September 4, 2011

Tips for Entrepreneurs from Lagaan

There are several movies that the corporate people look upon to gain insights in terms of management and leadership lessons. One such movie is Lagan: Once Upon a Time in India. This Bollywood movie was made in 2001. Set in the Victorian period of India's colonial British Raj, the story revolves around the peasants from a barren village who are oppressed by high taxes imposed by their rulers who accepts to relive the villagers from the tax if they win a cricket match against them. Bhuvan, a young villager, accepts the challenge and creates a team who wins the match against the British. The skill through which Bhuvan manages to win the match is an excellent exemplar for the entrepreneurs into learning several lessons to be successful in their venture. Many B-Schools including IIM's have taken the movie for research and case study.

Risk Taker

What can \'Lagaan\' Teach Entrepreneurs

The character of Bhuvan in the movie is that of a risk taker, responsible, confident, encouraging and supportive. These characters are an intrinsic must for any manager. The villagers were unable to pay tax due to drought and were exploited by the British. This gave him the idea to challenge them in a cricket match and getting exempted from the lagaan levied on them. Such risk-taking and out of the box thinking is required for every new venture or a startup.

Define Your Goal

What can \'Lagaan\' Teach Entrepreneurs

Dreaming high is not enough; you need to define your goal too. Bhuvan not only accepted the challenge to play cricket that meant exemption from tax for three years, but he chalked out a strategic plan of action to win the match. He involved such people in framing the plan whose involvement was of tremendous importance in winning the match.

Startups and entrepreneurs should also follow the same policy and involve important role players of their team in framing competitive strategies for achieving the defined goal

Create Team Spirit

What can \'Lagaan\' Teach Entrepreneurs

Bhuvan would never have succeeded in his challenge if he could not have created some team spirit and co-operation among the villagers to form a cricket team. Despite of being ignorant about the rules and ways to play cricket, Bhuvan always sparked his team with his saying of not fearing but only believing in self. He put a clear vision of the only way of getting exempted from paying tax was to win the match that played a key role in boosting the spirit of the team to work hard to accomplish their goal. His team teaches us how important the will power and determination, and unity and focus on common goal in winning a game can be.

Fighting Spirit

What can \'Lagaan\' Teach Entrepreneurs

Accept the challenge and be open-minded towards opportunities of learning. Bhuvan's idea of cricket match had a terrible start, as the concept of cricket was new to the villagers. But, with the help of Elizabeth, he formed a strong team to play against the British team who were the master of the game. A startup needs such enthusiasm and zeal to learn to achieve your goal even if you do not know anything about a topic. Be open to learn from any source available and keep your spirit alive to achieve your goal.

Team building

What can \'Lagaan\' Teach Entrepreneurs

Team plays an important role in the success and failure of an organization. One needs to select the right people who understand your goal and keep them motivated. Bhuvan too followed the same principal. He selected his team players who have distinguished and special characters. Even the time when he wanted to take in an untouchable in his team, the other team members opposed him and even refused to play the game. But, he convinced his team by making them understand the pressure points that they were facing and how helpful the untouchable was for their success.

The way he goes about building his team members is a perfect corporate lesson. The companies expect their recruitment managers to identify the hidden talents that others cannot see.

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