SOS

 
A couple of years back, Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Corporation was invited to the Shaping Young Minds Program (SYMP) under the aegis of the All India Management Association (AIMA) and the Bombay Management Association (BMA) at NCPA in Mumbai. Mr. Ravi Shankar, Coordinator, International Students Hospitality Organization, Bangalore (ISHO) forwarded the speech titled My Lessons in Life. It makes for good reading.
I am very happy to be here with you. It is always wonderful to be with young people. The funny thing about life is that you realize the value of something only when it begins to leave you.
As my hair turned from black to salt and pepper, and finally salt without the pepper, I have begun to realize the importance of youth. At the same time, I have begun to truly appreciate some of the lessons I have leant along the way. I hope you will find them useful when you plan your own career and life.
Conclusion
In my youth, I thought of myself as a rebel and many a times was a rebel without a cause. Today, I realize that my rebellion was another kind of conformity. We defied our elders to fall in line with our peers. Ultimately, we must learn to respond instead of reacting. When we respond, we evaluate with a calm mind and do whatever is most appropriate. We are in control of our actions. When we react, we are still doing what the other person wants us to do.
I wish you all the best in your life and career. I hope you achieve success in whatever way you define it and what gives you the maximum happiness in life. Remember, those who win are those who believe they can!

Lesson 1
The first thing I have learnt is that we must always begin with our strengths. From the earliest years of our schooling, everyone seems to focus on what is wrong with us.
There is an imaginary story of a rabbit that was enrolled in a rabbit school. Like all rabbits, it could hop very well but could not swim. At the end of the year, the rabbit got high marks in hopping but failed in swimming. The parents were concerned. They said, "Forget about hopping. You are anyway good at it. Concentrate on swimming." They sent the rabbit for tuitions in swimming. And guess what happened? The rabbit forgot how to hop. As for swimming, have you ever seen a rabbit swim?
While it is important for us to know what we are not good at, we must also cherish what is good in us. That is because it is only our strengths that can give us the energy to correct our weaknesses.

Lesson 2
I have learnt in life that a rupee earned is of far more value than five found. My friend shared a story of his eight year-old niece. She would always complain about breakfast. The cook tried everything possible, but the child was always unhappy. Exasperated, my friend took the child to a supermarket and brought one of those ready-to-cook packets. The child had to cut the packet and pour water in the dish. After that, it took two minutes in the microwave to be ready. And guess what? The child found the food to be absolutely delicious. The difference was that she cooked it all by herself.
In my life, I have found that nothing gives as much satisfaction as earning our rewards. In fact, what is gifted or inherited follows the old rule of come easy, go easy. I guess we only know the value of what we have if we have struggled to earn it.

Lesson 3 : The third lesson is that no one bats a hundred every time. Life has many challenges. You win some and lose some. You must enjoy winning. But do not let it go to your head. The moment it does, you are on the way to failure. And if you do encounter failure along the way, treat it as an equally natural phenomenon. Don't beat yourself for it or any one else for that matter. Accept it, look at your own share in the problem, learn from it and move on. The important thing is when you lose, do not lose the lesson.

Lesson 4: The importance of humility is my fourth lesson in life. Sometimes, when you get so much in life, you really start wondering whether you deserve it all. This brings me to the value of gratitude. We have so much to be grateful for. Our parents, our teachers and our seniors who have done so much for us that we can never repay. Many people focus on the shortcomings, because obviously no one can be perfect. But it is important to first acknowledge what we have received. Nothing in life is permanent but when a relationship ends, rather than becoming bitter, we must learn to savour the memory of the good things while they lasted.

Lesson 5: One way of achieving excellence is by looking at those who are better than us. Keep learning what they do differently. Emulate them. But excellence cannot be imposed from the outside. We must also feel the need from within. It must become an obsession. It must involve not only our mind but also our heart and soul. Excellence is not an act but a habit. I remember the inspiring lines of a poem that says: “Your reach must always exceed your grasp”. That is heaven on earth. Ultimately, your only competitor is yourself.