This document provides biographical details about several individuals who achieved success despite not having extraordinary early advantages or a spectacular start in life. It discusses Dr. Kallam Anji Reddy, founder of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, who came from a village background in India and had an average academic performance but went on to make India's pharmaceutical industry globally competitive. It also profiles G.M. Rao and Ela R. Bhatt, noting how they overcame early failures or unremarkable beginnings to achieve success through sustained hard work, learning from experiences, and focusing on self-improvement rather than competing with others.
1. By S.Sekar
sekrajc@yahoo.com
Some Impressionistic takes from the book
Dr. V. Raghunathan’s
“ Don’t Sprint the Marathon”
Don’t p
2. About the Author
V.Raghunathan’s first career was an academic- as Professor
of Finance at IIM- Ahmadabad for nearly two decades, until
early 2001. His second – a corporate one- started in 2001, first
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as President , ING Vysya Bank for four years and then with
GMR Group- an infrastructure major. He is currently CEO,
GMR Varalakshmi Foundation . Also since 1990 he has been
an Adjunct Professor at the University of Bocconi, Milan,
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lecturing on behavioral finance
Has published over 400 academic papers & popular articles
& seven books
Author of the best seller ‘ Games Indian Play’ – why we are
best-seller Play
the way we are ( Penguin 2006)
Stock exchanges, Investments & Derivatives ( Tata McGraw
Hill 2007 )
Writes a guest column in ET, Mint and Times of India Blog
and is a busy public speaker
Has probably the largest private collection of old and ancient
locks in the country , has been a cartoonist with a national
y
daily, and has played chess at all India-level
3. Prelude
As proud and ambitious parents, we often push our children to
their limits and to excel in ways that may help them achieve
some early successes- b t may sap th i stamina t endure
l but their t i to d
the more difficult challenges of life. Our obsessive rush to get
our children off to a good start overlooks the fact that in life, as
in a marathon, an early lead hardly matters, but being too
intent on the blind dash, we deprive our children a normal
childhood and hence of many life-skills
life skills.
This book reinforces the above line of thinking and quotes
several examples of average people who achieved
extraordinary success because they were not sprinting the
marathon!
Happy Reading
4. If you are like most professionals in a hurry…
You probably want:
to be the first one to get promoted,
to get that best rating at work year after year
that coveted posting
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that next promotion
And
you do probably do not recall when you spent a whole day with
your family last, or
when you last helped a less fortunate man on the street
5. And if you are like most parents…
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You expect no less & probably more from your child
You are a prouder parent if your child were among the top
performers in the class & outside it
You tacitly expect your child to top at everything, crack that
mathematic Olympiad, captain the school cricket and football team…
May be you also drive your kid from school to
tuitions to swimming classes to tennis lessons.
Organize the kid s
kid’s summer vacation
meticulously, and
Compare the kid favorably or unfavorably to
other kids
And hope the kid would also win the
spelling bee, crack all the 3-letter national
entrance tests and maybe also walk on
water!
6. Is Lif
I Life a R
Race?
?
It needn’t be, it shouldn’t be and it isn’t
but if so why do most educated parents make their kids do what
so,
we listed in the last slide? Why do they Push them so hard, hoping
to give them a good start? So maybe it is regarded by most as a
race after all
all…
But if life is a race at all, it is a Marathon , not a Sprint…
Oprah Winfrey – famous talk-show host & also a
Marathon finisher, maintains
“ Running is the greatest metaphor for life “
Oprah was referring to the metaphor of running
marathon & not the sprint!
7. Sprint vs. Marathon
Sprint Marathon
Involves a short run Marathon is a long haul
It is a flat and a straight Stretch Involves twisting and turning tracks with ups and
downs
All about strength and energy It’s more about Stamina and mental strength
End is always in sight End is hardly in sight for most part
A good start is very important A good start hardly matters
It’s largely about competing with others It’s more about competing with self
Highly competitive Greater sense of camaraderie
Only i i
O l winning matters
tt Completing th race successfully it lf i satisfying
C l ti the f ll itself is ti f i
8. Which of the following child would you prefer?
A Child that has
A good grasp on subject
Has the ability to internalize knowledge and apply to life
But unable to reproduce or regurgitate the learning during examination, which may
compromise the grade
OR
A Child
That can pick up a subject superficially
Have an excellent short term memory & reproduce the lines
in exams
Score the highest grade
Often
As parents ideally we may like the first option
parents,
But end up promoting the latter option in our kids
Are we hung up on examination performance ?
Do we regiment our lives & also those of children?
Do we expect from Children, what we failed to achieve ourselves?
