Hungry People Better Results: Unleash The Fire Within To Win Continually In Life

By Deepak Malhotra

Great people leaders always work towards improvement. They keep working on their 'hunger' to be continually successful. The power of these leaders is only to settle for the best, as for these leaders - power of life is in continual progression. They have broken the shackles, and made impossible into I M possible. They have looked at things around them differently, and we too, will be motivated to look at things around us differently through this book. These leaders will help you make your journey a success, and also rewrite your own history.

Hungry People, Better Results is the voyage to study the waves of extrinsic entrepreneurial leadership traits which affect the special impetus of teams. This would also take into account the impact of leadership styles and traits on the overall productivity, from a people leader's angle. Good news is that most of these traits can be developed over a period of time. This book and the author help you to ignite this 'fire' continually.

Each trait and each leader would take you closer to success, happiness, and gratification. The book may lead you to a completely different world. This empirical journey is incomplete, unless you unlearn, re-learn, and discover the power of these leaders and their learning.

The author interacted with a lot of leaders covered in the book, out of whom, some are:

Padma Shri & Padma Bhushan Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson & Managing Director, Biocon Limited
Mr Harsh Vardhan Goenka, Chairman, RPG Enterprise
Padma Shri. Mr. Harsh Neotia, Chairman, Ambuja.
Mr Anurag Batra, Chairman, Business World
Mr Ravi Shastri, Head Coach, Indian Cricket team
Dr Adil Malia, Business and HR Leader

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Nov 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9789386606990

Book preview

Author

CHAPTER 1

Abstract

The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire —Ferdinand Foch

Leadership is widely considered as an important aspect of organization. There is no dearth of leadership theories, but there is definitely a scarcity of first-hand leadership styles, and their subsequent effects on teams. Organizational effectiveness depends on the commitment, job satisfaction, communication, and effectiveness of leadership. These factors are related to the failure or success of a leader.

Great leaders have always worked towards improvement. They kept working on their hunger to be continually successful. I have met personally, the best of the best leaders from diverse fields, and interviewed them in this epic journey. The power of these leaders is only to settle for the best, and nothing less, as for these leaders the power of life is in a continual progression. These leaders have broken the shackles, and made the impossible into I M possible. They have looked at things around them differently, and I am sure that we would be motivated perceive things in a different light. These leaders would help you make your journey a success, and also rewrite your own history.

The magic is built within us and it is important for us to enable that magical power. The fire inside us, takes us to the steps of success. This is an aim to challenge the status-quo and the results would enable you to discover the spectrum of traits for a successful leader. All of us have unlimited potent weapons, and if we know how to master our traits and behavior, we would be ruling our world. If you make these leaders and their thoughts your mentor and your friend, it will unleash the power inside you and take you to continual success.

Hungry People, Better Results is the voyage to study the waves of extrinsic entrepreneurial leadership traits which affect the special impetus of teams. This would also take into account the impact of leadership styles and traits on the overall productivity, from the perspective of a leader. The good news is that most of these traits can be developed, but over a period of time. We would also look at developing these traits and help the readers to be continually successful.

Each trait and each leader would take you closer to the success, happiness, and gratification. It may lead you to a completely different world. This empirical journey is incomplete, unless you unlearn, re-learn, and discover the power of these leaders and their learning.

I have seen these leaders very closely, and whatever time I could spend with them, I have listened to them not only during the interviews, but have tried to learn about them through various other modes and mediums. I am very fortunate that they spent so much quality time even in their busy schedules. All the leaders mentioned are perfect in the traits, and their fields but I have mapped them to one of the most reflective trait they demonstrated during the interaction.

To have power in your hand, hunger and the urge or the hunger to be continually successful is within every human being. You have chosen to read this book consciously because you want to succeed, and I would take you with these leaders, and their traits, and very close to success.

Swami Vivekananda said, ‘There is no teacher but your own soul. No one can teach you. You have to grow inside out’.

CHAPTER 2

Introduction

Great people leaders are always in demand irrespective of the market condition.

As Maxwell quotes, ‘they were innovative thinkers to begin with’.

