Dhirubhai Ambani: The Indian business icon

He was the founder of Reliance industries. Dhirubhai Ambani changed the stream of Indian industries. He was the pioneer and hero of this success story. He changed the investment scenario of India and surely the shape of Indian stock market. Dhiru bhai Ambani is an Indian business icon and gem of the gems.. He is a man rags to riches. He was undoubtedly the most talented businessman of his time. He amazed the world with his success stories. He became a celebrity in India and overseas. What are the secrets of his amazing growth? What made him Dhirubhai Ambani? How he became an industrial tycoon, a global conglomerate? Why are people in India, The US, The UK, EU, Canada and elsewhere in the world his fan?

Mr Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002):Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani (1932- 2002) was an exceptional human being and an outstanding leader. He was man far ahead of his times; he had a great entrepreneurial spirit. He dared to dream on a scale unimaginable before, in Indian industry. His life and achievements prove that, backed by confidence, courage and conviction, man can achieve the impossible. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. From a humble beginning, he went on to create an enviable business empire within a span of just 25 years. Reliance Group is a living testimony to his will power, single-minded dedication and an unrelenting commitment to his goals. Under Dhirubhai Ambanis visionary leadership, the Reliance Group emerged as the largest business conglomerate in India, and carved out a distinct place for itself in the global corporate giants. The Group's track record of consistent growth is unparalleled in Indian industry and perhaps internationally too. Today, the Group's turnover represents nearly 3 percent of India's GDP. Shri Dhirubhai Ambani was not just firmly rooted in traditional Indian values, but was also a modern man. This was reflected in his passion for megasized projects, the most advanced technology and the highest level of productivity. Dhirubhai Ambani is remembered for shaping India's equity culture, attracting millions of retail investors in a market which were dominated by financial institutions in the 1980s. He revolutionised capital markets in India. From nothing, he generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who invested in his companies. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly became a favourite of the stock market in the 1980s. Indian Heroes His corporate philosophy was short, simple - "Think big. Think differently. Think fast. Think ahead. Aim for the best". He inspired the Reliance team to do better than the best - not only in India but in the world. Prestigious awards and titles were awarded to him by national and international organisations. He was acclaimed as the top businessman of the twentieth century and lauded for his dynamic, pioneering and innovative genius.

Brief History:
He was born on 28th December 1932 at Chorwad, in Gujrat, India. He was born into a poor family and his father was a teacher in a school. He is said to have started his entrepreneurial career by selling "pakora (Indian fast food snack)" to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends. When he was 16 years old, he moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked as a dispatch clerk with A. Besse & Co. Two years later A. Besse & Co. became the distributors for Shell products and Dhirubhai was promoted to manage the companys oil-filling station at the port of Aden. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani returned to India in 1958 and started the Reliance Commercial Corporation with a capital of Rs. 15,000.00. The primary business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and export spices. This company is now Reliance Industries Limited and is India's largest private sector company on fortune 500 list with a turnover of US $28 billion and profit of US $2.033 billion for the fiscal year ending in March 2006. Reliance Industries Limited has a wide range of products from petroleum products, petrochemicals, to garments (under the brand name of Vimal). Leadership Lessons from Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani:Leadership as an Art Mr. Dhirubhai never took leadership lessons in school or college, nor did he learn any leadership skills. He was not an MBA. He developed his own style. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani never followed the textbook style of management. Instead, he evolved a unique style, which combined the American style of entrepreneurship, with the Japanese focus on the latest technology. And to this, he added the innate shrewdness of a Gujarati businessman. He learnt leadership from practice and hands on experience, as well inter-personal exploration and development. He was a Charismatic and Transformational Leader:His approach to business was very different. His moves made people write new theory in the Indian stock exchange. He came up with the innovative idea of converting the debentures of the company into equity shares. By doing this he converted all his liabilities. The share prices of his company went up and investors made money through him. He is the person who influenced 1000s of people to invest in the share market , his seed has grown up to 3 million people, Reliance is the company having the highest number of share holders in the world. Source BBC NEWS. He was able to convince people of rural Gujarat that being shareholders of his company will only bring returns to their investment. Reliance Industries holds the distinction that- it is the only Public Limited Company whose several Annual General Meetings were held in stadiums.--Source BBC News. He believed in new technology, innovative products, and new ways to manage people and get things done. Few lessons from his leadership style are:Roll up your sleeves and help (Team player):According to Ambani he and his team share the same DNA. Reliance, during the time of Vimal's (Reliance Textile- was known as the brand Vimal) initial days had organized a fashion show at the Convention Hall, at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi. Every seat in the hall was occupied, and there were an equal number of impatient guests outside the hall, waiting to be seated. The management was trying hard to handle the confusion, chaos and protests, when to everyones amazement and relief; Dhirubhai Ambani went to the door trying to pacify the

