Column

Bangalore is one of the best cities in the country to live in, if you are the kind who’s willing to flirt with ideas and take risks.

Narayana Murthy of Infosys has become an icon for many Indian entrepreneurs. He has reached where he has today because he flirted with ideas. When Murthy started out in a small Pune apartment in the early 1980s with seven other young engineers, they had a meagrecapital of Rs10,000. But what paid off was the conviction they had in their idea, and the courage to try it out.

Today, Narayana Murthy and his counterparts at Infosys are not counting their laurels, but are busy packing their bags to make place for new young professionals to take over and infuse the IT giant with new ideas and energy. How many corporate leaders have the courage or the vision to take such a risk? The new group of leaders who’re being groomed are relatively unknown in the industry, but Murthy knows the value of risks. He has taken risks all his life and has benefited from the new perspectivethat it brings with it.
How many of us want to take risks? Many of us know that we would do well if we break away from a regular office routine and work on our own. But we hang on to the job, fearing the insecurity that’ll befall us without that regular job and an assured salary at the end of the month.

Deal with that negative voice that goads you not to take risks. Do not ponder too much over the risk you want to take. Just take it and deal with the challenges it throws up. There is no guarantee that your risk will pay off. But what is the guarantee for anything in life? Everything is unpredictable. Does any disaster come with a warning?

Don’t look out for others to support your maverick idea. They will not. If they did, they would’ve been in the same boat as you, taking risks in their own lives. Derive energy from your sense of determination to succeed. Abandon your comfort zone.

You have to think differently if you want the risk to pay. Flirt with danger, don’t look out for corners to feel cozy and comfortable. Change might be frightening initially, but as you go along, you’ll begin to see the adventure in it.

Ramesh Menon is a journalist and corporate trainer