Anna's victory: 11 MANTRAS for entrepreneurs!

The success of social activist Anna Hazare's movement signifies the dawn of a new consciousness, not just in the area of politics, but also for every other social dimension.

It is a warning signal for corporates to transform their ways of functioning. Very soon we might witness the demise of corporates giants who have chosen the ways of exploitation and manipulation.

Anna's movement is likely to be a game-changer and will shift the rules of the game in favour of value-creators.

The new wave of opportunity is going to arrive soon and value-based entrepreneurs must be ready to capitalise. . .

This article explores the inspirational, strategic and tactical keys of the success of Anna's movement and interprets the same in terms of business strategy and leadership imperatives.

At appropriate places, it also draws comparison from Baba Ramdev's movement to understand the distinction of what works and what does not.

It presents the lessons to be learnt for corporate houses so that they can avoid turning into dinosaurs, as well as for entrepreneurs to create powerful value-based enterprises.

So here are the key victory sutras from Anna's movement:

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1. Help consumers become free from corporate exploitation by providing them value-based alternates

Who could have believed even a year ago that such a powerful exploitative structure consisting of politicians and bureaucrats will have to kneel in front of a movement with far lesser resources at its disposal?

So what is the core reason for this? The answer is simple: Any structure based on exploitation and manipulation will crumble, however powerful it is.

Many corporate giants may appear infallible by virtue of their resourcefulness, connections, sheer size of operations and manipulative mechanisms.

However, it will not be surprising, if some of them begin to crumble, when value-based alternatives are presented to their consumers, even by the entrepreneurs of comparatively much smaller size and lesser significance.

Opportunity-hunting entrepreneurs should figure out the segments, where such corporate mechanisms have exploited the consumers and provide alternate value-based solutions.

The power sector in India is a glaring example of such exploitation which goes on because of the evil nexus between corporate tycoons, politicians and bureaucrats.

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If some entrepreneur believes that it is possible to defeat this hegemony by way of value-based offering, he is looking at the new horizon of vast opportunities. It is possible to offer cost-effective, decentralised power generation mechanism based on wind/solar/other renewable sources.

Education is another area where consumers are consistently deceived by way of psychological and other forms of manipulations

To avoid becoming dinosaurs, established educational institutions will do well to include the education in their curriculum which not just provides them the subject knowledge but also help them tap their inner potential and cultivate their true sense of intelligence.

Some of the education institutes are already keeping pace with the changing times. However, many institutes have sprung up that are largely playing on the fear psychosis of students, by promising them the moon, if they get a degree from them in lieu of huge fees and other expenses.

Students are made to believe that once they have a certain degree from a certain institution, they will be able to secure a life-long job. Vast sums of money are being exploited in the name of education from naive students.

These educational institutes are running on a false premise, as is evident by the failure of bookish education when corporate challenges are getting more and more turbulent.

This offers a huge landscape of opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop an alternate value-based education system, which works well for all the ecosystem participant, by way of helping students tap their inherent potential and helps them live an empowered life, help businesses by providing them with truly valuable human resources and hence provide a solid foundation for all round economic growth.

The scope for value-based offering is not limited to just these two above mentioned sectors, but there are many sectors where immense exploitation is going on by way of false and manipulative advertising and other dubious practices. These sectors present vast areas of fresh opportunities for value-based entrepreneurs.

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2. When value-creation reaches a critical mass, it keeps manifesting in most mysterious ways

The grand breakthrough of Anna's movement came in a highly mysterious way. Arrogance of power prompted the government to respond in a highly uncalled-for and egoistic manner.

On the day, Anna's fast was going to begin, he was arrested unlawfully from his residence and sent to Tihar Jail. However, since Team Anna had crossed the critical mass of value-creation potential, the government's intention to crush the movement turned out to be its own trap.

As spontaneous crowds began to gather outside Tihar Jail, the police was in a fix. The crowds had swelled to such numbers that aggressive action could have been dangerous.

The inmates of Tihar Jail also began the strike with Anna and this rendered any possible police action almost untenable. By the evening, the government had to kneel down and release Anna Hazare.

Pressure from inside and outside the Tihar Jail was so much on the government that it had to completely surrender to almost all of Anna's demand.