9. On Bringing up Children…
Shaping a Child’s personality
Parents have to be a marathon coach & not a sprint coach
We need to understand certain basic differences between long-term & short-term
orientation in life
This will help us to shape our own life & Children’s attitude to life
Well begun may be half done – But that’s more so in a dash
True a long-distance runner cannot start the run with a
True, long distance
fractured or sprained ankle
However to run a marathon, an average start is good enough,
unlike in a sprint
It’ th same with Child
It’s the ith Children – t d well i lif an average
to do ll in life,
start in life that gives a child ample scope for an all-round
growth is enough. Fancy schooling, far out performance,
excellence in every field may feel good, but have little bearing
on l long tterm performance, success and h
f d happiness of an
i f
individual
Desire to excel
This is not right to say that a desire to excel is not a desirable trait to impart
Excellence should come more from the desire excel one’s own performance rather than
from a do-or-perish kind of attitude
10. On a Successful life
life…
What does success mean ?
Making as much money as possible?
About being as famous as possible?
About being as powerful as possible?
Thomas Wolfe – American novelist
“You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become
uninterested in money, compliments or publicity! “
Money , fame or power are consequences of Success and not goals
of success
Paris Hilton is famous
Do we want our daughters to adopt her as a role model ?
Can she be really called successful , even if she is well known ?
Can her lifestyle be a route to anyone’s happiness?
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Is happiness key to success or success the key to happiness?
11. On Reading
Reading…
Reading provides for continuing education whether rich or
poor , employed or unemployed , royalty or pauper
Parents are the role model for children – if they do not see
parents spending any time ever in a bookshop or library,
reading books, it is less likely the kids will learn to make
reading a habit.
This also applies to professionals – smile and shoeshine
may be useful , but without reading there is no learning
12. What can Parents do as marathon coaches?
Encourage children to read, and awaken in them a sense of curiosity, a
desire to know, t l
d i t k to learn & t fi d out
to find t
Instill in them a love of learning, by encouraging them to learn
What they want to learn
When they want to learn
How they want to learn
At a pace that suits them best
Allow sufficient autonomy to the child for reading, as long as what the
child reads is not unhealthy
Learning is something children do NOT something done to children
do,
Provide an environment which is conducive for learning
Move the focus from teaching to learning
13. What Children like & What works on them
them…
Children
• A a rule, prefer games, Pl
As l f Play
and hands-on tasks over
studies
• They mostly live in the present
• They are curious about a wide
range of thi
f things
Indirect influences are more
likely to work on children
Children aren’t afraid of
working hard
14. Dislikes of Children to bear in mind while shaping them…
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Children
Dislike excessive words
Are deeply fearful of examinations - because examinations evaluate them
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Have an inbuilt fear of failure
Pushing them hard for a better future goes against the grain of childhood, as
children live in the present
Dislike concentrating on a narrow range of activities
Forcing them into regimented extra curricular activities goes against the grain
of child hood and their sense of adventure
Excessive discipline stunts their
imagination & mental growth
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Putting children down severely for their
failures rarely works in the desired
direction
16. Dr.Kallam Anji Reddy- Dr. Reddy’s Labs
Reddy Reddy s
A person who has put India’s Pharma industry on the Global
map
Son of fairly well-to-do turmeric farmer from a village
Tadepalli – A.P
He studied in a local school before moving on to a Junior
collage in Guntur & an average village boy
He scored 59.16 % in the State board & then went to Andhra
Christian college in the same town for B.Sc. In Chemistry.
Unsure of his performance dropped out to appear again in
supplementary.
The only anxiety Dr.Reddy’s parents even showed was to
move Anji to his Grand Ma’s place for his primary schooling
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– due to the reason his father did not want the 8 year old
child crossing the Krishna river every day .
Anji was fairly mischievous with whole lot of friends , often
cutting school prayer t i d l
tti h l to indulge i some prank with hi
in k ith his
friends
17. Dr.Kallam Anji Reddy- Dr. Reddy’s Labs
Reddy Reddy s
Remarkable about him – Sharp memory and general
reading
He had a wide circle of friends whom he was genuinely fond
of & spent most of his time with them
He is not a sprinter by far shot
Hi l
His love of l
f languages came h d – combined hi l
handy bi d his language
skills & some “ smart working” helped him getting through
the exams
With his PhD – Joined IDPL in 1969 – 6 years learning bulk
drug manufacturing led him to explore drug making by
himself
1976- Dr.Reddy founded his first company –Uniloids Ltd
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1980 set up the Standard Organics and the flagship of Dr.
