Filter Coffee #042
Dear Readers,
🔗 FC #41 celebrated sense and sensibility and triumphed over prejudice which in itself was a matter of pride. One of my regular readers, Chandrika, put it aptly when she said that we should have some sense to deal with the Covid situation sensibly and not let our pride and prejudice scoff at the measures taken to stem the pandemic.
My dear friend Murali jokingly (I hope) confesses to being prejudiced against lawyers. When a lawyer writes ‘without prejudice’ he is actually telling you that grave prejudice awaits you. A Lawyer’s grammar is not exactly what Wren & Martin meant it to be.
My good friend Chandu Misra reminded me that April 13th also marks the Bengali New Years Day, Baisakhi, and Rongali Bihu, the Assamese New Years Day. My sincere apologies and belated greetings to all.
👟 Leap of Faith
I was speaking to an angel investor and when I asked him the basis on which he puts his money in a startup he said “Oh, it’s a leap of faith”. I thought why not discuss this faith-ful topic?
Leap of Faith, to me, essentially means blind belief. You make a commitment reposing faith in a person or in a concept despite not having any assurance or evidence that it will work. It is a kind of irreversible decision. If one’s faith yields favourable results, one can leap with joy. If it does not, the person moves on to be ready to take another leap.
A leap of faith is no laughing matter. It has its roots in the unshakable belief that one must be intuitive and not be risk averse. A leap of faith in someone or something is driven not by objectivity, but by subjective assumptions that ‘it will work’, ‘it should work’, ‘can’t see why it should not work’, or, in the extreme, it could be ‘so what if it doesn’t work?’
Leap of faith is the opposite of the status quo. It requires some thinking out of the box. One has to get out of that comfort zone and brave the odds. The ability to take risks depends on the risk appetite. If you had a million rupees you wouldn't place all of that on a horse whose pedigree and track record you have not studied. The famous idiom ‘look before you leap’ is not the equivalent of a leap of faith. Looking before you leap means making an assessment of the situation or doing some due diligence or carrying out a recce or being cognizant of what might happen.
Leap of faith is like staring down from the edge of a cliff, except that cliff here is symbolic of an opportunity that excites you.
When fear of the unknown manifests in your thoughts, you feel the wings becoming wet and not letting you take that leap of faith. In 1961 Alistair McLean wrote the novel ‘Fear is the Key’. The phrase underscores the fact that fear makes people back off or commit errors of judgement. The novel, which was made into a movie in 1972, depicts the protagonist eliciting a confession from two perpetrators by sheer fear of imminent death by disconnecting submersible oxygen supply. What is interesting is that the protagonist took a leap of faith in believing that fear of death would fetch that confession. It follows, therefore, that overcoming fear is the key to taking a leap of faith.
Let me share my own life experience of taking a leap of faith. I studied law in Mysuru and practised with my father and brother for about five years from 1972. Those days there were a handful of courts (now there are nearly 50 law courts I am told, by my friend and lawyer Nataraj who has done well for himself). As a junior, I was getting paid a princely sum of Rs.400 per month but I wanted to break free and do something far more interesting and exciting. In 1977 I migrated to Mumbai and started my career as a corporate counsel. It was indeed driven by a leap of faith that I will somehow survive in Mumbai, the Mecca of the corporate world and make a mark for myself as a corporate counsel than I would, in law practice. From 1977 to 2010 I steadily moved up the corporate ladder and did well for myself both professionally and financially. The leap of faith that I then took was purely by believing in myself and my desire to excel. I knew nothing of Mumbai and what those jobs had in store for me, what opportunities would open up for me and how my talents and performance may be recognised.
The challenge lay in learning to fly, spreading my wings and taking many more leaps of faith as I changed jobs in pursuit of more challenging opportunities.
Speaking of opportunities, I must tell you about the acquisition of the North American Aluminium Downstream Company Novelis by Hindalco. Mr. Birla put in a bid at what was considered to be an over the top price. He did that with a leap of faith and the rest is history. Novelis is today one of the most profitable companies in the Aditya Birla fold. As the GC for the Group I was privileged to be part of that $6 billion acquisition team, led by Mr. Debu Bhattacharya, the then MD of Hindalco.
Regret has no place in a failed leap of faith. You move on, take a breather and take another leap. In this, we can take a lesson from the Anhinga and Cormorant — these two birds are not easy to distinguish one from the other since they are both large dark-coloured birds and look very alike. Since they do not have oil glands to make their wings waterproof, after each dive they have to dry their wings before they dive in again to catch a fish, even if they don’t catch one with each dive. A person known for taking leaps of faith does exactly that. For him, the excitement lies in the unknown.
At this juncture, one might wonder if leapfrogging has any similarity with a leap of faith. Leapfrog is a game where kids run a race leaping like frogs or a player jumps with parted legs over another who is crouching down. But in the world of business leapfrogging is about making small but incremental innovations and taking the company to the next level. To the extent that the result of such leapfrogging is unknown, it can resemble a leap of faith.
For another example of a leap of faith, we can turn to the whimsical world of the circus. I can’t remember when I last went to a circus. When we were kids there was a jaw-dropping circus show called ‘Kamala Three Ring Circus” where acts were being performed alternatingly in three circular enclosures. Today I can relate the leap of faith to one of the main attractions: the trapeze act. The lady is perched high up on a bar. A man comes swinging towards her and claps, she leaps with full faith that he will grab her by the wrist and not let her fall. Breathtaking indeed.
A more mundane, yet relatable example is marriage. Whether it be an arranged marriage or a love marriage it involves a leap of faith. Either of the two kinds of marriages may flourish or wither away depending on how love and respect for each other rule that relationship.
Dear Readers, you must have faith in the recommended precautions and not leap into situations that can potentially expose you to the virus. Your families need you. Leap of faith is being fearless of the unknown and not about what is known and fearsome. Please take good care of yourself. See you next week!
Nice article. Even I came to Blore with the leap of faith, from a small town in Mlore.
Absolutely brilliant and so relatable... best thing about this read is that it is mostly always relatable... thanks for sharing your experiences with us...