thank god i failed - et 030411

8/6/2019 Thank God I Failed - ET 030411

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Publication: The Economic Times Bangalore; Date:2011 Apr 03; Section:Cover Story; PageNumber 8

Henry Ford, Bill Gates, Walt Disney, Soichiro Honda, Akio Moritathey haveall been there, done that. No, we are not talking about their much-celebrated

successes. Rather, this feature is about what hit them before they becamerich and famousthe sledgehammer called failure. Gates gave up on Harvard,Disney and Ford stumbled into bankruptcy, Honda failed a job interview atToyota and Sony founder Moritas first productan electric rice cookerhadfew takers.

That said, the timeworn truism of failure being a stepping-stone to successis not always true. It only works if you are willing to learn from failure. Andthats where gut-wrenching misadventures from the past can be moremeaningful and effective than blasts of previous big hits. Past achievement isno guarantee of riding the gravy train in future. One entrepreneur who mightagree with this is Sabeer Bhatia, cofounder of the wildly successful Hotmail.Bhatia, who sold the email system to Microsoft for some $400 million in 1997,has tried his hand with various ventures subsequently but none has come

close to Hotmail in popularity and success.Previous victories may encourage you to tread the beaten path. The value oflearning from previous mistakes, on the other hand, lies in not repeatingthemand finding new ways of making things work. This could result in theroad ahead being littered with more failures. And that brings us to anothertime-tested adage of trying and trying till you succeed. Says Deccan Aviationfounder Captain GR Gopinath: You are not a failure as long as you keeptrying.

Indeed, success cannot be always measured with dollops of wealth andcheers from the gallery. As corporate head honcho-turned-ad man SandeepGoyal puts it: Success is not an end in itself. Goyal put together a winningjoint venture with Dentsu after leaving broadcaster Zee TV and spendingmany months in corporateand socialwilderness.

Not all who fail become case studies of grit and triumph in managementbooks. For every entrepreneur who bounces back, there are many who eitherburned out or faded away. Failure cannot always be romanticised andtransformed into heroic tales of turnarounds. But it does serve a purposeoftelling budding start-up artistes that botch-ups are par for the course; andthat one must learn to deal with them to move ahead.

It is therefore vital to chronicle the tales of those who embraced riskwholeheartedly and, in the process, flopped spectacularly. Failure is aninevitable companion on the path to success. And whilst you may eventuallysucceed in leaving that friend behind, make sure you dont forget the lessonsshe taught you. The entrepreneurs, politicians and one sportsperson we haveprofiled have not. Read on.

Page 1 of 15Thank God I Failed!

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Captain GR Gopinath Founder, Deccan 360

You are not a failure as long as you are trying

When I failed:

It was 2008. Air Deccan had become a 2,000-crore company with 3,500 employees

and a market capitalisation of $1.1 billion. With Air Deccan big and stable, I beganincubating Deccan Express Logistics, a door-todoor multimodal air and ground logisticscompany. I decided to bring in a strategic investor and raise some capital. Investorsand bankers lined up. I was on cloud nine. Two of my earlier investors gave me a fewmillion dollars. I returned the money, partly out of arrogance, partly out of myoptimism and stupidity. I thought they were not recognising my contribution and beingunfair to me.

Then global markets crashed. The radiant cloud I was sailing on evaporated and Irealised I had no parachute. Investors, credit lines dried up. With 150 staff andadvance payments made for aircraft, cash was being burned. Call it hubris but we keptchasing more private equity players.

What I learnt:

When you are successful you become arrogant and complacency sets in. When you areknocked down you realise that humility is important. I also learnt that you are not afailure until you quit. I learnt to be optimistic through difficult times. You have to pushyourself to act and not despair. It is difficult to take decisions but indecision is worse.You need to listen to people and hear their views but there is a time when you go withyour intuition and take the tough decisions.

How it helped me succeed:

I realised if I did not act with speed, we would come to grief. I took drastic decisions. I

re-jigged the entire business plan, switched from doing everything to a franchisemodel and cut pay. Things started falling into place. The economy started looking up.Doors started openingbanks like the State Bank of India gave credit. The response

from franchisees was overwhelming2,800 joined up. What would have taken us 20years with our own funds was done in under six months. We launched in November2009 from Nagpur. (As told to Malini Goyal)




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Phaneesh Murthy President and CEO, iGate, and former director, Infosys

Glory is in rising every time we fall

When I failed:

It [a lawsuit filed against him and Infosys, alleging wrongful termination and sexualharassment of a female employee in the US] was a big setback, nothing short of beingto the helland back. Imagine people judging you before knowing. What worse canhappen to you, especially when you come from a middle-class conservative family? Forabout two months I considered myself a victim. I slipped into a deep whiningsyndrome. Lots of people told me that I should retire. The moment that shook me outof this state was the visit of a close friend who told me: Phaneesh, what are you

doing? You are a tiger, go out there and prove it to the world.

