Leadership Insights for Entrepreneurs || Acharya Prashant (2024)
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Video Information: 02.04.2024, IM, Greater Noida
Context:
How to be a leader?
What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Be a part of the Live Sessions: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/enquir...
Want to read Acharya Prashant's Books?
Get Free Delivery: https://acharyaprashant.org/en/books?...
➖➖➖➖➖➖
#acharyaprashant
Video Information: 02.04.2024, IM, Greater Noida
Context:
How to be a leader?
What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
Music Credits: Milind Date
~~~
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Now, coming back to your vision, I mean, after writing so many books and reaching millions
00:08of followers through YouTube, what is the vision you have?
00:17I don't have a vision, frankly.
00:22I work.
00:26And that work results into something.
00:32What it results into, I neither know nor feel any desire to know.
00:40The truth is that it is unknowable.
00:42So even if I want to know, I cannot know.
00:47I don't put any energy into envisioning.
00:53I never knew I would have a stage like this.
01:01Even six months back, I could have never thought of the point I am at, but I know what is important
01:13right now and I address that.
01:17At most, I look at things a few days into future, one week, one month.
01:28Even one month is too much and beyond that is beyond my capacity.
01:34I have never known what the whole thing would result into.
01:40So I do not operate from a particular future that I want.
01:49That's the usual modus operandi.
01:52You have a picture of the future that you want and then you say, I want to reach there
01:58and here I am.
02:00So how do I figure out how to reach there?
02:05That's the usual way it operates.
02:07With me, it doesn't work that way.
02:10All I know is where I am and what needs to be done right now to take care of the feelings
02:21and the falseness and the deficiencies of where I am.
02:26And how do you define your mission statement?
02:29We don't have any.
02:31There is none.
02:38Back in 2015, we crafted something on the lines of new humanity through intelligent
02:52spirituality.
02:56But that sounds so dumb, not intelligent, we junked it.
03:11So we know you as an author, as a philosopher, as a YouTuber, a speaker, I mean so many titles
03:18attached to it.
03:19How much do you relate with the title of an entrepreneur?
03:24You call yourself an entrepreneur?
03:26Yeah, depends on the meaning you are loading the word with, entrepreneur.
03:34Depends on the meaning.
03:36If entrepreneur means someone who is making a fresh beginning, breaking new ground, then
03:45yes, obviously entrepreneur.
03:49But if entrepreneur means someone who is pursuing the classical path of capitalism
03:55where you exist to generate endless profit, profit for the sake of profit, then no, then
04:05not an entrepreneur.
04:09In terms of doing something fresh, am I an entrepreneur?
04:13Yes.
04:14But if entrepreneurship is about continuously generating surplus for your own consumption
04:28and probably exiting your company at the right time by selling it to the highest bidder,
04:34then entrepreneur is the last word that can be attached to me.
04:43How do you balance the two because a foundation is typically a non-profit one and the kind
04:49of teachings you have are more spiritual in nature, but yes, again, you're running the
04:54households of so many people attached to you.
04:57So how do you balance out the two?
05:00I said that a while back.
05:09My concern is not metaphysical.
05:12When you say the teachings are spiritual, you probably have something other worldly
05:20in mind.
05:22We are addressing the day to day problems of ordinary mortals and if you do that, people
05:37see that and then on their own, they want the process to be strengthened and intensified
05:46and they come and contribute.
05:50We are not preaching mumbo-jumbo to them.
05:54We are not guaranteeing them a seat in heaven.
06:00Someone cannot take a career decision.
06:06Vedanta helps.
06:09Someone is not at ease within her family.
06:17Krishna has something to suggest to her and these are very material problems, aren't they?
06:25So spirituality is the solution to material problems that materiality cannot solve.
06:37The problems are material, but the solution is spiritual and if the material problems
06:45are being solved, why won't people contribute materially?
06:52The notion you are probably coming from is that spirituality is just about basic rituals
07:05that you get into for the sake of tradition and the word also conjures up images of superstition
07:21and all kinds of mindless behavior.
