The Tipping Point

As I talk with friends in the top IT companies of our country, I hear horror stories about how these companies which were beacons of hope and stalwarts of the industry at one time are now actually rotting from the inside. The entrepreneurs who set them up had a vision, a work ethic, a hunger for excellence and a huge dream to make it big. They drove the people, inspired them, had solution oriented, go getter attitudes and that is the whole reason they rose to the top. Which also meant that they became richer and richer and richer till they reached a point where they no longer had the motivation to be the drivers - they instead became the “mentors”. The building became too tall to stand by itself, the body too heavy to carry its own load, the ship too big to ever be able to take a turn.

When I started the business and we were 30 people in the PASE meeting at Platinum we were a young, growing organization. When we became a 120 people group running our own open at Emerald, we were a force to reckon with. But today at 2500 people to functions, we stand the same risk that these companies face. Too tall to stand, too heavy to run, too big to turn. But our situation, despite being similar in some ways, is totally different in a lot of ways. The biggest difference is that we are not an organisation of employees; we are instead an organisation of “owners”. Owners who use organisational principles of coordination, mentorship, submission, unity, pull and so on to work harmoniously and as one cohesive unit.

At a Platinum level we launch a new startup every time. A startup which can work the way it wants to, think the way it wants to and grow at the speed at which it wants to. Till it does not hamper the rights of other startups that is. Which is marvellous!! Which is a unique model in the world of business - the Semco way. It seems like it is a perfect model. And it is. The only hitch being that the CEO of this startup has to be a leader, a visionary, a hard working dreamer, a believer. Unless he decides to develop his own independent thinking, his own style, his own vision - obviously within the framework of the bigger organisation that he’s a part of - he can never take his startup to great heights. He has to think like an owner which is a challenge most of the time since we are all so used to being told what to do. He has to start taking full ownership of the results in his organisation - the good, the bad and the ugly. He has to develop the attitude of “the buck stops here” - not blocking the lines of communication, but developing the character and the skills to be able to solve all the issues at his level. 

And only those organisations which are led by “leaders” will move to the next level. The rest will automatically start going backwards until somebody in the middle or at the bottom decides to take ownership and take charge of their company. You need to decide whether your company is going to become the beacon of hope or will it vanish into the oblivion - just a faint memory of what could have been.

With Success comes responsibility

This article was published in the February 2010 issue of The Lamplighter

When I was in my 3rd year at IIT, I got a chance to do 1 year of engineering in Europe. That one year was a defining year ofmy life because one is very impressionable at that age. The exposure I got shaped who I wanted to become later in life and what I wanted to do. 

Before we reached France, me and my classmate spent 2 weeks in UK to visit his aunt and my cousin and her husband. My cousin and her husband were settled in UK for the past 20 years and used to come to India for 2 weeks every 2 years. We talked about a lot of things when we spent time there but the memory that stands out the most is their pessimism towards India. People don’t work hard, phones don’t work, railways doesn’t run on time, people have no civic sense, traffic is messed up, political leaders stink. And I remember that I was really enraged as a 20 year old who believed that we are the ones who create the world we live in. And we fought with him tooth and nail – even though we were guests in their home – what are YOU doing about it – only sitting here and cribbing about it? Why don’t you be the one to cause that change? Somewhere deep down, I wanted to create that change or at least become an instrument to cause it.

Another memory I have isof a weekend trip our class of Electrical Engineering took to a weekend resort up in the hills. We were a bus full of people and they had booked a Youth Hostel which was basically a huge hostel with furnished rooms – you didn’t have to pay for the place. There was nobody to manage it either except one caretaker. The only expectation was that you should leave it like you found it, so others can benefit from it too. After enjoying the 2 days of fun before leaving the place, I saw a glaring example of the French sense of responsibility. All the students, scrubbed every inch of the floor, cleaned the toilets, threw the garbage from every possible place and we left that place BETTER than we found it. I could’ve never imagined something like that happening – and that too with nobody to force them to do it. I was thoroughly impressed. On our way back, once we reached our university, another strange thing happened. We had hired a bus for the whole trip and obviously had paid for it too. Before we reached, everybody sang a song of thanks for the driver of the bus and a box was passed around in which everybody contributed more than they should have, for “Mr Driver” – just as a gesture of goodwill for the wonderful trip. I just could not believe it. I was not used to see such human acts of magnanimity in my life till then. I secretly wished in my heart from then on, that I will be able to live in a society of people who would feel their responsibility towards their society, their environment and to the fellow man. That would be a life well lived.

