Using the power of passion to advance

When something gets done with passion, it means that the person does it with the greatest dedication and commitment. It also means that the person gives more than one hundred percent and makes it appear that he/she was/is the benchmark for all others to follow, at any given point in time.

Passion has a great reason to be celebrated in business too. It all takes the will to understand the exact needs of customers, get the chemistry right, and then deliver. When this happens, the organization prospers and the entire society stands up and takes notice.

This can possibly be illustrated with a number of examples from India, where I work and live. We can also draw a number of lessons, and extrapolate such lessons to form a sort of a baseline for all to adopt and advance.

Chennai is India’s fourth largest metropolis. It is often called the Gateway of South India. Some fifteen years ago, there was no single good vegetarian restaurant in this city. This gave birth to one Mr. Rajagopal, who came from a small village from the Southern tip of the Tamil Nadu State (Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu. He understood that if he brought in the best quality raw materials, and the best cooks from his own native place, he can simply make money.

The passion with which he made money in those days, is still discussed. He scouted for specific places where he could get the best quality raw material, and all the South Indian dishes were prepared under close supervision. Since the quality was so good, his small restaurant started bringing him record profits. He opened a few more in different parts of the city, and today, there are more than sixteen of them in Chennai city alone. Not content with being confined to Tamil Nadu, he has gone as far as New Delhi, the capital of India, and hs made history there too. Yes, the food sold in Saravana Bhavan is very costly, but one can always rest assured that he/she would never fall sick at any point in time. The customer service is good, the quality is excellent, and the most important point is the passion with which the entire chain makes money.

Today, Saravana Bhavan has a presence in New York, Canada, Malaysia,Singapore and a few other countries as well. Though there are franchises that run these restaurants,the same quality is maintained in each one of the outlets, and the standard of business excellence has attracted many a B-school graduate to understand the nitty-gritty of understanding what it takes to operate