Renins sâgâ

Best Management Lesson Learnt

Author: RENIN RAJ

Friends, today morning I received a mail from my colleague Beena, our company’s HR. Very apt mail what every HR should be passing it onto fellow colleagues. a truly inspirational Mail speaking about how 'A Leader Should Know How to Manage Failure' The moment I read the mail I was moved by knowing the fact that experience teaches something which no books has printed in it. This is something which I would not have grasped even during my MBA degree days. This is a real case what was experienced by my Role model, my motivating icon and Inspirational Guru. The legend himself- Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

Abul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam born October 15, 1931, Tamil Nadu in India, usually referred as Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, was the eleventh President of India, serving from 2002 to 2007.Due to his unconventional working style, he is also popularly known as the People's President. Before his term as India's president, he distinguished himself as engineering visionary and was awarded India's highest civilian honor Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with DRDO and his role as scientific advisor to the Indian government.

He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work and is considered a progressive mentor, innovator and visionary in India. Among the many firsts to his credit, he became India's first President to undertake an undersea journey when he boarded the INS Sindhurakshak, a submarine, from Visakhapatnam. He also became the first president to undertake a sortie in a fighter aircraft, a Sukhoi-30 MKI.
Visit www.abdulkalam.com

Experience of a person who is worth being every Indians Mentor:

Let me tell you all about his experience. In 1973 He became the project director of India's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. His goal was to put India's "Rohini" satellite into orbit by 1980. He was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 he and his team together had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 August -- they thought they were ready. As the project director, Dr. A.P.J went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. A.P.J had four or five experts with him in the launch control center. They told him not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So A.P.J bypassed the computer, switched it to the manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal. It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am, and the press conference -- where journalists from around the world were present -- was at 7:45 am at ISRO's satellite launch range in Sriharikota. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, it was A.P.J who was the project director, and it was his failure, but instead Prof. Satish Dhawan, took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The very next year, in July 1980, they tried again to launch the satellite -- and this time they succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called Dr. A.P.J aside and told him, "You conduct the press conference today."
Friends, this is what we should know. A very important lesson for the day.

When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team.

The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from reading this experience.

Last but not the least, this also tells us not to loose hope, there were days when Indian was not much advanced in satellite launching. There were days when we had series of disasters. But today India Created history. Indian Polar rocket successfully put into orbit a record 10 satellites--two Indian and eight foreign-- at one go in a complex mission demonstrating the country's capabilities to launch multiple payloads into precise slots.

After a textbook launch at 0923 hours from the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, PSLV-C9 surged into the space injecting all ten satellites into the intended orbit within minutes of each other in an important milestone for the country's space program. The payloads together weighed about 824 kg. That is where we stand today. Advanced foreign countries like Europe, Canada and Japan depends on us to carry their satellite into earths orbit. And we proudly carry it. We made a record by launching 10 satellites at one shot in one rocket launch.

A brief Insight into the descriptions of the 10 satellites launched:

PSLV – C9

PSLV – C9 Flight Profile (Typical)

CARTOSAT – 2A

IMS -1

Payloads from abroad

It is really a memorable moment. The mission was perfect and for the first time, ten satellites were launched within one mission. We have set a record. Only Russia had so far tried to launch 13 satellites in a single launch and I am not sure whether that was successful. The launch comes ahead of India's plans to launch its first moon mission "Chandrayaan-I" expected later this year. Truly golden moment for every Indian to Cherish. So friends don’t give up your hope. Don’t give up till you succeed.

Today India has advanced in space science thousand fold. We started with SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle), and then moved onto ASLV (Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle). Then we entered the big milestone of PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) and finally we are now in the era of India Proud Mission of GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle). We haven’t stopped it here friends, now we are developing GSLV Mk –I, GSLV Mk –II and GSLV Mk –III. Shouldn’t we be proud to be Indian?

A small insight into the early days of
India’s Satellite Launch Program:

Pictures that say, we may not be as successful as the US or Russia...but we are there nevertheless...so watch out on our moves in the early stages.

This was how the Rocket Cone was transported to the Launch Pad:

November 21, 1963 The Nike Apache rocket being readied for launch:

Try identifying the person on the left; most probably you won’t be able to identify him. He is our very own Dr. A.P J. Abdul Kalam during Early days at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station. Readying equipment to be carried by a sounding rocket into the atmosphere are Kalam and R. Aravamudan.

The present day Launch Station at SriHarikota :

And remember my dear friends the famous saying of Dr. A.P.J “Dream is not what you see in your sleep, it is the thing which does not let you sleep”

Photograph Courtesy: Indian Space Research Organization www.isro.org

NOTE: All pictures displayed in this posting are from ISRO site unless specified otherwise. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of the copyright holder is Strictly Prohibited.