Let us consider the following people –
Mr. Buffet, now the richest man on the earth, he has been the most successful investor and is the founder of the largest investment bank on the earth i.e. The Berkshire Hathaway.
Mr. Gates, the founder of Microsoft. Mr. Gates is the second richest man and his company has been one of the best companies on the earth to bring about the revolution in Technology and Computers.
Mr. Mittal, the founder of Mittal Steels. He has the largest steel company on the earth. He is the third richest man.
Late Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani, he is the man behind the whole Reliance brand. He is the one who started Reliance Industries a few decades back amidst harsh license raj and other constraints.
Mr. Murthy, the chief mentor of India’s best company, now in the fortune 500 and NYSE i.e. Infosys Technologies.
Mr. Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Computers.
Well, ever wondered what is the common factor among all the above people?
Yes, surely, all of them are standards of excellence in their lives. All of them are rich, all of them are successful.
This brings me to another question, what is common behind the success/achievements of these people?
Is it formal education, ranks and high IQ? No Sir, not at all. Mr. Buffet, Mr. Gates, Mr. Dhirubhai, Mr. Dell have never had much of formal education, nor had any ranks. Mr. Mittal is just a graduate. Whereas, Mr. Murthy has attended college; even those kids who started Google did so. So, it’s safe to conclude that formal education, ranks and high IQ is not a common point among all the aforesaid people.
Is it knowledge, skill sets, management and communication skills? Yes, probably, but surely, we do have thousands of people on this planet who know much more the above mentioned people know. We do have people who have much better communication and management skills than these people have. And not only that, but we have these highly intelligent people having multiple qualifications working under them as well.
So, if it is not formal education, ranks, high IQ, knowledge, communication and management skills…..then what has made these people so successful, so rich? What has made these people/companies a case study in Harvard and IIM’s?
A very tough question to answer indeed, is it?
The first and foremost thing I believe is common among all these people are that they have lived outside their comfort zones consistently. This is the most important thing that has to be highlighted in the success story of these people. All the above mentioned people are those people who had the ability to leave their comfort zone, and to be outside it consistently.
It is the human tendency to live in comfort zones. People refrain to come out of their comfort zones even in small things like choosing the people to talk to in work places, or to choose work partners.
Alongwith the ability of being outside the comfort zone and doing so consistently, there are other qualities like faith, positive thinking, emotional intelligence etc that make a leader.
It’s really strange to see that what we learn for many years of our life in our education system has no essence of those areas which have led to the high achievements of these people. This was rightly pointed out by Mr. Mohnish Pabrai, the director of California-based Pabrai Investments, who spent about $650,100 (Rs 2.6 crore) for a luncheon date with the legendary investor, Warren Buffett.
See the excerpts of his interview below -
What are your learnings from Buffett?
Let me put it this way. Most of the learning I did through high school, college and graduate studies has not been very useful. I spent 18+ years of my life getting all that mostly irrelevant knowledge. The most important thing I learnt in those years was becoming literate and "learning to learn."
I again wish to send across this message to all of you. Dear friends, brothers and sisters.........these marks, degrees, contacts etc are advantages and not ends. There is no law in this world which states that people who score less never do well and that people who score more always do well. Nor is there any such law that people having ranks, having passed out from IIMs or Harvard shall always be more knowledgable, richer than those who havent done so.
Anything can be achieved with the secret.
CAclubindia
