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Please describe yourself and your own learning/unlearning journey in a short personal note (up to 500 words) which can be shared with the larger group. *

My internet social profiles say: “Entrepreneur/ Drupal, Open Source evangelist/ Green activist/ Pilgrim/ In pursuit of a purposeful life”.

I’ve been an entrepreneur for most of my working life. Have mastered the art of *delaying gratification* (even though it is beginning to hurt the financial planning for the family a bit), i’ve learnt to *live fairly frugally*. Actually, i’ve always had an intuitive pull towards frugal and sustainable living; about sharing and co-ownership; towards spiritual values. This pull led to a search for the divine fairly early on in my life, leading first to a crisis/depression, eventually resulting in a *search* for health, wellness, and a *deep seeking*. I still do not know what i am seeking; what i am after – so end up calling myself a *pilgrim, in pursuit of a purposeful life*.

Yet i know where to look – sustainable farming, renewable energy, meditation, Gandhi, writing of life, travelling, photography, advocacy, a bit of coaching, employee-owned companies, and entrepreneurship.

What kind of learning communities and learning experiments have you been trying co-create? *

“Beyond Tech” is an initiative i’ve seeded at Srijan to help bring diversity and breadth to people. http://www.srijan.in/beyond-tech. This year my goal is to startup two more projects:

a) invest in a large piece of land in the mountains alongwith Navin Pangti – with the objective of forming a base for experimentation with *BioChar* for increased organic agriculture productivity, for regenerating degraded forests around using “seedball sowing”, and eventually creating a sustainable local economy with an element of eco-tourism.

b) create an e-commerce property to bring give market access for natural and wellness products to self-help groups and social communities around the country

What questions, topics, workshops, proposals, projects, invitations, etc. related to unfolding learning societies would you like to contribute and further explore in this unconference? *

The two projects listed above. BioChar is of keen interest to me given its tremendous benefits in increasing agricultural produce naturally, and its tremendous potential in acting as a *carbon sink*. As an example, 1 ton of BioChar = 3 tonnes of CO2.

Since, i wrote this article inviting entrepreneurs to see themselves as investors, and start drawing a salary as close as what the market may pay them (instead of sacrificing it for constantly and feeding their business), i thought i should share how i have drawn my salary over these years.

The last salary that i drew in Aug 1999, as an employee was Rs.28,000-30,000/- – while i do not recall accurately – it was in that order. And i reached this salary again, after about 5 years of being self-employed. And even after this, the salary growth was too low.

My peers, those who chose to stay on India (very few did), were earning atleast about 2 times my salary drawn in 2009-2010. And by the way, the industry would be willing to give me much more than that for the skills i have/had gained over these years of running an IT services business. I created a decent brand, delivered fairly visible projects with decent amount of quality, and created a nice team of open source enthusiasts. A fairly successful, even if a smallish business, over the years.

So, if you are a young entrepreneur just starting out, here’s my message :: while you must sacrifice and *delay your gratification*, there is no reason for you to be unjust to yourself, and worse – to your family.

Learn from my mistakes if you can, and constantly strive to give yourself atleast close to a market salary. You can evaluate this, by interviewing your friends and peers, and by searching on job sites for people with similar profiles to yours.

And when your business starts succeeding, give yourself a hefty raise, and year-end dividends – that would be the incentive for delaying your gratification early on during the initial years of the business.

In 495 AD, the Indian monk Ba Tuo, or Buddhabhadra, came to China teaching a form of Buddhism known as Xiao Sheng Buddhism. He was given land at the foot of Shaoshi mountain by Emperor Shao Wen and founded the Shaolin Temple on this land.

Source: http://www.usashaolintemple.org/chanbuddhism-history/

]]> http://danceofshiva.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/is-airtel-serious-about-its-online-payments/feed/ 0 Rahul Dewan Airtel - online booking http://danceofshiva.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/on-democracy-and-democratic-workplaces/ http://danceofshiva.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/on-democracy-and-democratic-workplaces/#comments Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:56:20 +0000 Rahul Dewan http://danceofshiva.wordpress.com/?p=592 ]]> A couple of my colleagues gifted me *Animal Farm* a book by George Orwell. It is a depressing story (so far as i’ve read) about how a *people’s revolution* (or *animal’s revolution* in this case; against the tyranny of human beings) is usurped by some self-styled *leaders* from among the animals.

While going through emotions of anger and depression, in reading the book, i felt deeply motivated to re-affirm by strong conviction in *workplace democracy* and *employee ownership*, as the only way to create a more equitable, just and sustainable world for ourselves in the years ahead. And if i may say, a world without economic crises generated out of human greed.

