This is a pet theory of mine and I happily acknowledge it could be wrong. A difference I noticed in how I was raised and how I think kids in USA are raised was that for me it was always ” If you do not do xyz then pqr will happen” Xyz was like drinking milk. PQR was like Gabbar will come or XYZ was studying hard and PQR was like being on the streets.
The result was that I had a strong fear of failure and a strong work ethic. In America there is a sense of optimism and self esteem with the result being a very low fear of failure and a relatively poorer work ethic.
Of course these are broad generalizations but I think I am seeing a difference in the way kids are being raised today in India which is a little more balanced.
Do people agree that fear of failure should be less ?I tend to think in an entrepreneurial society failure has to be an option. ? Is this fear decreasing in India ?
Any comments on work ethic ? My observation is that Silicon Valley startup productivity is atleast 2X what I have observed in India. True ?
This post was inspired by a visit to a school exhibition which I will cover in the next post.
- Community Platform For Ward 103 - November 22, 2012
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I always thought entrepreneurship is for people who do not fear failure. Or getting married or dying of hunger.
I am in the exact situation that sums up the entire discussion.
I want to take members of my family into confidence before venturing out. But my parents are really skeptical about my quitting a job.
They are always trying to emphasise on all the past failures that have happened among the relatives and friends circle..so that somehow I change my mind. I am even being made to answer questions like ‘Who is going to marry you if you are without a salary??’ 🙂 etc etc… So its really not easy..
I keep trying to explain them
1. I have a strong business idea. I have discussed this with others who see value in it.
2. I have no financial commitments, no loans etc.
3. I can sustain for 2 years without a salary.
4. I have funds to invest in a small way and I also have relatives who may help me out.
5. I have confidence in getting back a job incase I cannot make it myself. Working in startups over the last 4 years has given me a decent network also.
But then, I get to hear the same thing again. Thats the sad part.
See what Verne Harnish has to say in the penultimate paragraph:
http://snipurl.com/1iqt0
He touches upon the need for failure tolerance in a society, in the context of nurturing entrepreneurship.
[Disclaimer: I co-wrote the story, so if you think this is a shameless plug, go ahead and delete it:-)]
Sanjay, I dont think it has simply been a matter of fear of failure — I think its been the cost of failure. In India, the depth and breadth of opportunities available has been low. Not so long back, even when I graduated, coming from a non-business family, you had to be a doctor/engineer/IAS to make a reasonable living. It is only recently that kids can aspire to be artists and still do well.
The expanding economy and emergence of areas such as BPO has uplifted life prospects for a wide range of people. And one can already see the difference in confidence that youngsters exude.
I hardly think that productivity, risk taking etc can be so trivially captured in one or two variables, and because of a single cause. This is fraught with the risk of oversimplification. Indian business (traditional) is one of the most efficient in many ways, and yet needs to learn about macro level efficiencies. Where needed, this has happened rapidly (I recently visited an auto manufaturing plant where it shot by more than 700% in 4 years!)
ROI, VFM are what really drive Indian businesses. When they start really using software – especially the mid-segment – the art of software development may get redefined. The current (and dare I say Western economics driven) way of developing software is extremely inefficient by Indian business standards – a very large %age of work never sees the light of day!
I think the auto industry have figured out a globally sharp enough model. IT still has to catch up, and as far as food goes, Adigas rocks in terms of per capita service count, but productivity in dollar terms is obviously low. In the context of the market it tries to serve, its not bad at all. Not every business has to scale the same way and in the same direction.