And when I saw this business,  I could instantly identify a vehicle through which these dreams could come true. I found a voluntary army of people who wanted to create a society which embodies those principles and those values of life which make life worth living. I heard Kanti Gala talking from every stage “Giving is Living”. I heard the leadership of BWW talking about leading by example. I heard Charlie Durso’s talk “You Be The One”. 

And if that endeavour also makes you wealthy beyond measure…..wow!!!! What more can you wish for? 

Yes, our goal is to make 10,000 a month and then 50,000 and then a lakh and then a crore. But if we do not fulfill the responsibilities that come along with that success, this success will be very empty at the end of the journey. We cannot change the world – we can only change ourselves and inspire others to do the same – first frontlines, then our group, then crosslines and then their families and the society around us. And that change has to be in every small thing that we do. Every thought we let enter into our minds.

It will mean following the 3 cardinal rules when nobody is looking. It will mean not pouncing upon somebody’s guest who has invited them from another city and another LOS. It will mean not gossiping about what’s wrong with upline and BWW and crossline but instead giving constructive feedback to the right people to help make it right. It will mean not just standing in a queue in the open meeting but also at the food stall at the major functions where upline is not watching. It will mean not buying books and CDs from the vendors outside major functions. It will mean not sitting in the silvers and up section if you are not qualified. It will mean not wearing the Eagle Badge if you are not qualified. It will mean all this and it will mean more. 

With success will come responsibility. And to the responsible will come more success. It will mean being ready to serve your group. It will mean being loyal to your upline and to the system. It will mean saying “No, we will not sell to somebody else’s customer or offer discounts just to get that order”. It will mean thinking big and thinking for the good of the bigger Britt team instead of just I, me and mine. 

These might be but small steps that seem insignificant. But they all add up. They add up to creating a winning atmosphere where people get inspired to become better themselves just because they see others doing the same. Yes, we will make a lot of money and buy a lot of cars and homes and travel around the world. But we will create a better world of responsible citizens starting with ourselves. That’s the responsibility that this success comes with and that we all are expected to live up to. Changing the world, one at a time, starting with ourselves.

Being the Medium

What an experience it was to be recognised in FED 2009!! We had imagined it in our minds for years, but when it happened it beat every imagination that one can have hands down. It’s an experience that cannot be missed in this lifetime.

Being able to stay in the Diamond Hotel with all the other Diamonds. Being able to travel in a car with your sticker on it “Ankur and Taru Gupta”. Having a host pick you up and take care of you. Being able to take pictures with other Diamonds as if they were your friends. To be able to enter the Diamond Lounge backstage and be welcomed by everybody there. To be able to eat at Diamond Dining Hall. 

Just the feeling of belonging to Diamond Club!!

Our only prayer to God was to speak through us. And speak He did. Somebody spoke through us on that stage - somebody who knew who to impact and how. We were used as a medium to impact thousands and millions of lives yesterday. And we are tremendously grateful for it.

Dreams Come True - 1

I decided that I will play the flute ever since I heard somebody playing one in the Student Activity Centre at IIT Delhi. The sound was so melodious and so mesmerizing, I still can’t forget it. I used to play the violin at that time and instantly switched to the flute. I bought scores of flutes of all kinds from all places around the world to fulfill my hobby and blew in it till the neighbours’ ears grew sore with the cacophony of somebody learning a new musical instrument. 

Though I could always play light songs on the flute, I was always puzzled by classical music. I used to go to the SPIC Macay concerts at IIT where the masters used to come to perform. But it always intrigued me. It became another dream to learn classical music one day. 

And then somebody in a junior batch in my hostel joined in and used to sit on the stairs and play something heavenly on his guitar. I was pulled towards it one day and he told me that he was playing ragas on the guitar. That strengthened my resolve even further.

The thought was always on my mind but I kept doing delayed gratification till last year when I found a teacher and went to meet him. Right the next month, we started our Diamond qualification and the idea again went out for a toss. 