What I learnt:

His words taught me: It's only when we fall that we come to know who we really areand if we are strong enough to rise again. I am glad I had what it took to recover andrise. I wouldnt have been able to pull this through but for my wifes support. She

knows me the best and there was no wavering in her support.


I had done no wrong. I was confident of setting up a business and found immediatesupport for it. People had seen me build Infosys globally. They were confident of my

capabilities, but the fund-raising got stuck on one pointmy reluctance for an out-of-court settlement. People willing to fund my venture wanted the case closed at theearliest. I understood their demand. When you are starting something, even 100%attention does not guarantee success. With the case on, funders thought I wouldnt beable to give my 100% attention. I accepted their advice and agreed for an out of couresettlement. After the incident, every year I do one extreme thing, like cliff jumping. Itmakes me tougher and more confident. My HR department is also very protective ofme. I rarely close the door of my cabin and all our office cabins are made of see-through glass.




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Ramesh Chauhan Founder and chairman, Bisleri International

More than qualification, its attitude that makes a winner

When I failed:

After selling my brands such as Thums Up, Limca and Gold Spot to Coca-Cola in 1993,I made the mistake of retaining employees who were a part of the company. I oughtto have offered voluntary retirement to these employees who were associated with thebrands for a long time. And I should have recruited another set of people to work on

the new product I had launchedBisleri bottled water. These employees were used todealing with the earlier fastmoving brands and were clueless on how to move Bisleri.Those were really painful 4-5 years and I lost a lot of money during that time becauseI had employees who did not know how to market Bisleri.

During those days we also launched Bisca cup noodles based on a board memberssuggestion. Apparently he had the cup noodles when he travelled abroad and sold usthe plan to launch it in India. Not only was the product ahead of its time for India, thedistribution system required for noodles was completely different from what we wereused to. Also, the fact that we had just no domain knowledge of the product made it acomplete disaster.

What I learnt:

I learnt that it is very difficult to change peoples mindsets. Our earlier set of

employees were habituated to listening to the distributor and accepted what they saidas the gospel truth. There was no attempt to listen to the consumer. And all attemptsto get them to be open to new ideas and strategies failed completely. I also learntwith the Bisca fiascothat one should not meddle with plans in areas where one hasno core competence or understanding.


Since then every time we launched a new idea or product we made sure that thepeople handling the product had the right mindset to make it a success. The Bisleriexperience also helped me while hiring new recruits: more than qualifications it is theattitude and mindset that make a winner.

(As told to Kala Vijayraghavan)




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Sandeep Goyal Founder chairman, Dentsu India, and former CEO, Zee

Success never comes, you have to seek it

When I failed:

At 35, I became president of Rediffusion DY&R, one of Indias largest advertisingagencies. At 38, I was Group CEO of Zee Telefilms, Indias largest broadcaster. A fewweeks before I turned 40, I resigned from Zee. One day, I was one of Indiashighestpaid professional executives. The next day, it was all gonemy Merc,memberships of the Chambers, the Belvedere, Bombay Gym and Willingdon,secretaries, retinue of hangers-on and myriad friends .

Reality took a while to sink in. My mobile stopped ringing. Friends started avoidingme. I started avoiding parties. I was hurting. More importantly, I was alone. My wife,

Tanya, was my only support. It took her a while to coax me to open up, introspect anddo a reality check. Think ahead, rather than think about the past. I brooded. Iwallowed in self-pity. I got angry at myself, and at the world. I hated not being in thelimelight. I hated myself.

What I learnt:

It took me three months to piece myself together again. Looking back, my Zeedebacle was the best thing to happen to me. I matured and learnt to introspect. Ilearnt self-restraint. I became discerning about friends. I learnt to keep my headdown and my mind focused. Success is not a one-way street. Nor is it an end in itself.I understood that success never comes to you: you have to seek it.


The first thing I told myself: the less a life depends on another, the better it is. At thepeak of my high-flying career, I couldnt send an email on my own. My secretaries andassistants did it. So I quickly taught myself the basics. The hiatus had shown me whomy real friends were. In my earlier successes I had showered favours indiscriminately.Going forward, I shed a lot of friends. One morning, I walked into the hallowed

portals of Dentsu Inc, the worlds largest advertising agency to seek a joint venture( JV) with them. I did not have a company of my own: no office, employees, clients orcredentials to woo them. I just had self-belief. No one gave me half-a-chance. Except,God and Tanya. Nine months after I left Zee, I saw success again: Dentsu and Isigned a JV. It was a coup. A month ago, after seven years of building Dentsu Indiainto a 1,200-crore entity, I exited the JV. I exited on top. I exited young. I exiteddecently rich.

