Accidental Entrepreneurs
Accidents generally connotes negative and damaging emotions. But not all. Few disturbances/rejections/hindrances that come in our life turns out to be blessings in disguise. There are many examples of success oozing out of failures, in India and globally too, and in the contemporary world, the one name that stands out, above head and heel, is of Jack Ma, the Chinese Entrepreneur and a billionaire now of Alibaba group, who had faced rejection at the hands of popular fast food eating joint KFC. J K Rowling, Col Harlord Sanders of KFC, Oprah Winfray are some other successful people who made their names after being rejected in their first jobs. All such success stories in this category belongs to those who moved from zero to hero.
In contrast, we also have success stories of people, who unfortunately had a fall from glory when they were riding the crest of success and were least expecting it when they were shown the door. Steve Jobs, who co-founded Apple Inc., being shown the door in 1985, but re-inducted almost a decade later, which ushered in golden period of Apple when ipod, iphone and ipad were launched by Apple Inc. Similarly, Mayor Michael Bloomberg got exited after Citigroup bought out Salomon Brothers, an Investment Bank in 1998, and Bloomberg LP came on the banking scene.
In the same league, we also had Lee Iacocca - a name associated with Ford Motor company initially, and later on with Chrysler Motor company, which is a matter of case study over here. Iacocca, in his autobiography, writes that after being hounded by Henry Ford Jr., Chairman of Ford Motor company since 1975, he was finally exited unceremoniously from Ford Motor company in 1978. At that time, he was just 54 years of age, was number 2 in the company, as President, was drawing an annual salary of $ one million in 1978, and was enjoying fabulous and enviable perks. Incidentally, Ford Motors clocked a total revenue of over one billion for two consecutive years (total for last two years amounting to $3.5 billion) in 1976 and 1977 and exit coming at that stage was something which was not acceptable. He was with Ford Motor company for almost 3 decades and was the most popular and cherished leader, liked by both employees and vendors alike, and hugely respected by Automobile industry, Naturally he was shell shocked as, you like it or not, he faced an uncertain future, with no idea where he goes from there onward. His family and well-wishers were all acrimonious for the way and for no valid reasons he was exited and didn't come to terms for a very long time. It is said, that Iacocca didn't know what he should be doing, and like what kind of work he can do, being an ex-President till the job-hunters spotted him and approached him to head the ailing Chrysler Motors, which he accepted with some reluctance, as Chrysler was in real mess and the job to be was going to be too daunting and most challenging for him.
Rest is history, for people wouldn't have known who Lee Iacocca is, had it not been for that unceremonious exit from Ford Motor company, and consequent opportunity that came his way in managing affairs at Chrysler, and the turnaround he engineered at Chrysler. Steering Chrysler to safe harbours and being counted once again in automobile industry was his revenge.
IACOCCA - an autobiography of Lee Iacocca is a testimony to journey of Iacocca from adversity to glory.
Remember, had Iacocca not faced exit at Ford, he would have continued in the comfort of Ford Motors, and would have never thought of taking over messy Chrysler how-so-ever challenging and rewarding role that could have it been.
In words of Iacocca himself, he writes in his autobiography.....
"If I'd the slightest idea of what lay ahead for me when I joined up with Chrysler, I wouldn't have gone over there for all the money in the world. It's a good thing God doesn't let you look a year or two into the future, or you might be sorely tempted to shoot yourself. But He's a charitable Lord. He only lets you see one day at a time. When times get tough, there's no choice except to take a deep breath, carry on, and do the best you can."
Getting kicked to the curb by your employer can certainly be hugely demoralizing, and for sometime you may feel yourself in ' No man's land'. But these successful people prove that what may initially feel like failure may just become the launching pad you need for success.
The year 2022, of late, has been echoing negative sentiments among the white collar job sector. Covid and Ukraine war appears to be taking its toll, as one after other giants, like Twitter, Facebook, Google, Amazon, to name the global few, have announced downsizing their work force, and the consequent tremors being felt in their Indian counterparts too and they are also ramping up their staff strength optimally.
While, there is no denying the fact that it is too unfortunate for all those people who are getting impacted because of this downsizing, and they need to tighten their seat-belts lest they get swept away with a feeling of hopelessness and self-pity, but at the same time, it's also an opportunity for ambitious among them to look for possibilities of becoming an entrepreneur themselves. More so, if you are a professional, have some domain knowledge, or have profound marketable skill set.
The tragedy of We, the Human Beings, is that when we are in comfort zone of assured salary, perks, promotions, own house, car, money in the bank etc., we switch off our latent capabilities, which is in fact our real strength and and our calling, and happy being dragged in our comfort lane by life in pilot-mode.
Remember, a life is not worth a life if it's not challenging; if you never took risk and attempted something close to your heart, if you never dream of reaching the sky, if you never attempted to loosen the ' gene' each one of us is carrying inside us, and being out NOW, here is your chance.
If you have a working spouse, your own debt-free house and a car, enough Bank balance to take care of couple of years, handy ESOPs you accumulated over a period of time, Congratulations! You are selected to try your luck.
Adversity = Opportunity to let God shape your future. You have to take first step, and rest you shall find hand of God when you surrender to His will. I have been both a beneficiary and a witness to this cosmic miracle, and can say with confidence that you guys are on the cusp of a breakthrough in your careers.
Not at all a easy situation, but take this in your stride with optimism, and trust God. HE has a plan for everyone, and this is your chance.