The sheer glory and glamour of the Olive Greens motivated me, a third-generation soldier, to join the Army. Thus I enlisted, brimming with enthusiasm, in 1984.

My journey in the Services took me across the length and breadth of our country and included a life-changing tour of duty in the Kashmir Valley, fighting militancy. But apart from teaching me survival skills, the Army also gave me invaluable leadership training that held me in good stead when I took voluntary retirement in 2006 at the age of 44.

When the time came for me to bid adieu to the Army, I left with a postgraduate diploma in business administration from the Management Development Institute in Gurgaon. I was preparing myself to step into the corporate world. The truth is, with a family of four to raise, I had to earn a living.

I landed a job with one of India’s biggest private banks in Mumbai, and was straightaway designated as head of operations of a key financial product. I performed well and passed through a variety of operations and risk-management departments. My superiors assigned me complex domains and I was surprised at the ease with which I could handle all my assignments. I am currently head of internal audit at one of the group companies of the same bank where I started my corporate journey.

The relationship between the business world and the military is long and rich. Ambitious executives have long studied Chinese general and military strategist Sun Tzu for tips on besting their competition. And plenty of former soldiers, such as Ross Perot and Fred Smith at FedEx, have had great success as entrepreneurs and CEOs. My successful journey, without a doubt, is attributable to the three basic maxims that have helped me make the transition from the business of war to the war in business.

‘The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war’ (former American general and war veteran Norman Schwarzkopf): As I landed senior positions, I started to spend extra hours every morning at the office, learning. I adopted each and every member of my team as my mentor and expert and sought to learn their job; in fact, I even partly executed it to know it intimately. I realised that when they became my mentors, not only did they feel elated, they also discovered their own skills as leaders.

‘Know your job, know your men’ (American businessman and author Lee Iacocca): Knowledge of my job revealed to me the hidden skills of my team. There have been men and women in my teams from different parts of the country, of varied competencies, skills and qualifications. I got to know each one closely, their strengths and weaknesses, and all of us worked together to highlight our strengths and make up for our weaknesses.

‘Morale is the biggest battle-winning factor’ (former American general and statesman George Catlett Marshall): My team and I found success because of the application of the first two maxims. The team’s morale got a tremendous boost and we performed better with each passing day.

As I complete 11 years in the organisation, I am sure that nothing but my grooming in the magnificent Army held me in good stead. The age-old, time-tested principles of war and peace, in management and operations, have been my cornerstones in my corporate journey. Not only have I achieved success and satisfaction, I also gain immense respect when people discover that I was a combat soldier. That is the charisma of our great Armed Forces.

Photo: Haresh Patel
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
September 2017