Leaving my readers with thoughts from Thomas Freidman on how democratic workplaces, just as democratic countries, are going to be the order of the day in the coming years; and the new kind of leadership, leaders in such institutions would have to offer to their employees / customers / citizens.

“The days of leading countries or companies via a one-way conversation are over,” says Dov Seidman, the C.E.O. of LRN and the author of the book “How.” “The old system of ‘command and control’ — using carrots and sticks — to exert power over people is fast being replaced by ‘connect and collaborate’ — to generate power through people.” Leaders and managers cannot just impose their will, adds Seidman. “Now you have to have a two-way conversation that connects deeply with your citizens or customers or employees.”

This kind of leadership is especially critical today, adds Seidman, “when people are creating a lot of ‘freedom from’ things — freedom from oppression or whatever system is in their way — but have not yet scaled the values and built the institutional frameworks that enable ‘freedom to’ — freedom to build a career, a business or a meaningful life.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/opinion/sunday/friedman-help-wanted.html

Here’s my response to the author and my view on the issue:

Shuddha, defending a Rev. priest to freely convert could be defended in its own right. Why make such a massive case against *Indian Occupation* in the same post? A really *defensive article*, as if to keep the azadiwallas in good humour!

Meanwhile, wherever Islam has dominated, all religions, even sects within Islam – those of the unorthodox types – Ahmeddiyas, Bahai’s Sufis – have all suffered, persecuted, and often eliminated or exterminated. This has happened in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran.

Recently, a perfectly normal exhibition of various calligraphic Quran’s organised by Ahmadiyas in Delhi, was *forced* to close down by the Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid in Delhi, because he felt the Ahmadiyas are *not Muslims*; see: http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/article2481853.ece

Even *bridge-builders* like Mualana Wahiduddin Khan are classified as *heretics* and ostracised from mainstream Islam.

Saudi Arabia does not allow anyone to practice any other religion; one has heard horrible stories of pictures of Indian gods and godesses being picked out of pockets of Indians and crushed by immigration officers – as a way of teaching a lesson about who not to argue with in that country.

In 1951 22% of Bangladesh was Hindu; by 2001, it was down to 9.2%. Let’s look at Pakistan. Post partition (and the massive migrations) nearly 20% of the Pakistani population was Hindu, while it is now less than 2%. The reasons are primarily of direct/in-direct persecution and often even forced conversions and threats.

That the same precedent would follow in Kashmir once it found *independence* from India is not only believable, but perhaps inevitable. No matter what the liberal, and well-meaning Kashmiri Muslims say or do, they do not have much in control.

Sufi processions and even Dargahs are regularly targetted by militants and extremists, just as they are in Pakistan. No one has heard such incidents happening anywhere in India. The situation is becoming so bad that organisations such as the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting is asking *Is Kashmir headed the way of Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the Islamic radicalism has fueled a nihilistic ideology of settling disagreements through violence?*. See http://pulitzercenter.org/projects/kashmir-india-pakistan-sufi-wahhabi-islam.

This is a case for India to not only remain in Kashmir, but also cause influence of its culture, which includes Sufism, back into Kashmiri mainstream.

Abhinav had joined Srijan in Nov 2008 right after completing his B.Tech. from a college in the Delhi region. He joined as a TYPO3 developer (for those of us who know Srijan and it’s work with Drupal – back then Srijan was an all out TYPO3 company until we started making the move to Drupal slowly since about the same year). He had joined with references of colleagues with whom he had volunteered for an open source event called Freed.in.

I had this habit of picking up enthused and passionate characters even if they did not know much about technology (not to suggest that Abhinav did not). To date i value passion and drive – a fire-in-the-belly attitude – more than skills any given time. Ofcourse, skills are important, but you find many skilled people with a poor attitude or no depth of vision for the life they want; with no pursuits higher than “become a Team Lead in 5 years from now” or “earn a high salary” or “work for big brand after 2 years; i’m being honest sir”. I have nothing against people who pursue material or such positional gains, but i have a bias towards people who seem to be seeking something more. Some can articulate these well; most can’t – but their actions demonstrate their passions.

Abhinav’s actions – his participation in Freed.in, and participating in an open source drug design initiative at JNU, got him a reference, and eventually a job at Srijan.

However, this honeymoon lasted just about 1 month. He sent a “siging off” email before catching a train back to his home town in Lucknow, not giving me a chance to even speak with him.

hello sir

this is probably one of the toughest decision i have made. I am quitting srijan.You might be hurt by my decision and considering the fact that you are such a nice person, I didnt want to hurt you but i have to. It was only because of you that i stayed this long even.

