Lessons I learnt from ‘The Pilani Pioneers’
Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time. — H. W. Longfellow
Recently, I had the privelege of reading ‘The Pilani Pioneers’.
This book shares lessons from the lives of 25 accomplished BITS Pilani graduates who achieved great success in the world of business and entrepreneurship. These 25 leaders, through their persistence, dedication and hardwork not only achieved success in the arena of business but also made a positive difference in the industry at large.
‘The Pilani Pioneers’ is written by two BITS Pilani graduates, Gaurav Mandlecha and Durjai Sethi.
Throughout the book, I was able to identify many nuggets of wisdom that can help one grow, both personally and professionally. In the subsequent paragraphs, I will share the key lessons I drew from the book.
Importance of Mentorship
Almost every leader mentioned in the book stressed on the importance of mentorship.
It gets very lonely and you can’t share things with everybody. That’s where a great mentor steps in and helps you find your path — Abhishek Humbad (CEO of Goodera)
The things I talk today are all drawn from advice given by our mentor — Phanindra Sama (CEO of redBus)
According to Phani, a mentor’s impact stretches beyond the realm of the mentee’s career. He should be someone who has gone through a similar experience and gel’s well with your personality.
Key Takeaway: If you are still without a mentor, its time to start looking for one.
Importance of Unwinding
Another interesting observation I had was that a lot of the leaders stressed on the importance of having hobbies or pursuits outside of work. These act as stress busters and help us perform even better at work.
This is very different from the idea of workaholic CEOs and entrepreneurs who are connected to their work 24X7.
Rather than relentlessly working all year round for one big vacation, take time out for yourself every day, many times in the day. — Nandini Chopra (MD of Alwarez and Marshall)
If you need to unwind, don’t wait, thinking you’ll do it when you’re old. If you want to travel, travel now, because when you are older, you might not be able to do a lot of things which you dreamt of — Prem Jain (CEO of Pensando Systems)
I divide my day into phases to ensure I have enough breaks in between sessions that require a lot of focus — Shivangi Nadkarni (CEO, Arrka Consulting)
Key Takeaway: All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Make sure you have something outside of work which helps you recharge and rejuvenate yourself.
Importance of Building Strong Relationships
An organization is nothing but a group of people dedicatedly working towards achieving a vision.
Working with others is an inseparable part of work. Yet, many a times our behaviour towards others is determined by a myopic worldview. If we feel someone can benefit us in the long run, we are good to them. Otherwise, we are not.
A recurring theme in the book was to focus on building strong relationships with others.
You have to do good for somebody, be helpful to somebody, for that person to help you in turn — Ajoy Misra (MD and CEO, Tata Consumer Products)
Treat everyone with respect always for you are sure to cross paths with someone you had a run-in with earlier — Nandini Chopra (MD of Alwarez and Marshall)
VT Bharadwaj (Co-founder and General Partner, A91 Partners) shares that the most important takeaway from an organization is the set of relationships that one builds.
Key Takeaway — Focus on strengthening your relationships with people who cross your paths in personal and professional life. How you treat others is the strongest indicator of who you are as an individual and the values you stand for.
Leadership and Management Lessons
As I read through the stories of various leaders describing the complexities of their professional and personal struggles, I could identify some key leadership principles that most of them swore by.
The one’s that resonated most with me are the following:
Leaders need to possess a strong combination of both IQ and EQ in order to succeed.
Leaders should know their product inside out and focus on developing a strong domain knowledge.
Leaders need to have a learner’s mindset: To succeed in today’s day & age, you need the ability to constantly evolve and adjust according to changing circumstances. Thus, focus on continuously upskilling and upgrading yourself.
An individual is capable of learning from any person and any situation, given one has the will to do so. Keep yourself active, don’t use your age as an excuse — Prem Jain (CEO of Pensando Systems)
Leaders should have a high bar for quality in order to bring out the best in everyone.
Leaders demonstrate Customer obsession: Constantly talk to your customers and focus on solving their biggest pain points.
Leaders have the ability to inspire their team and rally them behind a shared vision and a shared goal.
The leader needs to be able to build on the good of the organization, tap into people’s potential, help them dream and empower them to realize it— Shishir Joshipura, MD and CEO, Praj Industries Ltd
CEO’s fundamental role is to motivate the team by engaging with their emotions. The key to their hearts is a story — Pradeep Kashyap, Founder, MART
Leaders are Patient and Persistent — because it takes time for the plant of your hard work to bear the fruit of success.
