I Bought The Monk's Ferrari (8 page)

A rock pile ceases to be a rock
pile the moment a single man
contemplates it, bearing within
him the image of a cathedral.

A
NTOINE
D
E
S
AINT

A man of superior capabilities, Jayakumar was way ahead of his colleagues. At meetings, he would come up with revolutionary ideas beyond anyone's bandwidth. In the year 2001, Jayakumar was talked about as the next head of retail bank for Citibank in India. An invincible contender for the post, he was, surely. But luck would not have it. Jayakumar's long-term adversary, based in London, moved in as the head of retail bank, dashing all his hopes to the ground. Jayakumar was left stranded. Adding insult to injury was the fact that he had to report to the new head.

In the year 2001, Citigroup carried out a worldwide acquisition of a company called The Associates. This company operated in the sub-prime lending space, which was at the opposite end of the spectrum as far as Citigroup was concerned. Citibank targeted the elite, and The Associates targeted the lower-end of the income pyramid. Hence, this acquisition made Citigroup's business appear complete. They now had products targeted at every individual across the economic spectrum.

In India, The Associates was a small company operating in around ten cities with about fifteen branch offices. It was a very well-managed company, and when Citibank took it over, it had over five hundred employees.

About the same time, after taking over The Associates, Citibank wanted its own leadership team to run the company, in line with what any acquiring company does. This was necessary for seamless and cultural integration of the acquired company with the acquirer.

Now the mantle fell on Jayakumar. He was asked to give up his current post as the head of sales and distribution to take over as managing director of The Associates. He, whose job involved managing sales of auto loans, mortgages, personal loans and bank branch sales, was, for obvious reasons unhappy. From his current role, coming down to the position of a managing director of a small company like The Associates, was seen to be a step back as far as his career was concerned. He was disheartened ... who would not be? Everyone perceived this to be a vindictive act on the part of the new retail bank head. Jayakumar's boss left him with no choice, he had one of the two option—either do as his boss said or leave the organisation.

Imagine being faced with a similar situation. Everything is going on just fine. People like you, respect you, think you to be great and then ... struuuuutttt... sttruuuuurr ... you stutter and stop. Many would probably start whining. The obvious responses would have been: 'Oh my gosh!!! ... How could he do this? ... What does he think of himself? ... Am I not good enough? ... I'll Quit!' The last one is the mother of all reactions. The earlier reactions create a frame of mind that culminates in the final exclamation.

In such a situation your initial emotion is anger, which turns to wallowing in self-pity, generating loads of negative energy and heated comments like, This organisation sucks'... and finally comes desperation. The result is a quick stride through the exit door and an equally fast entry to the first organisation that offers a job. Is this the right approach? Well, the answer is YES, if you are an escapist, who runs away from challenges. This is the easiest getaway, from detractors, adversaries, and the perceived failure. But often, this proves to be the blunder of a lifetime. Because under duress, the decision-making ability tends to get clouded by the desperation to run away.

But, if you want the Ferrari for real, you need to have the drive and the determination to fight and ward off all such challenges. There are two ways in which you can do that. Either you can stay and work your way out so that you get your due and your rightful place back, or, you try and make the best of whatever comes your way so that people are forced to sit up and take notice of you.

The moment of enlightenment is when
a person's dreams of possibilities
become images of probabilities.

V
IC
B
RADEN

Coming back to Jayakumar's case, he was a tough nut to crack. He decided to follow the second route. Make no mistake; he was extremely annoyed with the treatment meted out to him by the organisation he had served for fifteen years. When his new 'boss' told him that he had to move, it came as a big, big surprise to him. It was very clear that some of his colleagues, unhappy with his growing influence conspired against him to move him out to a non-descript position. The emotional turmoil that Jayakumar went through was no different from what anyone else would have gone through. However, the final take was different.

Unfortunately, his exodus to The Associates was a double whammy. He was unceremoniously shunted out of Citibank to The Associates and the people at The Associates viewed him as an outsider ... a Citibanker in their midst, he was not accepted within The Associates. It was quite natural for the employees of an acquired company to feel threatened by an employee of the acquirer, especially if he has come in to manage the integration process. This built up the frustration level in Jayakumar. But for him there was no option but to stay on and fight.