guests. Dhirubhai at that time was already a name to reckon with and a VIP himself, but that did not stop him from rolling up his sleeves and diving in to rescue a situation that had gone out of control. Most leaders in his place would have gone home in their expensive cars and would have delegated this task to their managers. Not Dhirubhai Ambani. When things went wrong, he was the first person to sense that the circumstances would have been beyond his team's control, and not being a slip on their part. He trusted his teams capabilities. His first instinct was always to join his men in putting out the fire and not crucifying them for it. Be a safety net for your team (He empowered his managers):There was a time when Reliance agency Mudra was the target of some vicious propaganda by few managers in the top management, when on an almost daily basis business ethics were put on trial. The managers, who followed business ethics, never raised this subject during any of their meetings with Dhirubhai because they were hesitant to raise this issue. But one day, he gently asked one of the managers if he needed any help in combating it. That did it. That was all the help that the manager needed in combating corruption. Overwhelmed by his concern and compassion and the knowledge that he knew and cared for what they were going through, and that he was there for them and for the right cause, worked wonders for their confidence. Managers went back fully armed to face whatever came their way. By letting them know that he was always aware of it and that he was on right side through it all, this gave them courage, they never thought, they had. Be a silent benefactor (He was humble, caring, generous and kind):This was one of his remarkable traits. When Dhirubhai Ambani helped someone, he never uttered a word about it to anyone else. There are many employees and managers who have come across his kindness and generosity, yet he never went around broadcasting it. He never used charity as a platform to gain publicity. Sometimes, he would donate money without even letting the recipient know who the donor was. Such was the extent of his generosity. Dream with open eyes (His visions were real):He is a living proof that whoever dreams big and has the courage to fulfil it, than nothing is impossible. Whenever people working under him or with him tried to point out that a task seemed too big to be accomplished, he would say: No is no answer! He not only dreamt big, he taught us to do so too. Whenever things seemed difficult, he used to say "It's difficult but not impossible!" He dreamt big, but he was able to distinguish between perception and reality and his favourite phrase "dream with your eyes open" proves that. He would never let preset norms, laws or policies govern his vision. He worked hard, night and day familiarizing himself with every element that constituted his dreams. He studied every thorn that came his way and between his visions, and made sure it was eradicated. This is how, as he puts it, even though he dreamed, none of his dreams turned into nightmares. And he achieved one dream after another. His arm around the shoulder (His motivation technique):This is Dhirubhai Ambanis very own signature style. Whenever he had time to speak to employee of the company in person, or if it was a conversation for a short walk till up to his car, he would instantly put his arm around the persons shoulder and proceed to discuss the issues at hand as they walked. With this simple gesture, he managed to achieve many things. He would put the person at ease instantaneously. He will make them feel

