Management Lesson

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops – a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet eight,built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, ” Big John doesn’t pay!” and sat down at the back.

Did I mention that the driver was five feet three, thin, and basically meek? Well, he was. Naturally, he didn’t argue with Big John, but he wasn’t happy about it. The next day the same thing happened – Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John was taking advantage of him. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff.

By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what’s more, he felt really good about himself. So on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, ” Big John doesn’t pay!”

The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, “ And why not?”

With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, “ Big John has a bus pass.”

Management Lesson: “Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one.”

Young Indian- Mr. Suhas Gopinath

Mr.Suhas Gopinath
CEO & President, Globals Inc
23 August 2005: GRD College of Science: Coimbatore
Founder at 14! CEO at 17!! What next?

The following are excerpts from a speech given by Mr. Suhas at Young Indian Coimbatore meeting.

 Speaking on the occasion, Mr Suhas spoke on his experiences in starting a company at the tender age of 14 and how managed to take this company, which started with just 4 people in 2000 to a company with 400 people working full time today and grossing an annual income of $ 200 Million a year.
 
Mr Suhas said that, since the Indian Law did not allow him to become an entrepreneur at 14 years, [18 is the minimum, says the law], he had to move to the United States of America, where age factor was not considered to start a company, and started Globals Inc at Los Angeles at the age of 14. He started the company with 4 people on board. Mr Suhas also briefed on how he started an active interest in computers by accompanying his brother to the browsing centre to check his mails.
 
Being from a middle class family that could not afford to buy a computer, Mr Suhas got little support from his home, his parents asking him to concentrate on his studies. He said that, out of his personal interest, he opened an email account for himself and sent out mails to several companies across the world, with an offer to create a website and offer them software solutions. He added that out of many mails that he had sent, companies never responded or even if they did, it was in the negative as he was a ?kid?.
 
Mr Suhas said he was self determined to get going and he finally got a reply from one company asking him to offer his services, but when they came to know that they were interacting with a minor boy, they backed. He went on to say that he was hurt and send the company a mail saying that he could do the services free of cost and went on with his project. Mr Suhas gave his services to the company and completely impressed them by his work. Looking at the output, the company which never wanted to work with him, send him the payment, double than what was agreed for earlier.
 
Mr Suhas said that the company requested him to work for his company full time from India, offered him a cheque for $ 2000 a week, a flat and a chauffer driven car. But all this never impressed him and he was stern on starting his own company, which is a global brand today. Mr Suhas lamented that people were generally not receptive on young people in business and he was always the odd one out at any get togethers and meetings. He also shared his experiences on speaking with the CEO?s at the Indian institute of Science, when he was stopped at the gate as the guards did not believe he was the speaker.
 
He added that it was his self determination that took him forward and requested all the students to do well in academics and become entrepreneurs, rather than working for any other company, also lamenting that he missed the normal life of a teenager and the parties at the coffee shops!!!!!!! Globals Inc has offices at 16 countries across the world today, with the HQ at Los Angeles. He informed that since he is 19 today, efforts to shift the head quarters from Los Angeles to Bangalore were on. Mr Suhas ended the speech by saying that he was working towards getting his company listed on the NASDAQ by the end of the next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Mr Suhas was recently invited by the government of Pakistan to speak to the youth there on the importance of leadership and entrepreneurship. He also has the following achievements:
 

• Recognized as the ?World?s Youngest Professional Web developer? in the year 2000 at New York, USA.

• Was titled as the ?World?s Youngest Entrepreneur? by CNBC and e-Business in the year 2002.

• At the age of 17 in the year 2003, Suhas Gopinath was recognized as the ?World?s Youngest CEO? by the global media including BBC, Washington Times, Streats-Singapore, Silicon Times, Indian Express, Times of India, etc. 

• In the year 2005, Suhas Gopinath was awarded at the International Business Awards, New York, USA as one of the Best International Business Executives.
  

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This is my first shot at Blogging . My inspiration being my brother “Kishore” www.kishore.org