Interview: Suresh Mansharamani, Co-founder of Tajurba Business Network & Motivational Speaker

An interview with Mr Suresh Mansharamani, dynamic entrepreneur, motivational speaker, a prolific business leader and co-founder of Tajurba Business Network

In this interview, we sit down with Mr. Suresh Mansharamani, a dynamic entrepreneur and motivational speaker whose leadership has inspired countless individuals in the business world.

As the co-founder of Tajurba Business Network, Mr. Mansharamani has played a pivotal role in fostering collaboration and innovation among entrepreneurs.

His insights into business development and personal growth offer valuable lessons for anyone looking to succeed in today’s competitive landscape.

Can you share your journey and what inspired you to become a business coach and OKR specialist?

Suresh Mansharamani: I was born in a refugee camp in Maharashtra. My education was   and I had no capital under my name.  I couldn’t speak and write English when I started my career. There was no one to guide me in my career. I started a job that paid 300 rupees per month.

I didn’t know English back then. However, I had the passion to do something big. I worked hard, day and night, to hone skills. I left no stone unturned. By 1995, I had built an empire for myself where my company had oversubscribed its IPO 300 times and got listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange.

This was followed by a presidential award. I had become a self-made multi-millionaire by the age of 38. However, in the late 2000s, my DVD rental business, MovieMart.in, failed. I had the “never quit” attitude, which made me lose crores of rupees.

That time I understood the importance of learning the art of letting go. All of this made me realise that while there is so much knowledge out there, it takes experience to become adept at applying the knowledge and achieve success.

I also realised the importance of having a mentor and guide who has experience to share if one wants to excel in a career. Hence, I founded Tajurba Business Network in 2017 with a vision to connect 10 million SMEs in India with the Tajurba Platform.

I have tried and tested several business models and strategies, and the OKR strategy has been the most agile and efficient of all.

It is able to keep up with the trends of the markets while ensuring farsightedness, and hence, I became an OKR specialist so that I can ensure that people do not repeat the mistakes I made in my  career.

In your experience, how do OKRs transform a business’s performance and strategic alignment?

Suresh Mansharamani: OKR – objectives and key results strategy—is a transformative framework and business model if one can understand the fundamentals, i.e., the underlying intentions of the mechanisms or the steps it suggests. The basic skeleton of the framework is as follows:

1. You create a vision for business.
2. Devise goals that can be achieved in 90 days.
3. Implement strategies to achieve those goals.
4. Review and improvement based on feedback after 90 days.

The OKR strategy discusses setting quarterly objectives. In order to guarantee effectiveness and the highest possible quality of results, OKR places a strong emphasis on planning prior to implementation.

In contrast to having a year-end goal, it emphasises quarterly or 90-day planning since the former offers greater flexibility and adaptability in an unpredictable world. Did anyone anticipate the COVID wave, for example, or a lockdown?

And so, OKR becomes essential to being ready for outside challenges. This aids in creating a solid base.  It gives room to adjust tactics if objectives are not reached.

 Giving everyone direction is another benefit of OKR. It improves coordination between departments and individuals within the company and streamlines operations.

This alignment has amazing potential. Being aspirational yet practical is a skill to effectively implement the strategy. Objectives should be challenging and, at the same time, must be made keeping in mind that it is a step-by-step process.

This implies that the implementation of OKR in every department need not occur at the same time. One department at a time can be streamlined. The main intention is to bring everyone together to work towards a single goal.

Delegation is an additional component of OKR. It emphasises building self-sustaining systems. A founder is missing out on chances to grow if they are overly involved in the minutiae of decision-making. Instead, entrepreneurs should concentrate on setting high but reasonable goals for their team leaders and departments.

The leaders will then be able to designate responsibilities to their department’s members. However, the goal here is to keep the team motivated and maximise their potential in the process.

Since this does not involve setting parameters of performance or gauging the performance of the employees, it ensures that people are working towards the goal wholeheartedly and not out of fear of losing their employment. Thus, OKR beautifully integrates the personal growth of employees in the workplace.

As a motivational speaker, how do you tailor your messages to resonate with diverse audiences, from startups to established enterprises?

Suresh Mansharamani: No matter what business one has and at what stage of building they are, the core of business remains the same.

Deliver more value than others, be quick in decision-making, and practice humility. Additionally, as one gains more experience, one becomes skilled in identifying the pain points of businesses and devising effective solutions for the same.

The key is to remain observant and alert of what is happening in my surroundings.  Besides staying up-to-date, I have come to become someone who listens more and speaks less.

I spend my time learning from others, and I never look down upon anyone, no matter how young they are, which has added to my knowledge of the changing world and helped me tailor my ways according to the modern times.

How do you balance your roles as an entrepreneur, investor, and business coach, and what synergies have you found between these roles?

Suresh Mansharamani: Entrepreneur, investor, and business coach are mutually inclusive categories. They complement each other.  All of them require a knack for identifying trends, having knowledge of human behaviour and preferences, as well as business acumen.

An entrepreneur must know the needs of the market and its gaps, which are required to devise an effective model. Investors are adept at identifying lucrative businesses through key metrics. Knowledge of these metrics is important to build an enterprise.

Similarly, to be able to guide someone in building a lucrative business as a coach, it requires business analytical skills and knowledge of the market.

What key qualities do you believe a successful leader should possess, and how do you help cultivate these qualities in your clients?

Suresh Mansharamani: The leader only knows ‘we’. There is no “me’ in leadership. Everyone who claims to be a leader has communication skills, and they are often blessed with several technical skills.

However, a successful leader knows that even though they might have all the skills, they can’t use all of them at once and would need to rely on a team. Thus, successful leaders understand that they need their team as much as their team members need them.

Moreover, they know how to create a safe space for honest conversations, which also allows the team to speak up, share ideas, and ask questions. In other words, they are good listeners and know how to respond with empathy.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start a career in business coaching or sales coaching?

Suresh Mansharamani: Give value. If you have it in you to provide your clients with an experience worth 5000 rupees in 500 rupees, you can succeed. Chase skills, knowledge, and experience rather than money.

Business and sales coaching requires strong knowledge of financial management, business management, and legal knowledge. Moreover, it’s a process of lifelong learning, so make sure that you are always up to date with trends.

Mr. Suresh Mansharamani’s journey as a business leader and motivational speaker highlights the power of perseverance and collaboration. His commitment to empowering entrepreneurs through the Tajurba Business Network continues to create a lasting impact.

As he shares his experiences and wisdom, it becomes clear that his vision for a thriving entrepreneurial community is not just aspirational, but achievable for those willing to take the leap.

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