Never give up!

A shame, A wake-up call...

2008-11-28T13:44:00.000-08:00

“Terror Uninterrupted”, “War on Mumbai”, “Enough is Enough”: The screeching headlines of the past 2 days say it all. It’s been a shameful and regretful period of 48 hours, wherein a handful of terrorists held an entire city, an entire nation hostage. The worst part, the terrorists displayed brazen audacity in terms of the plan that they used for the attacks, as well as the targets that they selected for the strike. The Taj, The Oberoi, a couple of the defining icons of our country, where the who-is-who of our nation/world rub shoulders, were under siege. Here is a thought to ponder on, if the terrorists can enter such high-profile places, which have high-tech surveillance equipment and trained security personnel, and carry out a planned attack in such an audacious manner, how safe can a common man on the street feel?

In the aftermath of this attack, when we look back at what happened, there would be multiple reactions. The politicians have already started playing the game of one-upmanship, and are trying to sway the moods and emotions of people in their favor for political gains. On the other hand, there would be a growing consortium of voices blaming a certain community and a certain region for this tragedy. Without enough evidence, making such statements is only dangerous and inflammatory, and could act as a fuel for more such acts in the future. Personally, I don’t subscribe to these thoughts, because I have many really good friends who belong to varied religions. At the end of the day, each one of them is just like me: a simple, peace-loving person who wants a happy and meaningful life for his family, for himself and for his friends. So leaving these one-upmanship attempts and jingoism aside, the real question is what can we do to ensure that something like this never happens again?

NDTV ran a very good segment titled “Enough is Enough” late in the evening today. It was heart-warming to see some of the most-respected journalists and citizens of the country put forth their thoughts and urge fellow citizens to not let this incident die down as just another unfortunate incident, or to let politicians start another war of mud-slinging, but rather to unite together and lead our “supposed” leaders to take stringent actions that result in a more comprehensive and cohesive security regime. As Barkha Dutt and Pranoy Roy talked to multiple people, it was almost a surprise to see our ever-effervescent and cheerful Harsha Bhogle seethe with anger on this segment. While what he and Sanjana Kapoor reflected a thoughtful, mature and educated approach to tackle the issue and it’s aftermath, there was a senior female columnist (looking more like a Page 3 socialite out for a party) who chose wrong words to comment on the tragedy. Her comments about “faceless casualties” in “bomb attacks in crowded markets" versus “individual tragedy” in this instance, just because she knows one of the victims, had overtones of snobbishness and fake sympathy. Before her comments could do major damage in making viewers think if we were reacting more strongly this time because the affluent were under attack as opposed to the lower and middle class who have been the major victims in the past terrorist incidents, it was great to see a couple of other senior journalists, who were standing there with her, give a spin to her comment and lead the discussion towards a more profound difference.

Here is the most-defining comment from the segment. A doctor couple, who themselves were trapped at the Taj, saved the life of a critically injured staff member. This is what they (Doctor Prashant Mangeshikar and his wife) had to say,

“Every life had to be saved, irrespective of who it was. I was really angry when someone made a phone call to check what kind of department he (staff member) belongs to. I thought what is he trying to say? If he was a Vice President of Taj, would he get special treatment? I said, forget it, he is a human being, his life has to be saved”.

If only our Page 3, socialite, journalist, Madame had chosen her words so meticulously!

Anyways, coming back to the question about what needs to be done, while I am not qualified in that field to suggest concrete steps, here are some thoughts (some others', some mine)

Frame and publish a national policy on “zero tolerance for terrorism”
Have a central intelligence agency – as opposed to multiple state/central agencies who are currently working with little or no co-ordination
Have a thoroughly trained and highly equipped crisis management force, with a single command center, on the ground
Have more units of NSG, deployed in a distributed manner to prevent and counter terror attacks, rather than have them act as bodyguards for our VVIP politicians
Engage other nations and establish a global anti-terror organization that has a single agenda, "Wipe off terrorism from the face of this planet through education, through economic growth, through peace, and if needed, as a last resort, counter-offensive".

Having listed these, an even more important ask is the need to convince ourselves that it is up to “us” to fight this terror! For a moment, let's think "How would it be if instead of having illiterate/rogue netas, who don’t understand the ABCD of economics, technology, security, or global politics, we had smart, educated and immaculate leaders like Harsha Bhogle and Barkha Dutt hold the reigns of our nation?" We have many more such names that could easily put our nation on the right path, and lead it into the future. Wait a second. If we do have such able people, who might also be willing to lead us, what is stopping them from entering the fray? Again, the answer is “us”. We, the educated, the urbane, are never there to support these candidates even if they are willing to put in their candidature. When it comes to electing our representatives, we all shy away due to various reasons. This leaves the job of deciding, as to who comes to power, in the hands of the uneducated masses, who can easily be swayed under the influence of divisive/petty politics.