Key Takeaway: To setup yourself on the path of leadership, make sure you focus on 1)developing a strong domain knowledge 2)incorporating a strong work ethic and 3) work on your ‘soft skills’ such as communication, empathy etc.
Lessons for budding entrepreneurs
Many of the stories in this book are of entrepreneurs who built solid businesses on the back of persistence, hard work and dedication.
Founders and entrepreneurs shared some valuable lessons on how can entrepreneurs build businesses that last. Following are some of the key themes that were covered:
Importance of Company Culture
Company culture refers to the attitudes and behaviors of a company and its employees. Entrepreneurs must focus on building a good work culture in order to create a workplace where employees are happy, motivated and can contribute to the best of their abilities.
Shishir Joshipura (CEO, Praj Industries Ltd) believes that a work culture that reflects a sound value system is the very foundation of a great organization.
Sagar Yarnalkar (CEO of Daily Ninja) consistently attempts to instill a feeling of ownership in his team, urging them to rely on solid metrics to measure their progress. He mentions that the employees must be aligned with the vision of the company and founder.
The founders repeatedly stressed on the importance of finding the right talent and then creating a empowering environment for them to succeed at their job.
Building a resilient business
A recurring theme was how to build a resilient business. This requires building a sustainable competitive advantage that cannot be easily nullified. In the book, different founders discuss different strategies they deployed for their company — brand building, strong distribution, continuous investment in R&D and innovation, diversification of products/businesses in order to reduce dependence on one revenue stream.
Guru Mirchandani (Founder of ONIDA) talks about the immovation approach, which he describes as an amalgamation of imitation and innovation. This works on identifying a solid product that exists and then enhancing it with a personal touch. For eg. Apple’s iPhone took the touch feature — already thriving in the smartphone market and made it much better.
The Co-founder relationship
Co-founder is the most person who accompany the founder in their startup journey. The equation between them can make or break the business.
Prem Jain (CEO of Pensando Systems) mentions that chemistry is the most important requirement for a successful team. Complementary skills and non-overlapping responsibilities help a team function more effectively.
Hari Menon (CEO of Big Basket) talks about building a founding team based on trust. He advises founders to look for trustworthy co-founders, people you have worked with or lived with, the ones who understand each other.
Importance of mentorship/coaching for founders
As discussed earlier, even founders need guidance in order to succeed.
Some of the entrepreneur stories mention that founders learned a lot from other founders who were on a similar journey.
Asserting the importance of guidance, Nilesh Kothari (Co-founder and MD, Trifecta Capital) insists that a founder, even an extremely competent one, requires guidance and coaching after the organization reaches a certain scale. A great founder is one who realizes when to seek help and from whom to seek it.
Key Takeaways for Entrepreneurs: Some of the key areas that founders should focus on include: 1) Finding the right founding team 2) Maintaining a strong and ethical company culture 3) Focus on developing strong competitive advantages 4) Learning from others (both internally and externally).
Role of BITS Pilani
At the end of each success story is a section titled “Back to BITS” which takes us to the individual’s days as a student in BITS Pilani.
Reading through the section made me nostalgic about my own days as an undergraduate and the valuable lessons I learnt there.
Following are some of the ways in which BITS Pilani helped its students grow:
Autonomy given by the administration to students to make fundamental decisions
Diversity of students — It exposes you to different view points and helps learn from others.
Myriad courses offered, which helped build a diverse curriculum.
Ability to hone your management skills through the various fests.
Role of the BITS Alumni Association, which acts as strong pillar of support. It has helped create a community which is ready to help and support each other in times of need.
Shivangi Nadkarni (CEO, Arrka Consulting) sums the role of BITS in a beautiful way — “BITS is magic. It changes you and defines you for life.”
Conclusion
After reading this book, there are some definite changes I will undertake in the way I approach work and life.
Hopefully, this book shall be able to do the same for you. So go ahead and give it a read!
Before you Go…
If you liked this post, I would really appreciate if you could:
1) Like this post by clicking the "heart" icon on the top or bottom!
2) Subscribe to this newsletter to receive future posts straight in your inbox.