TEN MUCH- Ten Ordinary Processes for Extraordinary Success

PROLOGUE

India used to be a poor country for a very, very long time. I still remember an RK Laxman cartoon where a group of men, presumably government officials, were seen poring over a world map while one of them remarked that they were checking if there was any country left in the world from whom they could borrow money! I guess when things get really bad it helps to crack a joke about it sometimes.

But yes, that used to be India's plight until not so long ago. Post '91 all that changed. Today we are still a poor country but with rich people as against the developed Western nations which are rich countries with a sizeable poor. So, exactly how poor are we? According to the World Bank, 41.6 percent ofIndian population lives on less than $1.25 a day, the international poverty line. In 1990 the number was 51.3 percent. Now let's look at how rich we are. The World Bank reported in 2005 that India was the 12th wealthiest nation in the world with its GDP touching $785.47 billion or Rs 35,34,615 crore. US was the wealthiest nation with a GDP of $12.46 trillion. And according to a recent Forbe's list of the wealthiest people in the world, there are 23 billionaires in India with a combined net worth of $99 billion, surpassing the former Asian leader Japan's 27 billionaires with their total worth of $67 billion. It is estimated that India also has as its first-generation wealth makers - 1,23,000 millionaires at the end of2007, up by 22.7 percent from the previous year. That's not all. About lllakh households have an annual income ofRs 10 lakh.

India is a contradiction in terms as we all know, but it is reassuring to note that the rich households in our country are increasing by the year.

So, where has all this first-generation wealth come from? They have been created by hard-working, enterprising people who dreamed big and put shoulder to the wheel to make sure their dreams came true in their own lifetimes. Most of our icons today have all come up the hard way. Be they Presidents, Prime Ministers, business emperors, even world-class scientists, all have had unbelievably difficult and deprived childhoods. Their accomplishments are light years away from their origins. When we study their lives, it is difficult not to be inspired by each and every one of them.

These remarkable people are why India is a success story. Despite tremendous odds and regardless of who they are or where they have risen from, they have all proved that India is a land of tremendous opport~.mity. It is a land where you can dream big and achieve big, provided you not only have a dream but a road-map to achieving it as well ... and a set of processes to help you get there. I have identified ten of them that are common to all these achievers-ten distinct methods that can transform ordinary people into extraordinary achievers.

In the following ten chapters, I have put together the stories of about 50 such people-mostly Indian and some remarkable international achievers too-all of whom have realized their dreams and turned thiS-world into a much better place by doing so.

While I was putting this book together, it occurred to me that I was very fortunate for I had as my gurus three incredible people, all of whom have followed these ten processes to turn into truly extraordinary achievers. I have mentioned stories from the lives of two of them. I would like to thank all of them for they have showed me what it is to truly live a full life.

• Giraben Sarabahai for refining my aesthetic sensibilities and inculcating in me the ability to distinguish the beautiful from the mundane.

• Dhirubhai Ambani for teaching me the art of persevering in the face of criticism and for handling life like a winner .

• Dr Verghese Kurienfor his remarkable demonstration ofIndia's potential by making it the largest milk producing nation in the world.

In addition I thank

• My co-author Minnie Abraham who made it possible for this book to become a reality.

• Sajit Surendran, the designer of the book for giving the book the look that it deserves.

• R Chandra Sekhar and his team at Tata McGraw Hill for their support and dedication.

There is a little note I must add about the quirky title of this book. It is a typical Indianization of the exclamation - too much! As with all charming Indianizations of pucca British English, this too has an endearing evolution. When something is "just too much" to believe, I hear people adding their own improvisations like "Three Much" "Four Much" and so on. Since this is the story of some really remarkable Indians, I thought they deserved the topmost grade on the scale - a perfect Ten! The manner in which they have risen from acute deprivation, lack of basic amenities and gone on to become icons and leaders of the new liberal India that has drawn the attention of the entire world, is truly "Ten Much!", don't you think?

Hope you are fired with inspiration by their stories, just as I was when I was putting it together.

A.G.Krishnamurthy