Responsible people never complain

I love to confront challenges, but this one was daunting. Goafest 2010, was a mammoth advertisement festival where the best creative heads from across the world congregated, with the best from the international media watching.

Dainik Bhaskar and DNA were entrusted with the job of bringing out a magazine on the four days of the festival this year. There were problems aplenty — logistical and strategic. Goa presented difficulties in communication and internet links were shaky. This, in turn, put coordination with the Mumbai office — which was to print and publish the magazine daily — on a sticky plane.

I had started planning just two weeks ago. I arrived with my team in Goa two days in advance, took stock of the impediments and etched out the strategy to the last detail. From reporting to editing to designing the pages — most of it was done from the confines of hotel rooms and only a bit from the makeshift media office the administration had created. My team and I worked for 18 hours a day and spare time was restricted to attending the bare essentials. Excruciating diligence later, when the magazine came, it was hailed as “world-class.”

This is no chest-thumping but I have never believed in saying ‘no’ to a responsibility. Slightly tweaking what former British prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill said, I think the price of success is responsibility. And responsible people never complain. They come up with solutions, take the impediments head-on and negotiate their way to success. Complain and you are branded a shirker. Face it and the leader in you takes centrestage and guides you through. Try it. If I can, so can you.