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Such a helpless state of the government made it apparent that Anna's victory was just a matter of time. It was something which happened in a totally unexpected manner and set in the motion the first defeat for the government.

This was such a confidence-booster for the people, as it became clear that this movement is going to be successful, whatever may be the obstacles. One may wonder why government did not house arrest Anna. Answer is clear: The government had stopped being sensible and it was just reacting recklessly.

They probably wanted to psychologically dent the spirit of the movement by housing Anna along with the other scamsters at Tihar.

This episode can be immensely valuable to understand the truth that they need to have an intense focus on value-creation and authentically express their value-creation potential.

In the face of this stark truth, even the egoistic actions from manipulators will pave the way for your victories. You just need to keep cool when corporate dinosaurs take nerve-wracking action.

Your value-creation and authentic behaviour will constantly come to not just rescue you but also take you to newer heights.

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3. Humble and authentic entrepreneurs have the potential to emerge victorious over resourceful but egoistic business tycoons

Why did Anna emerge victorious over powerful politicians (like Rahul Gandhi, Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Pranab Mukherjee, Sharad Pawar) who are charismatic, eloquent, highly educated, intellectual and confident?

What did this simple man have and these politicians lacked, in spite of owning grand personalities? Answer: Integrity.

Businesses are experiencing turbulent times and they have to shift their strategies at hurricane speed. In such an environment, integrity has become the key for sustainability.

If your consumers know that yours is an organisation of high integrity, they will trust and support you, even through chaos, and that is the key to shift gears as required during the crisis times.

On the other hand, if your integrity is lacking, you will be deserted during most crucial times.

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Anna has again proved the value of humility. He depicted that intelligence is a function of egoless-ness and experiences, and not a function of education, intellect and logic.

Entrepreneurs can serve their own purpose by becoming aware of their ego and attitudes, which can become the block for true intelligence.

They need to go on the journey of understanding of their own identities and psychological conditioning and become free from these, and that will propel them to tap the reservoir of true intelligence.

Another point to note is, whenever Anna's team got even little support from the politicians, they appreciated it and it further enhanced their credibility.

Hallmark of true leader is that they give away all the credit to those who deserve it and they are admired and adored even more. Business leaders must constantly find opportunities to genuinely appreciate others.

However, this will be possible only when entrepreneur has gotten over their own hunger for appreciation. Here is a litmus test if you are a leader or a follower. A leader enjoys appreciating others, while a follower tries to grab more and more appreciation.

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4. Develop organic leadership to sail through chaotic times

Pace of change is accelerating and fixed hierarchical structures are not able to meet this challenge.

In such a scenario, organic and flexible leadership is going to work far better than the power-oriented organised structure.

Anna's movement reflect the power of organic leadership. Anna's decision-making team including a core committee of 21 dynamic leaders, with varied expertise.

They always selected their task force based on who was capable of handling a specific situation. For example, they did not have Kiran Bedi in the joint drafting committee even though she was one of the key members.

They formed different teams specific to the task ahead. Even though Kiran Bedi, Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan were part of negotiating team, they induced Medha Patkar, when it came to getting the parliamentary resolution. This was done since she has the experience of leading other movements and is aware of what goes on in the final stages of negotiations. They also had Sri Sri Ravishankar, who had the credibility, authority and image, fit for the job.

On the other hand, from the side of the government, four powerful ministers were handling it (and not those who were fit for the job).

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The government could have handled this situation much better, if they could form task forces, which were fit for the job and not decided in accordance with who had how much power.

On the other hand, Baba Ramdev's movement lacked such organic leadership, which was the prime cause of its failure. His team lacked experts from different domains.

Baba Ramdev was the sole recognisable face of the movement. His team of advisers did not play any major role in making crucial choices and hence at best offered a detached advice. Hence when the crunch situation arrived, movement could not sustain the turbulence.

It is essential for value-based entrepreneurs to build diverse and organic leadership, which can change shape based on the challenges.

Very often, entrepreneurs may hesitate to include those who may appear more charismatic and capable than themselves. But they must know that if they don't have the guts to invite people who are more capable than themselves in the team, then they are not going to succeed.

Once they have created such a team, they should let the leadership shift, based on the challenges. To create such a team, it is essential that all the team members are totally aware of each other's strengths and weaknesses and they should be totally authentic about it.

