"TRIBUTE" 6 lessons every entrepreneur must learn from the life of Mahatma Gandhi

Bharatmata is writhing in anguish and pain over the loss of the man whose selfless love towards Mother India and her fellow citizens is incomparable. Let the tragedy that enacted in Delhi, give the people of India the tune, reason, rhyme and melody for the history of their future. Today on the 146^th birthday of the father of the nation I would like to share with all the Entrepreneurs out there 10 great lessons you should learn from the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

·         Conviction: - As an entrepreneur, total confidence in your ideas and abilities as well as knowledge of your shortcomings will help you build a team that compliments your skills. Gandhi believed in his ideas with utmost certitude and primarily succeeded as a consequence.

·        Self Introspection: - Gandhi constantly measured the short term traction of his movement against long term impact. He never lost sight of what kind of a country India would become after achieving independence. He continuously experimented and re-experimented. To a great extent, entrepreneurship is all about experimentation, and no better results can be expected when one experiments with self to improvise.

·       Sacrifice: - In the pursuit of his goal, Gandhi made numerous sacrifices along the way and sometimes it even meant prolonging his struggle. He was never opportunistic and knew very well that the means are as important as the end. As an entrepreneur, you are not only required to make material sacrifices at the personal level but also need to make sacrifices for the business. A business built on delighting customers with experience is far more sustainable than a business built on doling discounts.

·         Inspiring Leadership: - Gandhi always led by example and he practiced what he preached. He was first to implement what he expected his followers to do. As an entrepreneur, your job is to set examples for your team and you can’t expect to drive a team without being driven yourselves. 

·         Always Act: - “Have a bias towards action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.”

·         Truth: -  Gandhi ji idolized King Harish Chandra throughout his life. He was a preacher of truth. He always believed that even if he loses something while practicing truth, in reality, he is not losing anything. This helped him keep his conscience clear in his journey. An entrepreneur, likewise, needs to take care of the truthfulness in his venture. He should not make false claims, spread rumors about his idea and also should not encourage his team members with shallow promises. He must stick to truth and encourage his team to do the same.

Similarly, Bringing it all together  an entrepreneur needs to continuously introspect as whether he is aligning himself to his thoughts or not. If he wants his team and colleagues to follow the suit, he must do it for himself. Be the example, be the leader.  If you lead properly people will follow, and together you will change the world.