Seeking Inspiration
Where does Vighnesh Shahane get inspiration and energy to counter the illeffects of the pandemic and human suffering?
Not from management gurus, spiritual gurus or just reading - it is from his 2500 employees. “Yes, they are the biggest source of inspiration for me,” he avers.
Shahane is also a voracious reader and one genre of books he likes is autobiographies. It could be that of a musician, or a politician, anyone, especially sports persons. He elaborates: “An autobiography depicts the challenges that the author faces and the manner in which he manages to overcome these challenges. For me, it’s not about the person earning so much money or glamour, but rather the hard work and adversity that went into his success. The reason that he is successful and is where he is the result of his having overcome the challenges. Take Sachin Tendulkar. Outwardly, he achieved great success and, on that account, he can be said to be having a great life. But I have had long conversations with him, right from our cricketing days until now, as he is the brand ambassador of our organization. People don’t know about his injuries, him being out of form, pressures of public expectations, pressures of the country’s expectations, etc. Some of his injuries were very scary. He could actually not let down a billion people down. I only have to worry about not letting down 2500 people.”
Shahane is also captivated by cricketer Nasser Hussain’s autobiography titled ‘Playing with Fire’. Nasser speaks about his adversities in his cricketing journey, his being an Indian and with this background how he could become the captain of the England team.
Jack Welch, Chairman of GE, too has inspired Shahane as the leader at General Electric through 2 decades of extraordinary corporate prosperity and who rose to be the most influential business manager of his generation.
“I read 2 books a week, and at any point of time, I am usually reading 2-3 books simultaneously. I can’t read one novel start to finish. I will read 50 pages of one and 70 pages of another,” Shahane reveals his uncommon reading strategy.