Finally after finishing Diamond, I had decided that I will surely fulfill this dream. After a lot of searching I found the right teacher and started learning a month back. Tuesdays and Fridays, 7:30-9:00am are magical two hours of the week. I’m loving it and I know I will take it all the way. It’s such a joy to learn what I’ve been dreaming about for all these years.

Dreams Come True - 2

Another of my dreams was to fly Radio Controlled aircraft. Surprisingly, I saw most of these dreams when I was in IIT. But for being in this business, I don’t think I could have dared to take all these dreams out of the cupboard and fulfill them. The peace of mind and the financial stability this business provides allows you to dare to fulfill your dreams.

I remember that back at IIT, there used to be a RC Hobbyist Club for RC flying. I found the keys to the club which was locked up in a room for years and nobody had even entered it. There was wonderful aircraft but broken; marvellous engines but not working and no funds from the Institute to revive the club. I used to go there every so often just to go and touch and feel the models and dream of owning them one day.

2 years back Arpan gifted an RC Helicopter and an RC biplane which we put to full use in our vacations to Ooty and to Kashmir. What fun times Arpan, me and Adi spent flying the simple machines. 

And then one day, loitering about in the Forum Mall, I saw this HUGE RC Helicopter displayed in a hobby shop. I went and saw the stuff they were selling and was really fascinated by it. 

Today I went and gifted myself one - its a gorgeous 4 channel helicopter, capable of doing all the manouvers - around 10,000 bucks. Will take a few days to master its flight, but it’s awesome!!

Celebrations!!!

There is a special joy in a goal reached. And specially if that goal was the only thing on your mind for 10 years...

What an evening it was yesterday!! I can surely say it was the most memorable evening of our lives. So much love from so many people...I’ll have to shake myself up to feel like a human being again!!

It started right from the special high tea with Rubies and up and frontlines at Royal Orchid - we had a great time. But the surprise was when we came back. As we landed at our house we couldn’t recognise the place itself. It was decked with flowers all over and as we entered we saw messages for us all over the place - the door was welcoming us and my suit hanger and the kitchen and the bed and the bedroom and the book rack - it didn’t come from the mind but from the heart. Thanks to Manoj and Priya and their entire team for showering the love on us.

A special VW van was there to pick up our entire family - that was surely a dream builder - and we reached St John’s Auditorium. And as we stepped out of the van, we just couldn’t believe the sheer number of people who thronged the place to see the celebration. We walked through the crowd and entered the auditorium. The stage was beautifully decked with balloons and flowers and a big caption - Dreams Do Come True. As soon as we settled, there was a slideshow - and this one was a really big surprise too - and what a beautiful slideshow it was - right from our childhood till Diamondship - Taru and I had both tears in our eyes at the grandeur of the setting. We never got to know when Arpan/Nidhi and their team got the pictures from our own house and made the beautiful slideshow.

When they brought up the Rubies and up and frontlines to talk about us, we knew we were sitting with our best friends in the entire world in that room. The surprise was when everybody in our upline spoke from around the world - what an honour for us both.

The Platinums and up night owl was special too. This will be the smallest Platinums and up we’ll ever have!!

But the surprises didn’t end here. The next morning we left for Kashmir for our family vacation. And Iniyan came to pick us up at the airport on our return. We reached home only to find a home decorated with flowers again. The dining table was set for 6 people with the most delicious food one can imagine. What a feeling!!

We have received so many loving gifts from so many people that it’s overwhelming. I was telling somebody if we knew it was going to be so good, we would have done it 4 years back :-)

Diamond!!!

Whooooaaaa.....what a feeling!! The last 2 days have passed like 2 months. How we wish this month got compressed to 1 day and everything got over with in a giffy!! But then where’s the fun? My parents and Taru’s parents and her sister have been calling literally every hour - like when you wait for the doctor to come out of the labour room to know what happened - boy or girl? We were trying to help somebody finish their 4000PV but having got fed up of the calls, we told them at 5pm that we finished our diamondship. And as if by magic, in 10 minutes there they were, outside the house - my parents and Taru’s with flowers and sweets and what a surprise it was. 

And this was just the beginning of surprises. We prided on ourselves to be really smart but our upline and our group was a step ahead this time. I have never gotten so many congratulatory messages and calls and mails and flowers ever in my life - not when I got through IIT, not when I got married, not when we had Adi and not when we went Emerald. We are surely overwhelmed!

