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there's a pleasure to be here and thank
you for the invitation
I'll start with what I thought was a
appropriate for breaking barriers when I
was asked to speak about breaking
barriers the first thing that come to my
mind is this iconic shot Neil Armstrong
on the moon and the Apollo mission
stepping off the lunar module saying
first man on the moon saying one small
step for man one giant leap for mankind
and then it turns to Roger Bannister he
broke the barrier of the four-minute
mile and only in October I was watching
television and on there in Vienna was
this man running and Elliot keep Shirley
is the Kenyan long-distance runner 26.2
miles the marathon distance and he did
that under two hours broken the barrier
and it got me thinking you know these
great feats these people achieve they
set new standards they set new
benchmarks they prove the fact that
certain things can be done and these are
great achievements something that we can
be proud of something we can actually
use as in our everyday life to ste
inspire us and there's nothing that I
think off that we can't do not through
my life experiences and these people
achieved it they set the benchmarks have
set the standards than the proving but
these events they take place we may
witness them every 10 years once in a
lifetime maybe but what about the
everyday or about me you know after all
I don't have the mandate from the
President of the United States to build
a team to go to the moon I think my wife
would like me to go there but you know
you don't have these super athleticism
of a sprinter or a long-distance runner
and there must be many many other
problems are there many barriers and not
everything has to be a moonshot
not everything has to be a world record
their everyday things and it got me
thinking you know what about me what can
I learn from this what is it that takes
to do something exceptional something
more than the everyday like getting out
of bed I'm going to the work coming back
doing the routine things every day what
is it that makes people drive them and
there must be some commonalities what
can I learn from them what are the
requirements to as to achieve to do
something extraordinary something
different and sometimes it's a necessity
a necessity makes you do things that you
wouldn't normally do and I started
looking at the other in common points
here what is it that all these people
and great organizations driven by and
great people they achieve every single
day every single week and what is it
that they do what are the commonalities
and we look at breaking barriers there's
certain things I look at the common
denominators that makes this happen and
the first thing I found is that you need
vision you need to clearly define what
you want you need a vision and you need
that vision so clearing your mind it's
so focused that the only thing you can
see is that the only thing that the
Apollo mission saw was going to moon the
only thing that any cryptokey saw was
breaking the two-hour mark the only
thing roger bannister saw was breaking
the four mile barrier the four-minute
barrier and that vision was his tilt so
the next thing they needed was the
belief can I do this the people behind
it they needed me convinced and they can
only do that if they themselves are
convinced their needs that deep belief
it had to flow through their blood they
had to flow through the veins they
needed to breathe it they needed live it
and
doing that that belief translates
through other people who come along and
they also support you they believe in
your vision and that belief then this we
turn to dedication
you need to be totally dedicated in what
you do you need every single waking
minute sleeping you need to live that
life you need to actually strain every
sinew in your body every pumping beat in
your heart you need that dedication it
could be undying nobody can strike your
way from it now whatever happens you're
going to do it you're gonna achieve that
and the next thing is that the people
around you need to believe that you need
people to support you you need people
with you without that you're nowhere
whether it's your family whether your
work colleagues or whether it's your
bank that's supporting you it's any kind
of institution the wider community it
has to be accepted and you need to be
able to collaborate with people and
those people who would not normally
collaborate with you not even be in your
industry they may come along with a
different idea they may come along with
something else and if we look at all
this team collaboration people doing it
for hundred thousand people working on
the Apollo program 20 thousand different
companies thousands of universities it
was a total collaboration no one single
person can do it no matter how good you
are so you need people you need teams
the teams of people behind a lead
capture key the people who research the
ideal temperature for him to running the
place the time difference from Kenya of
to Vienna the timing that all the people
that were supporting him up front
everything had to be coordinated and
then you need to practice you need to do
something you need to do it day in and
day out you need to do it again and
again and again and with that you get
the experience and experience I found is
something here that you will pay for you
can't buy it
you cannot buy it if you went to
somewhere and say please could you give
me experience for doing this and it's
still it in yourself
you can't do it you've got to go through
the pain you've got to make the mistakes
and those mistakes series of mistakes
because that's what experience is it's
the serious mistakes you find a way how
not to do something you keep finding
away how not to do something keep
finding away I had not Lizzie but I
found that I learned a lot I learned a
lot in this that that experience will
stand you and that's why you keep doing
