good morning
if legacy only something that we leave
behind or can we live our legacy right
now every day do we need to wait to get
old or retire to build our legacy or can
we start creating it right away so this
was year 2006-2007 when I was branch
manager of HDFC Bank in Ahmedabad the
youngest branch manager in the country
at the age of twenty five twenty six my
customers wondered and often asked me as
to why I had chosen to take up so many
responsibilities when it was time for me
to have fun and enjoy life my reply to
them was always the same this was what I
enjoyed doing the very next year I got
married and like all married Indian
wives dutifully followed by husband to
Germany leaving my career behind from a
hectic active life of hundred phone
calls a day I moved into a passive
boring life of hardly one call a day but
in order to keep my spirits strong I
enthusiastically joined German language
school I enjoyed learning the new
language so much and so learnt it so
fast that I cleared the masters level in
just six months with 98.9% so what to do
next
again there was a vacuum so I started
learning salsa and belly dancing
we also traveled a lot
to every little nook and corner of
Europe what an amazing life one may say
no work no pressures no deadlines just
fun every single day the fact is just
fun is no fun I realized in that one
year that my self actualization need as
firm Atlas hierarchy of needs was not
getting fulfilled self-actualization is
the need or the desire to become the
most that one can be this need propelled
me to come back and pick up my career
again this time with Kotak Mahindra Bank
and from then on there was no looking
back I also at the same time initiated
my PhD studies in the field of Financial
Inclusion during my research I met a
number of urban poor and rural men and
women their unawareness and illiteracy
about money matters shocked me no wonder
they were so prone to exploitation by
money lenders and other selfish interest
groups especially the plight of women
was the worst their troubles drove me to
do something for their betterment and
upliftment thus triggering my financial
literacy drive for women children and
the needy the zeal for service was sown
in me very early on by my mother who is
a social activist with Lions Clubs
International I worked as president of
Leo club under her guidance during my
college days actively working for
community and
youth development activities that
experience came in handy now they say
the two greatest days of your life are
the day you were born and the day you
find out what your purpose is I found my
life purpose and with that I took the
first step towards creating my legacy
Winston Churchill once said you make a
living by what you get but you make a
life by what you give I started my
career in the 80s in Mumbai as a clock
in a custom house agency for all the
movie buffs here the bureaucrat that you
saw in the movies
the pompous me the arrogance the I can
do no wrong I am privileged it is your
job to keep me privileged is what I saw
one afternoon a very senior officer very
uncouth and somebody with a lot of
distaste for me said go and get me a cup
of coffee I didn’t know what was
happening but I knew one thing that I am
NOT going to get the coffee
shaking within me I went and I told him
I will not get you the coffee the look
on his face I still remember he signaled
me to sit down order two coffees
gestured to me to have my coffee and for
what seemed an eternity continued doing
his own work he put his pen down and he
looked at me with a lot of concern with
a lot of compassion with a lot of love
and a lot of respect and he said son you
refused me today please refuse all for
the rest of your life it’s not going to
be easy but you will have to
some qualities to be able to refuse and
the biggest quality that you can develop
would be a very good domain knowledge
and the ability to understand the why of
everything it is just because people
don’t understand the why that they have
to be so severe and to us it’s because
they don’t know the why I can afford to
be what I am it’s because they don’t
know the why they spoil me you learn the
wine understand it and go out and teach
those folks outside what the why is we
all must understand that because we
don’t know the why it leads to us
accepting a lot of nonsense
including insults and leads to a lot of
low esteem we all have a number of
interactions and every interaction is a
learning experience some teach us
something some of form our thoughts some
confuse us some tell us please go ahead
and do this some leave us with an
impression I will never do this but each
and each of it leaves us with something
the only certainty in life is death and
with death a lot of things come to an
abrupt end and it was this thought which
has always disturbed me right from the
time I was in school so much
intelligence so much knowledge so much
experience picked up by a person and in
a moment it is all gone
you can’t retrieve it you can’t ask you
can’t do anything very few of us are
blessed with the ability to write in an
interesting manner you will seek that
out and your whatever is left in you you
might be able to give it to them in a
reactive manner I started sharing
whatever I learnt with whoever listened
to me whether he was a senior he was a
junior he was a contemporary or
he was a competitor it became very
natural for me to tell a stranger look
you don’t do it like this try this out
it also made it easy for me to walk up
to a stranger and ask him can you tell
me what you exactly did can you tell me
what you thought about it and it was