Destiny

Yesterday’s function was special in many ways. 

We saw the victory of a man over his environment. Though it was a function where I was most tense - there were 4 Tamil speakers and 2 English speakers and 90% of our people don’t understand Tamil. But the language of the heart won over the language of the brain.

Paul Raj and Sagaymary sent shivers up my spine. They had a supreme confidence, an aura around them. An Electrician and a Nurse turned Superman and Superwoman impacting more lives than they could possibly have imagined.

I entered the function and Mohsin said - “Tum to pahunch gaye yaar....” and I could see full eyes and a fuller heart. Mine skipped a beat too. At one time I used to think going Diamond was the ultimate thing - but today I feel otherwise. It’s come upon me to take so many of my people there. 

I could see that joy in Paul Raj and Sagaymary - the joy of breaking 4 Diamonds. I saw it in the silvers and up meeting in the hotel ballroom right before FED2003 in Philadelphia in Kumar and Anjali’s eyes when they brought up Sanjiv and Shauna and Ramesh and Rama up as new Diamonds. I saw the tears of joy and the millions of memories zipping past in a split second. And I want to be there too. I want to lead my people to freedom.

Living a 100 years in 10!!

Some people live up to be a 100 years old and yet just really live and “experience” only a fraction of those years. Through this business - I should actually stop calling it that - through this life, we are able to do the opposite. We have been able to live a 100 years in the last 10 years of living. What price do you put to that much extra life now?

You cannot live more years than you are given but you can live more in those years for sure. I read something really nice. This guy writes - “I have found most of my purpose in a sense of destiny. To me destiny is not about the place you end up but the path that you are on. Each of us is born with a path we are meant to follow, not a place we will end up, but rather a certain set of experiences I am meant to have while I am here.” It does not matter where we end up, but the path we are on is surely our destiny - we can feel it deep within our hearts. And that’s why is not work, it’s a labour of love.

How many “connected”, “blessed”, “touching” moments do most people get in their lives in a year, in 10 years, in a lifetime? And people cherish and keep reminding themselves of those moments for years to come. We have been blessed to have them almost on a daily basis. A shot of Heroin must surely be feeling something similar to the addicts. Just 3 hours yesterday night in the silvers and up night owl was so exhilarating to all who were “present” there. We wish you are able to live the same life too.

Got It!!

The beautiful part of our business starts once you figure it out. Venkat is personal to us and has been with us for a few years now. He saw us breaking leg no 4 as well as breaking leg no 5. 

He was just over and was saying that when we were breaking those legs he was either too new or not too CORE and could not grasp what was creating the growth. But he has seen us working leg no 6 very closely. In fact he was with me in many of the plans that I showed in leg no 6 - plans out of which CORE IBOs have come out and lot of depth has happened below them already. He has seen me working with a binderful of lists - calling from all of them at the same time and doing plans to plans to plans to list to plans to list to plans to kits to list to plans to more kits to lots of PV. And he was saying just now “Once you saw it, you cannot NOT get it...I got it now....I really understood the difference between 99 degrees and 100 degrees....” And that’s the only thing you need to figure out - once you understand that there is no secret...you really got the secret.

Waiting for the secret to be revealed only wastes time that should have gone into working and showing plans. Once you KNOW that the secret is maximizing the number of plans, you start using the secret which is WORK. But you have to get it to get it...nobody else can get it for you.

Being Artists

There is a fundamental difference between science and art. Science can be learned from books - you can read enough and become a mathematician, an engineer, a physicist, a chemist and so on. But art cannot be learned from books. You can’t become a musician by reading books, just like you can’t learn sculpture or painting or any other form of art for that matter by reading a book. To learn art, you need to become an apprentice to an artist. You can only learn by observing them perform and by performing alongside them.

Our business is more an art than a science. Some people think they can just listen to a CD or read a book or attend a seminar and build a huge business. But creating and keeping organizations is an art. Influencing people and leading them is an art too. And thus says Renuka “Most things in this business can’t be taught...they have to be caught”. And that is the reason you need an upline mentor who you can observe and spend time with and duplicate. And over a period of time, you will be able to develop an originality of your own, but inspired by the family of leaders that you belong to. And that’s how we have developed our style - inspired by the leaders who have led us and taught us - Deepak and Shalini Choudhary and Manipal and Renuka Reddy.

