This Friendship Day I was talking to a very close friend of mine who used to a senior executive in a Japanese MNC in India. He has quit his job to pursue his passion in sports and had started working for a friend’s sporting enterprise. He said that working with close friends is a different and experience altogether. Another friend who was listening to the conversation gave an example of an achiever and entrepreneur who had made life and businesses by working with friends. That’s when I started thinking about the friends who work together, achieve together and are basically ideal foils for each other.
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| Anurag Batra |
To create an enterprise one needs a vision and a team to convert the dream into reality. The entrepreneur needs a team to make things happen.
Every entrepreneur has his set of trusted advisors, lieutenants, specialists, friends’ core team who he/she trusts and entrusts with important initiatives. Some term it as the coterie of the entrepreneur. This is the inner circle, the trusted aide who influence the implementer and sometimes act as the link to the outside world. He/she could be a school or college mate or a distant relative but most of the time it is a friend who has turned a colleague. To share the dictionary meaning of coterie “A set or circle of persons who meet familiarly, as for social, literary, or other purposes; a clique”.
The relationship between the entrepreneur and this trusted colleague/friend is special and sometimes unusual.
Sometimes this friend is the troubleshooter, a man for all seasons, it is somebody who understands the objectives he has in mind and the temperament of his boss and friend.
He or she acts as the trusted advisor putting his boss/friends' interests ahead of every other stated or unstated objective.
This trusted aid could heir the title of a CEO and might be on the board of the company. Sometimes this friend/advisor might not even have a title or designation but has tremendous influence. People who do not understand the value this individual brings to the table might call it as extra constitutional authority.
Even Hindu mythology had Gods and kings had trusted friends as advisors. Anil Ambani has Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Mukesh Ambani has Manoj Modi. Almost every Indian entrepreneur has someone who fits this stereotype and description.
Is this a healthy friendship? Is this relationship good for the friend/advisor?
Let me say with confidence that this relationship certainly works for the entrepreneur company and the trusted advisor.
This trusted friend is like Arjun’s (entrepreneur’s) Krishna (friend). He is his saarthi, his guide, his shield,his tool depending on the situation.
The entrepreneur is successful as he or she can extract value from everyone and create a win-win situation for all involved. In the case of a friend also, the entrepreneur might start the relationship because they have been college buddies and have trust but eventually the friend delivers great value in ideas and execution and that’s why enjoys the unique status he or she has.
Having showcased the positives of this relationship, that there are several of those who continue to disagree with me about friends working together. My article brings out most of the positives of this relationship. But what happens when:
- The relationship with the friend does not work out? Can the entrepreneur/boss/friend sideline or fire his friend?
- The friend becomes overly protective and possessive of his entrepreneur friend’s assets, upsets the rest of the system and because of this pulls back the risk appetite of the business?
“Large legislative bodies resolve themselves into coteries, and coteries into jealousies” says Napolean Bonaparte
Lord Byron commented “The would-be wits and can’t-be gentlemen, I leave them to their daily “tea is ready,” smug coterie and literary lady”.
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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 founder and editor-in-chief of exchange4media group which includes exchange4media.com.
To write to the author, please send an email to dare@cybermedia.co.in with the subject line 'Anurag Batra'.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are that of the author and do not represent the magazine's.
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written by DKNY scarves, March 15, 2011
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