putting the two together, Jack roped in eighteen friends who shared his vision. And thus was born alibaba.com, in Jack’s apartment in Hangzhou.

  He rode the initial euphoria. He survived the bust. And, along the way, alibaba.com gobbled up Yahoo in China. Now, Jack presides over a hugely successful business. When Alibaba went public in 2007, it was a spectacular debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the initial public offering was the second largest for any Internet company in the world—behind only Google.

  What’s Jack’s advice to budding Internet entrepreneurs? What’s his formula for success? Like the man himself, his advice too is simple. ‘Believe in your dream and believe in yourself. Do it because you want to do it, not because the investor wants you to do it, not because other people want you to do it. Don’t give up the dream. Do whatever you can to make sure you are getting close to your dream every day. Find good people, get your customers to love you and stick to that. Learn quickly, and learn from others the tactics and the skills, but don’t change your dream.’ Don’t change your dream!

  Jack then illustrated the power of focus. ‘In 2000, I said that if there are nine rabbits running around and you want to catch one, focus only on one. If you try to catch them all, you may end up with none. If the rabbit you’re chasing proves elusive, change your tactics but don’t change the rabbit. Just stick to it. There are so many opportunities, you cannot catch all of them. Get one first, put it in your pocket, then catch the others.’

  Powerful advice that. Often, we are guilty of getting tempted by multiple opportunities, and in trying to grab them all, we end up with nothing. The first challenge for most of us lies in not choosing which rabbit to catch. Setting clear goals is the key to starting on the journey to success. Next, we get distracted by other rabbits hopping about and lose our focus. Think of all the diversifications that made robust corporates shift focus from their core strengths to flirt with new ideas, which led to their under-performance.

  If you lived in Gujarat in the 1980s, you would have grown up savouring the unique flavours of Vadilal ice cream. You could have sworn it was the world’s best ice cream—capable of becoming the biggest and the best ice cream brand in the world. Did Vadilal get there? Well, not quite. Along the way, Vadilal saw that processed, ready-to-eat foods would be a big category in India. Good insight. So they got in there, and chased that rabbit. Then with the dawn of liberalization in India, they figured that dealing in forex could be a big business idea. So they chased that rabbit too. Then real estate, a booming sector. That was rabbit number four. And then chemicals … Vadilal just chased too many rabbits for their own good. (Vadilal ice creams are still very yummy, and the business, still rather small.)

  Even when we focus on one rabbit, our inability to catch it pushes us quickly—too quickly sometimes—to chase other rabbits. We lack persistence. We give up too soon. When I see bright young people quit jobs in a jiffy because they aren’t climbing the ladder quickly enough, it makes me cry. I wish they knew and heeded Jack’s words: ‘Change tactics. Don’t change the rabbit.’

  As I watched Jack on stage—consummate showman, local hero, global leader—speaking extempore to the massive audience, I too was awed. Then, I saw something else that made a huge impact. Two seats away from me was a young lad (never quite figured why, but Chinese tend to look younger than their age) hanging on to every word of Jack’s, scribbling every little nugget, making copious notes. Don’t see that too often in any gathering elsewhere in the world.

  The world better watch out! With their native intelligence, their willingness to learn, their ability to slog, their determination to succeed—and with leaders like Jack showing the way—China’s businessmen look set to conquer the world.

  They know which rabbit they want to catch. Do you?

  Identify the rabbit you want to catch, and focus only on that one. If you try and catch them all, you may end up with none. If the rabbit proves elusive, change your tactics but don’t change the rabbit.

  II

  SELF-BELIEF

  Károly Takács and the Winner’s Mindset

  The next time you watch your favourite sport on TV, or read about the stars of the game, it might be a good idea to participate in a little sport yourself. Try this. Get inside the minds of the sportsmen. Get into their shoes. Take a peek inside the psyches of all those sporting heroes. The record breakers as well as the favourites who lose out. Also the person who drops a catch or misses a penalty. And the sportsman who perhaps missed out due to an unfortunate injury, and is watching the game on TV at home. Think of what must be going through their minds. This could be a fascinating game.

  Sport is a terrific metaphor for life, and there are several sporting stories that inspire and motivate us. But perhaps none more so than the tale of Károly Takács. You may not have heard of him, but his life story is worth a listen.

  Károly was a sergeant in the Hungarian army. In 1938, the twenty-eight-year-old was the country’s top pistol shooter, having won most major national and international championships. He was—by a mile—the favourite to win gold at the 1940 Tokyo Olympic Games.

  Then, disaster struck.

  At an army training session, a hand grenade accidentally exploded in Károly’s hand. And blew it away. His shooting hand. Not only did his entire Olympic dream crash, he also lost a limb.

  ‘Why me?’ Károly could have been excused for asking the question most of us would have asked. You would understand it too if he wallowed in self-pity, an understandable reaction for someone after such a tragic turn of events. You would sympathize with him if he were to become a recluse, a living example of how fate can devastate the best-laid plans.

  Oh no, not Károly. He was made of sterner stuff.

  Instead of focusing on what he had lost—his right hand, his potentially gold medal-winning shooting hand—he chose to focus on what he still had. He had mental strength, the mindset of a winner, the determination to succeed and yes, a healthy left hand. A left hand which, he thought, he could train and transform into the world’s best shooting hand.

  After a month in hospital, Károly went out and, away from the glare of the world, began practising to shoot with his left hand. Despite the pain his body still reeled under, despite the strain the left hand had to undergo to also do all that the right hand had earlier done, he stayed focused on his goal: to make his left hand the best shooting hand in the world.

  One year later, Károly resurfaced at the national shooting championship in Hungary. His colleagues were delighted to see him. They complimented him on his courage, and his fabulous gesture of coming over to see them shoot. But they were taken aback when Károly told them that he wasn’t there to see them shoot; he was there to compete with them.

  And compete he did. In fact, Károly won the championship. Just one year after losing his right hand. He won with his left hand.

  Károly’s decision to practise quietly, away from scrutiny, was significant. It is easy for people to ridicule you for dreaming big. It is also very easy for you to stay afloat in your misery for
a sympathy wave laps at you from all over.

  Unfortunately for Károly, his Olympic dream remained unrealized for a while, as two successive Games were cancelled due to the world war.

  In 1948, the Olympics came to London. Károly was chosen to represent Hungary in the pistol shooting event. And he won gold. Shooting with his left hand.

  Imagine being a gold medal favourite, losing your shooting hand in an accident, yet picking yourself up from the shattered mess, training your left hand to shoot as well or better, and going on to win the Olympic gold.

  Four years later. Helsinki Olympics. Pistol shooting event. Who won gold? No surprises here. Károly Takács.

  That is the stuff champions are made of.

  We all have moments in our lives when we seem so close to glory but suddenly lose everything. When it seems that the world is conspiring to destroy us. Our dreams get shattered. We feel vanquished. Crushed. Beaten. Defeated. And we cry aloud, ‘Why me?’

  When that happens, think of Károly. In fact, think like him. Don’t worry about what you’ve lost. Focus on what you still have. Your inner strength. Your mental toughness. No one can take these away.

  Don’t lose yourself to self-pity. Pick yourself up quickly. Momentum is key. Károly was back on the practice range a month after the accident. When you are down, think like a boxer: if you are knocked down, you need to stand up in ten seconds or less. One extra second, and it’s all over.

  Set yourself a goal and focus on achieving it. A goal helps channelize the mind and body to work on what needs to be achieved, rather than looking back and worrying about past losses, about what might have been. When your mind is flooded with negative thoughts, it’s not easy to wish them away. You need a positive thought—a goal—to replace and banish negative thoughts.