The Value of “Passion”

~Samudra Sen, CEO

Way back, sometime in the year 2000, we came across a video, that was to become the central theme for what the founders of LearningMate believed in and what they wanted to become. The video was a brilliant piece of advertising by Apple Computers on their theme “Think Different”. I think what motivated us here was the thought of how each of these people in the video, many of whom came from very humble beginnings, beat the odds to make a success of what they did – and also made a difference to the world around them. The catch line of the video with which it ends goes something like this – “…..because those who think that they can make a difference to the world are the ones who usually do”.

Till date in every induction program at LearningMate we show this video as something that inspired us as the founding team. The essence of why we did what we did is in this short video. If you have not seen this and want tp take a look please feel free to drop by and I will be glad to share it with you. I never get tired of doing it actually.

However, the key issue here is what drives people to achieve things beyond themselves. The video talks about folks like John Lenon, Mahatma Gandhi, Einstein and a many more such people who wanted to make a difference.

From our perspective we saw it as a call to define and build something that we would be proud of. Often people ask me why I chose to become an enterprenuer and more often than not they link it to one’s desire to create wealth and achieve greater material benefit. But that sadly for me and I guess for most true enterprenuers is the by product of a process. The reason I made this choice was to experience a much greater sense of creativity, freedom of expression, ability to experiment with ideas, give vent to passion for work and ultimately if successful – get recognition, applause accompanied by a sense of fulfilment and achievement. To me there are many companies that make money – but there are a few companies that will make a difference to the world they operate in – and these are companies that are driven by that passion to make that difference.

I am not sure how to value “passion” if I were to do so in monetery terms. In an investor world the word has little or no meaning unless backed by results. But imagine, would we have ever got Apple Computers, SONY Corporation or to top it all General Electric had it not been for the likes of Steve Jobs, Akio Morito or Edison ! And there are many more like Ford in automobiles and the Wright Brothers for avaiation. Today we take these modes for transport for granted. The sad part of the whole “passion” thing is that you will find very few backers when you actually need it. Once your passion starts showing results you will find people flocking to your doorstep. For every passionate person who succeeds there are ten who fail. But the one thing they rarely do is give up. And that is how great companies are ultimately built.

You can have a good month or a bad month, a good quarter or a bad quarter, a good year or a bad year, the economy may or may not support you at times – and it is especially during the tough times your passion gets tested. Once such times pass and you get a chance to look back, you begin to value “passion”. It is truly invaluable.