Initially when i joined srijan i was very happy about it. I had come with a perception that i would be working with some great minds, the likes of Gora sir, Ipsita and then found Riteshji and syed bhai as well. I used to find qualities in everyone and was very happy about all of it. I even declined another offer in a large organization for it. I didn’t regrret it then but maybe a month from them had that offer come i would have accepted that.

In those 55 days at srijan i found more reasons to quit than to be a part of it and then when finally i thought i wasn’t willing to sit there for even 6 hours I decided to quit. I was never there for salary, money was not an issue for me. I had come thinking that i would be working for the open source world. a place that would not be comprising of office politics, where deserving people would be above you and a place where i would be able to learn at a pace and skills which would make stand out of the league. Maybe that’s a mistake i committed. Srijan’s site has in its header, “ethics should not stay at home when we go to work”, but frankly speaking how many in your company follow that? The question mark stands in front of you as well.
Are people deserving enough to get the designation they are holding? or the salary they are getting? Are you doing the right thing by shedding off your responsibilities? I believe if a person cannot manage 20 people and keep them happy then i guess he should not dream of heading an organization, or maybe then hire an HR for that job. I was not at all happy staying there straight 15 days into the place. Not enough good people to be with. If this is how IT companies are then maybe i won’t get back to this industry again. I will probably join some management job or maybe do an MBA (if required) and then do some managing job.

After this piece, he wrote a long list of rants against people who he saw were deceiving me, were inefficient and eating on the company time, money and resources; he also gave me a download on who should be promoted and how we should deliver projects.

Part of all this was instigated by our salary review process, which i was trying to make really transparent, and the responsibility of deciding salaries – their own and of others as well – back on the people. Someone had pointed out to me that this was an “abdication of  your responsibility” (was it Abhinav who said this?); that time i did not see it, but now i do (but honestly, i must acknowledge i still grow cold feet when salary review time hovers on my head).

Abhinav shifted his career from technology to Digital Marketing, quitting about 3 jobs during this period – he just could not settle anywhere, in any standard company environment – which he probably found even more dissatisfying for many reasons than Srijan.

I guess we both liked the honesty of character in each other, which was probably the reason all throughout we kept in touch over these years. None of us had burnt our bridges with each other.

A year back, i got interested in the work he was doing, and that he had had a start-up stint in Digital Marketing, which was now shutdown.

The most important thing to me in my life is to work with good people, and enable them leap-frong to achieve their dreams. In this process i believe i will find my life’s fulfillment, and financial security. I must admit, i find myself pretty incompetent as a manager; and many of my colleagues have told me i am not a natural leader. While i am harsh on myself, i do have some exceptional difficult-to-find qualities (am being a bit fair and easy on myself!), specifically with maintaining and building on relationships and with identifying great people to work with. Inspired people often find inspiration from me, and some even turn to me for advise. Not boasting; just trying to give a perspective here.

So, i kept nagging Abhinav every now and then, about what he wanted to do. I wanted someone like him to help me out with Srijan’s Digital Marketing initiative. I’d come across many agencies, and some good people – but none so far with such a deep drive and dedication and honesty in his work and pursuits.

So, i worked out a model for him to make the leap – i organised his financial security through two clients, one being Srijan, and the other being my partner’s private project. Abhinav joined us about 6 months back.

This Friday, 09 December 2011, we signed the partnership deed between Abhinav and i. This becomes the first case study under Ashoka Tree (blog/website under development, as of this date) – a dream project for me; worth consuming my life with.

I’ve helped Niswey win new business with some of Srijan’s clients; i’ll continue to mentor and advise, and even do sales and marketing for the company. I believe this is essential for the success of the business. My work experience apart from the business relationships and i have built over these years have tremendous value for any business i would be associated with. Niswey gets a distinct advantage of being called the sister concern of Srijan Technologies, thus leveraging that large potent network of clients and business.

At an Owner Manager program that i recently signed up for, i was asked to fill a questionnaire on “value creation” from the perspective of different stakeholders in a business. “In this business – “what is important to me?”, “what is important to an employee?”, “what is important to a customer?”, and “what is important to an investor?”, were some of the questions asked.

Do note the distinction between “me” and an “me as an investor”. It is clear that all entrepreneurs are investors in their own business. Apart from their time, effort, nearly all entrepreneurs invest money. This infusion may be direct through way of paid-up capital or loans from family and friends, or they could be investing money indirectly by way of taking lower-than-market-salaries for themselves – thus choosing to invest the profits back into the company.

This is an excerpt from a blog i wrote for the online magazine DARE.co.in. Read the complete article at: http://www.dare.co.in/blogs/lessons-in-enterpreneurship-lession-1-give-yourself-a-good-salary.htm