Priming up to 29

"He will ask to write reflections on birthday celebrations on DeepThought group now"- my interns are indeed quite creative at trolling me, during my birthday celebrations yesterday. I have this habit of reflecting and writing an article on LinkedIn, I missed it last year and I have been doing it for 7 years now. It is nice to review, you may or may not use this wisdom, but it helps in internalizing what life has been offering. But this year, I find a huge difference, I feel as though events have been scripted, as though I have been primed (#PunIntended) to 29. Let me narrate a wonderful series of events and the inner transformation from Oct 9th of Gandhi's 2019 to Oct 9th of Kalam's 2020.

One of my favorite sporting teams is Hyderabad Heroes in the Indian Cricket League, in those good old days. They opened their batting with two aggressive wicketkeeper batsmen - Jimmy Maher and Hyderabadi anna Ibrahim Khaleel- two promising talents with the same tale- career overshadowed by Adam Gilchrist and M.S.Dhoni. They had the mighty Justin Kemp who blends brute power with textbook technique. They had two amazing bowling allrounders in Abdul Razzaq and Nicky Boje, besides amazing local talents like India u19 captain Ambati Rayudu and Stuart Binny. However, the biggest cog in this amazing team was the gentle uncle - Chris Harris, the humble Colossus of T20 cricket. Chris Harris is arguably one of the best limited-overs bowlers with subtle pace variations, livewire on the field even at 37, and a reliable clean striker of the ball, during the death overs.

However, the value that uncle Harris adds to Hyderabad Heroes is a lot beyond these three dimensions, he is actually a multi-D uncle and not just a 3D player. Uncle Harris is a great leader, nurtured talent well, and made sure youngsters were given enough opportunities, back up when they fail, to ensure that the talent made the most of what they had. This seems cliched, but this is what counts on the battleground. This is what sets an able commander like uncle Harris from the others. The ability to play by the book is probably boring, but gold. Sometimes, oops most of the times, it is about playing by the book, sticking to the basics and keeping it simple. Innovation is like the topping on a pizza, but the base is execution - being able to consistently stick to the basics.

Why would I quote uncle Harris while I talk of my last year? Well, most of us aspire to be or envy King Kohli, who happens to be India's heartthrob now. Yuvraj Singh even went on to say that he never saw Kohli go out of form. However, I feel the nation's heartthrob is always the prince. The might of the throne can only be handled by the king, the gentle giant, the humble Colossus. The likes of Baba Dhoni, uncle Harris, cute Kane, gentleman Gilly have shown that, while the likes of Kohli, Warner are on their way. A king needs that energy, which some so-called cool captains lack, but can that energy be blended with more temperament and compassion? Extremes? Self-contradiction? Well, integrative thinking is what sets great leaders apart- ability to hold contradictory forces consistently- I found this articulation this year.

My 28 to 29 journey is probably all about integrative thinking and about bringing the crucial element of balance. I used to attract some of the nation's best talent, to work for Sciensation, but temperament issues would repel a lot of potential collaborators. I had a tragic 28th birthday which would remain a scar all through my life and the scar is visible as a vacuum on LinkedIn- sometimes a mere absence can signify vibrant presence if the rest is in place. I started reading about Emotional Intelligence. I started talking to people with confidence issues, I started traveling with them gently, by not being in a hurry. It helped me understand a lot of perspectives, which I lacked. Purva organized a wonderful birthday celebration and said "sorry for the mess up, but just waive off all our mistakes, like how you always do" - it feels so good, to read that she feels so safe here. However, a milestone for 30, would be when she doesn't even look at it as a mistake, when she is happy to sail through, oblivious of the result, with sheer commitment to values, principles!

Krishnaveni, our parent relations head, tells me "they have coronated (patabhishiktudu) you on your birthday, what else do you want"? Our intern and student Swetha edited my favorite song Saaho Sarvabhowma Saaho (salutations to the universal emperor) with my so called inspirational provocations from training videos. She wrote an email to Prof. Jim Collins, whose teachings I'm trying to spread to youngsters, so he could wish me on my birthday. I could see a lot of young people making attempts to make me happy on my birthday. They knew it is not chocolate cake or haleem or biryani which I'd like, though I do enjoy and crave for these Hyderabadi delicacies, I'd be delighted by something beyond- by seeing everyone finding a sense of purpose in their lives and that's precisely that they showed in their personal notes for me- they wrote what they learned from me, what the organization and the environment mean to them- they praised my babies- Sciensation Society and DeepThought EduTech Ventures. Who said the youngsters of this country are irresponsible, here is a company marching ahead with a young army!

