Let me tell you about the time a night guard at my office went from securing doors to securing votes as an MLA and much more. It was 1993, and we had just started our company, Comnet.
Like most offices in Nehru Place, Delhi, we hired a night guard. His shift started at 9 PM, but he’d show up at 5 PM — not to work, but to sit inside our office and listen to our conversations. I didn’t think much of it until one day, he came up to my desk, looking a little nervous.
"Sir, can I ask you something?" he said.
“Of course,” I replied.
"I feel so inspired by the things you all talk about," he began, "but I’m just a school dropout. What can I do to be more than a guard?"
I didn’t know what to say, so I blurted out the first thing that came to mind: "Why don’t you start supplying guards to all the offices on this floor? Make your own startup!" Then I forgot about it.
A couple of years later, we moved into a new office, and I saw him walk in. I asked where he’d been.
"Doing what you told me," he grinned. "Now I have over 50 guards working for me" I was stunned.
Then he asked me, "What should I do next?"
So, I said, "Why not start a housekeeping business alongside it?"
A few years later, we moved again to an even bigger office & he showed up once more, with over 1,000 people guards and housekeeping staff working for him.
"Where do you find all these people?" I asked, half-joking.
"From my village," he replied.
I laughed and jokingly said, "You could probably win an election in your village!"
But a few years later, after I became CEO of HCL Technologies, he came to congratulate me. We met & I asked, "How’s life?"
"I’m now an elected MLA," he said with a smile, "and I came to ask what I should do next."
The story doesn’t end here, but I’ll stop before I reveal too much.
What’s the point of this story? We often overthink success. We believe it’s all about strategy and perfect plans. But sometimes, success comes down to belief — belief in yourself and belief sparked by one conversation with someone who cares.
So, what’s your next move?