DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

“A certain recluse, I know not who, once said that no bonds attached him to this life, and the only thing he would regret leaving was the sky”

Let me give you the Oxford dictionary meaning of a recluse — A person who avoids others and lives a solitary life.

Let

A recluse entrepreneur is, by definition, an oxymoronish phenomenon!

Anurag Batra

Contrast it to the Richard Branson, Vijay Mallya phenomenon.

I am everywhere and I am visible.

Being visible as an individual is part of the brand persona of the brand and the entrepreneur.

In fact being reclusive can be a carefully thought out business and personal strategy. Sometimes an individual’s personality is more suited to not being visible. The entrepreneur drives his persona from not being accessible, approachable and making sure he or she is not answerable, accountable and hence never under attack and accountable.

It also makes the entrepreneur’s occasional appearance powerful and creates a charisma around the business and the entrepreneur.

In India, especially in the media business, Samir Jain of Bennett, Coleman & Co can really be an example of a recluse entrepreneur. Questions that one must try answering while talking of reclusive entrepreneurs are:

1. When did he or she in his/her journey become recluse? (The assumption is that at the start, the entrepreneur wasn’t a recluse).

2. Does it apply to a second-generation entrepreneur because he or she can afford to be a recluse?

3. Is being recluse a good or a bad thing for an entrepreneur?

4. What about businesses where entrepreneurs need to be in the forefront doing deals, meeting decision makers and leveraging opportunities?

I guess the answers to all these vary from entrepreneur to entrepreneur and the reasons for being reclusive could be irrational, emotional and very personal.

Finding a recluse entrepreneur in today’s 24 by 7 news media cycle is a rare phenomenon and I mean it quite literally in every sense of it.

My explanation for an entrepreneur being a recluse is that he or she wants to avoid public scrutiny, sometimes an aggressive media is what one is avoiding, and last but not the least the entrepreneur wants his/her CEO to be accountable and engaged to and with the outside world.

As I said, it works for some and some do not believe in it.

I was recently in Kuala Lumpur and was told about the reclusive Malaysian entrepreneur who owns many multi-billion dollar businesses and his being recluse is what triggered the thought in me and I started asking why so?

At the end of this article it would be apt to say

“The writer is either a practicing recluse or a delinquent, guilt-ridden one; or both. Usually both.”

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.

Comments (2)

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Heart touching article
written by Arun Kumar, December 30, 2009

Anugar Batra, You have pen down all the things from heart. I really liked your article. I am myself a recluse entrepreneur, which is very opposite of my nature. And the reasons for that are (Let me be candid and honest here)

1. I have still not got success in my start-up
2. I am facing sever cash-burn
3. There is a drop in mylife style
4. Relatives & wife goes in constant comparison mode.
5. In ability to shoulder complete responsibility for family.

I know these are all reasons I have and also since I am at early phase of start-up I am bound to get these problems.

Inspite of all odds, I am a winner.
I would like to quote a line from song which like very much.
'I got knocked down, but I got up again and nobody can get me down'

I have got answer from your article - Is being recluse a good or a bad thing for an entrepreneur? BAD

I agree, with Manali Rohinesh, Not every one is an Entrepreneur.
Heart felt thanks to both Anurag and Manali, Bless you guys.

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Exclusivity as a strategy..
written by Manali Rohinesh, December 29, 2009

Exclusivity as a strategy might work out for some who have other people to do the work for them. In this article, Samir Jain was mentioned. He can afford this attitude...can't he? He's inherited a business and his brother is making enough noise for two anyway! I don't know why some people get mentioned as 'entrepreneurs' when they were just lucky to be born with a silver spoon in their mouth? Vikram Chatwal being a very good example of this kind of travesty of that word. His is a story of a rich NRI gone astray because of his drug abusive habits and every time even this personal seedy aspect crops up, the fact played up is that he's an entrepreneur worth Rs 2,100 cr. Really? How much of that money did he make himself and how much of it has he already snorted away? He seems to have only got out of bed to party, play bit parts in Hindi movies and get married (and now divorced) lavishly. Everyone who reads up a little about him will see that his parents are his bankers. With such financial support in place, it's easy to get a headstart in life. It's what you do with it matters. So Ratan Tata, Anand Mahindra, Adi Godrej, Kumarmangalam Birla are good examples of pedigreed entrepreneurs. Don't confuse the top notch with the mediocre and don't abuse the definition of the word 'entrepreneur' by putting anyone and everyone in that category. Not everyone makes the cut, either in spirit or by definition.

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