W
hen we walked in to the building of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Industrial City, Coimbatore, we just had apprehensions of not being let in. Once we met Mr. Haridas and voiced concerns, he was more than happy to let us in. From the invitation that was shared with us, we had concluded it was, as The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE[/b]) called it, “A tribute to Dr.C. K Prahalad[/b]”. Only later did we realise that this was also the inaugural programme of TiE Coimbatore chapter. As Mr. Ilango[/b], the president of Coimbatore chapter of TiE gave away the welcome address, he shared a video of C.K Prahalad, shot at the occasion when he was awarded Jewel of Coimbatore[/b] by The Rotary club of Coimbatore. In the video, CKP spoke in his mother tongue, Tamil, about how honoured he was by the title, and how he prides that the C in his name stands for Coimbatore. He shared memories about his school days at Coimbatore, and memories of his childhood. The video showed how CKP was optimistic about India and how much importance he gave to growth. CKP was so full of life and suddenly it occurred to us that he had left the world, before we could even know or start to respect him.
Mr. Manickam[/b] who was one of CKP’s first Indian students at University of Michigan was the next speaker. He began his talk recalling the recent meet at Delhi where the PM was present. The presentation there made him realise two things. The first one was that he was immensely lucky to have been trained by CKP and how much he had gained from the association. The second was, he understood from where he learnt to play at the edge. CKP always sailed with the wind and loved taking chances and winning them. He narrated his first meeting with CKP, who was then the professor of strategy at Univ of Michigan. Manickam approached him and said, “Hello sir, I am from India”, and CKP threw it right back at him saying, “Isn’t that obvious?”. In the conversation that ensued, he realised they were both from Coimbatore. He remembered that CKP used to push them a lot and demanded a lot of hard work from them. He made them read a lot and pushed them out of their comfort zones.In years that followed when Manickam introduced his wife to CKP, CKP asked her what her area of study was. Manickam’s wife replied “Literature”. CKP immediately told her how she had to teach Manickam some spellings! This was the man the world knows as The Management Guru! Down to earth wouldn’t do justice to this man, was what we felt. Mr. Manickam ended his speech saying that CKP’s ideals would live through generations!
Mrs. Jas Grewal[/b], Co-Founder of TiE San Diego (W/O Former CEO of TiE global) began the speech reminiscing the days she and her husband spent with CKP and Gayathri at Sna Diego. She shared with us, CKP’s dream of having the Coimbatore chapter of TiE and his intense desire of being a part of it. Although he was a great author and topped many charts, CKP was never hesitant to help other authors. He had a passion to see development, there was no sense of competition for him. He believed that if corporate have to develop, stakeholders must be given importance. He was a humanitarian in its fullest sense. She felt CK lived a life that mattered. He thought out of the box, challenged the obvious, loved the nation he hailed from, aspired to dream. CKP worked closely with TiE and CII and always made time for them amidst his schedules. He made the blueprint for TiE and was its chief mentor. He was proud of how far TiE had come and wanted to take it to greater heights. He was an achiever, simple, humble, easy going, had that permanent smile, was always well dressed and fresh, generous, polite, punctual...she was so full of adjectives that described this man! She also recalled how he urged people to have personal dreams, but also dream for a society. [/b]
She shared a video of CKP at San Diego at one of the TiE conventions. In this speech, CKP stressed on how we have to stop concentrating on Best practices and move towards next practices. Concentrating merely on best practices would only make us all gravitate towards mediocrity. To excel you have to amplify weak signals. Even if you are a small company, not even dreaming to compete with big ones, you have to think global. The crux is to challenge underlying assumptions. He spoke about the two important activities that are changing the world-as we look at it. The first one is Connectivity[/b] for which he cited the example of cell phone usage in India. He quoted that there were 500 million cell phone users in India and all of them are not rich. Everybody is connected with everybody else today. “If you are not on Facebook or LinkedIn there is something wrong with you”. He feel this connectivity is going to change the world to an extent that is unthinkable. The second scenario he talked of was Convergence.[/b] Mobiles are cameras, music players, FM players, computers, calculators , alarms and what not today! He reiterated that technology is no longer the privilege of the rich. The cell phone is just tip of the iceberg. What uses you give is more important than the technology. This is what entrepreneurs are for. They should challenge existing assumptions. They must create experiences. For doing that they may have to create ecosystems. He spoke about how leadership must give up trying to become the shepherd. When you become the shepherd, you start thinking you are Jesus. Instead, leaders must think of themselves as sheep dogs! Leadership must slowly become one without hierarchy. It should be led by humility and not by imposing will. The focus must be on inclusive growth, sustainability etc. That is where innovation is. This will make world a better place to live in, not just richer. “Once you have Imagination, Passion, Courage, Humanity and Humilty, you can create a better place to live in” we the ending lines of the video.
