Dear Self,
Howdy from your favourite alien!
What a week you have had. It started with travel and ended with one. To the same place you have called home for the last 10 years. Today’s visit marked the 24th advisory board meeting of your favourite client. You convinced them and helped constitute the board back in 2018 to bring accountability and transparency in the leadership. You have attended all board meetings since as the Vice Chair and witnessed them grow by leaps and bounds, learning so much in the process. It’s been a sheer honour for having played a small role in all of this. The big credit goes to the co-founder brothers of one of the fastest and largest private dairy company in India today. These promoters are just as grounded in approach as their parents and grandparents have been as people in business and society. They are always learning, improving and growing as individuals. This is so important in life and in business. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them across so many projects over the last decade. They are nice people who want to keep getting better.
A day before in ThinkSpace, some of you enthu cutlets decided to make it a coffee day at work. Cups of freshly ground coffee, brewed the traditional way from beans to drip, the whole space had the aroma to die for. All thanks to your super dear friend who volunteered to bring the whole coffee making kit with some very fine dark roast beans. It was followed with sharing home cooked lunches between all those who showed up making for a sumptuous community meal with lots of laughter and plenty of niceness. The day ended with discussing the org structure for your firm with your core team over some blueberry cheese cake and croissants. The kind of space that you have always aspired for. Busy doing the right things but joyful. Lucky you.
Mid of the week, you caught up with fellow entrepreneurs in your trust group, shared your life as it went by the last couple of weeks. You like to call it the monthly rehab. An important opportunity to unwind, share your heart out, celebrate progress towards goals and share experiences that enrich each other. You came back refreshed to take on the challenges head on, only to realise a personal challenge awaited you. You cancelled all engagements as you got busy fetching an orthopaedic surgeon for a close relative who had a fall and some serious fractures. The next two days went by ensuring the best possible care for her. Thankfully, you found one of the best surgeons for the job who happened to be an old client more than 5 years ago. You felt so good he not only remembered you but created a clear space in his super busy calendar to operate on her just the next morning. Who knows who shows up in life when you need them most. Good work done in the past sometimes rewards in unexpected ways in the form of unexpected grace.
Tuesday was interesting too! You started the day with training category managers of a food FMCG company on financial accounting with focus on profitability and forecasting. Teaching always teaches you. You enjoyed this much, I could see that. All the managers showed up at ThinkSpace for this crucial training. Immediately post that you rushed to catch up with an important appointment with one of the leaders in crisis communications who had come from South Africa, a dear friend of a dear friend of yours from SA. Meeting new people from outside your immediate circle of influence always teaches you a lot about working styles, cultures and internationalism, things you have been very lucky to experience since childhood.
Monday had begun with travel to your favourite city where you coached and supported two extraordinary women entrepreneurs, one leading a fast growing Agri business that you helped position, the other providing leadership to their group of schools serving over 8,000 children in the hinterland. She is focused on bringing excellence across their schools around areas like teacher development, spoken language skills, and sports.
Your work is fascinating and you better not take it for granted. Such opportunities come with great responsibility. Make sure you do justice to each and continue to express your gratitude whenever you get a chance.
Ciao for now. Take some rest, an exciting week awaits you.
Cheers,
Your friend for life.
Howdy from your favourite alien!
What a week you have had. It started with travel and ended with one. To the same place you have called home for the last 10 years. Today’s visit marked the 24th advisory board meeting of your favourite client. You convinced them and helped constitute the board back in 2018 to bring accountability and transparency in the leadership. You have attended all board meetings since as the Vice Chair and witnessed them grow by leaps and bounds, learning so much in the process. It’s been a sheer honour for having played a small role in all of this. The big credit goes to the co-founder brothers of one of the fastest and largest private dairy company in India today. These promoters are just as grounded in approach as their parents and grandparents have been as people in business and society. They are always learning, improving and growing as individuals. This is so important in life and in business. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with them across so many projects over the last decade. They are nice people who want to keep getting better.
A day before in ThinkSpace, some of you enthu cutlets decided to make it a coffee day at work. Cups of freshly ground coffee, brewed the traditional way from beans to drip, the whole space had the aroma to die for. All thanks to your super dear friend who volunteered to bring the whole coffee making kit with some very fine dark roast beans. It was followed with sharing home cooked lunches between all those who showed up making for a sumptuous community meal with lots of laughter and plenty of niceness. The day ended with discussing the org structure for your firm with your core team over some blueberry cheese cake and croissants. The kind of space that you have always aspired for. Busy doing the right things but joyful. Lucky you.
Mid of the week, you caught up with fellow entrepreneurs in your trust group, shared your life as it went by the last couple of weeks. You like to call it the monthly rehab. An important opportunity to unwind, share your heart out, celebrate progress towards goals and share experiences that enrich each other. You came back refreshed to take on the challenges head on, only to realise a personal challenge awaited you. You cancelled all engagements as you got busy fetching an orthopaedic surgeon for a close relative who had a fall and some serious fractures. The next two days went by ensuring the best possible care for her. Thankfully, you found one of the best surgeons for the job who happened to be an old client more than 5 years ago. You felt so good he not only remembered you but created a clear space in his super busy calendar to operate on her just the next morning. Who knows who shows up in life when you need them most. Good work done in the past sometimes rewards in unexpected ways in the form of unexpected grace.
Tuesday was interesting too! You started the day with training category managers of a food FMCG company on financial accounting with focus on profitability and forecasting. Teaching always teaches you. You enjoyed this much, I could see that. All the managers showed up at ThinkSpace for this crucial training. Immediately post that you rushed to catch up with an important appointment with one of the leaders in crisis communications who had come from South Africa, a dear friend of a dear friend of yours from SA. Meeting new people from outside your immediate circle of influence always teaches you a lot about working styles, cultures and internationalism, things you have been very lucky to experience since childhood.
Monday had begun with travel to your favourite city where you coached and supported two extraordinary women entrepreneurs, one leading a fast growing Agri business that you helped position, the other providing leadership to their group of schools serving over 8,000 children in the hinterland. She is focused on bringing excellence across their schools around areas like teacher development, spoken language skills, and sports.
Your work is fascinating and you better not take it for granted. Such opportunities come with great responsibility. Make sure you do justice to each and continue to express your gratitude whenever you get a chance.
Ciao for now. Take some rest, an exciting week awaits you.
Cheers,
Your friend for life.