Life, careers, the genuine way to live an ethically balanced existence, and the radioactive nature of nuclear fuel – all have very interesting similarities, according to renowned Dubai business consultant, Mr. Niranjan Gidwani, director and former CEO of Eros Group Dubai
Consider the very nature of nuclear fuel. Its value is at its peak when in an enriched state. Then it goes into a state called ‘half-life’ and begins to lose energy. After attaining this state, the decay of the nuclear fuel becomes exponential. Thus, at its half-life, much of its utility is over and it becomes what is known as ‘spent fuel’. At that state, it is an environmental liability, Mr. Gidwani said.
“Our life, our existence, and our careers are like enriched uranium. The tragedy, however, is that when we reach our half-life state, most of us do not notice the fact. Other people come to learn of it before we do,” he added.
Mr. Gidwani suggested that we first ask ourselves: What is the telltale sign that one is closing in on one’s half-life? The answer, he said, is inherent in the ability to answer another question: “What is new and different about myself that I can think of in the last six months that went by?”
“Now take the word ‘new’, and look at every other single word in the dictionary. If you prefix ‘new’ to any randomly picked word, the result will be a term that stands for a more progressed state. New manager. New friend. New movie. New learning. New skill. New city. New physical and mental health. New hobby. New car. New sport. Re-Newed ethics. We could go on and on. If we step back and periodically ask ourselves what was new in the last six months, a few of these ‘new things’ should jump out of the mind to indicate that we are still in a state of enrichment,” Mr. Gidwani said.
He said the covid and post-covid environment has shown us how millions of lives can turn upside down in a matter of days. How many of us have used this phase to make a conscious effort to de-clutter our thinking. How many of us have re-aligned ourselves towards more meaningful cause.
Mr. Gidwani said almost everyone, at a subconscious level, lives and exists with the belief that whatever new needs to be done, has to be done necessarily with our physical looks, our career re-skilling, material comforts, and generating returns on our financial and material assets. Not realizing that, the only asset that we truly possess to look after all our assets is our own existence.
Coming from a humble, middle-class, extremely value-based background, Gidwani is known for his vision, ability and expertise to build regional groups and organizations into brands.
He is a degree holder in Mechanical Engineering and has an MBA from the Symbiosis Institute of Management (SIM), Pune, India. He has also attended several top management courses at institutions such as the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, the Seven Habits program under Dr. Steven Covey and several others across the world.
Mr. Gidwani has over 38 years of senior management experience with a strong exposure to handling international business, out of these 38 years, he has had working stints in India, Hong Kong, Germany, Singapore and Dubai. Dubai has been the longest stint of 28 years.