equal, someone who was loved and important enough to be close to him. And employees would walk away from that meeting feeling good about themselves and the work that they were doing, and highly motivated. He was always encouraging people to share their thoughts and ideas. Yes, this was one of the things that was uniquely Dhirubhai his warm arm around the shoulder of the employees did much more than words in letting every employee know that he belonged to the company, that he had trust in him. Always stay ahead of times (Foresight):Mr. Ambani was not an economist. He was born poor, was from a conservative society of India. But his ideas were modern. At a time in 1970s and 80s other industrialist in India would invest in capacities only after a careful study of market, he had the vision, courage and risk to invest in gigantic plants and manufacturing units that would supply more than the required demand. The initial capacity of Reliance textile plant was 10,000 tonnes of Polyester Fibre way back in 1980, while the market in India for it was only about 6,000 tonnes. He had the ability and the foresight to judge the scenarios. The result was that the market blossomed to absorb supply, the consumer gained due to reduced prices and they demanded more. Soon Dhirubhai started exporting Polyester yarn to the U.S. He had an uncanny knack of knowing exactly how the market is going to behave and stayed ahead of times. Believe in being the best, success and money will follow (He believed in Quality):This was his belief and Dhirubhai lived by it. For instance, when he was setting up Reliance Textile he briefed the marketing head clearly: Produce the best textile advertising in the country. He did not breathe a word about profits, nor about cost of such advertising. Great advertising was his goal. He did not dream of making profits as the end result of advertising. His instruction and goal were simple, produce the best advertisement the country has ever seen. So work toward a goal and dont worry about the by product or the end-result. Success in attaining that goal will eventually bring in cash. If we work towards creating a name for our self and earning a good reputation, then money/profit will be the end result. People will pay our product or service if it is good. Risk Taker (He was decisive, courageous and non conformist):He was known for his risk taking ability. Normally, in management we say Never put all the eggs in one basket. However, he had so much belief in his ability and decisions that he invested his entire earning to purchase huge stock of Polyester Yarn when he started his new business. Everyone around him advised him that it was wrong decision to invest so much money in Polyester; however he was stubborn and knew what he was doing. This decision made him a billionaire today. Great leaders take risk and they believe in their ability. 6.0 Conclusion:Mr. Dhirubhai never took leadership lessons in school or college, nor did he learn any leadership skills. He developed his own style. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani never followed the textbook style of management. Instead, he evolved a unique style, which combined the American style of entrepreneurship, with the Japanese focus on the latest technology. And to this, he added the innate shrewdness of a Gujarati businessman. He learnt leadership from practice and hands on experience, as well inter-personal exploration and development. His leadership was an Art and he practiced this art with perfection. People have written books on his management style and he is looked upon as a GURU of Management in India. He created his own style of leadership and management, which other follow even today; this clearly establishes the relationship between Leaders and followers. He was a transformational leader and influenced everyone who worked with him. He has provided many budding entrepreneurs hope and inspiration. We have learned from Mr. Dhirubhai that if we have a goal and the will power to achieve it, then nothing is impossible

Business secrets of Dhirubhai Ambani

He used some secrets throughout his life-time to become a business tycoon. Some of them are as follow: Business Secret No. 1: Gather information, whatever it may be. Gather information about Governments be local, state, central or international. Gather information about products, companies, consumers, markets, people, services, politics and any thing, just anything and everything. Do not forget to get information of your competitors. Dhirubhai Ambani had mastered this secret. It was in his practice to gather information about anything and every thing. He used to gather information, analyzed and processed those. He was also able to find opportunities out of those news and information. He was also quick to disburse those information to his sub-ordinates when and where required. One of my friends, Prof. M.L. Sisodia, a senior professor of physics and research scholar once told me a story about Dhirubhai Ambani. The story shows his extra ordinary ability in gathering information. Mr. Sisodia had undergone a bye-pass surgery after a heart attack. Just after few days of his surgery his son was called on for an interview with Dhirubhai Ambani. Dhirubhai wanted him for a senior position in his company. The very first question Dhirubhai Ambani asked him was " How is your father". This instance alone is enough to describes his capability of information gathering. We have to remember that it was not an Internet age. Business Secret No. 2: Find an opportunity. He always endeavor to analyze whatever information are gathered. He used to do that to convert information into an opportunity, a profit making opportunity. According to him, " There is no invitation for making profits". You have to find it. He always searched for news and information, a news or information that can earn him profit. Business Secret No. 3: Jump from an orbit to the next. No matter where you are. Just work there. Master that place or situation. Accumulate some energy and jump into another orbit, a higher one. Stay there some time. control that orbit. Master it and again jump to another higher level, the next orbit. This is the way to success at faster pace. Dhirubhai did it many times. He did it life long. Caution: Do not jump from one orbit to another in hurry before mastering the present orbit. It could be proved dangerous. Do it patiently. Business Secret No. 4: Complete projects on time. Thrive to do it before the scheduled time. He and his sons completed all their projects on time, mostly before time. However big the projects were, they completed those timely. No matter how much disturbance or hurdles came in their way. Dhirubhai Ambani and his sons Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani derived some techniques to do so. They kept close eyes on their projects to monitor them effectively.