So as I end this post, I commit to change myself! When I wake up in the morning, Delhi would go to elections. And this time around, I too would be there at the polling booth to caste my vote. In the beginning, a single vote might not make a difference, but eventually it would. If I share my thoughts with like-minded people, and convince even a few of them to do the same, slowly it would have a viral effect, and that day might be a reality, sooner rather than later, when we all shout “Harsha Bhogle for PM!”.

To conclude, we have adopted a “Chalta Hai” attitude for too long. If India is to achieve it’s true potential, and become a peaceful, progressive nation, we must act now. Bahut ho gaya sona, ab to “Jago Re!”

For those who might be interested, here are the videos that capture Harsha Bhogle's and Sanjana Kapoor's discussion from that segment

Proud to be an Indian!

2007-03-26T02:11:00.000-07:00

Last few days have been rather disappointing for many of us country men. The dismal show by our cricket team in the on-going Cricket World Cup has shattered a lot of dreams and hopes. Die-hard fans, including me, feel cheated for the faith that we had reposed in our highly-celebrated cricketers. After all, cricket has become a religion in our country. And to see our representatives fall like a pack of cards against the Bangladesh and Sri Lankan teams dealt a severe blow to our pride...

You must be wondering how come the above paragraph about our ouster from the World Cup makes me feel proud. It doesn't. But some incident related to it does!

On Sunday, I was visiting a nearby service center on account of some work. One of the attendants, while helping out, asked, "Aapko kya lagta hai sahab, aaj Bermuda jeetegi naa?" (Do you believe that Bermuda will win today?). For those who don't have the context, Bermuda's possible win over Bangladesh was our last chance for moving on to the next stage of the World Cup. Most of us had no hopes of that outcome. Hence, I was surprised with the optimism being shown by this person. I decided to ask him, "Ab tak ki itni ghatiya performance ke baad bhi tumhein lagta hai ki yeh team kuch kar sakti hai?" (After such a dismal performance so far, do you still believe that the current team can do anything?). His reply left me speechless. He said, "Kya kare sahab, aakhir apna desh hai!" (After all, it is our country!).

After thinking about this for a few minutes, I felt extremely glad. To see a guy, who hardly earns anything, whose life is full of hardships, and who has just recently had his hopes crushed by his team, show such pride and optimism was remarkable! To contrast this, there are many of us who are privileged, who have had a world-class education, but who still like to see the glass half-empty. In the quest for immediate greener pastures, we forget that we too have a great responsibility to contribute towards taking our country forward. A responsibility to show faith. A responsibility to rub that faith on to others. Mere criticism is not going to solve the problems. After all, the countries which are prominent on the world map didn't reach there from day one. They have reached there based on the vision, the faith, and the commitment of their denizens...

The pride and faith that was shown by my friend in the service center on Sunday makes me believe that we too will be there soon. Not just in cricket, but in all spheres of life. The love and the pride for the country is deep-rooted, and the prayers, along with the resolve to perform, will definitely yield results. It is just a matter of time, and for all of us to put our heads together. So this post is dedicated to my friend at the service center, "Raj". Thanks Raj for showing the faith. Hopefully, we all, along with our cricketers, will soon realize the responsibility that is entrusted with us, and do our country proud.

Vande Mataram!

Happy Women's Day!

2007-03-08T04:30:00.000-08:00

Today is a day that has been ear-marked to celebrate the creator of this world. A day to celebrate the preserver of this world. A day when we celebrate the destroyer of all evil in this world. No, I am not talking about the Hindu Trinity of the TriGods – Lord Brahma, the creator, Lord Vishnu, the preserver and Lord Shiva, the destroyer. Instead I am talking about “Woman”. I am talking about our mothers, our sisters, our significant others, and our friends. They are the ones who gave us birth. They are the ones who have nurtured and groomed us. And they are the ones who pray for us, and protect us from all evil in this world.

Today is a day, when we bow our heads in respect in front of all women to let them know how special they are. If they were not here, we won’t be there either.

This post is a tribute to my mom, my sister and my sister-in-law who have been my strength throughout. This post is also a tribute to all my women friends and relatives who have taught me in their own way what life is all about!