I was reading somewhere today - A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his brain is a craftsman; and a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. It is in this third way of working that real success in our business lies. And all you need is somebody who can take you by your finger and show you how to do it using your hands and your brain and your heart......

Power of submission

The Power of submission is the basic power we talk about. But it is not just submission to a human being. It has its real meaning in submission to the Supreme power we call God. 

But the moment we say submission to God, it starts seeming that we are being fatalists - waiting and counting on something unseen to come and do things for us - and how can we leave everything to God - and if we do, what will WE do then from our side? What is our role in our success?

What we forget is that all we do or have or are, is not from us anyways. It’s not just the results which come from outside us, but also the inspiration to work that comes from that divine source of power. 

The smaller the goals you set out to achieve, the more it will fan your ego. And the bigger the goal you set out for, the more you will need to involve words like God and faith and belief and vision. The moment you want to think of moving mountains, faith will have to be brought in automatically.

Submission is a much easier way to live than “control”. People might be able to succeed with the latter too, but perhaps the path is too tedious. Just like you can “not be” in submission to your upline and build a big business, but it’s going to take too much energy and too many mistakes. 

The stronger the man, the easier it is to be in submission. Trees that are stiff and do not bend in the wind, fall. But the ones who are strong are the ones who bend down with the winds, only to stand up again, this time taller than before.

Faith, Teachability and Counselling...

Bodhidharma went to China and would sit facing the wall and then preach. He used to say- when a real student comes, I’ll turn and face him - talking to you folks and talking to a wall is anyways the same thing. 

And then came along a guy called Huineng - he kept standing behind him for 24 hours. He said- “Please look towards me...” and when he didn’t, he cut one hand off - and said if you don’t, I’ll cut my head too. Bodhidharma said, “I don’t need this head of yours...I want you to cut off that head...”. For the first time in 9 years, he faced and talked to someone - and Huineng became his successor.

The moment you think you know a lot, or know anything at all for that matter, it’s impossible to learn. The moment you listen with your brain, you are interpreting every word that you’re hearing. And you are coloring it with your belief. You cannot really be listening to the teacher while evaluating at every moment whether he’s right or wrong. To really learn you need to have faith. Real learning can start only when you’ve given up on what you already know. When you are willing to have 100% faith on what is being taught. Go Diamond 2008, I was in that state of mind- ready to believe all that was being taught. And one function did the magic.

The Dream of Association

Though we talk all the time about dreams of time and money and security, the dream which has pulled me all the while has been the dream of association, the dream to belong to the club and then have a club of my own. 

The first dream was to be able to call Deepak/Shalini friends. They had such an aura around them, such a pull in them. Deepak is a man of standards in life - standards in living and in thinking as well. And the first dream was to get approval from him. In him I could immediately see a father figure. 

The first time I went to the PASE meeting at Rajan’s house, there was magic in the air and a dream was born - the dream to have a group of friends like that PASE with whom I could hang out. And then, when I went to the first major function - the Britt school, the awesome stage presence and the recognition is something which became an instant dream. What else in the world can transform a measly software engineer into a celebrity.

Shaju’s open and his team of leaders became an instant benchmark of the kind of team I wanted to create. Till this time there was no knowledge of how it will happen, but the dream kept getting stronger and stronger.

And that’s why the first open meeting on arriving in Bangalore was a big jolt - from a carpeted, padded, suit and tie full room of people to a dilapidated school auditorium with people as varied as a marketplace can boast of. The first FED was a huge jolt which almost threw me offtrack. Thankfully Deepak transformed the disappointment into an urge to create what I wanted to be a part of.

The first PASE meeting in Bangalore with the local leadership was a welcome change in the environment but I was always visualizing something better. 

And this dream is what led to our own PASE with our kind of people. And we started changing the open meeting environment and then the seminar environment and we will slowly but surely change the major function environment as well. Our Eagle clubs started setting new benchmarks of standards and this time’s 9% leadership just showed how it has become an integral part of us. We hardly prepared ourselves or our team for it, but it just shaped up meticulously well, like an army of soldiers setting camp. 

The next dream is to do our own function in the Chennai stadium and to do our own annual silvers and up, like The Gala Seven Springs. And then to do our own Platinum club and Emerald club and Diamond Club.