Chasing every penny

I started watching serious sports from ’92 onwards. Two things powered it, we started getting coverage in Indian homes, and I was old enough to appreciate the finer nuances. And like any Indian, the first loves were hockey (with the romantic nostalgia around it) and cricket. In 1992, the big incidents were the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, which Germany
won and the Cricket World Cup, where South Africa (re-entering after the apartheid era) won hearts.

And there was a big similarity that I observed amongst the 2, in rather stark contrast to the India teams then. Largely young teams, they both chased down everything. The South African team used to chase the ball right to the boundary, mostly in pairs, even when it was a foregone conclusion that the ball was racing to the ropes. Same with the German team, even when beaten in defense, they used to run after the opponent in hordes as if their life depended on it. Fitness was one thing (both teams were quite young), but to the naked eye, it seemed like an effort in vain.

Later in interviews of Jonty Rhodes and Carsten Fischer, I realized that they do that not just at matches but at practice too! The philosophy was simple; you chase the ones in vain, you have a better chance of stopping the marginal ones, and never miss the ones that you can stop/ win. It was their way of improving their overall chances of winning by saving a few
runs in ODIs or winning a good tackle. And they both were undoubtedly the best on the field.

A lesson learnt then came handy at business too.

In business, too, money gets stuck in many places. Sometimes in a deal negotiation with a party, many times with a customer or supplier as a bad debt or an advance. And mostly, they are meager amounts that seem better to forget and move on.

But our philosophy is to chase them at OfBusiness as if our lives depend on them, and many of them by multiple team members (much like the German and the South Africans above). With the simple trust and belief that it will make us the best in our field too. For it makes us way better as a team in marginal situations of deal-making, profitability, and collections.

Read more from CEO speaks Column:-
– Wave and Perseverance
– Riding the Tiger