Sunday, July 27, 2003		Life Ties

Going beyond interests of self
Taru Bahl

VERMAJI was a self-made man. His success story was a talking point among the business community of North India. From a clerical position in the government, he had gone on to become the undisputed patriarch of a company which he ran and managed just like his own large family. From trading he moved onto manufacturing, hoteliering, education and film distribution. Unlike most entrepreneurs, he re-invested profits into the business by making large capital investments in fixed assets and diversification projects. He was a true Gandhian who followed a simple lifestyle with frugal needs.

He worked hard to keep his children away from the "evils of affluence" for he wanted them to value their inheritance and be humble as well as responsible. Most importantly, he wanted them to take cognisance of the fact that the wealth was not theirs to do what they pleased. Around him he had seen established and respected business families going bankrupt, industries shutting down, besieged with labour problems and units being declared sick. All this while the personal assets of the patrons, promoters and owners remained unaffected. They bled the companies dry and/or let shareholders and employees suffer for their mistakes, errors of judgement and mismanagement. He led by example. Uncorrupted and unspoilt, he was the ideal role model.

His children may have resented some of the regimentation in the early years, drawing parallels with others from their background but with time they learned to be proud of their father, who in their eyes did no wrong. Being principled himself made it easier to insist on basic ground rules being maintained. Vegetarian, teetotaler and deeply religious, he was home by 8 pm. Even if he was doing his paper work or meeting people, his presence was deeply felt. He was involved in household matters and his wife was his perfect companion. The children drew a lot of strength from the stolidness of their parent’s relationship and the routines their household followed. They lived in their ancestral home, managed with a modest pocket allowance, used the school bus and for long could not comprehend the import of "status symbols" and why people around them were constantly upgrading themselves and their acquisitions just to be one up on the Joneses. The message being that if tables were to turn they should have the ability to pick themselves up, restart and go through the transition period without cracking up.

A turning point came when Vermaji’s eldest daughter got married. He hand picked his son-in-law with care. He was neither interested in the proposals which flooded them from other business families nor did he want a ghar jamai. He wanted a young man who could fit into the mould he had created. It was not as if he wanted a clone who would echo what he said and felt. He knew that the younger generation would have ideas of their own. He was open to them. What he wanted was that the young man should treat the business as his own baby, yet not be obsessed by owning it. To bring in new processes and systems while retaining integrity and the service-before-self philosophy.

Why this task became onerous, with Vermaji devoting more time to it than he had done to his earlier start-up profits, was because he was realistic about the uniqueness of his situation. He had two daughters and three sons. While his sons were ordinary with none of his dynamism and spunk, his younger daughter had what it took to be an entrepreneur. She had the vision and passion to acquire the wherewithal to convert that vision into reality. The sons were not leader material though they were sincere number two’s. The eldest daughter was again a well brought up girl but lacked ambition other than that of being a good daughter, wife and mother. Having given them equal opportunities in their childhood and youth and monitoring them closely he could now make a realistic assessment of their core competencies, natural inclinations while carving out a mental image of where they would be 10-20 years later.

He wanted a son-in-law who could take the baton from him. He would groom him and put him through the paces. In Arun he found what he was seeking. An IIT and IIM alumni, he came from a family where both parents were working and had given their children the same value system which Vermaji believed in. In Arun, Vermaji saw hope, promise and sincerity. Since he had no immediate plans of relinquishing charge, he took Arun under his wing. Issues like "procuring" a resident son-in-law did not bother both Arun and him. They knew there would be talk but in the larger interests of the business they put it behind them, concentrating instead in nurturing a business climate which was conducive to their and their employee’s growth and prosperity, at a time when everyone was struggling to maintain bottomlines and profit margins.

As the years went by Vermaji thanked God for giving him children who did not resent and hold his this major decision against him. He was grateful for having made the right choice by planting a total stranger at the helm of affairs, by trusting his intuition and having the courage to take such a bold step. He knew that Arun would be fair to the family. Yet he drew up a detailed will outlining how he wanted his property to be shared, business run and the kind of role he wanted the future generations to take on. He was happy to see his youngest daughter raring to don the entrepreneurial mantle. He saw the power shift and he also saw that balance was being maintained. He had proved that being traditional did not mean you could not be a man of the present and futuristic in outlook and actions. The success of his companies could be gauged by the prosperity of the employees, the number of people they employed both directly and indirectly and the contribution they made to the community they belonged to. Rising above their own petty interests they had together created a success story which would live and thrive beyond them.