The strange existence of Ram Charan
Fast Company had a similar article some years back titled, Man of Mystery. Might as well as have titled it International Man of Mystery, considering his global travels (see below.)
For those that do not know, Ram Charan is a business consultant, speaker, and writer. He has been called the guru of business by CEOs around the globe, including CEOs of Citicorp, Verizon, Dupont, and even the legendary Jack Welch of GE. (Apparently, this is his 37th year consulting for GE, his 33rd for DuPont!)
The Fortune article talks about how Dr. Charan, 67 and never married, recently purchased his first apartment in Dallas. He still continues to spend most nights in hotel rooms around the globe or at an associate's residence. He has assistants in Dallas courier him new clothes three days a week, which he turns around as dirty laundry in a few days to keep the cycle going. He doesn't own a car because he never learned how to drive, and besides, where would he keep it? And apparently, he has no goals. Ok.. I can be a business consultant! ;) Ok... it is not that simple. Taken out of context, it trivializes all that he has accomplished. What he did say is:
Charan's weird and wonderful life is an unintended byproduct of dedication, he insists. Dedication to learning and teaching and service, to the whole set of Hindu virtues embodied by one of Charan's favorite phrases, "Purpose before self." "People used to ask me, What is your ambition?" says Charan, who turned 67 this past Christmas. "I say I have none. My dedication is going to take me where I'm going to be."And THE lesson for all leaders.. that, I think, most leaders miss:
"A leader who does not produce leaders is not a great leader."Tapping into the 3 "natural talents" or "God's gifts" of people is a necessary part of leadership. Interesting to read what he says about Steve Jobs's 3 natural talents.
... first thing, this human being has a talent to figure out what the consumer really wants. This is a very valuable thing! No. 2, he has the will and the talent to find - no matter where it is! - the right technology that will deliver what they want. Nobody said he invented one! And third, he has the talent to create demand at the right time.Another gem a little later in the article:
He knew from Sanskrit teachings that "fear, anger, laziness - these are the downfalls of human beings"; that peace of mind alone is worth striving for; that dedication and mastery are their own rewards.Almost sounds like a self-help guru... not a business guru!
Also, if you want some idea of his travel schedule...here is an illustration, as mentioned in the above article.
"I go to India on the Friday of the week before Thanksgiving. I am Sunday morning in Bombay. Monday morning I am in Delhi. Wednesday I'm in Bombay. Thursday I'm in Bangalore. Saturday I'm in Trivandrum. Wednesday I'm in Johannesburg. Friday morning, at seven, I am in New York. I have a two-hour meeting with a CEO who has flown in to see me. I have two more meetings and I fly out that night to Dubai. I am in Dubai on Sunday and Monday, then I come back here. On Thursday night I fly out to Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Then I come back here. Tuesday morning I have a whole-day schedule in New York. Tuesday night I go to Milwaukee. I came from Milwaukee last night. They diverted my plane so I had to stay in Pittsburgh. I had a meeting this morning in Philadelphia. I had three meetings here in the afternoon. And I'm here tomorrow, with GE. Then an hour-and-a-half phone call. Then I'm going out tomorrow night to West Palm Beach. Monday morning I have a breakfast meeting in New York. And then I'm flying out to Perth, Australia." At least he flies first-class.Amazing how he can sustain such a lifestyle, especially having had triple-bypass heart surgery in 1999. Amazing how much he has achieved, considering where he started from. Which is....
His family (he is the sixth of seven children) lived on the second floor of a two-story house they shared with his uncle's family (in a small city outside Delhi in UP). Together they were 17 people under one roof. "And then a portion to keep the cows," says Charan. "I personally took the cow dung and made patties out of that for burning in Mother's stove. We cut the fodder in the fodder machine for the cows. My brothers and my uncle did the milking." While they had everything they needed to survive, they had no more than that. No plumbing, no electricity, no luxuries of any kind. The children pumped water from a well. They did their nightly homework on the floor in a flickering circle of light from a mustard-oil lamp.--
Some of his recent articles can be read through Yahoo! Finance. And though it is difficult to discuss any of his books here (as I have read none!), here is a good short summary of the 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't -- from his recent book, Know-How.
The eight fundamental skills needed for success in the twenty-first century:
- Positioning (and when necessary, repositioning) your business by zeroing in on the central idea that meets customer needs and makes money
- Connecting the dots by pinpointing patterns of external change ahead of others
- Shaping the way people work together by leading the social system of your business
- Judging people by getting to the truth of a person
- Molding high-energy, high-powered, high-ego people into a working team of leaders in which they equal more than the sum of their parts
- Knowing the destination where you want to take your business by developing goals that balance what the business can become with what it can realistically achieve
- Setting laser-sharp priorities that become the road map for meeting your goals
- Dealing creatively and positively with societal pressures that go beyond the economic value creation activities of your business
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