These entrepreneurial leaders had a justified answer to all the hows. But if you take a close look, their superiors would tell you why and what they did!

Adolf Hitler once boasted, ‘what luck for rulers that men do not think’.

I have closely studied leadership traits of several leaders who I met personally and interviewed. Interestingly, I found most of their thought processes alike. You would second me when I say, everybody wants to win in life, but there are only few who win continually over a period of time.

What they do differently is the question. Understanding their actions would help you, to grow as a leader and to break the clichéd glass ceiling, and success would come automatically.

As I progressed with them, I thought I had most of my answers. But different age groups, industries, countries, demographics, made me wonder if these leadership traits make them similar or different! Let us together decode the secret of success.

My habit of pushing the status-quo and writing down the experiences, have again forced me to pen this down for each one of my readers. In this unique book, I have tried to interviewed leaders who are top of the notch from our generation. The main factor of selection was to look at diverse locations, practices, industries, profession, and also age group.

Their individualistic thoughts were exciting, and during our journey we would together uncover the unknown through their knowledge, skills, and attitude, thus getting to the formula of —to be hungry to succeed. Remember, each one of them is my favourite, and there is no order to my preference, it is just best fitment to the style we observed.

Their action orientation to succeed or hunger as a term in my dictionary, is an ability to think, act, and outperform others continually in their lives.

I have met them in different locations, different modes, and still they were still very much similar, positive and influential in nature. Friends, when you look at the common factors these leaders discussed in length, you are in for surprises!

Many authors before me have termed this as a passion or zeal to succeed. I definitely respect their views. For me, fire it is their fire or hunger that takes them to continually win over time and again. To settle for nothing less than success in the stride is the key here. We are looking to discover these traits, and then we can work on developing the same in you.

Life of an entrepreneurial style of leader is emotional and full of challenge, day to day. You have days when you lose clients, deals, or key people. Potential investors back out and perseverance becomes difficult, but you know the show must go on.

Real credibility in any sphere of life is to overcome fear and strengthen your abilities. Uplifting your chances to succeed continually depends on the fire you possess. I always believe, the finesse of your skills should enable you to create an environment of innovation and excellence.

Losing one battle does not mean you can never win a war. There are many leaders in life who have failed over and over, but then succeeded continually in life.

Let me take you back to the famous lines of Michael Jordan: ‘I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times, I’ve been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed’.

Let’s together look at one of the most iconic presidents of USA: Abraham Lincoln; a leader from a completely different field, politics, in comparison to Michael Jordan, who is from the world of sports.

Look at Lincoln’s failures. He lost his job in 1832. He was defeated for legislature in 1832. He failed in business in 1833. His sweetheart (Ann Rutledge) died in 1835. He had a nervous breakdown in 1836. He was defeated for the position of the Speaker in 1838. He did not get nominated for Congress in 1843 and lost re-nomination in 1848. Lincoln got rejected as Land Officer in 1849, defeated for the position of Senate in 1854, wasn’t nominated as Vice-President in 1856, and again defeated for the position of Senate in 1858. Did all of this stop him?

History would tell you that he was elected the President in 1960. That is what we remember him for and not for his losses. We remember him for his overall personality and triumph and his superb rebellion.

No matter how prepared you are, there will be surprises, all along the way. You may overshoot your budgets or deadlines, or the marketing promotion does not produce the intended results. True people leaders actually focus on action orientation, focused on solutions, and never on the problems. Irrespective of the age, the overall outlook of life is definitely the hunger to succeed at all times.

Successful people also know how to keep their fire under control. Otherwise, this can lead to disaster. Time and again history has proved how uncontrollable urges ruined lives of great leaders. Hunger in control is important for continual success. Winning in life, would also depend on the right balance and your fire to lead you to betterment.

The hunger you reflect, as people’s leader, through your actions, is positive and influential.

Are you born with this hunger to succeed at all times? They have culminated leadership qualities together along with their hunger to be a leader in their own might. It has helped them ascend the ladder of success continuously. They created a favourable atmosphere for their organization to reach the sky and beyond.