The first few days at The Associates were like a nightmare, with a herd of hostile and unsupportive colleagues. The head office of The Associates was in Delhi, whereas Jayakumar's family was based in Mumbai. This made things more difficult for him. But he did not give up. He did not allow himself to be cowed down by negative feelings. He always felt that he could make it big. And that reflected in his demeanour, it was evident in his interactions with people. He started thinking as to how fruitful he could turn this opportunity into.

Soon, he discovered the fissure, the slack in the system of The Associates. He started penetrating deeper into it. The business model of the organisation was different from Citibank, so was the customer segment. Citibank was a bank for the elite, whereas The Associates operated for the low-income groups. A typical customer would not even walk into a Citibank branch, leave alone banking with them. Jayakumar realised, in a country of 1,200 million people, the only long-term way to build a franchise and sustained profitability was to serve the lower-middle class and The Associates was operating in that segment. The potential of this business was limitless, which Jayakumar's shrewd mind could easily envisage. He formed his own management team—a team of believers, of likeminded people. Once he got his marshals together, he went about re-engineering the company, changing processes, controlling the expenses and went on an unprecedented expansion spree. The company, which was operating with fifteen branch offices when he took over its control, in the next three years, opened over four hundred branches. Revenues started rising. The company started its journey towards being a profitable venture. Jayakumar believed that he could do it and he went all out to achieve the goal.

In the meantime, all other businesses which Jayakumar was managing in Citibank, prior to migrating to The Associates, went downward on the scale. The loan margins were under pressure and the product profitability was under threat. However, The Associates' business which Jaya took over, later rechristened as CitiFinancial, continued to rake in money. Today the business where Jayakumar was shunted out to is the largest and the most coveted business for Citigroup in its entire retail franchise. That is not all. CitiFinancial is one of the largest consumer finance companies in this country.

And, Jaya is back as Citibank's head of retail bank in India after a short stint as the regional head of consumer finance for the group in the Asia-Pacific region. He is now viewed as the father of consumer finance in India and is one of the most sought after names in retail finance.

For a moment, sit back and imagine what would have happened if Jayakumar had decided to throw in the towel and run away from the crisis? Had he allowed the negative thoughts to cloud his mind and quit Citibank, none other than he would have lost out on the bargain. Would Citigroup have lost out on anything? Of course, not. Often, people make the mistake of assuming that they are indispensable for their organisations. The truth is that no individual is greater than the organisation itself. Had he left Citigroup and joined some other organisation, Citibank would have appointed someone else in Jayakumar's post and everything would have progressed at a normal pace.

Would Jayakumar's adversary who pushed him into The Associates have been the loser? Not at all!! He would have got someone as his replacement and moved on. All the businesses would have got back on track in a few months. And, Jayakumar would have been a forgotten man.

All this could have happened had he allowed negative thoughts to cloud his judgement. But he did not do that. It is because he saw the silver lining even behind the darkest cloud; he is an immortal name in the annals of consumer finance in India.

He is now closer to the Ferrari than he ever was.

Everything will not go in your way ... it is not supposed to—life is like that. So, do not even bother to crib if things take wrong turns. Instead, just set it right and move on in life. A mistake that parents often make is to tell their children that everything in life is fair. This raises expectations. It is imperative to advise them to have an optimistic outlook, if they want to succeed in this competitive world. If in life, a tricky situation pushes you too hard against the wall, always look for a crack to break through, as Jayakumar did.

Remember, a single streak of optimism can charge an entire team. Wonder why people want to be surrounded by those who laugh away their woes rather than the crybabies? Simply because tears are contagious, and, I am sure, no one likes to crib and whine ... neither do you.

In conclusion, it is up to you whether you will whine and lose out on everything, or laugh and whizz away with your Ferrari.

COMMANDMENT TWO

Be optimistic, chase the negative thoughts away.

A positive frame of mind will surely get you closer to your Ferrari.