'Meeting A Mentor’

Many of you would have read ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell where the author of the book describes ‘meeting a mentor’ as one of the most important steps in the protagonist’s journey. One of the messages in this book is that ordinary people can affect the world in some way with the help of a mentor.

This post is not about Campbell’s book. I am rather expressing my gratitude to my mentor who wrote the foreword for my book - Dr Ram Charan, Best Selling Author, Global Adviser to CEOs and Boards.

I first met Dr Charan about 15 years ago when he came to India to help us - the senior management team at Hindustan Coca-Cola on strategy and business planning process.

I received him at the airport in the wee hours of the night when he landed at Delhi airport - we both travelled to the hotel together and discussed about the workshop to be held on the following day – though we reached the hotel very late in the night, he insisted we start the session at 9 in the morning, as per the original schedule.

His session on the following day was highly impactful. One thing that stood out was the way Dr Charan, who is regarded as one of the best thought leaders in the world was curiously listening to the discussions in the room, trying to gauge the absorption of the new knowledge he was imparting to the team - he wanted to make sure that his teaching was beneficial to all of us. He moderated his session to suit the requirements with excellence and precision.

One learning from the day’s session remained with me till date – the people planning process and its linkage to business goals. The learning was profound as it positively impacted my thinking and subsequent actions through my career.

During our conversation on the sidelines of the session, Dr Charan asked me to look at a critical people issue I was then facing using a different approach. It didn’t end there - he proactively reached out to me on phone a few times later to further help us on the way forward.?

A few years later, when I informed him about my contemplation to join Indian Hotels, within no time, he called me to ask a few questions and thereby clearing the cobwebs in my mind.

When I started studying the subject of humility and high achievement in leadership, I reached out to Dr Charan once again and requested his insights. Soon after, when he came to Mumbai, we caught up – he spent about two and a half hours asking questions to gain deeper insight on my thought process and providing his perspectives. You will find the pearls of Dr Charan’s wisdom in my book.

When the manuscript was ready, I reached out to him once again - this time with a request to write the foreword for the book - he asked me to send the full text to him which I did - he sent the foreword – sharp, simple and succinct, a few days later.?

How would I show the intense feeling of gratitude to a mentor who guided me several times to make a difference to me? Bowing my head down in reverence and saying ‘Guru Devo Bhava (Teacher is God)” from the bottom of my heart is perhaps the least I could do.?

Thank You, Dr Ram Charan !

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