Do Indian entrepreneurs think about a legacy? What is it that they are leaving behind for their investors, customers and heirs?
This is what Sergey Bin said when asked about legacy:
“In terms of being remembered, I think I want to make the world a better place. That’s a pretty generic answer, but I mean it in several ways. One is through Google, the company, in terms of giving people access to information. I’m sure I will do other endeavors in terms of technologies and businesses. The second is just through philanthropy. I don’t have a significant amount of wealth beyond that on paper right now, but I hope that I have the opportunity to direct resources to the right places. I think that is the most important thing to me. I don’t think my quality of life is really going to improve that much with more money.”
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| Anurag Batra |
What does an entrepreneur want? The answer to that question depends on the stage the entrepreneur is in his or her entrepreneurial journey—whether just starting out, or at a later stage in business. At first, one is only concerned about making the business work ; then one concerns oneself with the growth of the business to a sustainable level; finally, after the business reaches a certain stage of growth that one starts to think also start to include long-term ambitions, ‘self-esteem’ needs and, finally, a legacy.
What is an entrepreneur’s legacy? Is it a drive to be remembered once they is gone, or to create tangible wealth for dependants, or a zeal to give something back to the world ? In some ways, it is a combination of all of these things and then some. An entrepreneur is remembered by the success that he or she has garnered in the business world, but many would prefer to be remembered as good human beings rather than just good businesspeople. Certainly, the most successful businesspeople in the world have tried to create their legacies—Bill Gates has started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to give back something to the world, as have Paul Allen, Warren Buffet and many others. These doyens have reached the pinnacle of success and have been driven by their need to create a legacy—something of them that will live on after they are gone.
But can a legacy be created, or is it something that emerges on its own? Most entrepreneurs believe that they are the creators of their own destinies (at least to some extent) and by that logic, they believe that legacies can also be crafted depending on the way that they wish to be remembered, or want their families to be benefited by it. But serendipity, too, plays a big hand in creating a legacy. There have been people who started out to etch out a living, only to create something grand. Someone once said, “Don’t try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgment.” It is as good a credo as any while trying to create a legacy.
What constitutes a successful legacy? How do you judge a successful legacy? Does a Hollywood movie have to be made on the subject for it to be considered successful? It is an intriguing question, one for which there is no correct answer. However, I believe that if the enterprise creates cognizable positive difference in the lives of many people and continues to grow even when the entrepreneur who created it is not actively managing it, it should be considered a successful legacy. In some ways, every entrepreneur tries to create something of lasting value and those that actually manage to do so make successful legacies.
Anurag Batra is real life, first-generation entrepreneur who is Much Below Average (MBA) from the prestigious Management Development Institute, MDI. When he is not busy writing such columns, he can be reached at anuragbatrayo@gmail.com.
Anurag is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of exchange4media group which includes exchange4media.com.
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