PVSM, YSM, SM, VSM is a name to reckon with in the armed services. He is passionate about leadership and personal development. This talk was his 1001st. The General provides insights on the journey to achieving extraordinary outcomes.
The word horizon means different things to different people. Normally, when you start a project, you begin from where you are. My perspective is a little different. I’d like to start with the finished product. Let’s say a young cadet arrives at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) with a beard, tattoos, and an unstructured, undisciplined appearance. Do you see someone who won’t become a good officer, or do you see a great officer whom you have the ability to shape? That choice is yours.
When you see that person as a great officer, you work backward from there. You have 11 months, at the end of which the cadet must be ready to deliver in the most difficult circumstances. To reach the destination, the journey is crucial. My journey in the Army spanned 42 and half years, ending on the 30th of June 2024. I must admit, my transformation was quite rapid.
BREAK THE SHACKLES
Have you achieved the full potential you were born with? If not, I ask you, why not? Because we are all products of a system whether that system is good or bad. How many of us manage to break free from that system and realise our full potential? Across the horizon, in whatever you believe you can see, lie endless possibilities. We will discuss how to reach them. You must listen to the whisper in your ears. How many brilliant ideas have come to you, only to be forgotten? Perhaps you didn’t pay attention to the voice. That voice need not have been God’s; it could have been that of your driver, your PA, or a roadside vendor.
Our brain has a finite capacity for thought. It will reach out only so far, and no further. The brains of senior citizens or veterans who have done research may have a bit more capacity than that of youngsters. There is, however, a difference between the brain and the mind. It is the mind that holds us back from realising the full potential of our brain. The mind is subjective; it carries biases, prejudices, and past
According to forecasts, by 2070, India’s GDP will be a little over 52.5 trillion dollars. If that’s the projected future, what should we do today? We need to work, think, and act differently.
knowledge, limiting us from going beyond a certain point. Can you free your brain from the clutches of your mind? Technically, no one is holding us back. It’s not the system. We can blame the system, blame people, or blame things, but it’s ultimately up to us.
I THINK, I AM
The study of the brain is ancient. The study of the mind began around 1596. René Descartes, a famous doctor and philosopher, coined the phrase cogito ergo sum, meaning, “I think, therefore I am.” He argued that the mind is more powerful than the brain. In any conversation between the brain and the mind, the mind usually wins because it is the educated part. It knows how to balance risks and mitigate actions. It’s the mind that takes control, and it is the one that will act should an untoward incident occur. Therefore, it also cautions you.
If you can make the choice to free your mind, that is where invention or creation happens. New discoveries are made. Someone was dissatisfied with the pager, so they invented the cell phone. Then, someone wasn’t satisfied with the cell phone and wanted everything inside it. Today, the cell phone has replaced almost every other gadget at home from opening your door to switching on your refrigerator, ordering groceries on Amazon, measuring your vitals
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Growth Mindset is the belief that intelligence and ability can be developed. When you have a growth mindset, you embrace new challenges easily.
and sending them to the doctor, to ordering the medicines the doctor prescribes. Even in food, we see such variety today because we dared to think differently and do things that hadn't been done before. That’s how progress happens.
According to forecasts, by 2070, India’s GDP will be a little over 52.5 trillion dollars. If that’s the projected future, what should we do today? We need to work, think, and act differently. If we keep doing the same things, by 2070, we will still be at 6.5 trillion dollars. We must explore the depths of our minds.
CHALLENGE THE LIMITS
Beyond the horizon lies uncharted territory. Some of you have ventured into businesses where no one had done business before. My question: Is that the limit of the risks you can take, or can you go even bigger? The brain can keep learning, regenerating, and evolving. In just 30 seconds, you can learn something new. That’s what the science of neuroplasticity tells us. The brain forms new neural connections, doing things it has never done before. These thinking patterns are wired to creativity and innovation, the foundation of new discoveries. Can we improve something small that already exists? That’s innovation. In India, we call it jugaad. You can create a new process, product, or system.
We are still talking about putting a man on the moon; instead, let’s talk about building a new space station. There are only two space stations in the world. One is the International Space Station, which is old. The other is the Chinese Tiangong, which is relatively new but much smaller. Can we think of building a bigger space station? Think bigger and bigger you’ll at least reach halfway.
GROWTH MINDSET
A Growth Mindset is the belief that intelligence and ability can be developed. When you have a growth mindset, you embrace new challenges easily. If you don’t have a growth mindset, you’ll resist every change that’s suggested. To cultivate it, first stop using the word problem in any conversation. Replace it with challenge. The next step is to ask: One, for this challenge, give me five different solutions. Two, what would we normally do, and what would we not normally do? Listen to ideas that may seem outlandish or even stupid. Listening is critical. Allow people to ask questions.
Today, we are stuck in an educational system where it is punishable to ask questions. Countries grow through innovation. There has never been a shortage of brains. When you, as a leader, stand in front of your team and make a decision, are you willing to accept that there may be another way to do it? The day you do, you’ll allow people to think of new approaches.
One of those new ways will be the bright spark that changes your future. Otherwise, if it’s just about
following instructions, anyone can do it. Groupthink must be avoided. Leaders must listen to the softest voices on their teams, because great strength comes from a soft voice. We believe that unless we speak loudly, no one will hear us, but it’s a mistake to think that way. You don’t need a loud voice to speak sense or to speak truth to power.
