Navigating through the bend: Being an 'Entrepreneur Manager'
If you are a people's manager and keep people to the centre of your business, you shall never lose footing, says CP Gurnani, Tech Mahindra MD and CEO
Image: Tom Werner/Getty Images
I am always fascinated by Formula circuit races. As a spectator for years, many thoughts cross my mind, but the one manoeuvre that fascinates me even today is navigating the bends. All of them have the same track, the vehicle with more or less the same configuration, driving at microseconds difference from each other, but some drivers are always better than the others.
Today, COVID-19 is that track on which entrepreneurs and managers are driving their businesses. Some managers may pause and stop, while others may pause but only to accelerate by taking a calculated risk. At a particular speed, few drivers will be able to go past the bend and stay ahead of the curve. Hence, it's about how you manage the risk and the choices you make, that will determine how you successfully navigated your business in times of Covid-19.
As per the Chinese philosophy, the yin and yang is referred to contextualise how seemingly disparate or diverse forces may be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent for a holistic perspective. In entrepreneurship, yin is about knowledge, discovery, ideas and new possibilities—while yang is about establishing markets and putting strategy and structure.
The Yin Yang for 'entrepreneur managers', is a constant toss between the drive of an entrepreneur and the accountability of a manager. The bend may be deep, but the manoeuvrability is skilled and specialised. It is all about managing the speed, direction, balance while understanding the environment and situation to emerge as a winner.
Over the years, I have made a list of five traits that I identify with, and I believe are the characteristics of an 'Entrepreneur Manager'.
I am often asked, How did you solve the Satyam crisis? My answer is elucidated later in the article. But, I wish to highlight that each of us in our lives has to weigh our risk appetite. In a game of soccer, every single move or pass is crucial to reach near the goal post, and even the final kick or hit has to be measured, balanced and given the right direction for the ball to score the goal.
The move was risky and complicated, given that the investor and customer faith in the brand was shaken and there was an advisory on a negative impact on the parent brand as well. Yet, it was also a unique opportunity to diversify our service offerings and de-risk our dependency on specific customers. So we simplified the strategy, broke into manageable 10, 20 parts and empowered individuals to solve challenges. We went ahead and completed the acquisition, rest, as they say, is history.
The journey so far has taught me that one size can never fit all. An entrepreneur and a manager use different variables in their decision-making to resolve one problem. A seemingly indecisive entrepreneur can be an effective manager, and a decisive manager can become a successful entrepreneur. But the most important thing to remember is that only training does not work, execution is very critical. So dream big, start small and have a bias for action.
The writer is MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra