Recently I just watched a video of progressive farmer Kavitha Mishra, from Raichur district of Karnataka, who has achieved what very few farmers have been able to do.
That is to grow almost 2100 sandalwood trees, 1500 pomegranate, and another 10+ varieties of cash crops in what was once a barren land in the dry district of Raichur.
Her speech was for farmers, but what Kavita Misra said is very much applicable to every walk of life and especially those who are in business leadership and entrepreneurs.
The 2 key takeaways I could summarize from the speech and how it relates to the business profession is about,
Adopting the law of farming
In agriculture it is easy to see and agree that it doesn’t matter what we wish, one is bound by the natural laws. The seed will harvest based on its own natural time.
In the video, Kavita Misra, says she had to go through a lot of struggle but also was patient enough. She had the courage and vision to grow the crops that no one was doing in that region! She knew it takes years and prepared herself for that.
She also knew there was no way she could shorten the time. If you plant a sapling, one has to wait until the natural time required for the sapling to become a tree. You can’t simply shorten that time because you want results quickly! It just doesn’t work.
But come to the corporate culture or our own education systems, here we explore various ways to shorten the cycle and just don’t let the natural laws govern.
I remember in our studies, I just crammed subjects that required semester effort to the last few days before the exam. Can this kind of cramming happen on any farm?
Can we think of not to take care of plants during winter, watering in summer, and seeding in the rainy season? It doesn’t. In any natural law where things are governed by nature with principles, the shortcut doesn’t work.
In our artificial systems like corporate, education, it is possible to fool around and get away for a while. But in the long run, I have experienced, the natural laws take over.
In the business when you are building solutions to sell to consumers, it is similar to farming. Most salespeople have heard about farming and hunting.
Many people don’t like farming, engaging, and nurturing clients. They want to call just one time and get an appointment. Inspite of poor results, they keep trying that! Instead, it is time to understand the laws first and adopt the approach to nurture and keep doing what is required.
Seed vs Soil
This is an equally important principle. The seed vs soil relation. The chances are that even the best seeds don’t grow to become plants if the soil is not ready.
Until the soil possesses the qualities required for the particular seed or sapling, it is best not to even plant the seed. Soil quality is what determines the success of a seed becoming a plant or sapling becoming a tree.
If we relate this to entrepreneurship or in business, we can say the ideas, new strategies are like seeds. For these ideas to really materialize, the soil, ie the entrepreneur must possess the right qualities.
When talked about qualities, most relate to external qualities like management skills, marketing, sales, technology expertise, etc but what matters is the inner qualities.
To grow a sandalwood, teak wood trees, it not just surface soil matters, but inner soil also should be proper. In that way, one must know first what qualities define entrepreneurial success?
Recently I came across a book that described the key qualities to succeed in entrepreneurship. These qualities very much apply to leadership roles in an organization also!
I am summarising below the same with some of my observation as I find these are a very good reflection for anyone pursuing entrepreneurial or leadership journey,
Key personal qualities for leaders & entrepreneurs
Drive and Energy Levels: Success in entrepreneurship requires abundant energy. The energy required not just to work sometimes tons of hours but also many times the energy required to overcome the emotional stress and mental fatigue that gets kicked in. This is something you can’t outsource also.
The drive and energy required at starting a business is far higher compared to when the business is stable and running. I believe this has got nothing to do with age, but the energy and the drive do depend on the mindset and beliefs one holds.
Self-Confidence; You need self-confidence. A belief in yourself and your ability to achieve the goals and a sense that events in life are self-determined. But the thing with confidence is it can be self-deceptive.
I had read a good quote where someone said “Most entrepreneurs come to table simultaneously not knowing much, but also believing they know everything”.
Competence must drive self-confidence but again it is a fine balance act that one needs the confidence to build that competence.
Long-term involvement: You have to able to commit to yourself to projects that will see completion in 3, 5, or even 7 years and to work toward goals that may be quite distant in the future.
This ability implies a total immersion and concentration on the attainment of these goals. This is the law of farming. Can you delay the instant gratification and embrace delayed gratification?
Using money as a performance measure: Money is great. But treating money as an end by itself won’t take us far. Instead, view the money depending on what you are doing as salary, profits, capital gains as a measurement.
Persistent problem solving: Developing an intense and determined desire to complete a task or solve a problem is a must attribute. The very ability to approach everything as problem-solving can open up huge opportunities.
Setting challenging but realistic goals: You need the ability to set clear goals and objectives that are challenging, yet realistic and attainable
Taking moderate risks: Entrepreneurial success implies a preference for taking moderate, calculated risks, where the chances of winning are not so small as to make the effort a gamble, nor so large as to make it a sure thing, but which provide a reasonable and challenging chance of success
Learning from failures: You have to use failures as learning experiences, and you need to understand your role in causing failures so that you can avoid similar problems in the future. One should become disappointed but not discouraged by the failures
Using criticism: You need to demonstrate the capacity to seek and use criticism of your performance so that you can take corrective action and do better next time
Taking initiative and personal responsibility: You need the desire to seek and take initiative and put yourself in situations where you are personally responsible for the success or failure of the operation.
You should be able to take the initiatives to solve the problems or fill leadership vacuums and enjoy being in situations in which your impact on a problem can be measured
Making good use of resources: Can you identify and use the expertise and assistance that is relevant to the accomplishments of your goals? You can’t be so involved in the achievement of your goals and in independent accomplishment that you will not let anyone help you
Competing against self-imposed standards: Do you tend to establish your own standard of performance, which is high, yet realistic and then compete with yourself?
How does one measure personal qualities?
A good way to do this to simply rate “strong”, “average”, “weak” on all the qualities by comparing with others you know in the business whom you consider successful. It requires certainly honesty and being accurate.
And, frankly, no one individual can be exceptionally strong or weak in all of the above qualities. The key is to find the weak spots and see it has been covered by some other members of the team.
If the score comes average or weak on most of them, then it is best not to start the business or entrepreneurship journey. Work on improving in those areas first.
If the ratings come high on most of the parameters, then review the ratings with people you respect and who are willing to give you honest answers. Your friends, spouse, colleagues will have different views!
But the evaluation of this kind has to be done realistically and not in a hurry. Being objective is important than emotional.
There are various ways to test soil quality and give some ratings but when it comes to us, humans, the biggest enemy is self-deception. We tend to over-rate or under-rate ourselves.
It is not possible to be accurate. So good to jot down experiences in life where the above qualities you have demonstrated. Self-reflection is one of the best ways to know what we are.
Hope the article gave you new perspective and a way to learn from farming and apply in your journey. Do share if you liked and share comments.