(As told to Chaitali Chakravarty)




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Nitish Kumar Chief minister, Bihar

Be close to ground realities

When I failed: One of my biggest failures was my inability to gauge the mood of thepeople of Bihar correctly when we contested elections in 2004. We were under theimpression that the good work done by the National Democratic Alliance would bringus back to power. But the ground reality was different.

What I learnt:

Be close to ground realities; ground-level issues and social issues are far moreimportant. For the next one year I worked at the ground level.


The results were there to see in the Bihar assembly elections in 2005. I worked withthe people of Bihar and attacked Lalu Prasad Yadavs strategy of winning votes bymisery mongering. I worked with only one goal of development and nothing has

distracted me from that goal in the past five years. The 2010 elections, where wemanaged to beat Lalus strategy, shows how I have used my learnings.

(As told to PR Ramesh)




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Priyanka Chopra

Bollywood actor

Failure makes place for something better

When I failed: I was a 17-year-old girl, put out of her school uniform straight intothe Miss India pageant. Unlike all the models around me, I had no experience. I didnot even know how to stand in heels! I didnt win a single of the six or sevensubevents, not even the singing, which I am really good at and which all the rest were

sure I would. That really broke me. I cried that whole night and felt stupid that I waseven there. Thats when my mom sat me down and told me not to take the winningseriously, to give it my best, so that there were no regrets later. I did that and had agreat time. I was also very focused but all through I knew it was not a do or die




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situation. Thank God I failed, or I would never have been Miss India or an actresstoday

What I learnt:

That nothing is a do or die situation. In whatever you dobe it beauty pageants orfilms. That nothing is worth compromising my values for. It taught me a great balance

as well as a very important thingfailure is not an option or God is making place to

give you something better. What is most important is that be it any task from tyingshoelaces to acting, everything should be done with perfection. There must be a prideto do it better than anyone else. And if its not good enough then I have no regretsbecause I have given my best to whatever task is on hand, small or big.


By giving me this drive. In fact, its always happened with me that failures have madeplace for something better or taken me to a better place. Success lies in having theright attitude, to start looking at the failure as positivesfor example, I never dissecta film. I stand by all my films. I know when I took it on, I believed in it. So if there aremistakes they are fine and I always have the courage of conviction of what I do andmove on. In fact, never take on something if you do not have the courage ofconviction.

(As told to Nandini Raghavendra)

Deep Kalra Founder & CEO, MakeMyTrip

I learnt to read the market right

When I failed:

Academically, opting out of engineering in favour of economics was a big mistake.Computer science would have helped me immensely at MakeMyTrip. Career-wise, Ithink I laboured on for too longan extra year or twoat AMF Bowling in the hopethat the market would pick up. I should have read the writing on the wall. Way back inthe 1995 to 1999 period, development of malls and the like was not taking take placein a big way. That was a limiting factor for large bowling centres to come up. Thesefailures were courtesy of an inherent trait of stubbornness to prove to myselfand toothersthat a business/venture undertaken has to be successful. But then theres afine line between stubbornness and perseverance.

What I learnt:

The failure at AMF Bowling helped me a great deal at MakeMyTrip in reading themarket right in 2000. The Indian market was still not ready for online travel, which iswhy we focused on the market for non-resident Indians. This, frankly, keptMakeMyTrip alive at a time when other online travel ventures that focused on the




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domestic market perished.


Whenever confronted with a new market scenario, its become first nature to deep-dive into the market potential and customer-buying habits. This has helped me a greatdeal when getting into new business lines, ventures and markets as well as when

evaluating new businesses.

(As told to Malini Goyal)

Glenn Saldanha MD & CEO, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

Plan for the bad when the going is good

When I failed: Between 2000 and 2008, our revenue grew from $40 million to $450million. We also concluded several out-licensing deals of our novel molecules. But2008 was different. We were hit by a storm we didnt anticipate. The recessionimpacted sales and receivables across the globe. Alongside, our out-licensed moleculesdid not meet their primary end point in human trials. Moreover, our fixed costsremained high because we had invested in infrastructure across countries . Our growthplans had hit a major roadblock.What I learnt: Uncertainty is a given. So one needs to factor it in while chartinggrowth plans. It is important to prioritise keeping in mind the vision of theorganisation. During the recession, we had to conserve cash and manage debt. So weput fresh capital expenditure and acquisitions on hold but continued to invest in drugdiscovery. This was contrary to the worldwide trend of slashing R&D spends. Thedecision paid off. Not only did more molecules progress to clinical trials, we also

concluded one more outlicensing deal in 2010. In these tough years, we also got senseof the commitment of our employees to the organisation.


