A businessman and his choices

One of the best advises that I have is that as a businessman I should know what I am doing. Setting up a business is a roller coaster ride, driven by a lot of emotions, desires, past experiences etc. A businessman or an entrepreneur has to give his attention to so many factors that often among the operational and financial factors the fundamentals of the business go for a toss. Making plans sticking them and being aware of the way things are moving require a lot of mental strength and mental coolness. Setting up priorities and sticking to them is the key here.

The best real example that comes to my mind is of 27th October 2008. This was the time when Terrorists have attacked Hotel Taj in India and made the guests hostage. The whole of the World was under shock every news channel was covering the minute by minute details of the happenings outside the hotel. Under these circumstances Mr. Ratan Tata hold a 2 hours meeting of the Board of his subsidiary company ‘Tata Capital’ on 29th morning and take many important decisions including changing the top management of the company. A normal person here will pas his time in worrying over the problem and be on the spotlight on every channel. But Mr. Tata is highly mature to understand that he can not make much difference in the proceedings of the rescue operations as the required defence teams are doing their work and he should simultaneously give his focus to other important issues. The point is not that he was not disturbed or worried. I am sure he must had been under a lot of stress. The point is that he understood that his fretting over the problem will not help in any way and moreover will derail his other projects. The kind of mental strength that he shows at such occasions is exemplary.

The same kind of understanding of business priorities and decision taking acumen is required from top officials of every company. To keep the team on the right track requires a comprehensive understanding of the business, an eye of detail for defining priorities and strength to make right decisions at the right time.

A businessman has to have a very clear understanding of his job. Because he is like the engine of the train if he lose his sense of direction his whole team, his business will get out of the track…..