Chetan Bhagat needs no introduction today, but still, to talk about him, he is one of the most popular best selling author in India today. A Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi, he did his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and then had a stint in investment banking, and now is a full-time writer. He left his job in 2009 to be a full time author. He is a role model and a youth icon for those young MBA aspirants who want to create a better society and use their MBA for India’s growth.
Recently he spoke to a gathering of students at Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi in which he talked about his experiences in life as a engineering and MBA student, as an investment banker, and as a full time writer. We herewith bring to you a few chapters from Chetan Bhagat’s life to provide you great lessons on how to succeed personally and professionally.
Great lesson from the Canteen Manager!
I did my Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi and there was too much machines all around me. I wanted to get rid of all those machines. Here I would like to share the experience of my Summer Internship in IIT Delhi. I did my internship in Cadbury India. There I got a task to solve a problem in one of the machines. It was not working properly and I was supposed to get it fixed. But neither I nor anyone in my team could find out the solution. We were all very worried about it. One night I went to the canteen to have a cup of tea and there was no one apart from the Floor Manager. He started talking to me; I thought that since I have nothing to do, let me hear what he has to say.
The Floor Manager was going on talking about his family, his plight in the workplace and how difficult it was for him as he was not got any salary hike for the last three years in spite of requesting about the same to the authorities.
The next morning, to my utter surprise I found out that the problem in the machine was solved. We all were pleasantly surprised but wondering how it happened! I am the Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi, I could not solve it even after so much research, and then how did it become possible?
The Floor Manager came to my rescue. He said that he has been working here for so many years and he knew what was wrong with the machine and how to solve it. When I asked him why was he silent for so many days even when he saw all of us facing so many difficulties due to it? He replied by saying, for all these years, I had so many things to say and complain, but nobody ever listened to me. It was you who listened to me, so I thought of paying a small tribute to you by repairing the machine.
At that moment I knew that dealing with people and proper communication makes things a lot easier. That was when I decided that I should do an MBA.
Thank you bad boss for turning me into a writer!
After completing my MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, I started my career. I went to Hong Kong where I had a horrible boss. He had no idea about IITs and IIMs and considered me to be a foolish. I became very disappointed at that time. I was supposed to be successful and happy! I was not happy, why did this happen to me? This was the thought that I had at that time. Then, no neighbor or relative came to my rescue, the ones who always decided what was right and what was wrong for me!
Then I decided to do what made me happy. In order to take revenge on my boss and pursue my happiness, I started writing on my office computer. My boss thought that I was working hard! That was how Five Point Someone happened.
Marathon run at publishing houses!
After completing Five Point Someone, I wanted to get it published. I went to all publishers possible, only to get rejected by nine of them.
They all had their reasons to reject my book and they were all fair enough. Some said that my book wouldn't even sell 1,000 copies; some said I should write text books. But the faith was alive inside my heart. I somehow knew that it was worth it. The same faith was there in the tenth and final publishing company, Rupa & Co. They felt that the book will work. ‘Five Point Someone’ got published in 2004 and 1,000,000 copies were sold and they are still selling.
The mantra for success: Faith in Yourself!
It is important to have faith in yourself. But it is more important to have the same faith in yourself even after multiple failures. If I had lost faith in myself after the first few rejections, the book would never have happened.
This also shows that even experts go wrong and make wrong predictions. Things are changing really fast. You will have no idea about what is going to happen in the next moment.
Everyone faces ups and downs in life. No matter how big a personality someone is today, sometime or the other, he must have received slaps from life. Life will slap you a number of times. You have no option but to face it, but you will also receive kiss from life! So ignore the slaps from life and keep the faith alive.
After a point of time, I realized that if I have to become a writer, I need to be more sincere about it. I decided to quit my job. It was one of the most important and difficult decision to make. Though I was sure about it but my family was a huge factor on taking this decision.
Forget obstacles, focus on goals!
There have been a number of obstacles in my life but gradually, they turned out to be my biggest positives. They are my father, boss, publishers, Bollywood, wife and mother-in-law.
My father was in Army. He was very strict and disciplined. As a child I wanted to be a chef and my father was very pissed with this idea. He never let us watch TV and this created a lot of disappointment within me and my brother. So we started creating stories and narrate it in a way as if we are watching a movie. I think this tickled the imagination power inside me.
Had my boss been satisfied with my work, promoted me and given a raise, I would have been happily working there. In that way I would have never become an author at all!
My entry to Bollywood took place with Hello, the movie turned from my second book, One Night @ The Call Centre. The movie did not work. I realized that if I have to make so many things work, I need to concentrate on it fully. That is when I decided to quit my job. You must have already watched 3 Idiots and work for my third book, ‘3 Mistakes of My Life’ is going on. I think I have become a scriptwriter now!
My wife and mother-in-law are not that much of obstacles though. My wife still goes to the bank to work, which makes people say, "He has his wife to support him!" My mother in law remains worried about me and my decisions, whether it will do good to me and my family or not! She is anyway upset as her daughter got married to a Punjabi guy instead of a Tamil Brahmin!
No regrets!
But I don't regret my decisions. When I left my job, I was in a senior position. I could afford a BMW, go to foreign trips, but I had to choose one way so I sacrificed the luxury and chose my passion. My colleagues have bought bigger cars, but they get stuck in the traffic jams, even I do with my smaller car. So what’s the difference?
Decide yourself what success means to you!
Success varies from person to person. For some, success is working hard just to afford a bigger house and a bigger car. For some, success is all about living life in their own way. It’s fair enough either way. You have to decide about your success parameter.
Mr. Chetan Bhagat was at the Delhi University event organized by IMS Learning Resources. In the Part 2 we will bring to you advice from Mr. Chetan Bhagat on MBA as a career. Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com