this sharing this way of participating
in other people’s lives in trying to
make a difference to all of them is what
I also saw in Jasmine and that is how we
both decided to collaborate we decided
to work out and file give to you what is
it in common that the two of us did and
the first thing we shared with you is
what is your life purpose the five
fundamental steps that one needs to
remember is what is your life purpose
what is your expertise and interest what
are the benefits what are the challenges
and what are the scope and the changes
the qualities that are needed over here
are a conviction to follow your life
purpose a creativity in sharing your
interest and expertise compassion to
create a beneficial legacy current
calmness to overcome all the challenges
that are going to come and a confidence
and commitment to sustain the change so
while these steps are sequential
they are only indicative and not
exhaustive answering the five questions
associated with these steps can help you
start creating your legacy so once your
life purpose is clear the next step is
to determine your area of expertise or
interest and the reason why this is
important is because the long-term
sustainability of your legacy
depends on it start by identifying your
strengths the most obvious place to look
for is your courier talk to your
colleagues friends and family members
for their insight also consider what
topics or activities you are passionate
about and that you find interesting in
short your legacy should be a labor of
love and creativity not a chore when I
initiated my financial literacy Drive
I drew heavily on my knowledge and
experience of banking and finance and
corporate training for example we use
adult learning principles and
gamification techniques to teach
compound interest or digital banking
through use of puppet shoes marble games
folklore etc in our makeshift classrooms
I retained my interest in understanding
the why of the domain that I am doing I
did look at the what where how whom when
all of that but my interest remained in
the why and as I in developed my
interest in the Y I found that it was
the differentiating factor and then I
decided that this is what I need to
share Logistics is not just about
getting things from one place to another
it is much more there are so many
principles there are rules there are
regulations there are concepts there are
people there is a society over there and
just as it happens in logistics it
happens everywhere else that nobody
wants to concentrate on the Y of the
whole thing and this is where I felt was
my calling this is the place where I was
interested in and this is where I
developed my expertise so the second
question that you ask yourself always is
what is your area of expertise and
interest legacy is about making a
positive in
hence it is important to know how it
will influence life of others in his
famous book the 21 irrefutable laws of
leadership john maxwell believes in a
more lasting avenue of legacy that is
people too often leaders put their
energy into organizations building
systems or other lifeless objects say is
the leadership expert and best-selling
author but it is people who matter the
most everything else is temporary our
financial literacy activities benefit
the low income and under educated people
by making them knowledgeable about money
matters so that they can manage their
personal finances well save for the
rainy days avail man official loan
options and protect themselves from
exploitation the idea is to help them
live a respectable life driven by self
esteem rather than one of a continuous
drudgery I can very vividly remember how
one of our camp participants who used to
do odd jobs for last 5 years got the
courage to take a loan of 25 thousand
rupees from a microfinance unit to start
her own pickle making business today she
is running her business successfully
paying her loan installments in time and
has already employed three more needy
women into her business and there are
many such success stories I would like
to share with you two of my experiences
a few years back we were walking in a
mall in Pune and a very young kid of
about 5 or 6 comes to me and says uncle
wait
in a moment I see a young couple coming
running towards me and touching my feet
and the boy says sir you may not
remember me but you taught me nine years
back in and the birth I had attended a
session on logistics with you and while
everyone taught us the why and the what
and the who you concentrated on the why
you held on to the why I did that I
learnt it from you I picked it up and
today I am a branch manager in the
world’s largest multinational shipping
company right here in Pune and I’m
earning ten times of what I was were
earning nine years back I was vindicated
it happened 20 years after I started the
second experience which I’ve had is what
happened to me in Tuticorin
there was a gentleman older than me he
comes to me and he says sir thank you
sir I have been working as a custom
clock for the last twenty eight to
thirty years for those of you you don’t
know it means that the man is standing
on his feet for eight to nine hours
every day he is walking five to seven
kilometres in trying to finish his job
he says her I still do the same thing
but after listening to you and
understanding the value of the Y I have
changed in the way I am doing the work
which has changed the way people look at
me which has changed the way my family
looks at me which has changed the way at
which I look mice look at myself sir
thank you now that was gratitude you the
love the affection the gratitude needs
