If there was one key takeaway from my Jakarta trip, it was the profound importance of luck. I’ve written about luck previously: “Life is essentially a stream of events and decisions. What we attribute to luck are often just decisions – either ones we made or someone else did. Sometimes, it’s easier to ascribe outcomes to an unseen force than take ownership, especially when things aren’t going well! But we cannot passively wait for good luck. We must chart our own path by making decisions we believe are right. And then there are certain events that can accelerate the journey we’re already on. Think of luck as a tailwind propelling you forward when you’re heading in the right direction. And bad luck? An unexpected headwind that you must battle – one that ultimately forges a stronger version of yourself. Either way, you emerge ahead.”
On this trip, I experienced multiple instances of good fortune.
While waiting to meet a prospect in a hotel lobby, an American-Brit approached me and asked, “You are Rajesh from Netcore?” [I was wearing a Netcore jacket.] Initially stunned, once I regained my composure, we engaged in a very productive conversation about a potential partnership.
A dinner meeting was scheduled with a company CEO who ultimately couldn’t attend. The restaurant was dimly lit and noisy – conditions that would have made showcasing our products nearly impossible. (His colleague was present for the dinner.) Fortuitously, the CEO rescheduled for the following morning, joining several colleagues whom we were anyways scheduled to meet. This gave us the opportunity to present our solutions to the CEO on a large screen in a proper conference room.
Another example: our local partner’s CEO realised that the person we were meeting at one of our customers was someone he had known from a decade earlier. He decided to join us, and that connection made all the difference – a scheduled 30-minute meeting extended to a full hour, allowing us to explain our innovations in depth. (The local language rapport certainly helped.)
And perhaps the most significant stroke of “luck” – my trip was extended by a day when a customer needed to reschedule. While initially disappointed about staying an extra day, those final 24 hours yielded multiple valuable meetings that came together unexpectedly. As I often remind myself (but sometimes fail to heed): everything in life happens for a good reason!
**
Overall, it was a productive journey – one I perhaps should have undertaken a few years earlier given our established presence in Jakarta. It reminded me how much I enjoy traveling and connecting with people. In recent years, I haven’t done enough of this – often preferring the comfortable familiarity of the office for thinking, writing, and conducting Zoom calls. But the in-person meeting remains irreplaceable – the connection forged over coffee or a meal creates a bond that virtual interactions simply cannot match.
