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INSIGHTThe DNA of Success

INSIGHTThe DNA of SuccessIsha Foundation

Insight: The DNA of Success - The E-bookIsha Foundation 2015 Isha FoundationFirst Edition: October 2014All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in anyform without the written permission of the publisher, except in thecase of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.Cover design, typesetting, book layout and compilation done by thePublications of Isha Yoga Center. All photographs used in this bookare either the property of Isha Foundation or in the public domain orstock photographs.ISBN: 978-81-87910-02-2Published by: Isha Foundation15, Govindasamy Naidu Layout,Singanallur, Coimbatore - 641 005, INDIAPhone: 91-422-2515345Email: info@ishafoundation.org

ContentsThe 3 I’s8Leadership – A Labor of Love14Going Global: Ratan Tata17Reading People22Work vs. Life24Think Outside the Bottle:Harsh Mariwala26Genius vs. Method32The 90-Day Rule: KV Kamath38What about Lay-offs?44Seeing Adversities asOpportunities: GM Rao47Being “Money-Minded”52About Sadhguru55About Isha Foundation57

Dear Reader,INSIGHT is a unique leadership program, which equipsentrepreneurs and experienced business professionalswith both the skills and the stimulus to scale up theirbusinesses and themselves. Read on, and find a minicompilation of talks from previous INSIGHT programs.Snippets of Sadhguru’s wisdom about business andleadership alongside inspiring and thought-provokingcase studies of eminent entrepreneurs including RatanTata, Harsh Mariwala, KV Kamath and GM Rao, makefor a must-read for all business leaders.You will also find photo collages interspersed throughthe ebook, which will transport you to the exuberant andmulti-faceted world of INSIGHT.Happy reading,INSIGHT Team

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8The 3 I’sQ: In terms of developing a leader, what do you think should bethree or four things which people should remember?Sadhguru: I have three I’s for you. (No, I’m not talking about mythird eye!) Insight, Inspiration and Integrity. An effective andsensible leader, in whatever capacity, stands out.A “leader” means life offers you a higher perch than other peoplehave. If you sit on a higher perch and you don’t see any betterthan others, you will become anobject of ridicule. Only if you’reable to see something that nobodyelse can see, people will all lookup to you. So a leader has to havean insight into the situations inwhich we exist, an insight intothe problems that may exist, aninsight into a possible solution.A “leader”means lifeoffers you ahigher perchthan otherpeople have.

9You are not a superman,but people expect you tobe one. So if you don’t havea better insight than thepeople who are looking upto you, you will become aridiculous fool rather thanbeing a celebrated leader.A leader is someone whowants to juggle more ballsthan others or wants tograpple with somethinglarger than what anybodyelse is willing to grapplewith. That’s what makesyou a leader. So, youneed a constant sense ofinspiration.Otherwise,when you try to handlesituations which are largerthan you – if you are thekind who’s going to getdepressed or frustratedabout something – youwill die from that. Becausewhen you take on situationsbigger than yourself, everyYou are not asuperman, butpeople expectyou to be one.

10moment so many things don’t happen the way you want. Thelarger the situation, the more things do not happen the way youwant them to. If you’re made in such a way that you are goingto become depressed or broken if something does not happenthe way you think it should, then you will break into pieces inno time. You have to have the necessary inspiration; whethersomething is going your way or not, you’re inspired enoughto pursue the cause that you are working for with a relentlesscommitment.Another thing is integrity. This is very important. Right now,we are developing a big problem in the country. The previousgeneration had more sense of integrity. Slowly we’re creatinga situation where everything will go by – chalta hai. “Whateverhas gone wrong, it’s okay, let’s move on. I did this, so what? Let’smove on.” That’s not it. Integrity is a key element in buildingIntegrity is akey elementin buildingtrust. Withoutbuilding trust,you’re neverever goingto be a leader.

Integrity is acertain coherencebetween whatyou say andwhat you do, andwhat you thinkand how you feelabout lifearound you.11trust. Without building trust, you’re never ever going to be aleader. Most people don’t understand what is integrity. Peoplethink “if I don’t rob someone, I have integrity.” No. Integrity is acertain coherence between what you say and what you do, andwhat you think and how you feel about life around you. It is notjust in your actions. Integrity is in the way you are and the wayyou carry yourself. If you don’t bring it there, integrity will be aburdensome exercise where you have to somehow hold it. Youdo it only when others are watching you.To give you a classic example of lack of integrity – once I waswalking with somebody in their ashram, and I saw some nicetrees and commented, “You have some nice trees.”

12He said, “This is our panchavati” – that means five sacred trees.I looked and said, “But there only four.”He looked and then, “Huh? Oh, four, five. Five, four.” What isthere – it’s all the same. He was just bewildered that I thinkthere is a difference between four and five!For me four is four, five is five. But there is a certain fuzzy logic,to use the modern scientific term, to escape logic. They’reinnocent of integrity. This has to be built into people right fromtheir childhood. It’s not something that somebody picks upjust like that. It’s something that becomes a part of your life.It needs to be inculcated in families, in schools, everywhere.I think this integrity is missing on a very fundamental level.