Expertise alone is not enough to form such a team, authenticity and commitment to the cause become at least equally, if not more important.

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5. Outside idea pool can provide breakthroughs when momentum comes to a halt

Anna's movement not only had a core committee providing leadership at crucial junctures, it also developed an idea pool, which provided them with breakthrough ideas, when momentum came to a halt.

After the Jantar Mantar fast, the government minister said that there were only 5,000 people supporting the movement. It was incredible that Anna team did not refute this as they rather organised a referendum in various cities, including in the constituency of Kapil Sibal. It is rumoured that psephologist Yogendra Yadav gave Team Anna valuable advice on the referendum.

When a few days passed after the movement started and the government still did not take any steps to negotiate, the momentum was again lost. Then what gave them the breakthrough was an idea supposedly from actor Aamir Khan.

It was Aamir's suggestion to get individual MPs to take a stand by way of picketing their residences. Public loved it and politicians hated it. It provided the desired breakthrough and government had to come forward for negotiations.

The other idea that proved to be a big hit was Anna's CD that relayed his message hours after he courted arrest on August 16. The CD spoke about the second freedom struggle and was the brainwave of Mayank Gandhi, an IAC aide based in Mumbai.

They also had Prasoon Joshi, the famous lyrics writer and Kailash Kher, the popular Sufi singer, as their committed well wishers, who served a great purpose by way of developing mass appeal.

Team Anna had made immense efforts to develop such an idea pool by way of writing letters to many celebrities and eminent people, asking for their stand and inviting them to be the part of their movement.

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On the other hand, Baba Ramdev did not have access to such a pool. His movement was more frequented by controversial speakers and political leaders, with whom the masses could not relate.

Entrepreneurs have an important lesson to learn here. Pace of change has become so intense that many of your preconceived plans will tend to get stuck very often, as they face the test of reality.

All the great drawing room strategies and planning will be of no help in these circumstances and then you would require a breakthrough idea to rescue the situation.

The chances are that this idea will come from someone who is not involved in the day-to-day affairs of the business and hence can think out of the box.

Entrepreneurs will do well to connect with brilliant people from other fields and build an authentic relationship with them by way of value-oriented sharing.

This fact has to be understood that we are in the age of ideas and no amount of resources can turn your business successful, unless it is propelled by way of brilliant ideas.

Such an idea pool can be developed by way of networking with entrepreneurs from diverse fields, involving brilliant thinkers by way of one to one communication and discovering mentors who can guide you out of troubled waters.

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6. Resources are in abundance, if your vision is harmonised with reality

Normally NGOs face resources crunch, including that of money, manpower and expertise. However, Anna's movement always had abundant resources because they were working on an idea whose time had come.

As the movement kept getting bigger, more and more people joined the movement providing it with the crucial resources. The credibility of the core team also helped to gain access to key resources.

As a result of that, the movement never faced shortfall of money. Also, it consistently attracted experts from diverse fields -- such as media, technology, law, police, advertising, arts, films -- who came forward to take responsibility just at the right time.

True abundance of resources was experienced during weekends when the crowds swollen at Ramlila Maidan and even the lunch and dinner offered, made possible by the generous donations of food, grocery items, fruits and other edibles.

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Entrepreneurs must learn the secret: Harmony with current reality is the source for abundance of resources.

If an entrepreneur is facing resource crunch in the form of money, people or expertise, the message is loud and clear, that your vision is out of tune with current times.

If you are not able to market your product effortlessly, it simply means that you must go out and learn more about your consumers.

Many entrepreneurs react to the lack of sales by devoting more resources to marketing, which turns out to be not only wasteful but just delaying the inevitable.

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7. Authentic communication is far more potent than decorated intellectual jargon

Simplicity of communication is the hallmark of Anna's movement. Even though his speeches were simple, they touched everyone, including metro intellectuals.

On the other hand, politicians talked in intellectual language, sometimes decorated with meaningless phrases and other times hiding behind legalities.

Every time the politicians spoke, they only furthered the cause of Anna by adding fuel to the fire.

People had true concern, but politicians kept using Constitution and laws when the situation demanded that they handle the concerns of th epeople. Finally they had to pay the price.

Integrity is the source of effective communication. Team Anna kept everything transparent. They even shared the developments happening behind the scenes with the whole nation. People loved this.