to be experienced when you are alive and
that pushes you ahead there are so many
such experiences that I can share with
you the most heartening is when a mother
or a father comes and talks to you
because then you realize that that young
boy or girl who is going to take forward
whatever you have shared with him he is
going to in
creates the area of the influence and
possibly it’s going to get into a chain
reaction
what do you share besides sharing your
domain besides sharing the principles of
the domain there are so many other
things you can share you can share all
your experiences you can talk about
mannerisms you can talk about clothing
you can talk about Society issues and
most importantly you can share your
mistakes the more you do it the more you
learn and the more you learn the more
you can share individual learnings are
limited but learnings from others
increases the average so this is how you
decide how will your life purpose and
expertise benefit others challenges are
a part of life as well as legacy when I
started sharing my idea within my circle
of bankers I got very mixed responses
one response was wow this is so
interesting I always wanted to do
something like this but never got the
right platform let’s get started another
response was are you crazy
I don’t have time right now let’s
discuss this after five years another
friend advised me look chessmen this is
the time to make money just focus on
that all this we can do when we retire
so while these were challenges at the
time of starting up there are many more
challenges on the way that I can foresee
with respect to funding or
sustainability the important thing is
not to lose focus and face these
challenges head-on patiently and
courageously challenge also is the need
to justify or prove you don’t need to
prove anything
you’re doing it because you want to do
it it is that conviction which will let
you go on and just as my colleague said
you are going to have to answer a lot of
questions you’re going to have to answer
questions from your family you’re going
to have to answer questions from your
friends from society from any and
everybody just like her are the
questions which really disturbed me well
why
are you training competitors why are you
creating competitors without
understanding that it is not competition
that I am creating it’s an industry for
which I am working I am working for the
general good I am using my intelligence
my learnings my experience for common
good which is what I believe in so it
was just my conviction which sustained
my challenges so the next question that
is question number four which you will
have to answer is are you ready to
living your legacy is a continuous
journey
hence change is inevitable
Socrates wrote the secret of change is
to focus all of your energy not on
fighting the old but on building the new
for example I may start writing a blog
for my members or published books and
distribute free of cost to the needy
next I may want to expand from financial
literacy to skill building for making
people job ready or business ready thus
contributing to their economic
development I should also be ready to
discontinue those activities which may
not be sustainable in the long run I’m
reminded of that story where a dog
barked his lungs out to save the family
from a fire in the house each of them
managed to save their lives but
dog perished and why did the dog perish
because he was bound because he was tied
because he was restricted this is
something which you are going to face
all the time you are going to become a
victim of your learnings you are going
to get restricted you are going to not
be in a position to challenge the change
that is coming in you have to ensure
that you do not become a victim of these
restrictions or you will perish as a dog
you have to be you have to recognize you
have to develop the ability to learn the
past to understand the present and to
visualize the future unless you can do
all the three your legacy is not going
to remain where it is
you cannot waver you may change you may
change what you are doing but you cannot
waver otherwise you are not going to
leave a good positive long-term legacy
you have to recognize that people with
whom you are sharing everything may
benefit much more from your teachings
then you are benefiting from your
learnings you have to be prepared to
lose you have to be prepared to
understand these dynamics you cannot
hold it on by saying that I have to
remain on the top because the purpose
was different than being on the top the
purpose was to create a legacy you have
to be very careful you have to be very
honest to yourself despite all the
changes that are going to come and I
have seen so many changes in three and a
half decades you cannot change your
whole character if you give up on your
core character you will have a fractured
reputation and somebody with a fractured
reputation cannot leave a long lasting
so to recap the five fundamental steps
to live your legacy are first find your
life purpose second determine your area
of expertise or interest third focus on
benefits to other people
fourth be ready to overcome challenges
on the way and fifth handle change as it
comes to conclude legacy is our gift to
irrespective of age education income
family background or domain you can
create your own legacy you need not
sacrifice your career or business or
family to live your legacy if your
actions create a legacy that inspires
others to dream more learn more do more
and become more than you are an
excellent leader thank you [Applause]
if legacy only something that we leave
