I Bought The Monk's Ferrari

by Ravi Subramanian

  come much nearer to it than those whose

  laziness and despondency make them give

  it up as unattainable.

  LORD CHESTERFIELD

  Those who think they are perfect are heading for a disaster, for a fall so great that he will never be able to recover.

  Successful people, the Ferrari owners, are those who are able to anticipate the change or more importantly, participate in driving change. This change could be in the environment, in the place of work, at home or even in themselves. This helps them, because if they drive the change then they are better prepared to deal with it. Individuals, who aspire for the Ferrari, do not wait for others to help them learn, they do not wait for others to tell them to learn, to come close to perfection ... they tell others that it is time they moved on.

  Many of you definitely would have heard of Laurie Lawrence, the former Australian Rugby Union representative and an Olympic and world champion swimming trainer. He has represented Australia in world championships, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games as a coach. His protégés included many champion swimmers as Duncan Armstrong (1988 Seoul Olympics), Jon Seiben (1984 Los Angeles Olympics), Steve Holland and also Tracy Wickham, who is regarded as one of Australia's greatest women swimmers. Laurie has retired from being an active swimming trainer, but has been retained by the Australian team as a motivational coach for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

  I was fortunate enough to interact with Laurie when he had come to deliver a motivational speech to a team of champions from my organisation in Singapore. He told us a very interesting story about the 'Australian Swimming Sensation', Ian Thorpe and his coach Doug Frost. Thorpe was just eight years old when Frost spotted him, steered him to become the youngest male swimmer to represent Australia and win a world title. The year was 1988, when Ian Thorpe captured the 400 metres freestyle. Since then, Thorpe has taken the world of swimming by storm and has won five golds in Olympic Games, eleven world titles and established thirteen different world records ... something which no one had ever done before.

  At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Thorpe won six golds and broke his own 400 metres freestyle world record. Anyone else would have been ecstatic at this performance. Sadly, Thorpe was not. He took a decision. This decision was to shake the world of swimming.

  In September 2002, Thorpe dropped a bombshell. He was leaving his coach. Doug Frost, his coach for over thirteen years, had been honoured as Australia's 'Coach of the Year' for the last two consecutive years. And, Thorpe was leaving him. The entire swimming fraternity was up in arms. Even more stunning was what Thorpe followed it up with. He announced that Tracey Menezies, a twenty-nine-year-old art teacher at East Hill Boys High, Thorpe's former school, and his former 'learn to swim' coach would be his new trainer and coach. What made it even worse was that Tracey part-timed as an assistant coach with Doug Frost.

  Laurie Lawrence was closely associated with both Frost and Thorpe. He, like everyone else, was also extremely annoyed with Thorpe's decision. Though he tried calling Thorpe a couple of times, he was unable to get through. Laurie was itching to ask him why he did, what he did.

  As luck would have it, he met Thorpe on a flight to Melbourne, where he was going for a presentation. They were sitting next to each other. He had to ask him now. 'Thorpe,' he said, 'tell me honestly, why did you leave Doug for that woman?' At that point Frost was the best coach in Australia and there was no one of his stature. Thorpe gave him a bemused look.

  'Laurie, I love Doug Frost. I appreciate everything Doug's done for me. I owe almost everything that I've today to him. He taught me to swim, he was the one responsible for my high-elbow style, he fine-tuned my big-foot swimming ... I owe everything to him.'

  'The world knows this Thorpe ... then why?'

  'Because had I not left my coach, I would definitely have been out of swimming before the next Olympics.'

  Laurie did not understand a word. He just shook his head in despair.

  'Laurie, as a young swimmer, I had lots of ideas, lots of thoughts on how to change and improve the way I swim. I wanted to try out new things. But as I grew older, Doug didn't let me expand. Everyday at training, Doug would come up and say, "Thorpe ten 400s." I would try and tell him, "Doug can we ...?" Doug used to retort, "I said ten 400s ... do as I say. 1 am the coach," and then I'd jump into the pool and start doing those laps. I'd gotten to such a stage that I was beginning to hate the sport. He didn't allow me to grow. I felt stifled. I was looking for a coach who'd help me in my pursuit of excellence in swimming and not with respect to the current crop of competition. Doug was preparing me for today, I wanted to be ready for tomorrow.'

  That was when Laurie told us, 'If a man like Thorpe, who has attained such high levels of success in life in that one sport, was feeling stifled and was even thinking of quitting the sport because he wasn't learning anything new, not getting closer to perfection, think of moderate achievers, think of the whole lot of people who work across levels in various organisations. Shouldn't they be feeling even worse?'

  Winners love challenge and they love to take up new and arduous tasks. Routine bores them, they always seek to explore something new. Winners are those who are curious to learn more, even if it means walking off the beaten track. In Thorpe's case, he was no longer challenged by his immediate competitors. He had achieved more than what anyone could imagine. He wanted to face greater challenge ... to compete with himself. Frost had nothing new to offer him. So, he ventured out in his quest for knowledge. He is the true owner of the Ferrari.

