NCAIA Event – Inclusive language. Inspiring stories of amazing people and their successful journey in entrepreneurship. Each one of us can relate with at least one aspect of their journey.
June 6, 2019, Silver Spring, MD — The national council of Asian Indian Associations (NCAIA) organized a talk on leadership & entrepreneurship in America.
Mr. Pavan Bezwada, President, and Dr. Suresh Gupta, the Chairman delivered a brief thoughtful message. They have a great team who put this event together and invited the right people to share the journey of their success in entrepreneurship. As a social scientist, I will concentrate on their inclusive language, one of the essential elements of entrepreneurship.
L-R: Dolly Oberoi, Sid Chowdhary, Sam Malhotra, and Subbu Manianasamy
Even though the program went over time, the enthusiasm to listen to the speakers did not wane a bit. Almost everyone in the audience could relate the journey of the speakers. Indeed, I connected with each speaker and pleased to share a few notes and hope that you find that connection as well.
They were all very humble people, maybe they have imbibed the American values. In most other parts of the world, individuals with power and wealth allow arrogance to take over them. All of them personally financed their ventures.
Please mark your calendar
DC: Saturday, Aug 10, 2019
Dallas: Saturday, Aug 17, 2019
Location and contacts will be announced shortly.
Ms. Dolly Oberoi, CEO of c2 Technologies, was inspiring, particularly to those who have a dream and want to pursue it without any knowledge and resources. It’s her passion, coupled with the commitment to make a difference that brought her undeterred success. Her story should motivate many people, and one of my friends has dropped everything and is precisely doing that, innovating technology to put knowledge in the hands of people who would otherwise not have it. I hope to have him meet her. She gave a perfect message to women to not let anyone discount their dreams and aspirations. She also urged to bring in the youth, so they know that their crazy ideas are realizable. Her mom encouraged her to be who she is and suggested that parents lift their children. It’s the passion and commitment that brings success.
Mr. Siddhartha Chowdhary, CEO of Credence Management, shared his success story. He also dreamt, and many hurdles came his way, but his dream to be someone, and determination to decide his future made him pass through them all. I was gloating when he said; Steve Jobs motivated him. Indeed, Steve Jobs did that to me as well. I abandoned every money-making activity and pursued establishing the center for pluralism.
A key point of his style of management is not to blame others if a mistake is made. He asks himself how he could have avoided the error the next time around. With that attitude, no one’s devotion to the work gets dampened, and his or her energy remains intact. He called himself the bottom of the funnel through which all the failures and success pass through. That is like Siri on your cell phone, if you take a wrong exit, she will not call you names, but factually tells you to make a U-turn at the next turn.
Mr. Subbu Maniaswamy, CTO, Maryland Dept of human services broadened the definition of entrepreneurship, the difference between him and the business people was, he was not getting the profits but creating jobs and service. One of the key points he brought was the entrepreneurial spirit the immigrants are not passing it one to the next generation. This needs to be worked.
He shared a beautiful story of the legendary Birbal and King Akbar. When Akbar’s son was thrown into the sea on his ship, Akbar jumped and rescued him. Sid equated an entrepreneur with Akbar, he had all his military men on the boat to save, but it was Akbar who jumped. You take the responsibility to make things happen.
Mr. Sam Malhotra, CEO, Subsystems technology is the highest ranking Indian in the Maryland State Government as a cabinet secretary of Governor Hogan.
I instantly connected with him for his tone of voice, a rare soft voice like Manmohan Singh’s, and I have a similar sound. Once in Dallas, I played an audio clip of a Zoroastrian scholar on my Radio show, I was taken back, I thought that he was me.
Sam would be a role model to teach his inclusive language. A few Indians forget that when you are a genuine public servant, you belong to all. At one time, he rephrased Indians as South Asians to be more inclusive. As a pluralist, that was powerful to me.
Devang Shah was the moderator of the discussion. I must say he is one of the best moderators I’ve seen. He was well prepared, listened to the talks, and framed his questions appropriately.
Let me share a motivational statement that has turned my life around.
If we can learn to accept and respect the God given uniqueness of each one of the 7 billion of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
Goethe, “Until one is committed, there is hesitancy… Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: the moment one commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.… Whatever you can do or dream that you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
Also, this, “If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business because we’d be cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.”
Dr. Abusulayman “There is a clear distinction between doubts and problems. Doubts provoke obstruction, frustration, and discouragement, whereas problems inspire motivation, action, and diligence
Mike Ghouse, “Whatever you do in life, do it wholeheartedly.
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