Mrs. Gayathri Prahalad (wife of CKP)[/b] who was the special guest for the day shared insights about her late husband. She had graduated in Psychology and had gone on to do a Masters in Education at the Harvard when CKP was pursuing his doctoral studies. She spoke about how CKP had loved Coimbatore and carried the city on his name for a whole life. She shared TiE was very important to CKP for, its values were very akin to his personal ones. TiE stood for fostering entrepreneurship globally, mentoring, networking and helping the next generation entrepreneurs. This was what CKP had done all his life. He believed that Indian entrepreneurs had to have the freedom. He felt MNCs and Kirana stores were equally important. Only if they are given adequate freedom can they lift India out of poverty. He felt Indian entrepreneurs lacked certain tools in this regard. The first one was Education[/b]. He was a teacher himself. He believed that, however small the business may be, but entrepreneurs must have knowledge of basic business principles. The second one was Mentoring[/b]. CKP felt that practical advice and guidance can go a long way in helping entrepreneurs to do better. In difficult times, a mentor must be there to help them out, telling them how they tackled similar problems. CKP had the spirit of giving back[/b]. Mrs. Prahalad stressed that giving back needn’t essentially mean money. It could be time. It could be knowledge. CKP did both. She recalled the times when they were newlyweds. CKP used to spend his weekends at Vellore hospital helping them to make their processes better. They didn’t have enough money then. But he gave time and knowledge. Networking and nurturing next generation[/b] which is a goal of TiE was also what CKP practised in his own life. He believed in doing right when no one was looking. He believes in walking away from businesses when one’s own values are compromised. She stressed how trust was the most fundamental thing in every venture and how scriptures of Bhagawat Gita, Thirukkural etc influenced him. She concluded her speech saying that entrepreneurship was never easy. It begins with an unshakable belief- A dream for your country, town, world etc. You have to have the courage to dream and fulfil those dreams. If you fall you must get up and move on!
The Keynote address of the event was given by Mr. Suren Dutia[/b] (Former CEO of TiE Global and founder of TiE San Diego)[/b]. The talk titled “Estranged to Engaged Democracies- Entrepreneurship in Modern India[/b]”, Mr. Suren explored a changing India. He recalled how CKP has introduced him to TiE at a time when he had cone enough with his career and wanted some change. What began as an 18 month trial is now 4.5 years old! He recalled that CKP was always passionate about achievements and how he believed in celebrating achievements. He explored the evolution of India as a brand. Its progress, then decline and the current shining progress! He said that entrepreneurship is the most powerful paradigm as it deals with creating jobs, creating human capital, eradicating poverty etc. He briefly touched on stereotypes that exist about India and how some of them have changed with India’s progress. TiE is the largest Not-for-Profit organization that fosters entrepreneurship in the world, and that shows the power of entrepreneurship. Nandan Nilekani was the founder of TiE, Bangalore! He also shared that much of what India is today owes to IT revolution. IT succeeded. When he asked people who were leaders of that revolution why it succeeded, they said ,”The government simply didn’t know what to regulate! We had pretty much all the freedom we wanted!”. He feels that India is looked at with respect now. Although people feel India US ties are just geopolitical in nature, he feels they are due to economical reasons too. When CKP spoke about 9% growth for India, no one believed him. But now it is a reality! We have come a long way, due to entrepreneurship. New entrepreneurs are creating waves of change everywhere!
Mr.Suren Lotia answered questions posed by audience on government regulations. He said that whatever happened in India did so in spite of regulations and not because of them. What is needed is enormous creativity, dreams, networking etc. Private sector did it well, IT did it well. Biotechnology, medical tourism and pharmaceuticals are going to do immensely well. So are cleaner energies. It will happen if we want it to!
When asked about corruption in India, Mr. Lutia agreed it was a sad plight. He felt that we are all part of this chain at some point or the other. What is needed is an individual decision that one will not entertain corruption. Tata gave a huge amount of money to Harvard (whose dean is an Indian) aiming to teach ethics. Ethics is now a hot topic. He shared his experiences with Richard Branson and how Branson once didn’t want to have anything to do with India. But now he really respects India especially after he learnt about Tatas and the ethics the practice.
Vote of thanks was delivered by Mrs. Hema Annamalai[/b] who was a social entrepreneur (Ampere vehicles that provides rural transport) TiE Coimbatore also urged Mrs. Gayathri Prahalad to bring up a biography of CKP!
(Dec 2010 event at Coimbatore)