This feature turned them victorious at crucial junctures. Everyone would remember the afternoon, when Team Anna came out with the allegation that government have refused them the parliamentary resolution because BJP had threatened to vote against it.

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The government was forced to rush into a damage-control exercise. The reason for such panic was that everyone believed that Team Anna was stating the facts, as they had the credibility which could rescue them at such crucial juncture.

If they lacked integrity, politicians would have gotten opportunity to weave another conspiracy.

Entrepreneurs must state the facts and build their credibility over a period of time by way of authentic communication. Masses are aware that advertisements are not stating the truth and they are designed to hide rather than reveal.

Many times, technological terms are purposely explained in complex manners just to score points. At other times, service contract becomes a document to hide behind when the customer points out to poor quality. Only corporate dinosaurs can afford to apply such tactics extensively.

For value-based entrepreneurs, addressing the issues should be the core concern and the legal agreements should be used as protection only when entirely necessary.

It is essential to build an integrity-based relationship with your consumers and your communication should express this authentically.

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8. 'Being in the moment' is the source of courageous responses that can turn crises into opportunities

Turning victorious involves going through inflection points which make or break a movement or a business. Such a moment for Anna's movement arrived, when armed with the tactical understanding with the Opposition, the government decided to make on last effort to crush the movement.

Team Anna was rebuffed by ministers, declaring that the government will do nothing and breaking Anna's fast was their own responsibility. Looking at the police/RAF deployment at the site of the movement, Team Anna got the sense that Anna would be taken away to hospital and the whole movement will be dealt in the Baba Ramdev way.

It was something totally unexpected, as until this time the government had been giving positive signals. This, however, did not deter Team Anna and they made a sharp change in their strategy and directed their followers not to resist police action but organise pickets outside Parliament itself.

This made the government panic, resulting in the prime minister and the whole Parliament appealing to Anna to end his fast the very next day.

On the other hand, the Baba Ramdev movement could not sustain the inflection point, which arrived when the police action infamously forced his followers out of the site after midnight.

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It appeared that Baba Ramdev had never anticipated this and was not at all ready for anything unexpected like this. This example shows the difference in approach of two different organisations towards a similar crisis.

It is very appropriate for entrepreneurs to understand why they responded/reacted in vastly different manner. Anna's team prepared for the best and yet at the same time they were ready for the worst. They knew that anything may happen at any point of time and hence they could live that moment and could make a decision which was appropriate.

On the other hand, Baba Ramdev got sucked in by the moment as he had presumed how the movement was going to unfold.

Team Anna knew the art of living in the moment and faced situations as they emerged, without getting nervous. Hence they could display the courage in crucial moments and it became a turning point towards their victory.

Entrepreneurs must learn a lot from this turn of events. It is wonderful to have a long-term plan, but they should also be ready to adopt a totally different route when a crunch situation arises.

Life throws up big surprises just when you believe that everything is going as per plan. At such times preset formulae do not work and the only way to resolve the crisis is to tap into the unknown by being totally sensitive for that particular moment. 

It is about your courage to go through such intense surprise moments, which will make or break your project. This event also proved, if authentic leaders face such moments with courage and integrity, manipulators will get trapped in their own game again and again.

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9. Intense focus on the current project is bound to evolve towards mega opportunities

This movement is the beginning of the peak phase of Anna's life. Would he have succeeded if this was his first movement? Would he enjoy such a mass following if he did not have the experience and credibility from his past movements?

This movement grew quickly because Anna had led many smaller movements successfully. He also has the credentials of turning his village, Ralegan Siddhi, into a model village by planting trees, rainwater harvesting, profitable farming, running a school and ensuring prosperity for his villagers.

His mission of transforming his village made him aware of the people's mindset and obstacles. As a result of this, his whole village stood behind him solidly and this gave a sturdy impression to people and they understood that he is not delivering empty sermons, but he means everything he says.

The government kept searching for some loopholes from his life, did not find any that could stick. The government's credibility hit a new low with Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari's accusations of Anna being 'corrupt from head to toe'.

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People's faith in his movement kept growing after each controversy and helped him score tactical victories over his opponents.

Lessons for entrepreneurs are clear. You cannot conceive a big project and hope to succeed just based on impeccable planning. Your educational qualification and resourcefulness are not enough to turn it into a success.