For me, an entrepreneurial style of leader can have this fire irrespective of their designation or role. If they do not possess it, it’s our duty to ignite the same in everyone. I am sure we can help them develop it!

Do you want to be a differentiator or remain in the masses? Observing the one-click-away generation closely, I firmly believe that they would love to contribute. This is an effort for all those active contributors, who want to ignite the fire in them, the urge to win.

A valuable possession of fire to succeed can help you uncover, at length a very important instinct. To me it is very important to be at the right place at the right time. This is just like to catching a train. We need to be at the station at the right time.

You must be worrying at this point, how do you work on these traits and grow as a people’s leader? There is good news. These can be learned. You can change your life! You just need to change your way of thinking, intent, action orientation, and your walk on fire.

Success is measured by the obstacles you overcome.

Are you in the hunt of the fire to succeed? Are you hungry in life, to grow and make a difference?

If yes, then I can help you walk on fire. Revenues and efficiencies will follow automatically.

Salt adds zest to life. All flavours are incomplete without salt.

A pinch of ‘salt’ is used even in baked products or sweets, sometimes to enhance the sweetness, and on other occasions to strengthen the dough.

If we add excess salt to a dish, it may make it inedible in all probability. Also, baked products will not come out proper as the Salt,’ instead of strengthening, will stop the reaction of yeast.

Similarly excess hunger can also be dangerous for any people leader.

I want to remind you of these lines from the first Spiderman movie, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’.

Let us uncover these powers.

CHAPTER 3

Is happiness enough, with changing times?

The journey started with the concept of Happy People Better Results as a series to Match the Age to Keep Them Engaged.

During this exciting journey from keeping them engaged to today, I had a chance to meet some outstanding leaders. While interacting with them, a question constantly propped up, are they happy? Is happiness enough?

It was their hunger to succeed and zest to win along with my extensive research, and I changed the title to ‘hungry people’, ‘better results’.

Satisfaction, happiness, contentment, and engagement are changing with time. Gone are the days when we believed that a rolling stone gathers no moss.

As per my studies with time, an employee has 10-15 jobs by the end of his career. So as a people leader, I have started looking at resumes and applicants differently. Going forward, I strongly believe that talent engagement and retention would be the key for an organization to be successful.

Look at it from the other side of the coin. Is the new generation happy with what they have? Are they satisfied? Happiness comes from contentment. For the older generation, taking a risk was a tough decision.

The new gen easily slips into taking risks and moving further ahead for their own betterment. Their hunger and fire to succeed make them unique and help them reach the unattainable.

This generation is brought up in a more open environment. It is how we have trained them to be fearless and open to ask questions. A study of their mindset, their technological exposure, their team work, and accessibility to their virtual world, along with the upbringing is important a people’s leader to succeed.

Once you add salt to a dish, it is very difficult to reduce it. It is very important, to keep it minimal and add it as per your taste.

Similarly, it is very difficult to reduce the fire, when it literally starts controlling you. It becomes a part of your individuality. That can be also a start of your downfall as a people’s leader.

If you think you are more than good enough, chances are you have planted the seeds of your own downfall.

Mahatama Gandhi said, ‘Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because you behavior becomes your habit. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny’.

Hunger in excess for me is like a flat tire: important to change to move forward.

The hunger is innate. You are born either with it or without. Your upbringing enhances this fire and leads you towards your set goals. However, gratitude is internal. A liberal approach as a leader helps you to understand the needs of your young team.

Hunger or fire is the only common trait, which is simple and present in all leaders. As the book unfolds we will together look and dig into the traits of success.

The ability to influence others with their thought processes is amazing. Enrollment techniques and styles may change with times, but overall effect is same. When you look at these leaders closely, even in tough times, the fire is ignited inside them and they do not want to be the second best.

So is the fire or hunger the differentiator between a good and a great leader? According to me the hunger was there forever, and it is required to succeed continually even in ages to come.

Friends, come join me, as I take you to a roller coaster ride of emotions and empowerment.