  The message that Laurie left us and the one I am sharing with you is very clear. If you want to grow in life, it is important to constantly innovate and learn new ways of doing things; in other words, it is extremely important to enrich your skill-sets by constant learning and development. It is critical to expand your capabilities in order to keep winning and be on the top. If you do not do it, you will feel suffocated, stifled, and monotonous and this is the root cause for negative thoughts creeping into your minds. And, I have already spoken about the necessity of your mind to be clouded by positive thoughts, if you want to own the Ferrari.

  Only the curious will learn and only the

  resolute overcome the obstacles to learning.

  The quest quotient has always excited me

  more than the intelligence quotient.

  EUGENE WILSON

  If you want to survive in this competitive world, you cannot stand still. You will have to pace up with the others and constantly learn while you run. Else, your skill-sets will be overtaken by someone else and the Ferrari will stay as elusive as ever.

  COMMANDMENT SIX

  No one is perfect. The moment you think you are, it is the countdown to doomsday. Earning the Ferrari is all about constantly upgrading yourself, improving your skill-sets and equipping yourself for the future. And for this, the initiative has to be yours.

  Twelve

  * * *

  Befriend Achievers

  I was discussing success with a few of my friends the other day and interesting definitions came up in the process.

  One said, 'Success is another name for career enhancement.'

  'Success is money. Wealth creation is the ultimate measure of success!!!' argued another.

  'Fame, maybe. That's what Bollywood stars get.'

  'Well, no. It's about the difference you make to mankind.'

  We debated for hours but could not reach a consensus. How could we? After all, intelligent minds always stay in a state of positive conflict.

  The greenest bush will always be

  found on the periphery of a well

  manured field.

  ANONYMOUS

  The definition of success actually depends on where you look for it. And, if you speak to ten different individuals, you are likely to get ten different perspectives. Philosophy and religion will define success as the impact you make on mankind, the suffering you alleviate from this society and will define success for corporate professionals as
CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility).

  But, if you ask a youngster of today, the answer will be completely different. For them money, career and fame— constitute the scale on which success is measured. There is nothing wrong in it. If that is where the world is leading to, it is necessary to adhere to it.

  Once you have developed your own definition of success, you need to associate with people who have reached the pinnacles in the field of your interest, so, BEFRIEND ACHIEVERS. There are a number of ways in which you can approach the leaders and learn from them. I will tell you of the golden rules for this.

  Be in the Immediate Company of the Winners

  If you work with Fiat Group, the chances of driving around in a Ferrari are definitely higher for you. Tagging along with the achievers may not be the only way to achieve success, but it definitely is a potent way. Many people do not publicly subscribe to this manner of growth but you will have to take my word, when I say that this is probably the most common means of growth in today's corporate world.

  Join Winning Organisations and Teams

  This is a long-term approach, wherein you join corporate houses and organisations whose leadership is renowned. These organisations are not only leaders in their respective fields of operation but also believe in developing individuals into centres of excellence. If you become a part of these kinds of organisations, you yourself will achieve wealth and fame by virtue of being associated with them. You join, not for immediate gains but for developing yourself, for learning, for building your own brand equity so that you give yourself an edge over the others.

  This is not only true of organisations but also individuals in power and rank. Have you observed what happens whenever new CEOs take up their responsibilities? All the employees who are to report to the new bosses in their respective organisations live on tenterhooks for days at a stretch. They are often uncertain about retaining their jobs. Why?

  Because, whenever new successors come in the top management positions, they drag along their own sets of loyal subordinates. This happens all the time in every industry. In my limited career, I have seen this happen several times, when people have shifted jobs, changed careers, tagging along with one individual and moving lock, stock and barrel with him.

  Why does this happen? Well, primarily because it suits both sides of the coin. At senior levels, people generally prefer to work with colleagues they are comfortable with. When new CEOs take over in organisations, they would prefer to bring in their own teams, their allies, the colleagues with whom they have worked in the past ... people whom they trust.

  On the other hand, those who move along with such seniors, do so because of two reasons: First, they have faith in the capability of the leaders they follow. They tag along with these people believing that they will emerge successful by working under their superiors. Second, they are opportunists, who see some immediate gains in following their superiors.

  More often, it is the former of the above two reasons which lead you to the Ferrari. Successful people, build teams, work cohesively, and build dreams and businesses together. Togetherness and trust enable them to achieve impossible missions. An immediate example which comes to my mind is of Tony Singh.

  Tony Singh started his career at American Express where he worked for over fifteen years, before he joined as the retail bank head with Bank of America. At Bank of America, he was instrumental in growing the retail business chain. When the bank decided to exit the retail business, he negotiated the sale of their business to ABN Amro in India, wherein he negotiated a great financial deal for the Bank of America staff. At Bank of America he had created his own team, a team of achievers, a team of believers and those who had faith in him. This team was the core retail banking team at Bank of America. The team split when ABN bought over Bank of America.