When I took over as the CEO, we had only witnessed phenomenal growth year afteryear. At the age of 38, for the first time, I witnessed a crisis of this magnitude. It wasa learning of a lifetime. Glenmark is definitely a stronger organisation than before. Irealised that for every few exceptional years there will come a bad year. So plan forthat year when the going is good. The bad years are the ones that mould an

organisation and make it stronger.(As told to Gauri Kamath)




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Sourav GangulyFormer captain, Indian cricket team

I used a setback as a stepping stone

When I failed:

The most glaring failure would be during the Greg Chapell era when I was droppedfrom the Indian team. That was in December 2005. I had been playing for 11 years




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and had always been part of the Indian squad. For me that period of six months whenI was left out of the team was the most challenging.

What I learnt:

Failure or an apparent setback is not important in itself. It depends on how we handlethe situation. I tried to see it positively and do things to improve.


I did come back into the team and into the game after six months but it was notsomething I did to prove to the world. I have never believed in having to proveanything. I have never played the game that way. Each time I scored, I only knew Iwas good enough to play the sport at that level. Thats how I have always seen thegame and thats how I saw it then. In hindsight, I think I used that phase as astepping stone to come back into the game.

(As told to Rakhi Mazumdar)

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Chairperson & managing director, Biocon Ltd

I was told I was taking too many risks

When I failed:

I have faced many failures but I have dealt with them unflinchingly. Back in India as ayoung graduate from the University of Ballarat in Australia, I found that there was no

job for a woman in the male-dominated brewing industry. I was perceived as a failurewhen I started a company in my family garage to make industrial enzymes. Bankerswere reluctant to lend and asked me to drop ambitious plans to build in-housetechnology. Nobody would lend money to Biocon until N Vaghulwho promoted India'sfirst venture capital companyinvested in it. In 2003, bankers were sceptical aboutmy plans to develop novel drugs for diabetes care; they sold out their stake to AIG. Iwas told I was taking too many risks. Why couldnt I be like other pharma companies?

What I learnt:

There is no slam-dunk in business; in developing oral insulin we might have failed in

the initial clinical trials but we will take the learning and refine subsequent trials...Investors look for commoditisation; they don't appreciate measured risk taking. It isalways about managing risk.


I have never betted the bank on anything. I take positions that mitigate risk; that ismy strength. I convert my failures into success. Nobody believed me when I wentafter development of insulin molecule. Investors want to see deal flows and regularreturns while I wanted to always challenge myself to see what more I could do.

(As told to Archana Rai)




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Manish Sabharwal

Chairman, TeamLease

Everything takes more time and money than you think

When I failed:

It happened in 1998 when I took venture capital money for my earlier ventureIndiaLifewhich was a piece of paper. It was too early to put the meter down and that kindof money always has an expiry date. This happened because there was a mismatch

between how much time the opportunity needed and how much time the investorshad.

What I learnt:

I now understand the investing business and that funds have finite lives and fiduciaryresponsibilities. This does not make them a bad fit for every venture; just for some

ventures; or at particular stages of some ventures. I learnt that you have to take yourventure as far as you can without raising money from somebody whose money has an

expiry date. Everything takes more time and money than you think and your investorsneed to understand that; or you are better off without them. Good judgement comesfrom experience and experience comes from bad judgement.


We did not raise any external equity in TeamLease for the first five years. TeamLeasehas been able to scale faster and engage with public policy much more aggressivelythan we could have if we had taken external money from Day 1.

(As told to Malini Goyal)




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Arun Shourie

Former minister and journalist

Put your difficulties to work

When I failed:

I am the only editor to be dismissed not once but twice from The Indian Express. Thefirst time, Mrs Gandhi put such pressure on [Indian Expressowner] Ramnath Goenkathat even a tiger like him made a goodwill gesture out of me. But he did call me backand I was delighted to go back. But then he had a series of strokes. Those who were

trying to swallow the company thought that S Gurumurthy and I would be theobstacles. And therefore, they first removed me, and then Gurumurthy.

What I learnt:

My first learning is never look back. Or else you will suffer the fate of Lots wife [in theBook of Genesis, Lots wife ignores the advice of the angels not to turn back whenfleeing the city of Sodom, and turns into a pillar of salt]. My second learning: put yourdifficulties to work. There are very few difficulties that cannot be put to work. This iseasier if our goal is inner growth. Third: always have three careers going at the sametime. And carry each one lightly.


I have never looked back in my life. On the personal front, I have had to face severalchallenges: my 35-year-old son has multiple handicaps and my wife has hadParkinsons for the last 22 years. I have worked towards putting these things to work.




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I have followed at least three careers at the same time. I have written books, I havewritten columns and I have been a minister. I have carried each one of them lightly sothat if I am thrown out I dont get disappointed. [Former prime minister] Vajpayeejiasked me a few years back: Where are you living these days? I said: In my parentshouse that they left behind for me. He asked me why I had not taken governmentaccommodation. I said: [If I do not take it] there is one less thing to give up.

(As told to Soma Banerjee)

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