CHAPTER 4

How to stay hungry

Key Objectives

1. Decoding the secrets of hunger.

2. Defining hunger

3. Success in relation to an iceberg —example.

4. How to raise the hunger inside you?

5. Decoding the secrets of delighting others.

6. Igniting the fire to win continually in life.

7. In conversation with Mr. Harsh Vardhan Goenka, Chairman and Managing Director, RPG Enterprise Limited .

Everyone likes to be at peace, everyone likes to remain in comfort.

As a popular saying, ‘struggle begins only after you leave your comfort zone’.

We face a lot of opposition, when we want to change anything, be it a process, people, or a product.

‘Achieving a dream is about more than just what you accomplish. It’s about who you become in the process’, says John Maxwell.

We are happy sitting in an office. We have dream to be a world class leader. We are planning for next five to ten years, our growth and family. I am not referring to that fire or your dare-to-dream.

Have you ever thought what Dhirubhai was thinking when filling up the petrol in a petrol pump? He was dreaming big, and actually wanted to own the biggest petroleum refinery. He wanted to hire intellects like us, and ensure we build his dreams and success story.

The big leaders are all united in their zeal to be hungry and to dream big. To be successful you have to dare to dream. Interestingly this hunger can be learned or ignited.

‘The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond, it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears’, says Dan Stevens.

Normally, people give it up after they attain some success. Their zeal to grow more ends there. Their level of satisfaction differs from the person whose hunger to succeed increase with every obstacle they overcome in their journey.

Sometimes we all feel miserable and unsatisfied, with lack of results. The key to continual success is perseverance. As the saying goes, if plan A does not work use plan B.

‘It is always impossible till it is done.’ —Nelson Mandela

Let us dig deeper and transform each other. There are millions of study materials, books, DVDs, etc. which gives you the answer to success. You must be thinking what else’s will I speak differently.

In this book, we will not look superficially at the action traits of leaders. We are going to look beyond the root cause analysis, and look at their recommended solutions.

The role of your own mentor is to lead you towards your own success. We all have fire within us, it’s sometimes just dormant and has to be ignited. If ignited I am sure we all will follow the path or guidelines. As a people’s leader, a different approach would be, to act like a guide or mentor to the younger generation. More than 70 per cent of this generation love to be their own bosses or love their bosses to be mentors. Personally ignite the fire in them at every step. For yourself, just similarly change your predictable patterns to win continually in life, and light the fire.

No matter how much success life throws in your way, are you still hungry? Not only in times when you are successful, but also importantly, at the time of your failure.

J Cole in the beautiful song from the Sideline Story says:

‘Money comes fast so being hungry don’t last,

Till you look in the mirror and you saw, who you was’.

If you look carefully at the leaders we have featured here, they have always stayed humbled, and they never let the success get to them. This is very important for continual success. Do you agree? They were true to their core values and never gave up the passion to succeed.

I repeat again that there is no favorite leader for me and there is no order of preference. It is just their style and approach which is important. Listen and learn from them.

In this chapter we will look closely at my interaction with Mr Harsh Vardhan Goenka.

Mr. Harsh Goenka as he is popular face. Harsh is a graduate in Economics and an MBA from the International Institute of Management Development (IMD), Switzerland.

He is one of the prominent industrialists in India with extensive experience of over 30 years at the helm of RPG Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates active in tyres, infrastructure, IT and specialty businesses. Mr. Goenka, a past President of the Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC) serves on the Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and is a Member of the Foundation Board of IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mr. Goenka is the Chairman of the Board of RPG Enterprises, CEAT Ltd, KEC International Ltd, Zensar Technologies Ltd, RPG Life sciences Ltd, Raychem RPG Ltd, a member of the board of Bajaj Electricals Ltd, and Spencer International Hotels Ltd.

A perfect portfolio. Don’t you agree?

History has repeated repeatedly that behaving arrogantly when successful may lead you to failure. I am sure all of you reading this book know this very simple principle of life. Half of the battle to succeed and work on your hunger is won if you stick to this basic principle of being kind, humble and being just.

Notorious B I G in the rap song said:

I’m just, trying to stay above water you know

Just stay busy, stay working

Puff