A friend I met recently asked me a question, “Rajesh, you are one of the few people I know who has made a lot of money (a reference to my IndiaWorld deal in 1999) and remained the same. Wealth changes people. How have you managed it?” He pointed me to some tweets written by Chris Sacca, which are encapsulated in this article:
One of the inevitable troubles of being a person with immense wealth and power is that you often find yourself surrounded by people who won’t call you out on a bad idea.
Venture capitalist and early Twitter investor Chris Sacca warned Elon Musk that he is completely alone and is surrounding himself with people who won’t challenge his nonconformist ideas to transform Twitter into his vision of a free-speech social media haven.
“One of the biggest risks of wealth/power is no longer having anyone around you who can push back, give candid feedback, suggest alternatives, or just simply let you know you’re wrong,” Sacca, founder of Lowercase Capital and a friend of Elon Musk, wrote in a Twitter thread.
Musk needs people around him who are willing to “speak some truth to power and complement his bold and ambitious instincts with desperately needed nuance,” Sacca argues, because many of Twitter’s problems are too complex to solve on his own.
My friend’s point was that with wealth and power comes loneliness. The feedback loop goes away since one is surrounded by people who do not speak truth to power. How does one stay away from this trap?
My immediate reply to him was what I had written earlier [LINK]: “I still remember the gist of what Bhavana told me the day after I sold IndiaWorld: “We have got a lot of money at an early age. If you keep thinking about it, you will not do anything productive in your future life. Think of us as custodians of God’s money on earth. There is a purpose for the money. Figure it out.””
My friend encouraged me to think deeper and write about it. As I thought more, I realised that there are three things that have come together to ensure that I do not cut off my feedback loops. First, I have not let the money go to my head. This has happened because I have failed many times in my life – and more importantly, I had multiple serial failures before I succeeded with IndiaWorld. So, the realisation was there that while I did not let failure put me down, I should not let success go to my head. Both of these are part of the terrain for an entrepreneur.
Second, I have (thanks to Bhavana) retained my humility. I work with the belief that we are all “work in progress” and need to become better. To do this, we have to take in feedback from others. This means having the humility to ask and openness to learn from what others tell us. Wealth can disappear through our mistakes; good character stays forever.
Third, I have not adopted a lifestyle which has taken me away from my roots, family and friends. A new lifestyle means a new set of people around – and they would be attracted by the money and power, rather than the person. One needs to stay true to oneself. While smarts are important, luck too plays an important factor in life. I do not think of myself as invincible or having any special superpowers. I have failed many times in my life. If my needs are simple, I will not create a situation where I put myself on a high pedestal from which it becomes difficult and painful to climb down from. I am always wanting to learn. In every meeting, what is that one key takeaway? What is that one thing that can make me improve? And this can only happen if we stay grounded.
