The Dhirubhai Ambani’s Accountant

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani or more popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani was an Indian business magnate who founded the Reliance Industry. His journey from the small village in which he was born and did his initial schooling to the corporate world of Mumbai is a source of fascination to all those who want to create a unique place in this world. Unfortunately, there is not enough authentic detail about the small things that made him such a great man. 

Once I was talking with one of my senior colleagues. I don’t remember the exact context of how the conversation turned to this but he informed me that his maternal uncle (मामा जी) was one of the Munim or traditional Indian accountants of Dhirubhai Ambani. 

His uncle described how after completing his work at the refinery/factory, no matter how late it was, Dhirubhai Ambani always used to come to the office where the Munims or Accountants used to work. The munims/accountants used to sit in a long row, and one by one, Dhirubhai Ambani will go to each accountant and check thoroughly the daily accounts. He will not leave until every account book has been checked and verified. Sometimes, this task lasted as late as 3.00 AM in the morning. Surprisingly, no matter what time he had left at night, he was always back at his factory/refinery by 7.00 AM the next morning.

If you analyze these few simple sentences you will unearth the personal characteristics which no doubt contributed to Dhirubhai Ambani’s success and are worth emulating by anyone who wants to succeed in business and life.

No matter how late or tired he was from his day work, Dhirubhai always used to come to check the accounts. This shows his regularity and dedication to work and his physical capacity to put in long hours of work. 

He used to verify and check the accounts himself. This shows his mental stamina, a head for numbers and figures. You cannot hope to survive in a business world if you cannot understand and make sense of your business accounts, your cash flow, and expenses. You have to be an expert in number-crunching as they say.

There is no doubt that all his munims/accountants were men of high moral and ethical integrity but still, he checked the vast number of accounts himself instead of relying blindly on them. 

I had an acquaintance once who was in the financing and loan business. With an eye to expand his business, he opened a branch office in the opposite part of the city. He made his second in command as the chief of the branch office. Initially, he used to regularly visit the branch office and check the accounts, but slowly his supervisory visits become less frequent and stopped altogether.

After some months when he checked the accounts he was shocked to find that the branch office was running in loss. Using the opportunity provided by his absence and non-checking of the accounts book, his second in command had slowly diverted the profitable clients to a small firm he had started on the side, leaving only loss-making accounts in the branch office. But it was too late. The loss from the unsupervised branch office was so much that he had to sell his personal property to cover the losses and ended up working for others to make his ends meet. A riches to rags story.

Another thing, no matter how late it was, Dhirubhai never postponed his work to the next day. Finish your work the same day, even if the day has turned into the next day. If all of us just follow his one simple rule that I will not stop until I have finished the day’s work, the earth will be a much better place.

No matter how late he was in going back home, Dhirubhai was always back to work in the early morning. This shows his regularity and dedication to work. Another thing is his 7.00 AM early morning timing. There is enough research and studies to show that a large majority of the modern CEOs, business heads, have an early morning rising habit and start working at the time when the less successful people are getting up and having their morning tea/coffee. If you are really passionate about your work, you are more likely to get up and start working early. You don’t require your boss or HR department to force you to come early on time. 

I remember my days as a senior resident in AIIMS, New Delhi. The normal working timing of AIIMS was from 8.30 AM. On operation days the senior resident was required to take the ward round at around 7.00 AM so that the junior residents can finish their ward work and reach the operation theater before 8.30 AM. While going to the ward from the academic block 5th floor for the early ward round, I noticed that some of the surgery department faculty members were in their offices even before me and were already working or studying. These were the same faculty members who had created a name for themselves and AIIMS. Early morning working is the hallmark of achievers in both the business and the academic world.

I hope you will find these small things from Dhirubhai Ambani’s life inspiring and help you in your path of success.

— ND

(Based on allegedly true incident.)

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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to NMC and other Board norms.