Vision: Dhirubhai Ambani More business secrets of Dhirubhai Ambani

Business secret No. 5: Think big. Think global. He thought global much before the globalization took place. Most of the Indian companies were not doing well in the global scenario at his time. Most of the Indian companies were not acting with global standards. He made world class projects and world class factories. No body in India could even think about that in his time. Business Secret No. 6: Hire the best people. Pay them well. Dhirubhai Ambani was able to employ the best people, top ranking masters of their respective fields. He was the best pay master of his time. He never compromised in Quality and timeliness. Only those top ranking masters could make it possible. Human resource is the best resource, according to him. Business Secret No. 7: Pay share holders well. He paid his share holders the best. His ambitious projects had hunger for capital. He required huge amount of money at that time to make his dreams true. Bankers and financiers were failed to assume his capabilities. They were reluctant and not agreed to fund those big projects. Funding his projects was risky in their eyes. Dhirubhai Ambani went to his share holders as he recognized them the best source to funding his ambitious projects. He went to his shareholders and asked money from them. The shareholders jumped out to fund his projects. He paid handsome to his shareholders in return. What he paid no body could even imagine. Shareholders trusted on Dhirubhai Ambani and they were rewarded for their trust. He realized the fact that the share holders can not be satisfied with dividends only that was the trend at that time. He knew the value of capital appreciation. He paid bonus, gave rights issues to his share holders in addition to regular dividends. He went beyond the expectations of his investors. Even he went to the extent of challenging the law. Once he converted a non-convertible debentures into shares. Share holders got enormous profit, but it was against the law. He fought against that law and the government was compelled to change it. Dhirubhai Ambani had highest number of shareholders with him in his time. He boosted market capitalization of BSE. He brought millions of share holders under his umbrella, many of them were first time in the stock market.

Who resembles Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance industries and follow his secrets of business?

Mukesh Ambani Anil Ambani None of them

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The world number one in wealth

Dhirubhai Ambani followed these secret techniques of business through out his lifetime. He was not much interested in the books or magazines about management. Rather he left those for his subordinates, his managers. He had an appetite, a never ending hunger for news. He had given some ideas which are the Business Mantras indeed. One who follow these..... are at the doorstep of success. A recent Bollywood movie "Guru" has depicted his life. These are some secrets of a pioneer. Starting from a lower level employee of a gas filling station, he became an industrial giant, a global conglomerate. His name was included in the list of Fortune 500. He could manage an yearly revenue of $ 78 billions in his life time. No Indian industrialist could achieve that level up to that time. His ambition was not ended with that. He was dreaming of World No.1. He could not achieve that because of his untimely death. However, it has been achieved through the Reliance industries that he founded. Dhirubhai Ambani is world No.1 today, though after his death. The assets of Mukesh and Anil ambani ( Both sons of Dhirubhai Ambani, between whom his assets were distributed ) together has crossed Bil Gates of Microsoft corporation.

"Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you can dream it, you can do it."

Dhirubhai H. Ambani Founder Chairman Reliance Group December 28, 1932 - July 6, 2002 Dhirubhai Ambani founded Reliance as a textile company and led its evolution as a global leader in the materials and energy value chain businesses. He is credited to have brought about the equity cult in India in the late seventies and is regarded as an icon for enterprise in India. He epitomized the spirit 'dare to dream and learn to excel'. The Reliance Group is a living testimony to his indomitable will, single-minded dedication and an unrelenting commitment to his goals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KXu5rZRF-U Biography of Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance Industries (1932 -2002) Is it a rag to riches story, the story of Dhirubhai Ambani ? In fact it was a not-even-a-rag to super riches one. A Gujarati boy from a poverty-stricken family, trying to sell sweetmeats outside the temple, finding the job of a helper in a petrol filling station, a petty clerk in a small business shop And this was the beginning of Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani, more popular as Dhirubhai Ambani, whose Reliance Group of Industries brought about a great revolution in the industrial and economic spheres of India, marking an asset of around Rs.90,000 Crores at the time of his death. And his business empire covered not only textiles from which he began his conquest, but areas like petro-chemicals, energy and telecom. It is not the whole story. Ambani's Reliance Industries popularized the world of share market among Indians. He changed the face of sports too, by dragging the Cricket for the World Cup out of England and made it the most commercialized and popular sport in India. But his dramatic movement was pushing the Tatas and Birlas, India's traditional greats, backwards in India's trade, commerce and industry. This he achieved with his astuteness, capacity to work hard and industriousness. He was chosen as one of the tallest 500 businessmen in the world of 20th century. Chorwad, a backward hamlet in Gujarat, was where Ambani was born in 1932 in a poor family. When he was 17, he managed to reach Yemen, an oil-rich country, in search of a living. He found a job there as a helper in a petrol filling station, then as a clerk and thus made some money enough to return to India. In 1958, he set up a small business firm which he named 'Reliance Commercial Corporation'. And that was the beginning of the formation of one of the noted business empire in the world. He began with exporting spices and importing polyester fibre. In 1966 he founded a textile mill near Ahmedabad and afterwards he never had to look back. In 1977 he entered the stock market and the brand name 'Reliance' attracted the attention everywhere. 1980s were the golden period of the Ambani empire. Dhirubhai Ambani breathed his last in 2002, leaving the vast empire to his sons, Mukesh and Anil.