You are a King (or Queen, my girl would destroy me if I forget this, she better do!), when you are anointed by your people, when your people place their trust in you. A commander is one with the power, but a King is a powerful commander who is also a sensitive gentle human, who cares. Commander and Caretakers are common, but a King (or Queen) is rare. I feel as though events were primed to help me go through this "coming of age" story. Well, almost every LinkedIn birthday article of mine is like a "coming of age" story. But again, every year seems to be the next dimension of age! I hope the curve is sustained as a consistent exponential spike. I hope I continue to win the Trust of people and make sure they care for the cause.

Until 28, I could get people to believe in the cause, but by touching the heart and thought of people, I am probably inching close to a more important milestone- making them care. If one believes that "smoking is bad for health", they don't stop, but if they care, they'd not only stop but also stop many more - it's a domino effect, a domino effect for good- a virtuous one. I believe that the key is in being a Neelakanth or Shiva- being able to absorb all the pressure, step up and handle the calamity if someone messes up. One needs exposure to gain maturity, one needs to mess up a few times, to gain maturity. A youngster's strategy is aggressive combat, not a cautious surgical strike- this needs experience. I myself went through the same phase, starting up my enterprise at 19. So can we stand by our people when they are low, when they "mess up", do we celebrate their "coming of age"? It can be painful, not everyone realizes, the realization can be late. But you'd be left with a handful of youngsters, who grow up wonderfully, into great leaders and they'd make a great birthday for you.

I'd want to elevate uncle Harris story to a bigger one. As my friend, Venky would call it KGF elevation. I would connect it to my 2014 reflection, where I called it a spiritual year. I think a prince or a king (or a Queen/princess) goes through three phases perenially- on foot, mounted, on the chariot. Sometimes, you lose your horse or you need to really be on the ground to take on your enemies head-on, to lead your troops from the front since marshaling isn't enough. Then when things are going fine, you run, run and get onto the horse with momentum. While you do this, you win hearts with your skill, so able men and women join you and you get a little tribe which grows into an army and you march with the chariot! You get the chariot, but you've got to remember the caveat- you've got to remember your roots, for you might be dislodged, you may have to begin again.

I am working on this goal of scaling research-based education. There a zillion problems associated with this - elitism of the academia which repels common people from, capital intensive nature of the problem given the long gestation period. This problem needs a Gandhian capitalist who can bring in PeopleCapital and LoveCapital. This problem may yield monetary dividends slowly, but it yields inner transformation dividends very quickly. I asked myself how will I get a solid team to work with. I always wanted a 40 member team to work with, so I have enough challenges to deal with. I enjoy multi-tasking, I enjoy switching between teams and guiding teams. I wondered when I'd get that, but I got it sooner than I thought, I got even before I made the revenues I need to. You don't money to win people. you need a heart and spirit, a soft heart and a thunderous spirit.

Here I am, here we are, with Purva a young ambitious girl leading Marketing with Pragati (hypercreative uber-cool poet strategist educator) and Swetha (super diligent, extremely reliable, extrovertish introvert). We have Krishnaveni Suryadevara along with an army of telecallers. I used to mock VVS Laxman for buying so many pace bowlers in IPL auction, I used to call SRH as the MRF pace academy of the IPL. At DeepThought, our curriculum team has as many leaders to match the pacers of SRH, a spearhead Bhuvi could be injured, but a Natarajan, a Sandeep, a Khaleel will rise up to the sun! A Ranganadh could go on a break, but a Vidhya is groomed by a KP, a Layeba is all on on her on Whatsapp in a kingdom of her own, and the birthday girl Roopali is doing god knows what. Godmother Amruta is still figuring out her job description - getting everyone aligned to the vision. Neha is undercover, giving suggestions to the curriculum team, as she can empathize with student's fear of Mathematics. This is a lesson to remember.

The VCs , the startup gurus can give me lots of gyaan of how to make money. I am happy to listen to everyone. I lived with the judgments of the startup ecosystem, that I am a passionate educator and not an able business leader. It was heartening to see a 40 member team remind me of the business lessons they learned from me. I think business leadership is about getting a team to win, to create impact. When people are happy, numbers go up as baba Rocket Singh said. I guess I have crossed that stage when public validation matters, what matters is how empowered the team is, to achieve growth milestones, to ensure that research based learning is accessible to everyone. The victory is when competitors copy the model, that's the day when I stand as a business leader or even better a leader.

I think Leadership is not about cheesy speeches or about boring discipline, but it is aggression with composure, inspiration with action, responsibility with fearlessness, toughness with sensitivity, it is about integrative thinking. I hope you enjoyed reading my reflections. Every day is a new page of your life story as the cliche goes, I am happy to have got wonderful people and testing times to paint these colorful tales, hoping for many adventures, adversaries bring it on!