“What you are building never matters as much as who you are building it with.” Tony Fadell
In his book Build, Tony Fadell provides insights through his personal anecdotes about the most impactful products and people of the 20th century. Even after working with stalwarts of Silicon Valley such as Steve Jobs and Bill Campbell, Tony gives his own unorthodox advice to excel in leadership; he says one does not have to reinvent everything from scratch to grow or make something great. “One grows from pursuit only when we care about it, whether it’s work or relationship.”
Although the book is popular as an advice encyclopaedia, to me it appealed more as a personal memoir where the author explores the human aspects of entrepreneurships. When you work as a leader, as the head of an enterprise, what matters the most is these attributes of human relationships that involve continuous exchange of ideas, personalities, aspirations, priviledges and pure dreams. There are very intricate technicalities about how to germinate a small idea and then shape it into something that will be adopted as a product by all.
Reading this book reminded me once again of my days at Sainik School Imphal. As Tony says, once you start caring for an enterprise, it is difficult to look at it as a non- living thing. It is the people involved in the organisation that starts reminding you of why development needs to be done. During the Covid Pandemic, when I moved to Imphal with my family, first look at the vast perimeter of the school campus, surrounded by the lush green paddy fields, vast water body attracted our hearts.
The soothing image of the lush green grounds, welcoming hands and smiling faces of Officers made the stay increasingly worthwhile every day, even when the Pandemic had forced most of us to be under isolation. Our joy knew no bounds when coinciding with our arrival, we got the news of selection of 12 Cadets in the NDA from the previous batch. Our faith in the school and the latent talent in it got stronger once my husband met with the team of teaching and Support staff led by the then Senior Master Mr Romel, Quarter master Mr Puina, the then Mess Manager Mr Saratchandra, and PRO Mr Ashok.
Coming from the modern landscape of capital city of the country, the simplicity of this capital city located within a valley was very satisfying for me as a mother. While I kept pestering him about how unmelodious the choir group was, how naughty the seniors were, and how one could make the boring menu which they called balanced and nutritious a little more inclusive for all cadets, as the Principal, Sainik School Imphal, my husband worried about the inequality of opportunities as compared to other Sainik schools: the lack of infrastructure inside the campus: with limited connectivity to outside world and technology, the streets without well-constructed roads, hard surface jogging path for the cadets, dilapidated cadets’ mess, open bathing & washing bays, and dormitories; most importantly, age-old residential quarters of the staff members. He could not find himself to demand excellence from the employees as he saw them as someone whose own personal lives were distorted due to the lack of technology, infrastructure and resources.
Being the mother of a daughter, I was very happy with this news, while it was like a nightmare to my husband. The list of tasks to be done got longer and longer every day as it was not only the attitude but even basic infrastructure like the Girl Cadets Hostels, support staff recruitment, and additional arrangements in the classrooms, mess and grounds that had to be planned, initiated, and implemented. Grooming of the staff members towards gender sensitivity started. But much was required when it came to infrastructure.
A pleasant surprise was the response school administration got from the state administration, especially Shri Rajen the then Minister of Education, Shri Biswajit Singh Minister of Public Works Department and Shri Letpao Haokip, Minister of YAS and, of course Shri N Biren, the then Chief Minister, Govt of Manipur State. With their vision and positive attitude, Sainik School Imphal became the first Sainik school to get a fund sanctioned in the state budget and the building construction too started on the 50th Foundation Day of the school: 07 October.
While I was busy looking after the emotional needs of the family members during the period of Isolation during the Covid Pandemic, again the state authorities came to our rescue when the CMO’s team led by Dr Poly conducted Free Vaccination Drives for all the employees and their families. With the schools reopening and the entry of girl cadets, my husband became busy in uniting the team to achieve academic excellence, within the state of resources that he had. And, as expected, one fine day the old infrastructure gave away when one of the hostels had a major short circuit due to over heating of old copper wires and turned into a major fire outbreak.
In front of everyone’s eyes, the wooden structure of the building caught fire, spread rapidly, and came down as ashes within a span of 04 hours. It was killing to watch Mr Basanta, the Librarian, our young, Braveheart get burns on his chest while saving the personal belongings of the cadets. With the media lingering around the campus wanting to know about the reasons for the fire, worried parents, shocked cadets, anxious staff members and concerned families; that day was an excruciatingly long day, and especially painful for me when I saw my husband with his team running helter-skelter inside the burnt hostel trying to save the belongings of the cadets without realising nails stuck inside their burnt shoes. That day again reminded me of the fact that organisations contain not just buildings but sentiments, blood, sweat and tears of humans working in it.