So ladies, on behalf of all men in this world, I bow my head in front of you.

Happy Women’s Day!

If you want to read more about the origin and significance of this day, here is a good link

Hope - the fuel of life!

2007-02-12T13:00:00.000-08:00

A few years back, I was with my uncle, giving him a quick tour around Bangalore. We suddenly came across a small crossing. There was a horde of people crowded over a very small shop. When we moved closer, I saw that it was a lottery shop and there were lots of auto-rickshaws parked nearby. My instant reaction on seeing this was, "These guys are crazy. They earn a meagre amount of money every day and then they go to the lottery shops to burn everything. Don't they care about their families...". On hearing this, my uncle said something which got deeply entrenched in my mind and heart. He said "It is this hope, of winning a lottery one day, that is keeping most of these people alive. If they lose this hope, given the amount of problems in their lives, they would simply die..."

Today, another interesting incident happened. Some of my roommate's friends were in town to give entrance exams for PG courses in medicine. They had stayed with us over the weekend, and were leaving today. While they were leaving, my roommate asked them to make sure that they hadn't accidentally left behind any of their belongings. To this, one of the guys jokingly replied, "Arre bhaiya, chinta mat karo. Ek student ke pass hota hi kya hai. Bas ek roll number aur ek pen..." (Don't worry friend. What does a student have. Only a roll number and a pen). I don't know what happened to me, but I instinctively replied, "Ummeedein" (Hopes). Everyone, including me, was surprised with this response. But when it sank in, all of us nodded our heads in agreement. And instantaneously, the above mentioned incident flashed through my mind!

Later in the day, when I thought more about these incidents, I realized that, subconsciously, I had said something which was so very true. Aren't we all living in hope? In hope of leading a happy life. In hope of having a successful career. In hope of achieving our dreams...

If there were no hope, there won't be any life!

Is Entrepreneurship more secure than a job?

2007-01-22T10:59:00.000-08:00

I know that quite a few of you would be shaking your head sideways, ready to dismiss this idea. After all, doesn't a good paycheck at the end of each month give a bigger sense of security than the dreams of a windfall some years into the future... While a majority of us might answer no, there is definitely a segment of individuals who live with a philosophy that the answer to this question is a resounding "YES".

Before I present a case for this, consider the following facts:

With globalization in full-swing, all organizations are trying to scout for work forces which offer maximum productivity and greatest return on investment. What this means is that if someone can do your current job better than you, or at a fraction of your cost, your job would be shifted.

Mega-mergers/consolidations are in full swing. And if there is anything that would change around these, it would be the rate at which these happen. And the only direction for that rate is upwards. Each such consolidation presents an opportunity for the organizations to streamline their combined work forces, and hence layoffs are imminent.

Technological advances are resulting in a scenario wherein, everyday, the effort/skill set required for doing any job is diminishing drastically. For instance, we all know how some large MIS (Management Information System) teams can easily be replaced by periodically scheduled cron jobs, which don't require any human intervention at all.

The biggest casualty of all the above are individuals who had got too comfortable in their jobs, and had stopped to evolve...

You must be thinking, "Agreed that these facts are true, but how on earth does that make entrepreneurship more secure"? If so, consider the following argument which might resonate with some of you...

Let me start by asking you a question. What is the best known protection against pathogens like viruses and bacteria? Yes, you are right, it is vaccines. A preparation of the same weakened or killed pathogen. Similarly, experiencing the insecurities and the uncertainties around your "Entrepreneurial Destiny" are the best way for you to prepare yourself against any other form of insecurity. As an entrepreneur, your very existence would depend on you being innovative; on you thinking on your feet; on you finding alternate paths if the primary one is blocked. If you are one of those individuals who hate to fail, you would always be evaluating new plans to succeed. All these would ensure that at no instant would you be resting on your laurels. While one plan is being implemented, which by itself has a pretty good chance of succeeding, your mind would have already moved on to evaluate the successive/follow-on strategy. Chances are high that, even before you know it, you would have lined up a very good strategy for survival, and possibly success, for the next few years.

Hence, the argument that Entrepreneurship can be more secure, as well as rewarding, for certain individuals. But before anyone jumps to any conclusions, let me clarify. I do not mean we can generalize this. This argument definitely does not hold true for "everyone".