  From ABN, Tony Singh joined ANZ Grindlays Bank as the CEO, and the entire team regrouped. They changed the face of ANZ Grindlays Bank in India, transforming it into a world class enterprise, prior to it getting sold to Standard Chartered Bank. Once this was done, Tony Singh moved on to Max New York Life as the CEO and the same team joined him there, helping him set up that business. As the team moved from Bank of America, to ANZ to Max New York Life, each one of the team members gained in stature, exposure, capability and of course, financially, too ... all this on account of their association with the leader, Tony Singh. They are much closer to the Ferrari now than they ever were.

  There is a small caveat here. Your wanting to join a team is not the only pre-requisite for you to get into a Ferrari team. The leaders or the people you wish to associate yourself with, need to perceive you as a performer with a like mindset. And, also you must demonstrate an aligned approach with these leaders. You need to bring some value to their table.

  While Tony Singh's example is at the upper end of the spectrum, you see this happening in your everyday life. In fact, you will often see people aligning their careers with individuals in your organisation every day. This comes out in the open when people leave organisations. Along with a senior resignation you will see a host of others resigning ... some of them are genuine believers who follow the leader and others are opportunists who follow in search of the gold.

  There is no need to go even that far, within large organisations when senior employees moving from one unit to the other, move with their entire entourage. Their favourites follow them even within the same organisation and the seniors happily oblige.

  Remember, a mediocre guy with a brilliant boss gets noticed whereas a brilliant guy with a mediocre boss in a not so successful unit often fails to make the cut. Hence, there is nothing wrong in tagging along with the successful boss to further the desire of getting the Ferrari.

  What are the risks associated with this method of chasing the Ferrari? There is one pronounced one.

  Successful people will always have adversaries. There are colleagues who may challenge their achievements. By attaching yourself to Mr A, who does not get along with Mr B, you are in effect shutting out any opportunity that may spring up with Mr B. If ever a situation were to arise wherein you have to leave the confines of the secure environment provided by Mr A, you will face some resistance within your own organisation. But at times the benefits of this modus operandi far exceed the downsides and, therefore, it is definitely worth an effort.

  The bottom line is, aligning yourself with high performing individuals and backing yourself with reasonably high performance level will take you a few notches closer to the Ferrari.

  COMMANDMENT SEVEN

  Identify the owners of the Ferrari and align yourself with them.

  If you are in the company of successful people, their success will rub off on you. But you need to back it up with stellar performance. If you live in Ferrari town, chances are, you will get to drive one sooner.

  Thirteen

  * * *

  Share the Success

  Indians are generally god-fearing and religious.Every religion across the length and breadth of this country promotes the concept of giving. Take Hinduism for instance, according to dharma, everyone is required to give dana (donation) and the seva(service). Hindus are expected to make donations to the poor as well as to their places of worship. Hinduism even goes on to elaborate that if you SHARE what you have with others, you will get back much more than that. It may not always come back to you from the same person you helped, but will definitely come back in this life.

  Indians by their sheer nature feel for others' needs and wants. In an Indian society more than anywhere else, the importance of giving and sharing is paramount.

  If you light a light for somebody,

  it will also brighten your path.

  BUDDHIST PROVERB

  Speaking of the principle of what you give comes back to you, I would add an anecdote here about Sir Alexander Fleming, which reconfirms this paradigm.

  Fleming's father once saved a rich Scottish farmer's child from drowning in quicksand. The farmer was extremely thankful to Fleming
's father. And as a mark of gratitude, he offered to support Fleming's education. In due course of time the young Fleming grew up, and became a great scientist, and consequently discovered Penicillin. And, when the farmer's son was suffering from pneumonia, Penicillin cured him. The moral is, good deeds done always return to the doer. And, that was what happened, first in the case of Fleming's father and then the farmer.

  Narayana Murthy, the chief mentor of Infosys, says: For Heavens sake, there is nothing wrong in creating wealth by legal and ethical means. Do not ever confuse creation of wealth with charity. First, you create wealth efficiently and only then can you donate your share of profit to any charity. If you don't earn, what will you give.

  There can be no two opinions on what Narayana Murthy says. If you want to give your needy neighbour a ride, you must have the Ferrari first. To share your wealth with others, you need to create wealth first. And, once you have generated wealth, you must use a part of it, in some way or the other, for social well being.

  If you step back and take a look at the owners of the Ferrari, the common thing bound to cross your mind is their commitment to the overall upliftment of the society. Most of them share their success with others—be it in the form of educational support to the poor, or providing food for them, or donating to various intermediary NGOs ... they do it all. Sharing a part of the wealth by no means diminishes it. A ride that you give your neighbour does not diminish the worth of a Ferrari. Does it?

  Coming back to Infosys, Nandan Nilekani, one of the founder members of Infosys, is very clear on his intent to make a difference to the society outside the Infosys campus. He earns in crores every year but also spends crores on the upliftment of the society. In fact, when he and his wife Rohini, made their first hundred crores from the Infosys ADR (American Depository Receipts) issue, she donated almost the entire amount to an educational foundation she runs. Nandan believes, the more he earns, greater the responsibility on him to pass some of it back to the society that helped him get it. Moreover, he argues that he does not need so much money to fulfil his needs. Therefore, rather than let it rot in a bank, he prefers to plough it back into the society.