It is indeed a great honour to rub shoulders with successful and rich people. I have had the privilege of interacting with some of the richest people in this planet. When you observe them for their qualities, there is a lot to be learnt. While there are a few common characteristics like passion, work ethic, focus etc. in most of them, there are also a few individual characteristics that we can observe. Let me narrate my learning from some of the richest people. I am not going to name these great people for reasons of confidentiality.
In the first person, I am going to discuss, I am amazed by his patience and simplicity. He was my boss for several years and I have never worked with such a boss in my life. Our company went through a series of problems in technology, marketing and finance. I have never seen him getting upset or cursing the bad luck. I still recall his words in the first ever meeting of colleagues. He said, “Treat this company as your own." We had unbelievable professional freedom and most of us gave more than our 150 % of our efforts. My biggest learning from him is, "treat your colleagues and people with respect without questioning their motives and their commitment will be phenomenal."
I vividly recall my chat with the wife of the second (richest) person, who is a very close friend of mine. He is born rich and has also acquired sizeable quantity of land near Chennai. He is brilliant Chartered Accountant with hectic professional schedule. When his wife came to my house for a function, I casually asked her whether their children study in AC rooms and she replied in a very polite tone, "They study in rooms like how we studied in our younger days." In other words, the couple ensure that their children are not given undue comfort which can make them complacent. Apart from simplicity, what I have learnt from the man is his willingness to spend quality time with his children during weekends.
The third person, I want to write about is another colleague of mine. He stayed with the same organisation for more than three decades and has built a huge fortune through equity investment apart from the benefits offered by his employers. He has such a cool temperament that makes him stick to his decisions despite several hurdles he has faced in his life. My learning from him is that right investment in equity held for a long period of time can make one unbelievably rich and for this you need a little bit of intelligence and a lot of patience.
The last person, I am going to mention about was my immediate boss in one of the organisations I worked for about two decades back. He was a highly demanding senior colleague with a tremendous energy level. The one main thing that I have learnt from him and that still is green in my memory is that every Saturday he used to spend just thirty minutes on his Personal Finance. This may look ridiculously simple for some of you, but let me add that if a young person follows this simple advice, he is bound to build huge wealth in a few decades.
I can add more to the above list of great people and learning from them. For example, two previous colleagues of me have succeeded in a big way because of their focus on their area of strength for about four decades despite so many odds. Their real estate is worth several millions of rupees. I am sure many of you would have picked up valuable lessons from some of the richest people. This makes me think that all of us can keep learning forever.
Let me end this blog on a lighter note. Two rich and miserly men were discussing. The first person said, "For my honeymoon, I saved 50 % because I went alone." The second person said, "This is nothing, I saved 100 % because I sent my wife for honeymoon with my friend."
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