behind or can we live our legacy right
now every day do we need to wait to get
old or retire to build our legacy or can
we start creating it right away so this
was year 2006-2007 when I was branch
manager of HDFC Bank in Ahmedabad the
youngest branch manager in the country
at the age of twenty five twenty six my
customers wondered and often asked me as
to why I had chosen to take up so many
responsibilities when it was time for me
to have fun and enjoy life my reply to
them was always the same this was what I
enjoyed doing the very next year I got
married and like all married Indian
wives dutifully followed by husband to
Germany leaving my career behind from a
hectic active life of hundred phone
calls a day I moved into a passive
boring life of hardly one call a day but
in order to keep my spirits strong I
enthusiastically joined German language
school I enjoyed learning the new
language so much and so learnt it so
fast that I cleared the masters level in
just six months with 98.9% so what to do
next
again there was a vacuum so I started
learning salsa and belly dancing
we also traveled a lot
to every little nook and corner of
Europe what an amazing life one may say
no work no pressures no deadlines just
fun every single day the fact is just
fun is no fun I realized in that one
year that my self actualization need as
firm Atlas hierarchy of needs was not
getting fulfilled self-actualization is
the need or the desire to become the
most that one can be this need propelled
me to come back and pick up my career
again this time with Kotak Mahindra Bank
and from then on there was no looking
back I also at the same time initiated
my PhD studies in the field of Financial
Inclusion during my research I met a
number of urban poor and rural men and
women their unawareness and illiteracy
about money matters shocked me no wonder
they were so prone to exploitation by
money lenders and other selfish interest
groups especially the plight of women
was the worst their troubles drove me to
do something for their betterment and
upliftment thus triggering my financial
literacy drive for women children and
the needy the zeal for service was sown
in me very early on by my mother who is
a social activist with Lions Clubs
International I worked as president of
Leo club under her guidance during my
college days actively working for
community and
youth development activities that
experience came in handy now they say
the two greatest days of your life are
the day you were born and the day you
find out what your purpose is I found my
life purpose and with that I took the
first step towards creating my legacy
Winston Churchill once said you make a
living by what you get but you make a
life by what you give I started my
career in the 80s in Mumbai as a clock
in a custom house agency for all the
movie buffs here the bureaucrat that you
saw in the movies
the pompous me the arrogance the I can
do no wrong I am privileged it is your
job to keep me privileged is what I saw
one afternoon a very senior officer very
uncouth and somebody with a lot of
distaste for me said go and get me a cup
of coffee I didn’t know what was
happening but I knew one thing that I am
NOT going to get the coffee
shaking within me I went and I told him
I will not get you the coffee the look
on his face I still remember he signaled
me to sit down order two coffees
gestured to me to have my coffee and for
what seemed an eternity continued doing
his own work he put his pen down and he
looked at me with a lot of concern with
a lot of compassion with a lot of love
and a lot of respect and he said son you
refused me today please refuse all for
the rest of your life it’s not going to
be easy but you will have to
some qualities to be able to refuse and
the biggest quality that you can develop
would be a very good domain knowledge
and the ability to understand the why of
everything it is just because people
don’t understand the why that they have
to be so severe and to us it’s because
they don’t know the why I can afford to
be what I am it’s because they don’t
know the why they spoil me you learn the
wine understand it and go out and teach
those folks outside what the why is we
all must understand that because we
don’t know the why it leads to us
accepting a lot of nonsense
including insults and leads to a lot of
low esteem we all have a number of
interactions and every interaction is a
learning experience some teach us
something some of form our thoughts some
confuse us some tell us please go ahead
and do this some leave us with an
impression I will never do this but each
and each of it leaves us with something
the only certainty in life is death and
with death a lot of things come to an
abrupt end and it was this thought which
has always disturbed me right from the
time I was in school so much
intelligence so much knowledge so much
experience picked up by a person and in
a moment it is all gone
you can’t retrieve it you can’t ask you
can’t do anything very few of us are
blessed with the ability to write in an
interesting manner you will seek that
out and your whatever is left in you you
might be able to give it to them in a
reactive manner I started sharing
whatever I learnt with whoever listened
to me whether he was a senior he was a
junior he was a contemporary or
he was a competitor it became very
natural for me to tell a stranger look
you don’t do it like this try this out
it also made it easy for me to walk up
to a stranger and ask him can you tell
me what you exactly did can you tell me
what you thought about it and it was
this sharing this way of participating