You need to understand the fundamentals of seeding and nurturing an appropriate ecosystem, get involved fully for hands-on learning, and establish credibility to make a project successful.

Hence the key is to start small and turn it into a success. And you would be surprised that the next project would take birth from this experience itself. And one day you would realise that you have grown big and that too with leaps and bounds.

You don't have to think very much in future, if you can live the present with totality. Understanding your customers requires being part of their lives. Hence you must make all efforts to know them well and it may require eating and dancing with them as well as sharing their sorrow.

Corporate dinosaurs are likely to rely on consumer surveys and closed door expert planning. On the other hand though, the value-based entrepreneur takes help from reports and surveys, but makes choices only based on real life insights and experiences.

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10. Show total commitment to your operative practices, even in the face of acute crisis

Non-violence was the key operative practice of Anna's movement and they went all the way to manifest their commitment. This operative practice ensured the involvement of masses with the movement.

They not only understood and promoted the emotional appeal of non-violence in the country of Mahatma Gandhi, but they also provided the logical reasoning for those who doubted its success. They explained that the government want this movement to turn violent so that it can be crushed with force and their communication was so consistent that even participants received it fully and followed it religiously.

They instilled such kind of checks within the crowd, which became a barrier for any ill-intentioned elements to enter the crowd and create nuisance. They even decided to keep a distance from Baba Ramdev as his declaration of forming a protection army had turned his commitment to non-violence dubious.

It was because of Team Anna and their followers' commitment to non-violence that police too behaved well with the participants.

There were even reports mentioning that some policemen had refused to be harsh while dealing with this movement. Such a commitment to non-violence turned the hallmark of the movement.

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This imparts a valuable lesson to entrepreneur about the extent to which they should go to adhere to their declared operative practices. Such a commitment often turns out to be the foundation for the culture of organisation.

How many times have we seen businesses declare 'excellence in service' as their operative practice at the time of signing in of the customers? But many a time this is just a matter of convenience. Often businesses become nervous during crises and are ready to sacrifice their commitment to their operative practices, which turns out to be detrimental to their cultural strength in long term.

If some contracts start to demand out-of-the-way service requirement, they may not hesitate in taking a U-turn by giving excuses and hiding behind contracts. This is definitely not helpful in building long-term brand value.

The lesson from Anna is thus clear Whatever you declare as your operative practice, live it by all your means, it is not worth sacrificing even in the face of an acute crisis.

Whatever may be your operative practices -- be it value-creation, excellence, harmony, justice, service or anything else, make sure it is reflected in your inherent culture.

It is essential for all leaders to not pay lip service to it, but live it each and every moment.

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11. Value-based symbolism can help you to expand your eco system

Anna's movement was interestingly sprinkled with value-based symbolism, which consistently created new areas of influences and deepen the connection with the existing ones.

One prime example was organising of Iftar party when politicians unleashed divide and rule strategy with the intention of exploiting the minority's insecurity.

When everyone watched Muslims offering Namaz at the ground, it got clear that even Muslims were integral part of this movement.

When Anna broke fast taking some juice from two little girls -- one Dalit and another Muslim -- too was a masterstroke as it gave befitting reply to those who wanted to play vote-bank politics to weaken the movement.

They even used symbolism to frighten politicians if they do not listen to the justified demands. One Anna supporter, Manjit Singh, shouted slogans and tried to enter Parliament. He was captured and thrown out of compound. He was then invited on the stage by Team Anna to explain his heroics, signalling to the politicians that they will not hesitate to picket the Parliament. No wonder politicians had to give in to the demands of the movement very next day.

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Symbolism can be very valuable for any business. However, if it is designed to manipulate and exploit, the truth will be exposed soon. Symbolism should be authentic in order to make real impression.

It should be the manifestation of the vision, culture and operative practices of the organisation. Any falsehood or manipulations are certain to backfire over a period of time.

Symbolism can begin with naming of your organisation to depict its core values, area of activity or intended community. Many entrepreneurs lose out on this opportunity by naming their organisations after their caste, their own name or names of the children.

You will also do well to include a well-known person of integrity on your board of directors or as chairman, as it would signal sincerity to your ecosystem. Your ad campaign, website and logo can all play a major role in establishing your niche, if your values are clear in your own head.