“Every obstacle yields to stern resolve.” Keeping this dictum in mind, working hours became longer for the next few months, until my husband found ways to rebuild the broken dreams. The complete support staff supported him in filing reports, getting additional documents, completing investigations, and coordinating with the government agencies. Just when things started to normalise, more hurdles came up with the water scarcity in the state and the sudden, unfortunate ethnic riots.
Now all the hope that was there for repairs of the hostel through the state government agencies, became bleak as the state machinery came to a halt due to the violence and destruction caused in different parts of the state. School reopening got delayed due to the unsafe neighbourhood and once again the teaching staff got busy with online classes for the new academic session, while the administrative staff worked out how to manage the maintenance and repair works with the non- functioning local market.
With Maira Paibis as the night vigilantes against the attacking tribes in the neighbouring villages, safety of the family members inside the school campus became the only concern for everyone. Many employees (including an IAF Officer) had to resign, retire, or leave the school campus due to the evolving ethnic dynamics of the state. It also affected the admission process of the school as parents of cadets from other states felt insecure about the situation prevailing in the state. Life and especially development work, maintenance, repairs, and even normal living got affected. Still, the team came up with bright ideas to keep the staff engaged and emotionally balanced: Singju breaks for the ladies, Potlucks, followed by jungle trails over the weekends for the families, camps for the NCC cadets, sports events became the norm and to some extent, the Happiness Quotient of the employees was enhanced.
With the infrastructure breaking down, the staff members engulfed in ethnic identities, state machinery coming to a halt; it was only the innocent smiling faces and inquisitive eyes of the cadets that kept our resolve to perform and achieve the best for them. My husband tried knocking the doors of all kinds of philanthropists, starting from the Alumni, PTA, sister agencies from Defense forces, NGOs to Government agencies. He succeeded in getting scholarships for the worthy cadets from affected areas through the Ex-cadets’ associations, Alumni, Parents, and agencies such as Assam Rifles.
Then came the most fruitful request from the representatives of the Ministry of DONER who had visited the school during the Governor’s visit and were touched by the hospitality and the budding talent of the cadets. The school administration was asked to submit proposals regarding the pressing needs of infrastructure which could be developed in the school. A lot of brainstorming sessions were conducted with the teaching staff, support staff, families, and cadets about what their pressing needs were. The reactions were similar: we needed a conducive educational environment driven by safe basic amenities such as robust perimeter wall, water storage tanks, and hygienic accommodation areas for all.
The proposals were immediately converted into crisp, impressive PowerPoint presentations and supporting documents by the administrative staff and my Warrior husband led team succeeded in convincing the Ministry officials about the urgency of these projects. We forgot about the whole thing once the Board exams commenced and we donned the role of parents for our daughter as well as all the other cadets of classes X and XII. And then came the time to show gratitude for the selfless service of some of our retiring employees: Mr Ashok, the Art Master, Mr PD James, the Social Studies master, Mr Mahmuddin, a general employee, and so on.
Finally, it was time to pack our bags as Indian Air Force beckoned my husband to move on his next assignment. Life became busy with me living separated for the first time in my married life with my daughter and extended family without my husband. News from the Sainik school became rare as I immersed myself in my new life. Occasionally, when some old cadets or employees dropped an Instagram reel or memory of good old times, thoughts went back to unfinished work at the school.
And then came a pleasant surprise when I saw a recent tweet from the Ministry of DONER about development of allied infrastructure in Sainik School Imphal under NESIDS (OTRI) and my heart leaped with joy when I saw a small side note: Sanctioned amount: 21.814 crore. The only words that could come out of mouth were: Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah, Sainik school Imphal.
And once again, Tony Fadell’s words ring in my mind: “Your product’s story is not just about words, it is about its design, its features, images and videos, quotes from customers, conversations with support agents. It is the sum of what people see and feel about this thing that you have created.” It is the “Why” that drives the “What” and for “Whom”. And someone who leads a team just does not help people do their jobs, they help them shape their lives, their families.