While, the insecurities associated with the success, or the survival, of an Entrepreneurial Venture are grossly over-highlighted in a negative sense all across the board, the benefit of the same feeling of insecurity as an antidote against other evils rarely finds any mention. Hence, if you are one of those individuals who like to fight fire with fire, go ahead and take the plunge. In the long run, the bumpy "Entrepreneurial Ride" is definitely more cozy and warm than that office chair you have got so much used to...

A triple treat for future Indian Entrepreneurs!

2007-01-11T12:30:00.000-08:00

All you fans of entrepreneurship in India, here is some good news for you. The following proposals are being considered by the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology). When implemented, these would come as a big boost for promoting entrepreneurship in the country:-

Most of the IITs are planning to soon have a venture capital fund on their campuses. IIT Bombay is in talks with Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and other major IT players to seek help to start a venture capital fund. IIT Madras, too, is considering setting up a VC fund on its campus. IIT Delhi, will explore the option in future, it says.
IIT Madras is setting up a research park along with 35 companies. At the research park, the institute would reserve space to accommodate start ups by students and faculty.
There is a recommendation given to the Department of Human Resource Development, Universities Grant Commission and All India Council for Technical Education, to encourage all science departments and technical education/training institutions to include entrepreneurship and new venture management in their course curriculum.

Now that's called a triple treat for all Entrepreneurs-in-the-making. Isn't it exciting to see that more and more colleges are starting to plant the idea of entrepreneurship in young minds, as well as guiding them some of the way? By also encouraging students to seek out early-stage entrepreneurs to work for, the colleges could guide the students on a path of exponential learning, growth and rewards.

Click here to read more details on the above mentioned proposals.

About Venture Capital And Innovators

2007-01-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

First of all, here's wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous New Year!

2006 was an year of tremendous growth and success for India. 2007 promises to be yet another year where the upward trend should continue!

As has been the theme for the past few posts, this time too we will focus on some important aspects related to entrepreneurship. These are Venture Capital, Advertising and Innovation. Instead of capturing my own thoughts, this time around, I'll introduce you to some really interesting information and thoughts on these topics by a couple of my very close friends.

Ritesh is maintaining a blog wherein he is following the Venture Capital situation in India. Here is a post by him which highlights some important facts about VC funding in India that has happened in the past 2 years. In case you are strapped for time, and don't click that link, here are some important statistics from that post:

VC Fundings in India
2005 - $482 million in 52 deals
2006 - $240 million in 49 deals till June, $300 million in 50 deals expected in remaining 6 months

This is excellent information to support my previous post about "Entrepreneurship in India". India might not be there in the league of big boys yet, but things are definitely getting started ;-)

Pranav is maintaining a blog wherein he talks about interactive marketing, innovators, new ventures etc. Check out this post in which he has captured some interesting insights about innovators. These were provided by Rohit Agarwal in his recent talk at Barcamp Bangalore 2. Also checkout some of Pranav's posts related to marketing and advertising. They might come in handy for all you entrepreneurs. After all, isn't Web 2.0 all about ad revenue? ;-)

Happy Reading!

Entrepreneurship in India

2006-12-27T11:34:00.000-08:00

Well, when we talk about entrepreneurship, which is the first country that comes to your mind? United States? Singapore? Japan? What do you think when someone talks about Entrepreneurship in India? Is "naah" your immediate reaction? If so, read these snippets from a recent article in TOI. They might make you think otherwise...

"With about 11 retail shops for every 1,000 persons, India has the highest shop density in the world. That's one shop for every 20-25 families. In cities, the density is much higher. Delhi, for example, has nearly 45 shops per thousand persons! Americans, arguably the biggest spenders in the world, have to make do with just about 4 shops per 1,000 persons."

So, if we consider these facts, we have counted atleast 12 million entrepreneurs in India. Of course, I have trivialized the counting over here by equating each shop owner to an entrepreneur. But hey, aren't "Hard work", "Desire to work for themselves" and "Optimism" some of the key characteristics of entrepreneurs? Believe me, we Indians are pretty good at exhibiting these ;-)

My take - India might lack the advanced technology or infrastructure that seed so many ventures in the western world, but it does have a lot of other things which are equally crucial for a successful venture. To mention just a couple of them:

A culture that promotes socializing and team work - Don't we all agree that collaboration is one of the biggest building blocks for entrepreneurship?
A huge domestic market - With such a large population base, capturing even a mediocre market share can mean huge revenues/profits.

