Who can be your mentor?
I have blogged about two great people who were my mentors, Dr. Anna Mani and Tan Sri Dr. B. C. Shekhar.
But one of my greatest mentors was a young man who worked for me.
When I tell him this today, he just cannot believe that he was my mentor as he had great admiration for me.
He came to work for my consulting company from PSG College in Coimbatore to do a marketing research programme of three months.
Once he walked into my room and I asked him to sit down to give him his first assignment, I knew I had a person who was unique.
I used to do a test when I was interviewing people for a job. I would ask them to write me an essay about some well known human being.
99% of the people I interviewed would ask me a series of question about why it was relevant, or what should they write about, how long the essay should be or something which meant they needed guidance.
Only one in a haundred would leave the room and turn up with an essay about the topic.
I got this advice from a book about Col. Arthur Wagner, who told Col. Andrew Summers [sic] Rowan, that he had to deliver a message from US President McKinley to reach information regarding the Spanish forces in Cuba and the condition of the insurgent Cuban forces. to General Gracia . He called in Col. Rowan to whom he handed a letter and asked him to reach this message to General Gracia. He gave no information about the location or any other details relevant to the task.
There are many versions to this story but the best account is found at "How I got the message to General Gracia".
The officer picked up the message and went out and elivered the message to whom it was addressed.
Such people are doers, while others, whatever their good qualities, are followers. A doer is one hundred times more valuable than a follower.
This young man executed his first market research project within the alotted time, only coming to me when he needed some technical advice which he could not possibly know.
I hired this young man and he served me diligently for almost a decade.
When I then started a production company, I asked him to be my Chief Executive Officer. He and his family were my closest associates.
I never had to give him instructions. He knew my diary and he would always have the relevant papers ready for me without me having to ask him.
What I learnt from him was of immense value to me when I moved to Finland and started working for an organisation. I followed what he taught me as I was then 10 steps ahead of everyone else.
Being one of the earliest foreigners to work in the University, I started at the bottom of the ladder in the Microelectronics Laboratory in the University of Oulu. Within three years, because of my performance, I became the Acting Laboratory Manager and within five ýears I became the Chief Engineer.
My work output was so high, and for a person who had no experience in the field of Microelectronics, I achieved what no one had done before me. My salary was the highest of any non-professorial staff.
When I left the University to start my own small company in the Technology Village behind Oulu University, I was innudated with work from all the laboratories of the Electrical Engineerting Department, from the Physics and Theoretical Physics Departments and also the Biology, Botany and Zoology departments.
I had earned the trust of the colleaqgues who had worked with me and their friends around the University.
They knew that when I promised something, I would deliver the results.
This young man, his wife in India and his children in the USA are lifelong friends. After I left India he was the CEO of another organisations in India. He is retired but his employer still has not let him go.
I have been priviledged to be mentored by this young man. His name is Vishnu Varadhan, his wife, who makes the best rasam that I know, is Veena. And his two children Saroopya and Sahitya are fine examples of good upbringing.
It is my honour to call him my mentor.
No comments:
Post a Comment