One of the biggest dilemmas an employee, executive or an entrepreneur faces in real life, particularly in India, is – will I be able to survive and move ahead by being a good person. With the country’s ranking in ‘ease of doing business’ one of the worst at 142 in the world, and Transparency International’s ranking above 100, it appears it is very difficult for people in business or the professional
world to practice integrity.

Yet, