I had been doing well in studies, and after getting my MBA degree, I also got placed in a decent firm. Though it was not a very big company, but anyways I had got a nice post and just tried to give my best to wherever I was. Though I had initial plans of entrepreneurship, but I thought that getting some proper experience of how things go about in companies would definitely help a lot. I started working there and gained a lot of knowledge about the contracts, deals, time-frame given to people to finish an assigned task. Working in teams, adjusting with various kinds of people, appreciating their views, suggestions and most of all getting your own work noticed and recognised among so many people. This was the only way to climb the ladder, and that too I didn’t want to be late in that. So, I worked hard and smart, tried to interact with people as much as I could and just tried to keep the team members happy.
And best part was that, I was actually successful in doing that. The first project that our team handled did well, and the people liked my work. I tried to seize every single opportunity that I came across. In the second project that we handled, I took the lead, and handled all the presentations work myself. Due to this, I came in the eyes of people higher in the hierarchy. I made use of this in the best possible way. Soon, I was made the project manager of the firm and then was the time when I started thinking that rather than starting all over again, I should rather try and take this company to a better position. I just put all my heart into every project that we came across, and tried further to expand our market share. And I knew that main strength of any company lies in its workforce (employees), as long as they are happy and unless they themselves want their company to rise, no company could ever be at the top.
I took every possible measure to get involved in projects personally, rather than just assigning the tasks to people. I made every possible facility available to my employees, as I would have desired being one myself. I made sure that they got enough time to spend quality time with their family. We kept some regular informal parties in which whole family of employees were invited. This helped a lot, our employees became much more excited and loyal towards their job and they worked whole heartedly towards the dream which I tried to show them. We were doing really well and our national market share increased drastically because of better quality and service that we provided. People began to know me (which was very much required for getting into politics) and mostly the way I handled people. My employees admired me and stood by me strong.
One day, due to some work I had to go to a market some distance away. I went there in the evening and as there was some rush, I preferred walking to the shop instead of just sitting in car (I loved to see people around). I bought the things needed and while I was returning back, I saw an old lady sitting on the pavement selling some homemade spices. She was looking very old and weak and I didn’t find any person interested in buying those. On the other side of the road I saw a poor lady with her two little children asking for some help from the people passing by. Although this was the sight which most of us see everyday but never care-off being so busy and engrossed so much in our own troubles, but that day it was not the same those people were standing under the harsh sunlight with not even sleepers in their legs and I was using AC car for smallest of my purposes. It was that moment when I realized that in the pursuit of my own dreams and having so much engrossed in urbane kind of life style, I had almost done nothing for the ‘dream’ for which we all started. How could I be so selfish that today even after being in business for so many years I had done nothing except earning some money and fame.
I decided that very moment that it was high time for me to enter into politics. I also knew that it was that point in my life when if at all I concentrate on the business, it would have made the strong mark in international market as well. Taking this type of decision at that time was difficult, but then for how long a lady of maybe my grandmother’s age would herself sell something on the pavement under the heat of sun to earn her living? For how long would any lady had to survive on sympathy of passers-by to feed her little children. These were much-much big matters than my personal accomplishments. I had to... just had to act that very moment.
I knew that, after building so much credibility, I had to use it wisely and not to spoil everything in a hurry. So, during our informal meets I started putting in my ideas related to the politics in front of the people of my organisation and tried to gain their support first. I knew the most important thing was the support of my own people, and if at all they were with me, I could have fought against the whole world. I believed in them and tried to show them the beautiful picture of the days ahead. I didn’t want to keep them in darkness, so I also informed them about the troubles we might face, and how to keep ourselves and our ideals intact during those times. I thought about funding a political party (BPD) who was itself fighting for a good cause (although all parties claim to do so, but hardly anyone does, and as much information I could get I felt it was different). I had been looking for a party who had enough say in government and had less corrupt people who were more concerned with people than their own pockets. I chose BPD which had mostly youth involved in reformation and had developed enough say in the government over years. So, our company began working along and through this group.
But I still had a long way to go. As funding and actually being in politics were two totally different things. We started working together, and I made desperate efforts so that people begin to know me. More than members of BPD, I wanted the people for whom I wanted to work to know me. One more proposal that I kept infront of my counterparts in company was to sponsor the education of a nearby village. Now this was not an easy task. I was opposed for this proposal of mine by many people in company, but then I resorted to other way to convince them, as I said that people will appreciate our company’s effort towards society and which would enhance our Brand image (you always have to show them profit to get things done, anyways didn’t matter to me as long as my job was being done). Then after telling them all these, about publicizing and getting people to know that our company was doing its bit towards society actually helped. People began to know us and more importantly me. I had to make a nice public image before I could step into politics.
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