Now coming to certain areas where I feel we need to get our act together:

Orientation to excellence - We have accepted mediocrity for far too long. The "chalta hai" attitude, as also recently highlighted by our PM, is our biggest bane. We have to conquer it, and conquer it fast.
Organization and Support System - Our industrial environment, procedures, bureaucracy and red tape are causing a lot of entrepreneurs to shun even the most stupendous of opportunities. Also, the society and the government needs to do a lot more to promote entrepreneurship and support entrepreneurs. Institutes like "Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI or EDII)" and "Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE)" are few and far between.
Role models for entrepreneurs - Entrepreneurs are admired and emulated. It is time for the media to uncover and idolize more Dhirubhai Ambanis and Narayan Murthys.

To end this post, I'll use another recent quote, attributed to our PM, as a reply to the question, "What must we do to build a strong India?". His response, "Our strength will lie in the capabilities of our industry, in our ability to produce enough food for our people, to generate enough electricity, and to create a knowledge-based economy with full literacy".

Promoting entrepreneurship is definitely a good and fool-proof road to reach there!

Characteristics of an Entrepreneur!

2006-12-14T06:24:00.001-08:00

In the previous post, I had tried to share my thoughts around "What is Entrepreneurship?". In this post, I will highlight some characteristics of entrepreneurs as enlisted by John G. Burch. I was trying to find a definition for the word "Entrepreneurship" when I ran across this list on wikipedia. I thought I'll list it here so that all of us can relate that a budding entrepreneur is hiding within each one of us ;-)

John G. Burch[Business Horizons, September 1986] lists traits typical of entrepreneurs:

A desire to achieve: The push to conquer problems, and give birth to a successful venture.
Hard work: It is often suggested that many entrepreneurs are workaholics.
Desire to work for themselves: Entrepreneurs like to work for themselves rather than working for an organization or any other individual. They may work for someone to gain the knowledge of product or service that they may want to produce.
Nurturing quality: Willing to take charge of, and watch over a venture until it can stand alone.
Acceptance of responsibility: Are morally, legally, and mentally accountable for their ventures. Some entrepreneurs may be driven more by altruism than by self-interest.
Reward orientation: Desire to achieve, work hard, and take responsibility, but also with a commensurate desire to be rewarded handsomely for their efforts; rewards can be in forms other than money, such as recognition and respect.
Optimism: Live by the philosophy that this is the best of times, and that anything is possible.
Orientation to excellence: Often desire to achieve something outstanding that they can be proud of.
Organization: Are good at bringing together the components (including people) of a venture.
Profit orientation: Want to make a profit; but the profit serves primarily as a meter to gauge their success and achievement.

For those who want to read the complete write-up on wikipedia, here is a quick link, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur. It is pretty interesting!

What is Entrepreneurship?

2006-12-14T05:56:00.000-08:00

Isn't it true that nowadays, wherever we look around ourselves, we find our friends and colleagues moving out of their jobs? Well, look who's talking... Didn't I myself just do that? :-)

Jokes apart, in the past 14 days that I have been on my own, I have already met 3-4 friends who are in a similar situation. Some have already left their jobs, while some are in the process of doing so. Most of them are moving out because they want to start their own business. So, keeping the title of this post in mind, am I implying that moving out of a secure job and building a business of our own is entrepreneurship? Does taking risks to tread uncharted territory mean entrepreneurship? The answer is yes and no. Yes, because this is one way that can lead to entrepreneurship. No, because entrepreneurship is a much more evolved concept than just starting a business or taking some risks.

If you ask me, I would say that entrepreneurship is one's desire to evolve. It is the desire to identify one's own capabilities by testing them to the limits. It is our desire to shape the future of the world, in whatever small capacity. Entrepreneurs are people who want to do something innovative, something which is unique to them.

Now this leads me to discussing a very common notion about entrepreneurship, which I believe is wrong. According to Investopedia (http://www.investopedia.com/), an entrepreneur is "An individual who, rather than working as an employee, runs a small business and assumes all the risk and reward of a given business venture, idea, or good or service offered for sale". While this seems fine coming from the mouths of "Investopedia", which projects itself as "Your source for investing education", it is wrong to imply that to be an entrepreneur one has to quit their jobs. I truly believe that one can be an entrepreneur while still working with some organization. I'll probably write another post, "Entrepreneurship in a job", to convey what I mean by this. But that's for later.

The following definition by "Houghton Mifflin" (http://www.hmco.com/indexf.html), "One that creates, founds, or originates", is the one that I believe comes closest to capturing the real spirit of an entrepreneur.

