This first appeared on LinkedIn.
One of the most fascinating observations I have had, and I speak of to young would-be entrepreneurs, is about Mukesh Ambani’s morning routine.
Why is that? Well, you need to visualise it with me to understand: Imagine it is early morning at Antilla, the world’s most expensive house in the world’s most expensive city for real estate. The butler wearing white gloves enters the master bedroom with a tray of steaming hot, fresh vegetarian breakfast, sets it down on an 18th-century Tsarist Russian side table, pads up to the bullet-proof plate glass window and gently opens the silk curtains to tie them at their ends on the silver hooks. The morning sun comes streaming through. He lights an agarbatti and wishes his master, “Good morning” as Mukesh Ambani opens his eyes and sits up in his four-poster teak bed made specially by a master-craftsman from Assam, whose 8 generations have been woodworkers for royalty. As the butler puffs up and adjusts the down feather pillow for his back to rest, he is handed his iPad on which today’s news capsules selected for his reading by his staff are ready for his perusal. As he spoons the upma into his mouth and sips his ginger tea, he looks up the Reliance stock and sees that as of that morning, in his pyjamas, he is worth around US$52.6 billion. That would mean that if he lives till 1,000 years of age, and has to support a family of 100 people for his entire lifetime, each person would have more than Rs.1 lakh per day to spend!
However, what happens next is the fascinating part. It is this: He swings his legs out from under the quilt, wears his house slippers, pulls on a silk robe, and starts his day. He showers, brushes, wears his suit, and rushes to office, where he puts in more hours than any other Reliance employee.
Ask yourself:
If you were worth US$52.6 billion in bed, what would incentivise you to get up and go put in an entire day of work?
Surely, it won’t be money.
As entrepreneurs, it is this that we need to look up to.
So, stop making excuses, get up, and get going. Worrying does not help. Action, action, and action. All else is useless. So, stop whatever it is you are doing and get to it. Now. You can thank Mukeshbhai later!
P.S: As an aside, my father, who served the IAF for 20 years, and then Air India for the next 20, used to say with a twinkle in his eyes, “They give me a Rs.3,000-Crore-aircraft to fly, pick me up from my house, give me a smart uniform, train me, send me to exotic destinations, put me up in 5-star hotels, and then they pay me for it! I tell you, son, I wonder what I’d do when they discover how I have scammed them. They could’ve had me for free!” He really loved his job (he was teaching flying literally till the day he died in August 2019) and was damn good at it. But I doubt if he ever thought it to be a chore to be doing it. And that, my friends, is the secret we entrepreneurs should learn from.
Caveat: Of course, I made up Mr Ambani’s morning routine. But it was for making a point. I have no clue what he actually does in the morning or how his bedroom furniture is arranged, but I am sure that does not detract from the fact that what incentivises him is not just money and that is something to learn from.