07:24What we are doing here is something dimensionally different.
07:36All that we have in the world consumes you so much that you forget to look at yourself.
07:47My work is about taking people within themselves, helping them look at their desires, the root
07:59of all desire, this thing that they call as the ego, the self, the I, helping them discover
08:13falseness within and consequently beauty within.
08:20The work is to give them courage so that they can stand up to the world.
08:29First of all, so that they can stand up to themselves, that's the work and since it has
08:37material benefits, hence people contribute in a material way.
08:43Sure and I mean, is there an idea which you have in terms of building it maybe in the form of an
08:50enterprise further, coming out with something more which you would like to resonate with
08:56your followers or people who believe in your teachings?
09:01Those who know, already know that we are reaching 20 crore people in general every quarter
09:20and more than 2 crore people in an intense way.
09:24That's already a lot.
09:32The number of people we are addressing, were they a country, it would be one of the top 10
09:39most populous countries in the world.
09:43So, the challenge is to serve them better.
09:49The challenge is to penetrate them deeper.
09:59When it comes to the reach, the reach is already there.
10:04The thing is to bring them more into themselves.
10:12So, I do not know what you specifically mean by turning it into an enterprise.
10:17It's already a mammoth enterprise.
10:25I asked you, I mean in case there are any products or anything further you plan to get into.
10:33This is the product.
10:39This is the product.
10:48I think there's a merchandise range which you already have.
10:52That's a souvenir thing.
10:54A poster, a key ring.
10:56This is the product and when it comes to e-books, the number of e-books people are reading every day, how much is it a day?
11:102000 e-books per day are being taken up by people.
11:15So, look at the number of e-books that are being taken up by people.
11:21Per day are being taken up by people.
11:25So, look at the number on an annual basis.
11:31A thousand of these and 2000 e-books and
11:41when it comes to those who are watching content on social media, that's an altogether different figure.
11:52The app, the Acharya Prashant app has close to 1.2-1.3 million downloads by now and
12:05a significant number of daily active users.
12:10So, it's already happening.
12:13The challenge is to deepen the penetration.
12:21Someone could have the app on his phone and just read one quote per day
12:29and we don't think that amounts to much.
12:35If the fellow really wants to achieve his potential, then he has to give it more time.
12:44He has to first of all have the confidence that the solution will come from here.
12:52And that's something we are continuously working on.
12:59Okay and any insights in terms of the kind of people or any particular age group or
13:08they would come from a certain section of society or from certain cities particularly
13:14who typically are your followers?
13:17They come from every possible section of society.
13:23So, the division is not really horizontal.
13:37We have people coming in terms of economic divisions.
13:44We have people coming from the most disadvantaged sections.
13:53We also have people coming from the most well-off places.
14:07Owners of unicorns and such.
14:16There is no particular section we are not present in.
14:27However, there is a division in some other sense.
14:33The division is internal not outer.
14:36How much money you have vis-a-vis somebody else, that's an external distinction.
14:45That's about your pocket and a pocket is an external thing.
14:50The distinction is internal.
14:53Within any particular category, there is a division.
14:58The distinction is internal within any particular section or economic class
15:06or whatever linguistic class or any kind of class.
15:12Within any class, there is a clear indication of who would come to us and who would not.
15:20The ones who are very, very sure of themselves, they take a lot of time coming to us.
15:30The ones who are a bit sober, a bit circumspect, a bit unsure, not full of confidence.
15:48Not full of confidence, more full of questions, more full of enquiry.
15:57They are the ones who readily come.
16:02The cocksure ones, they take their time.
16:07Not that they won't come, but they take several years before they realize that they need to.
16:15So, the typical person who comes to us as a reader of these books or as a participant in our programs
16:24is someone who is inward looking.
16:34Someone who is conscious, already conscious to some degree of what goes on within.
16:41And since she can see what goes on within, hence she sees the need for a resolution.
16:56The ones who are so externally directed that they never actually manage to look within,
17:05they remain in their own confident place.
17:20Full of plans, ambitions, reveling in their achievements.