Reddy’s lab in 1984
Became the first Asian company every outside Japan – list
on the NY stock exchange
18. Dr.Kallam Anji Reddy
Dr. Reddy did not have a grand start in life
Did not start th lif f
t t t the life from city
it
He wasn’t a conventionally brilliant student
Did not study in a fancy school , college or university
First job was not with an MNC
He did not job hop
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Concentrated on learning the ropes
Enjoyed every act of reading
Jogged along at a steady pace, took time to reflect & timed
it well
19. G.M.Rao
G.M.Rao- He who learnt from his failures
A person who all his life competed only with himself
Probably learnt much more from life than from school
Born in 1950 in Rajam – Srikakulum district of AP , third
among the seven children
An average middle class family – Parents having small gold
& trading b i
di business
Clearly the boy had far from a grand starting point
Early schooling was in government school – a local Telugu
medium institution
Fairly a bright & active boy, albeit somewhat naughty
Neither excelled in Telugu nor English
Th b
The boy f il d hi SSLC exams & f th
failed his father made hi
d his
peremptory declaration – “ No further studies”
At this crucial juncture in his life came a remarkable teacher
– Damiri Venkata Rao – who motivated him to complete the
SSLC
Worked hard and passed SSLC 422/500 – 84.4 %
20. G.M.Rao
G.M.Rao- He who learnt from his failures
Rejected by Loyola college – Vijayawada, he went to a college in Bobbli for PUC
Worked hard & topped the college PUC with distinction
Obtained 12th rank in provisional selection for BE – Andhra University
Did well in academics & would help his friends in whatever way possible.
This popularity drove him to contest college elections to become Secretary
Through all this, one characteristics remained, a
large circle of friends & he was a people’s
person
Mastering the art of “ Making friends &
influencing people
First failure as an adult – unable to bag the A.P
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scooters agency for vizag
Second failure – buying out an oil mill – sales
tax problems – leased out the mill & trucks
Interviewed by a ferro-alloy company for a job –
he was rejected
21. G.M. Rao
To consolidate our findings
Not a spectacular start in life
The boy came from a rural background – educationally backward district
Family indifferent to academics
Went to an unknown school & experienced little discipline or control at home
No clarity on what he wants to do
Flip side
Fundamentally nice and responsible youngster
One who is very bright & strong sense of adventure
One who is not easily fazed by failure & one who is made by his failures
Sustained hard work ( is an act of faith) & people’s man
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One who is never wanting in efforts
One who is not infallible , but is quick to get up & move on
GMR is still a learner & a man of detail
Never competed against others
22. Ela R.Bhatt-
R.Bhatt F
From an enlightened middle- class f il i
li ht d iddl l family in
Surat.
Father –successful lawyer & Mother was
active in women’s issue
Ela never topped her school or college
Might have been in the top of 10 percentile
Never unduly pushed in driving herself very
hard
Overall value system was shaped by her
highly principled father
As child she developed sense of fairness &
highly sensitive to any form of exploitation of
the underprivileged
After a brief career in Government she took
Government,
it upon herself to found SEWA
23. Ela R.Bhatt- SEWA
R.Bhatt
Ela is the founder of SEWA ( Self employed
women’s Association) has a membership of
6,87,000
6 87 000 women
The members are
Vegetable & garment vendors
In-home seamstresses
Head loaders & Construction workers
Bidi roller, Paper pickers, Incense stick makers
SEWA is the largest organization of its kind
for poor working women in the sub-continent
Ela became a founder member of “ The
Elders” – along with the likes of Nelson
Mandela & Bishop Desmond Tutu to tackle
some of the most challenging problems in
the globe
24. Ela R.Bhatt- The Power of Value
R.Bhatt
Her life’s work would earn her a
Ramon Magsayaay award
Honorary doctorates from Harward &
Yale
Padma Bhushan
Membership of the Planning
commission
Rajya Sabha membership
These milestones are just happened as
she ran the Marathon in pursuit of her
mission
None of these marked the destination of
Sprint
25. The Last word
Take a long-term view of life whether one is a child, a
parent or a professional
S i t may t
Sprint teach you h
h how t b
to buy; M th
Marathon will t
ill teach
h
you how to build
Sprint may motivate you to take ; Marathon will teach
you how to give
Sprint may be about how to win; Marathon will probably
also about how to lose
Sprint may be driven by desire to be ahead of others;
p y y ;
Marathon is about being ahead of oneself
Sprint may make you rich; Marathon will make you a
person of substance
Achievement means different things to Sprinters vis-à-
vis Marathoners
Achievement in sprint is about winning , where as in
Marathon it may be more about completing the course
itself