Inspiring Conversations 7 with Capt Ragu Raman. Interviewed by Agnelorajesh Athaide
Channel: Agnelorajesh Inspiring Conversations
Date: 15/07/2014

The session of inspiring conversations with capt raghu Raman was truly a very very inspiring one. He has been my favorite personality and he proved that once again. 

His oratory skills and his experience of the armed forces, corporate world and the indian government was explained very very well.  

1. His observations of how to understand and handle competition was also a master stroke. His theory of a startup ceo and the example of the rocket taking off from the land skywards was an apt example of the role of a startup ceo, where he explained that the rocket takes off because of the energy created at the bottom but it was not that the person who created the energy, lands up on the moon. 

2. Delegation of authority and responsibility is also imp for the growth of the enterprise and the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur also needs to supervise and monitor the success of any strategy which is being implemented to avoid a disaster. Understanding of globalization, which every entrepreneur in india has well understood, will take him to the next level. 

3. The policy of every citizen doing a stint in the military in israel, need not necessarily work for india. Bcos what works for x country might not be necessary that it works for the y country. It's also not necessary that the one who is in military is patriotic. Even a regular citizen can be more patriotic and could be living as a patriotic through the services that he renders through his work modules.

Policy of compulsory military training in Israel may not work in India. But most important is the SPIRIT behind this policy that can be implemented in India. Like we need doctors in villages etc. 

4. Entrepreneur / CEO should sometimes act like a customer and find out himself how his company responds to customer calls etc. This will give a first hand experience and strategic decisions can be made accordingly. 

5. Entrepreneur is one who works under constraint and still becomes successful. Managers demand infrastructure and facilities. Entrepreneur must plan and work to become successful under all constraints and he also needs to coach on his team accordingly. 

6. Human resources is a very important activity of any enterprise. It's better to have 3 productive people on the team than having 5 average performance people. Even warring team mates or teams will perform when the situation demand. The business leader needs to make sure he leads all on a positive road map to progress. 

The best insight is the team members don't need to like or love each other they just have to trust each others' ability and capability.

7. Funding for a enterprise will be better and good if it's a strategic alliance which will also bring in business along with the money. This route would be more fruitful. Every presentation made to raise funds or to sell a idea or product or service, needs to be Customised rather than a generic presentation.  Target audience needs to be mapped for better conversions. Understanding the market and strategising accordingly is the best way forward. 

8. Opportunity is the next strategy. Many businesses get developed on the first big business opportunity they get. This also helps them to build their business from internal accruals and develop a steady revenue stream for growth to happen and also build expertise on developing other sectors and clients. 

9. Commit first..clarity comes after that. Don't wait for absolute clarity to begin anything. Too much analysis leads to paralysis. Once commitment happens, mind opens up for clarity. As one goes forward, clarity improves and commitment makes achievements happen. 

10. Adaptive selling to suit different mind set of different decision makers & buyers. Never use the same presentation to different clients. Adapt changes as per the clients profile. He will feel more connected and the desire is built from where the sale would happen. 

11. work & collaborate with people of your same mindset & beliefs. This fuels growth. And also adds to strength and vision. Trust building is also imp which happens from performance of the transactions. 

12. There should be adaptive style of leadership to reach end objective. One needs to set very audacious goals & make the whole team to work towards that drive as one mission. Only then the achievement happens. Achieving achievable goals will lead to stagnation. Growth happens when the goals are realistically audacious and they are achieved. 

13. Overall it was a mind blowing session. Learning from the experiences of capt raghu Raman. The depth and the flow of the answers really had every body entrapped into the inspiring conversation.