Beacons of Business - 26

June 6, 2005

Sairam Sisters and Brothers,

We continue to listen from Ananth Raman, Chairman & CEO, President, Graphtex,

Inc., New Jersey, US.

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"One time, there was a particular merger and acquisition proposal that I was

working on where we arranged for a bank loan. However, at the last minute it

fell through because the subordinate lender insisted on some conditions that

the seller was not comfortable with. Then I went to a second banker and raised

the money and again it fell through because of perceived environmental hazards

at the seller's business. This also happened a third time; it went on for about

18 months. It was as if it was absolutely futile to do anything to make this

successful. I even prayed earnestly about whether to try again to make this

happen.

By this time my spirit was completely broken and I didn't know whether to

continue with it or not. So then I decided to go back and see if there was

anything that I had done wrong. I saw that the first time I tried I had done

something wrong. While I had corrected that error the second time, still I did

something wrong. And then the third time I corrected that error but it still

didn't work.

At that point I felt that I had succeeded because I had corrected my errors and

had done everything correctly the third time. That is the only way that I see

to evaluate this properly. Now that I have gone through this process three

times and I understand the mistakes that I made, I know how to do it and the

next time I need to do it I will be able to do it perfectly. So to that extent

I have succeeded, even though I did not get the result.

>From experiences like this I have come to realise that once the effort is made,

the results are not in your hands. You are not the one to decide the result;

thus, there is really no such thing as your "success" or "failure". Ultimately,

I think the only thing you should measure is the quality of your effort: I have

consciously tried not to measure successes and failures at all. If I have given

my best effort and I have done everything properly, then I have succeeded. Other

than that, I should not bother about it.

My knowledge of the spiritual texts tells me that this is the best way to look

at success. Have I followed my inner conscience? Have I given my best effort?

Have I done what was right? Have I learned from my effort? Have I used all of

my senses and values that I am conscious and aware of? This is what is most

important."

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