Well, what I have done with these few words is share my thoughts around what is entrepreneurship. I know a lot of you out there have your share of thoughts on this topic. So I would like to invite all bricks and bouquets. Do keep them coming ;-)

I am back to blogging...

2006-12-14T05:49:00.000-08:00

Okay - I did say that I have started blogging. But from no account have I done any justice to it so far. Hence, here I am, back, to make amends. And what better way than to write a couple of posts, one after the other.

Choosing a topic to write on is a very difficult thing. For a couple of days, I had donned my thinking cap and deliberated a lot to come up with a topic that I should write on. Ideas ranged from giving a spin to some of the cliche sayings, to some around writing a post on some of the technical topics. But then I thought, let's write about something that is the flavour of the season. And is so rightly so. The topic that I am talking about is "Entrepreneurship". As soon as that word came to my mind, there was a free-flow of ideas moving all across my brain. So much so, that the neural system, which was once finding it tough to utter even a single word that could be written on any topic, is now having such a hard time filtering out content which should be skipped. Perhaps, I might do a mini-series on this topic. So, without much further ado, I'll move on to writing my next post in which I'll share my thoughts around "What is Entrepreneurship?"

The entrepreneurial bug

2006-12-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Ok guys - the entrepreneurial bug has struck me, and I have decided to take matters in my own hands. I have quit my job, and am on my own now.

I have a few ideas that I am passionate about, and over the course of next few months, I will try to crystallize them and see if they make commercial sense to implement. Some of the ideas are in the IT domain while some are non-IT. But in the short term, I would be focusing on the IT-related ideas only.

Of late, blogging has become a very powerful means of communicating one's feelings/thoughts. Hence, I too have got inspired and have decided to share some of my thoughts on life, management, work etc. through this medium. The first one is coming right after this post...

Would love to hear your feedback on the same!

Cheers,
Amit

If you are replaceable, then you are indispensable!

2006-12-02T10:19:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered why you constantly hear the phrases, "Oh, that guy is indispensable!" or "Thank god, he is in my team!", over and over again for the same person? Ever wondered why it is always someone from only a handful set of people who keeps getting picked for any new assignment that is interesting or challenging? What's your first reaction when you notice such things? "That guy is extremely intelligent", or maybe "He is extremely lucky"? Agree that such people are both highly intelligent, and that luck might also be on their side. But look deeper, you might find something really interesting…

Most of the fast movers are typically the ones who make their entire team run with them. While they are focusing on getting their day-to-day job done well, they are paying equal attention to getting replaced easily. These are the people who will organize their work properly, make sure that each member on their team keeps high-level tabs on all the work being done by everyone, and are actively involved in knowledge–share sessions, be it the technical domain or understanding the bigger picture related to different aspects of their organization's business. If I can call them so, they are typically "great delegators". By grooming the junior members on their team to take on more and more of their current responsibilities, they are creating bandwidth for themselves to start contributing towards more challenging/interesting assignments. Whenever something new comes up, these guys have already developed the next set of people who can do their current job, thereby allowing the senior management to easily move them elsewhere. Every good manager wants such people, and these people are always "available" when others need them. So, it is neither magic nor pure luck, it is instead the art and science of being organized (replaceable) that is behind all the "wows" that these folks gather. Hence, the title, "If you are replaceable, then you are indispensable!"

An interesting by-product of this is "chain growth". When such people move on to new assignments, someone else on their team steps up to fill their shoes. This creates a ripple effect which, if organized properly, leads to sustained growth for all people who were below them in the hierarchy. Also, in their new assignment, these people start owning certain portions of responsibility which earlier lay in the hands of their seniors. This allows those higher up in the chain to now expand their horizons further, leading to a ripple effect in the upward direction as well.

To conclude, I'd like to capture a symptom that I have noticed pretty regularly. People sometimes show resistance when encouraged to delegate their work, or organize it properly so that it can be de-centralized. They do this under the fears of job security or sometimes plain lethargy. One thing that they don't realize is that by doing so, they might themselves be creating a "job jail" in which they could be stuck for a very long time. This short term protectionist attitude towards the "current job" can have a far-reaching negative impact on their overall career. Sometimes, the organization/managers are also responsible for creating such an environment. They inadvertently misjudge the people, basing the "dispensability" criteria on the amount of work due from that person. Instead they should recognize the "dispensable" people, because not only have they done their work, they have done it properly!

Hence, remember the mantra, "Be replaceable. You never know what new opportunity might be lurking for you around the corner. Be prepared to grab it, when it finally unveils itself!"