Seek out diversity. Diverse groups produce better results than homogeneous ones. Hypothetically, if the United States had no immigrants and only Native Americans, it would not have grown as much as it has. The country has thrived on the diversity of perspectives. Similarly, within our own country, there are countless diversities. When you embrace diversity, you get different points of view.
Encourage experimentation. Experiments stimulate neural networks, and with experiments come failures. In the army, we value demonstrations of experiments. We embrace failure because it is the greatest teacher. No one asks Elon Musk how much he scored in science. Look at industries completely unrelated to yours, and you will find magic happening.
Practice mindfulness, reflection, and introspection. Ask yourself why you do what you do. Most people struggle to find the answer to this "why." When you search for the answer, your brain starts working, and your knowledge base grows. A brain without a knowledge base is useless. The brain needs the mind to explore because the mind is the foundation. One cannot function fully without the other; they work together, each enhancing the other.
I was watching a documentary on TV about some
rock formations in Peru. The entire landscape is filled with rocks rich in iron ore, giving them a red colour. A dynasty that existed 1,000 years ago left behind these formations, though the people themselves are long gone. They moved the rocks to create shapes lizards, condors, flying birds, animals, and even a man in a space suit. The closest resemblance today is a modern astronaut walking on the moon. The smallest of these drawings spans about four kilometres, meaning that from the ground, you cannot see the full diagram. The only way to view these drawings is from 300 feet in the air. How did they create such massive drawings?
There’s a genie inside each of us. How do we unleash that genie? The lamp is the mind, and the genie is the brain. Once you've answered the why, the next step is to take the first step. The first step is always the scariest. After that comes consistency. You must step out of your comfort zone and do things you’ve never done before. That’s how change happens.
Next is perseverance. You will fail, and there will be many failures. No failure should be big enough to stop you from pursuing excellence whether you’re baking a new dish, creating a movie, writing an essay, or exploring what lies beyond our solar system. Attitude is crucial. It includes recognising that others may be experts in their own right. Let go of negativity. There will always be people trying to hold you back. Ignore them.
You can’t achieve anything alone. Who built the scaffolding for Da Vinci to paint the Sistine Chapel? No doctor works without a team. Teams are essential, especially when you’re pursuing something uncharted. Change will happen you’re on the verge of making it
happen. Don’t worry whether what you’re doing is spectacularly big or just routine. Small, routine changes can add up to become spectacular transformations. Allow people to change, and be willing to change with them.
Your brain is an organ capable of independent thought. Don’t let it constantly be the victim of someone else’s ideas. Use others' thoughts and knowledge as a foundation, then free your brain to wander that’s where discoveries happen. That’s where spectacular changes occur. Encourage creative thinking and explore multiple ways to complete a task. Don’t criticise, condemn, or disrupt. Provide freedom, and creation will follow naturally. When you are too restrictive, creativity stops. Develop critical thinking.
BE RESILIENT AS TARDIGRADES
Tardigrades, also known as "water bears" or " moss piglets," are microscopic organisms famous for their incredible resilience. They can survive in extreme conditions. They can lose almost all their water content and enter a dormant phase. They can remain in this state for years decades even until they encounter more favourable conditions, at which point they rehydrate and resume activity. In 2007, they were sent to space and exposed to the vacuum and intense solar radiation. Remarkably, many of them survived and later reproduced, showcasing their adaptability to even the harshest environments.
When agriculture began, people became shorter and smaller because they stopped hunting and running. They stopped chasing animals, grew crops,
and ate them, leading to this physical change. That’s how we've evolved. Initially, humans had only three fingers. Then, as they started standing up and picking fruits from trees, two more fingers developed to ensure dexterity.
Challenge people. A great challenge revitalises a good teacher. If your teacher doesn’t want to be challenged by your knowledge, then that teacher may not be a good teacher. However, your argument must align with societal norms. It cannot be rude or impolite. You cannot insult, but there must be argument. I believe in taking argument to the point of dissent but only to that point. That's crucial.
Maintain perpetual optimism. Mumbai has done something remarkable. At one traffic light, they installed a decibel meter, which only turns green when the noise level drops essentially when people stop honking. The domino theory says one domino can knock over another domino that’s one and a half times larger. For example, if you set up a chain of 13 dominos in a certain order, the smallest one, just five millimetres high and one millimetre thick, can push over the largest one, weighing 100 pounds and standing more than a meter tall. That’s the power of the domino effect.
Extrapolating this experiment, if the smallest domino is two inches high, by the 18th domino, you could topple something as tall as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, by the 23rd, the Eiffel Tower, by the 31st, Mount Everest, and by the 57th, you could reach the moon. That’s the power of that first step.
The road may be hard and difficult, but we must
imagine the possibilities. I mentioned God whispering in your ear always carry a small notebook, like Marie Curie or Albert Einstein. Many great people carry notebooks because when inspiration strikes, you must capture it. If you don’t write it down, you risk forgetting it. Carry a notebook, a diary, or a recorder to note down your thoughts. When you finish your first book and move on to the second, write down whatever from the first book remains alive in your mind. By the time you reach your third book, you will have already acted on that idea from the first, and it will be well into production. This is the power of making notes and keeping track of what inspiration whispers to you.
LIVE THE DASH WITH PURPOSE AND LEAVE
On a headstone, you see two dates: the date of birth and the date of death. In between them is a dash. The first and last dates are not in our control, but the dash, the life in between, is. The entire story of your life is in that dash. How you travel this journey matters. Do it with dignity, with pride, and with joy. Make five, ten, or even twenty others happy today. Your actions will live on longer than your life.