In today’s world, you don’t necessarily have to be very large in size to become successful, you can remain small and still do well, says Virender Kapoor in ‘The Rise & Rise of Jugaad: How ordinary people become extraordinarily successful’ (Matrix).
Besides quality, what really matters is speed, he adds. “There lies the advantage of being small. You can respond quickly. You can customise. You can even provide personalised service. You can use innovative ideas to stand apart from the crowd. If you succeed, you can become an overnight celebrity. If it flops, no one even notices.”
New breed of entrepreneurs
Looking back at the past decade or so, what the author finds is the emergence of a new breed of entrepreneurs, serving customers who are constantly demanding a wider range of features and facilities which are not always possible for large companies to provide.
Cautioning that current opportunities come very quickly, and also disappear quickly, Kapoor instructs that everyone in the value chain has to evolve around the faster, cheaper, and smarter mantra – a mantra which he foresees will rule the next decade or maybe even longer.
While larger organisations may have superior innovative capabilities, the constraint is often the decision-making system with many layers or levels, the book explains. “Larger the size, slower the reaction. Highly process- or policy-driven companies often become bureaucratic… People follow rules… Everyone wants to follow policy and give more emphasis to paperwork and processes.”
Desire to excel
A chapter titled ‘Jugaadoocracy’ explores the ‘fix-to-fit’ culture to identify that every Indian has an inherent desire to excel, though maybe one also has to accept the fact that we usually prefer to win individually. “The not-so-conducive environment (our national shame factors) have inculcated a special ability within each of us to strive harder for almost everything (in comparison to some of our foreign counterparts),” the author reasons.
Jugaad is all about understanding the basic human psyche, he observes. “It’s also about understanding the other person’s perspective and marrying it to the need of the hour or an objective.” Importantly, as Kapoor advises, when you help people, they would help you, to, because ‘ninety per cent of people are good, who would never keep a favour pending in their accounts.’
However, the best form of extending a favour is actually by not showing it, he counsels. “If you help out someone without showing that you have done so and if that act makes the recipient genuinely say, ‘I am obliged,’ I think you need to pat yourself on the back.’ This ‘invisible investment,’ as the author describes it, is so potent that it is worthwhile having your account positive on this front!
Engaging discussion.
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