the same thing here repeating it until
you perfect it and then you improve upon
that and timing timing is crucial when
they took off for the for the Apollo
mission it had to be timed at a
political time a particular place you
need to be at a particular place to do
the right thing at the right time you
tried to do it at the wrong time it
won't work although all your
preparations in place everything is out
is there the timing is crucial timing
for Elliot to be in Vienna there was
timing when the car in front of him were
projecting beams on the front and he had
to be in perfect time he had to keep 2
minutes and 50 seconds per kilometer
timing for everything down to the
nanosecond and if you've got the timing
right and you got the vision they got
the belief he got the dedication he got
the team sport
you got the practice he got the perfect
you the experience you perfected it the
timing is absolutely crucial and when
you've done that you can repeat it again
you can do it in a different experience
what you've done here you can translate
elsewhere now how does this relate to me
I look at it and I thought about the
bigger problems
maybe the barriers I went from the
Punjab region at the age of 10 four days
short in August 1969 and I was there
used to the hot weather and Punjab used
to the Punjabi language used to Punjabi
food use the Punjabi culture
and I've done my I was in the fourth
grade at school and I'd learned in those
days you know to write on the slate and
what we had no computers no books etc
and I've lived it in a strange country
the weather was different
the food was different the culture was
different the language is different and
I didn't know where I was what was timid
but we were there and one thing I
noticed what we there was the fact that
I had to adapt I had to change necessity
was going to be the mother of invention
I had to do these things and that for me
was a way to learn and the way to adapt
and the way I got my experiences the
first experience I got was going with my
father three months into school junior
school he frog-marched me over snowy icy
pavements five miles and he took me to a
place where somebody he found out had a
Hasker cell and he asked me to interpret
it for him
he said we want to buy this house and I
said Papa I don't know in English he
said you been to school for three months
and somehow we managed to communicate
somehow with gestation or otherwise we
ended up buying that house and we ended
up being there the guy given me the back
our members clearly had chillings in my
hands ill-equipped tight shoes only a
jumper on icy winds and the pain was
excruciating and those are learnings for
me and I knew that we were there then
and there was no choice but to move
forward the house had bare minimums
floorboards which ain't vogue now but
the whim then once a week we had a bath
water wandering a water bucket you know
and that's was fire once a week to try
and keep you warm out of the bath we
lived in cold conditions slept in one
bed but I knew that we had to break this
it was a poverty
and what did together with my brother we
got a milk round he was seven I was ten
we persuaded this guy somehow he gives
him a tract and we get up at four
o'clock in the morning before going to
school
and we do the milk ran then go to school
all day come back and then you know we
will glad to be out it can be honest
because it was better conditions than
home it was called and we get to school
but the Milgram's soon look because the
police patrolling one day decided that
they were too young to do this but not
to be deterred knowing where my target
was knowing where I was going knowing
that we had to do this I found myself a
paper round delivering newspapers so in
the morning before school I get up hour
and a half delivering newspapers 17
stories open two o'clock blah flat
sometimes the lift works sometimes
didn't and go around three miles and
delivering newspapers but he brought his
money in the evening after school on
Saturday morning Saturday evening on
Sunday mornings and this is a lot so I
got myself a bike with a little buddy
many that are saved and I was truly
myself for and these my experiences I
knew what my vision was if to break that
poverty and I had a belief that I could
do it
I had that dedication to do it and I got
my brother enrolled as my team
collaborator you know and we went round
and we perfected the route of living in
these papers to maximize it to minimize
their time and this went on until such
time as we got ourselves a part-time job
that part-time job involved doing such a
job and this board is more money and
what I was finding though going to
school was the fact that my English
wasn't very good my color was different
and I wasn't really accepted but one
thing I found I had a strength luckily
in India the math is one language
worldwide and I learnt it quite well and
I was quite advanced and some
self-taught and I used to do the
homework for other kids and there was an
acceptance so
we did this and we built on it we built
on it and built on it to a point where
we've got our own business we built it
into the largest Porsche dealership in
Europe and 10 years later after that in
10 years ago came back to India again a
different culture a different language
at Reeder nor ever again and now we have
a system where the entire RT o--'s are
digitized every single vehicle is
digitized in India there's efficiency
there's accuracy there's a system that
everybody can use there's business lead
intelligence the decisions and I think
the the end result is that if you really
want to if you really want to if the
desire is there you can really do
whatever you put your mind to you can do
it
I've done it and I promise you anybody
here if they dedicate themselves if they
team up with people collaborate with
people and they can do it you can break
those barriers you have it inside you
I'm a living proof of it
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