“
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.
Sainik Schools, as we all
know are residential public schools working under the aegis of Ministry of
Defence, GoI and hence all the essential staff members are live inside the
school campus with their families until their retirement. Sometimes employees
spend nearly half of their lives living inside these staff quarters. And one
look at the old dingy, quarters broke our hearts comparing the facilities we
had enjoyed as Defence officers all over the country. The absence of cadets due
to the pandemic, gave him the time to think, plan, and execute some minor
repairs into these quarters. While he started to get into the technical
formalities of these repairs; a paradigm change in the system came with the
induction of girl cadets in all Sainik Schools.
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.