in other people’s lives in trying to
make a difference to all of them is what
I also saw in Jasmine and that is how we
both decided to collaborate we decided
to work out and file give to you what is
it in common that the two of us did and
the first thing we shared with you is
what is your life purpose the five
fundamental steps that one needs to
remember is what is your life purpose
what is your expertise and interest what
are the benefits what are the challenges
and what are the scope and the changes
the qualities that are needed over here
are a conviction to follow your life
purpose a creativity in sharing your
interest and expertise compassion to
create a beneficial legacy current
calmness to overcome all the challenges
that are going to come and a confidence
and commitment to sustain the change so
while these steps are sequential
they are only indicative and not
exhaustive answering the five questions
associated with these steps can help you
start creating your legacy so once your
life purpose is clear the next step is
to determine your area of expertise or
interest and the reason why this is
important is because the long-term
sustainability of your legacy
depends on it start by identifying your
strengths the most obvious place to look
for is your courier talk to your
colleagues friends and family members
for their insight also consider what
topics or activities you are passionate
about and that you find interesting in
short your legacy should be a labor of
love and creativity not a chore when I
initiated my financial literacy Drive
I drew heavily on my knowledge and
experience of banking and finance and
corporate training for example we use
adult learning principles and
gamification techniques to teach
compound interest or digital banking
through use of puppet shoes marble games
folklore etc in our makeshift classrooms
I retained my interest in understanding
the why of the domain that I am doing I
did look at the what where how whom when
all of that but my interest remained in
the why and as I in developed my
interest in the Y I found that it was
the differentiating factor and then I
decided that this is what I need to
share Logistics is not just about
getting things from one place to another
it is much more there are so many
principles there are rules there are
regulations there are concepts there are
people there is a society over there and
just as it happens in logistics it
happens everywhere else that nobody
wants to concentrate on the Y of the
whole thing and this is where I felt was
my calling this is the place where I was
interested in and this is where I
developed my expertise so the second
question that you ask yourself always is
what is your area of expertise and
interest legacy is about making a
positive in
hence it is important to know how it
will influence life of others in his
famous book the 21 irrefutable laws of
leadership john maxwell believes in a
more lasting avenue of legacy that is
people too often leaders put their
energy into organizations building
systems or other lifeless objects say is
the leadership expert and best-selling
author but it is people who matter the
most everything else is temporary our
financial literacy activities benefit
the low income and under educated people
by making them knowledgeable about money
matters so that they can manage their
personal finances well save for the
rainy days avail man official loan
options and protect themselves from
exploitation the idea is to help them
live a respectable life driven by self
esteem rather than one of a continuous
drudgery I can very vividly remember how
one of our camp participants who used to
do odd jobs for last 5 years got the
courage to take a loan of 25 thousand
rupees from a microfinance unit to start
her own pickle making business today she
is running her business successfully
paying her loan installments in time and
has already employed three more needy
women into her business and there are
many such success stories I would like
to share with you two of my experiences
a few years back we were walking in a
mall in Pune and a very young kid of
about 5 or 6 comes to me and says uncle
wait
in a moment I see a young couple coming
running towards me and touching my feet
and the boy says sir you may not
remember me but you taught me nine years
back in and the birth I had attended a
session on logistics with you and while
everyone taught us the why and the what
and the who you concentrated on the why
you held on to the why I did that I
learnt it from you I picked it up and
today I am a branch manager in the
world’s largest multinational shipping
company right here in Pune and I’m
earning ten times of what I was were
earning nine years back I was vindicated
it happened 20 years after I started the
second experience which I’ve had is what
happened to me in Tuticorin
there was a gentleman older than me he
comes to me and he says sir thank you
sir I have been working as a custom
clock for the last twenty eight to
thirty years for those of you you don’t
know it means that the man is standing
on his feet for eight to nine hours
every day he is walking five to seven
kilometres in trying to finish his job
he says her I still do the same thing
but after listening to you and
understanding the value of the Y I have
changed in the way I am doing the work
which has changed the way people look at
me which has changed the way my family
looks at me which has changed the way at
which I look mice look at myself sir
thank you now that was gratitude you the
love the affection the gratitude needs
