Locked Potential

Harishchandra was a name which was not contemporary. The man who carried this name was. While he appeared simple, his ideas were contemporary, perhaps ahead of their time.

Harry, as he was known in the business circles of Mumbai, was a millionaire at 25 and a billionaire at 28. He was living a fairy tale. Not many knew of the hard work and business acumen that took Harry to where he was, at 28.

A day before his 30^th birthday, Harry was arrested. He spent his birthday in Jail. It was corporate fraud as per the lawmakers. He lost everything he made. He was barred from the country’s capital markets for 5 years. He spent 5 years behind bars. The people who knew him were sure of his integrity and honesty. They were sure Harry was innocent. Their cumulative assurance weighed less than the “law of the land”.

Today is his 45^th birthday. He is present among distinguished luminaries of the business world and will receive the “business man of the year” award. As the emcee announced his name, he stood up. He put the buttons of his perfect coat and walked towards the stage.

The award was given to him by one of India’s leading bankers and a stalwart from the Indian IT industry. Harry, humble as always, bowed to them and the audience and accepted the trophy. As is a custom in India among Hindus, he bowed down to touch the feet of the veterans who presented the award and sought their blessings.

He was asked to speak a few words and the dais was handed over to him. ‘I will speak many sentences today. Not about me but about us and what we need to change’, said Harry as he began to speak. He addressed the honorable prime minister, the distinguished guests and all his colleagues who had done well in their respective businesses.

Harry was adept at picking things from around him and weaving it into his speech. He had the uncanny knack of having the audience mesmerized and in rapt attention. Today was no different.

I am the “Roller-Coaster Businessman of the year”; Roller-Coaster was the company which has sponsored this category. ‘Life has been a roller-coaster for me’, he said.

‘I will speak about my life from the time when I was 21 to this date when I am 45. I will speak for 20 minutes. You all might be wondering what about the years before I turned 21. I am sure no one wishes to know about a childhood spent with a drunkard, who I also used to call father, and a bed –ridden mother.’ he paused taking a breath in the pretext.

‘I did not have the money to enroll for graduation. More importantly, I did not have the interest. My interest was in wealth creation. I wanted to be the richest man in India and then the world. Most of you may be aware that I was on track as well. I was 30 when the train derailed and with it, I lost wealth and most importantly, my reputation.’ he paused again, wanting to gauge the pulse of the audience.

He was convinced that everyone including the prime minister was latching on to every word he was saying. He continued.

‘I was convicted of corporate fraud at 30, actually a bit before that. I had built my business on ethics, values, honesty and integrity. You will never know of a person who has received a bribe from me. I was still accountable for what had happened. In a business, you have to trust and delegate. It may go wrong sometimes. There are times when it can go horribly wrong. I trusted the wrong person with the finances of the organization and the treasury. My blind faith literally burned my plans to achieve my vision.’

‘I was behind bars. Everyone knows that. Was I unhappy, was there resentment? I have been asked these questions many times from thereon, but I have chosen not to answer. Today I will. I was numb. I was sure I had not done anything wrong. My conscience was clear. I believe in karma and I knew that it has got something to do with the sins of my past birth. I thought that everyone in Jail was a criminal unlike me and everyone had committed a sin in this birth. How wrong was I!’ he paused after the exclamatory remark and drank some water placed in a transparent glass adjacent to the podium.

He took a deep breath. It was audibly amplified due to the combined effect of the microphone and the speakers.

He continued, ‘I was astonished to meet a fellow convict who was an engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology. He was behind bars because he had the courage to kill a social nuisance who was making life difficult for his sister. In due course, we became a gang of five. Let’s call them A, B, C, D, and E for the time-being. “A” is the engineer I just spoke about. I am “E”. “B” is a god-fearing guy and extremely intelligent. His only crime was that he gave his car to a friend who was not just his friend but also a terrorist. “B” was a wizard at Finance. I had never seen a person who became a Chartered Accountant at 21. “C” was the happiest and liveliest person I had seen. He was in for a crime he hadn’t committed but he had no regrets. He met everyone with élan and almost everyone opened up to him. “D” was exactly opposite to “C”; the only similarity being that he also had not committed the crime he was convicted for. He lived in a world of his own, talked very less if at all and was always reading, thinking, penning his thoughts. We complemented each other and shared each other’s plight as none of us thought we should be behind bars for what we had done. Everyday, we talked about current affairs, latest innovations, sports, ideas and so on. The five years spent behind bars was probably the best education I had, and that too free of cost.’ he said and the crowd laughed.

He paused, smiled back at the audience. He knew how to keep the connect going. He continued.

‘When I came out, I was 35. I wouldn’t get work because of the past. The more important thing was I wanted to create something, be a master of my destiny. I was willing to give another shot at entrepreneurship. However, there is no entrepreneur who can work without his key strength – his team and his employees. And that is where the threat lay. No one wanted to work with me. I was a convict. I couldn’t be trusted. I was a gamble no one wanted to risk.’

‘My only option was to get in touch with “A, B, C, and D”. They were going through the same plight. No one wanted to give them a job. There families had also asked them to distance themselves – a verdict similar to what the law would dish out to a stalker who stalked celebrities.’

‘We got together and that is how “Locked Potential” was born. The name is self-explanatory.’, the audience laughed again. The Prime Minister also applauded and smiled, for once, letting go of his serious demeanor.

Harry acknowledged and continued, ‘While you all are aware of what “Locked Potential” does and how we make our bucks, I would like to highlight a very important decision that we (A, B, C, D and myself) have taken together as we grow this company.’

‘Most companies would pride themselves in being the ‘first company to do this’, ‘only company to do that’ etc. At “Locked Potential”, we take pride in being the only company to have a recruitment drive in Jail every year. We are the only company in India to offer jobs to ex-offenders and convicts. By doing so, we are probably, and in our own small way, ensuring that people don’t go back to the ugly bylanes of crime and lead a more fruitful life with us.’

He paused again. He adjusted his spectacles. He looked at the Prime Minister and said, ‘Honourable Prime Minister Sir, I have great regard for your progressive thoughts and ideas. I am sure you are a person who welcomes revolutionary ideas and you are also known for immaculate execution of such ideas. At 28, my yardstick of measuring success in business was the amount of wealth created. A bit later in life, I had a happy realization that your wealth can vanish in no time but a revolutionary idea finds its deserving place in the annals of history.’

‘I have great regard and respect for the law of our land and I understand that there may be cases where the innocent will be found guilty and convicted.’ He took a deep breath (probably trying hard to not let emotions take over) looked at the Prime Minister and said, ‘Sir, I urge you and all my distinguished colleagues to do their bit to pick all the “A,B,C,D and E’s” like me from prison and have them contribute in the business world. We cannot even fathom the heights we can achieve if we open up to this idea. The success of “Locked potential” is when it loses the monopoly (and it’s quite ironic in a business sense) in terms of recruiting from prisons. Every corporate should do it. I take this opportunity to request you all to think in this direction.’

Thunderous applause followed. The Prime Minister and many business leaders gave a standing ovation. Harry did not move.

In his customary flamboyance (atleast on stage he had it), he said, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you but I haven’t finished. This award is only 20% mine. I invite “A,B,C, and D” on stage to share this glory with me’. The momentary interruption in applause ended as it made a comeback with renewed fervor and accompanied the “Locked Potential” team as they climbed down the stage and took their seats among the audience.

Note: This thought which forms the crux of the story isn’t mine. I have read an article about an entrepreneur I genuinely admire - “Sir Richard Branson” - championing the cause of employment for ex-offenders. The said article and the thought therein led to the genesis of this story.