Competence not enough to ensure success: MindTree co-founder

BHUBANESWAR - Competence is not enough to ensure success in business, one has to be prepared to face all unknown challenges too, said IT whiz kid and author Subroto Bagchi here Friday.

“You can have loads of competence, but unless you take initiative, you’re not going anywhere,” Bagchi, co-founder of MindTree Ltd, a Bangalore-based global IT solutions company, said here.

He was speaking during an interaction with first year Business Management students at the campus of the city-based Xavier Institute of Management - one of India’s premier management institutes.

“When you take initiative, the job of the world is not to roll out the red carpet, but to throw stones at you. It is your job to convert these stones into your foundation,” he said, explaining to students about the hardships they would face as young entrepreneurs, and how to remain unfazed and use them to their advantage.

Bagchi also spoke at length about the dos and don’ts of entrepreneurship, taking risks in life, and going down the path not travelled before.

Taking a leaf out of his latest book ‘The Professional’, the man from Patnagarh in Orissa said India’s current phase of development was defined by Indian professionals - doctors, lawyers, teachers and the like - but there was still a wide gap between Indian professionals and those abroad.

“Only complete self-awareness of thoughts and actions and the capacity to work unsupervised would help bridge the awning,” he said.