17:28So, it is a certain inwardness that distinguishes the person who comes to me from the person who does not.
17:45It is not about money, it is not about gender, it is also not about religion,
17:50it is also not about nationality, it is about inwardness.
17:57Those who are honest enough and sensitive enough to look at themselves,
18:06they take lesser time in realizing that they need to come to these.
18:13Which has been your favorite out of all the books published and the one you resonate to yourself
18:19the most? There is one that has very recently come out in Hindi, Ram Niranjan Nyarare.
18:27So, might just be recency effect, I am not sure. But because I delivered
18:36those lectures quite heartfully, so it is quite dear to me.
18:42Vedanta in English.
18:52And then obviously the entire Bhagavad Gita series is there. Ram Niranjan Nyarare is a
19:00song by Saint Kabir. And I took close to four months to speak on that one single song. So,
19:14all that has been compiled in the form of a book. So, one song for the entire book.
19:29Okay. So, what or who inspires you? Again, you are also an inspiration to many.
19:43So, what is it which inspires you?
19:45You remember the sparrow?
20:02I don't like to see her suffer. It's not the greats that inspire me. It is
20:11the innocence of the feeble one that just compels me to keep working.
20:26I don't want to emulate somebody great. I am not looking at the greats for inspiration.
20:34Even if I try to, I cannot recall looking at somebody's life or biography
20:46and drawing inspiration from it.
20:51I venerate them. I respect them.
20:55But it's not about them. They are already great. They are already there.
21:04It's about the ones who are here. Here and suffering for no good reason.
21:17That's what keeps me going.
21:20Sure. So, but do you remember any particular moment where
21:23you brought about a change in somebody's life and you saw it coming?
21:28It's like asking, do you remember any particular heartbeat of your own?
21:32I haven't had many cardiac events. The heartbeat is pretty regular.
21:39Every single day, there are thousands of testimonials on the app and every single
21:47testimonial is about the change that has already come to people's lives.
21:53The first time it would have happened with somebody and you realized it.
22:02It's been a continuity. I don't remember. Also, remembering a particular one would be
22:13good nutrition for the ego. You know, I was able to effect a change in that person's life.
22:19See, I am God. So, I am satisfied. Even a teacher brings a change in a student's life.
22:28Yes. So, I'm satisfied knowing the general trend. I don't want to recall a particular event.
22:37So, in general, if I see people are benefiting, that is sufficient for me.
22:42If I remember particular instances, that would only serve to ingratiate my ego.
22:49So, general trend is yes, lots and lots of people are benefiting and they have to benefit.
22:56It's a rule of life. Not that I am doing anything particularly special.
23:01What I am bringing them to is a source of life. It is the greatest healer possible.
23:09So, there is nothing surprising in it that people are benefiting. They will benefit.
23:14Obviously, they will. So, the work does not really require a proof of concept.
23:25The matter is already settled. It's not about convincing yourself that it's delivering the goods.
23:32It's about now being able to push it as much as you can within your limited lifetime.
23:44Sure. So, lastly, how are you making your content much more richer?
23:50I'm not thinking of that.
23:54The more the people come, the greater is the responsibility on me and it is from that
24:02responsibility that richer content springs on its own. I don't have to try to do that.
24:14It's like when you are dealing with a patient on the deathbed.
24:22The best that you can do, doesn't it emerge on its own? You try to your maximum extent,
24:31even beyond your capacity. So, the more I find myself responsible for millions of lives,
24:41the more discipline it puts on me and the more refined it forces my words to be.
24:56And anyway, I do not have time to sit and refine this content because all this is just spontaneous.
25:04So, how can I plan it out in advance? This conversation would render a text piece of
25:12some kind, won't it? I haven't had any time to sit on it and deliberate. It's just coming up
25:20and the only way I can refine it is by being more responsible. That responsibility
25:27is coming to me every single day and adding up. The numbers are swelling. So, that's it.
25:37Okay. So, that brings us to the end of the conversation.
25:40Thank you for talking to us today. Thank you so much.