to be experienced when you are alive and
that pushes you ahead there are so many
such experiences that I can share with
you the most heartening is when a mother
or a father comes and talks to you
because then you realize that that young
boy or girl who is going to take forward
whatever you have shared with him he is
going to in
creates the area of the influence and
possibly it’s going to get into a chain
reaction
what do you share besides sharing your
domain besides sharing the principles of
the domain there are so many other
things you can share you can share all
your experiences you can talk about
mannerisms you can talk about clothing
you can talk about Society issues and
most importantly you can share your
mistakes the more you do it the more you
learn and the more you learn the more
you can share individual learnings are
limited but learnings from others
increases the average so this is how you
decide how will your life purpose and
expertise benefit others challenges are
a part of life as well as legacy when I
started sharing my idea within my circle
of bankers I got very mixed responses
one response was wow this is so
interesting I always wanted to do
something like this but never got the
right platform let’s get started another
response was are you crazy
I don’t have time right now let’s
discuss this after five years another
friend advised me look chessmen this is
the time to make money just focus on
that all this we can do when we retire
so while these were challenges at the
time of starting up there are many more
challenges on the way that I can foresee
with respect to funding or
sustainability the important thing is
not to lose focus and face these
challenges head-on patiently and
courageously challenge also is the need
to justify or prove you don’t need to
prove anything
you’re doing it because you want to do
it it is that conviction which will let
you go on and just as my colleague said
you are going to have to answer a lot of
questions you’re going to have to answer
questions from your family you’re going
to have to answer questions from your
friends from society from any and
everybody just like her are the
questions which really disturbed me well
why
are you training competitors why are you
creating competitors without
understanding that it is not competition
that I am creating it’s an industry for
which I am working I am working for the
general good I am using my intelligence
my learnings my experience for common
good which is what I believe in so it
was just my conviction which sustained
my challenges so the next question that
is question number four which you will
have to answer is are you ready to
living your legacy is a continuous
journey
hence change is inevitable
Socrates wrote the secret of change is
to focus all of your energy not on
fighting the old but on building the new
for example I may start writing a blog
for my members or published books and
distribute free of cost to the needy
next I may want to expand from financial
literacy to skill building for making
people job ready or business ready thus
contributing to their economic
development I should also be ready to
discontinue those activities which may
not be sustainable in the long run I’m
reminded of that story where a dog
barked his lungs out to save the family
from a fire in the house each of them
managed to save their lives but
dog perished and why did the dog perish
because he was bound because he was tied
because he was restricted this is
something which you are going to face
all the time you are going to become a
victim of your learnings you are going
to get restricted you are going to not
be in a position to challenge the change
that is coming in you have to ensure
that you do not become a victim of these
restrictions or you will perish as a dog
you have to be you have to recognize you
have to develop the ability to learn the
past to understand the present and to
visualize the future unless you can do
all the three your legacy is not going
to remain where it is
you cannot waver you may change you may
change what you are doing but you cannot
waver otherwise you are not going to
leave a good positive long-term legacy
you have to recognize that people with
whom you are sharing everything may
benefit much more from your teachings
then you are benefiting from your
learnings you have to be prepared to
lose you have to be prepared to
understand these dynamics you cannot
hold it on by saying that I have to
remain on the top because the purpose
was different than being on the top the
purpose was to create a legacy you have
to be very careful you have to be very
honest to yourself despite all the
changes that are going to come and I
have seen so many changes in three and a
half decades you cannot change your
whole character if you give up on your
core character you will have a fractured
reputation and somebody with a fractured
reputation cannot leave a long lasting
so to recap the five fundamental steps
to live your legacy are first find your
life purpose second determine your area
of expertise or interest third focus on
benefits to other people
fourth be ready to overcome challenges
on the way and fifth handle change as it
comes to conclude legacy is our gift to
irrespective of age education income
family background or domain you can
create your own legacy you need not
sacrifice your career or business or
family to live your legacy if your
actions create a legacy that inspires
others to dream more learn more do more
and become more than you are an
excellent leader thank you [Applause]
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