Immersein the celebration13

Leadership14– A Labor of LoveSadhguru: Essentially, what being a leader means is thatknowingly or unknowingly you have taken the destiny of a fewpeople into your hands. You have taken up that responsibility.When I say a “leader,” youneed not necessarily be theleader of a nation or a largegroup of people. If you arerunning a family, you are aleader, isn’t it?What being aleader means isthat knowinglyor unknowinglyyou have takenthe destiny of afew people intoyour hands.So, whoever is willing to takeresponsibility for one more lifeis a leader. It is just a questionof the scale. According toone’s capabilities peoplewill choose the scale ofleadership, but everybody is aleader in some way.

15At least, if you have chosen to take your destiny into your ownhands, you are a leader, aren’t you? Only if you are a hobo, youare not a leader.An American tourist was visiting the U.K. A local person who wastaking him around showed him a certain estate and said, “Herelives an aristocrat.”The American asked, “What is that? An astronaut?”“No, an aristocrat.”“What is that?”The Englishman was surprised that there could be a human beingwho didn’t know what an aristocrat is. “Oh, you don’t knowwhat an aristocrat is? An aristocrat means he doesn’t have todo any work. Everything comes to him one way or the other. Healways has a good place somewhere. Wherever he goes he hasa ringside seat and he does nothing, he lives off other people.”

16“Oh, that! In America we call them hobos.”So, unless you’re a hobo, in some capacity you are a leader.Once you understand you are a leader, it means either you havetaken your own destiny into your hands or you have also takenthe destiny of a few more lives into your hands. This is a certainresponsibility.If you want to lead any group of people, first thing is you mustmake sure that all of them fall in love with you. “How do wedo that? Do we give them a love pill?” There is no such thing.If you want everybody to fall in love with you, first thing is thatyou must fall in love with all of them. You must do it instantly;they will take their time. They will slowly, very slowly, give in.If you want tolead any group ofpeople, first thingis you must makesure that all ofthem fall in lovewith you.

17Going GlobalRatan Tata is the Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, the holdingcompany of Tata Group – a household name in India. The Mumbaibased conglomerate has forayed into any number of areas,from steel manufacturing, beverages, vehicles, communicationsand hotel industry to name a few. INSIGHT 2014 was fortunateto have Ratan Tata with us. He was inspiring not only for hisexcellent business acumen but for the humble and wonderfulhuman being that he is. Below is an excerpt from his talk, wherehe goes into becoming a global business.There are, of course, many definitions of “being global.” Areyou going to a new territory because you want to be there? Orbecause you feel you can add value to that environment? Orbecause of the growth that you are looking for? I think it is amixture of all those things.

You can obtainbalance whenyou have onecompanyoperatingin a foreignenvironment.18You may recall we had adownturn in the Indianeconomy around 2000. Weneeded to look beyond theshores of India. I thought,“Could this be the next phaseof our growth?” A lot ofpeople look at growth justas an increase in numbers orbecoming number one in theworld. I think having a desireto be a leading company isa good thing, but it shouldcome from the feeling that you know what you are going toadd, not by making acquisitions. Making acquisitions might bea more traditional way of having growth, which unfortunatelyhas been the case in the West – you buy market share, youbuy presence, you buy sales by absorbing your competitors.I think how you present yourself in a new geography is key.There is a traditional American view of “going global.” Acompany like Coca Cola has the same face, the same image,the same presence whether you are in Africa or in Europe.There’s also more of a nation model where you want to looklike a local business, absorbing the local culture. You createa framework into which the management can belong, withconsiderable autonomy being given.

19When we acquired Jaguar Land Rover (based in UK), we facedenormous misrepresentation of public image, where peoplewere thinking, “What are they going to add to this company, whenmany before them have failed?” They thought this was actually aploy by an Indian company to convert the Birmingham assets intoa real estate proposition – that we were going to build TandooriChicken restaurants in the Birmingham area. They thought wewere going to take all these plants to India to produce Jaguarsand Land Rovers as cheap cars there. When I addressed theworkers in the factory, Iwas asked those questionsand I said, “We’re notgoing to do anything ofthe sort. We’re going togo shoulder to shoulder totry and rebuild these twobrands to the glory thatthey had. We will supportyou so that you can makeyour destiny.”We didn’t have the usualAmerican way of, “Weare sending a team fromAkron, Ohio that suddenlyknows everything thereis to know about SouthAfrica. They will take overAre you going toa new territorybecause youwant to be there?Or because youfeel you can addvalue to thatenvironment? Orbecause of thegrowth that youare looking for?