When the President of India Calls You

Against the individualist model of success

The President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu invited my mother, Dr. Anamika to speak at the Festival of Libraries 2023 to highlight iconic libraries from across the world in order to initiate a conversation on the modernization and digitization of important literary texts.

This festival is a part of the second phase of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' and is in line with the Prime Minister's vision to foster the development and digitization of libraries and cultivate a culture of reading in India. It aims to facilitate the formulation of action-oriented policies for the development of Model Libraries in India, right down to the village and community levels.

Check out mom’s brilliant speech and some photos. Unnayan Amitabh and I are blessed in ways words can’t capture.

The reason I am sharing this is a combination of happiness and gratitude but there is something more fundamental at play. Often when we succeed, we think of it in terms of “I”. That’s a mistake. Success is almost always a function of the people, circumstances, and communities that shape us.

The invitation by the President is one of many remarkable recognitions mum has had but I have noticed a few things that have stayed with me.

• The way she treats people is not dependent on status. For her, a high-flying CEO, a President, a student, a domestic help mean the same.

• She wears success lightly. Unnayan and I didn’t even know this was in the works. She casually mentioned one day that she would have to return earlier than expected from a conference in Bhopal.

• She pays attention to the causes she cares about. Everything else is secondary

Combining all of this internalized an important message: Success and achievement are community-driven.

• When we think about a successful company, we think about the founder

• When we see big awards and recognitions, we think about the person on stage

• When we think about a successful spouse or a friend, we think about that person

The truth is that individual recognition is actually a celebration of the people that made it happen: the team members, the subjects of study, the causes, the debates, the community members, and the insights gleaned along the way.

Early in my career, I thought of success as a function of the strength of my resume. Now I think about it in terms of the people who shaped me and the people I enabled success for.

Individual achievements have limits. These limits manifest when your career begins to decline, when you hit a rough patch and during those innumerable moments you feel lost.

If you happen to think that I am successful, it should not be based on my resume or my achievements. It should perhaps be based on the life I lead which is surely not my own doing. Perhaps I had a role to play in some aspects but it will be silly to point to merit or skill as the dominant enabler.

Effort, skill, and talent matter but they are bound to fade with time. What lasts? These ephemeral constructs enabling others to do well and you basking in their glory.

Removing the “I” from success is also liberating. Instead of fighting the lone battle toward a mythical definition of “making it”, you apply yourself to planting seeds in the garden you can bask in once the flowers bloom. For those of you who like strategy, this is a smarter play. More importantly, for the philosophically inclined, this anti-individualist approach toward success gives you a shot at shaping hundreds and thousands of dreams.

The call to action for all of you is to stop looking at what you achieve. Strive to shine a light on those in your orbit and make “individual success” a shared endeavor and a shared celebration. That’s fundamentally what Network Capital is about.

Utkarsh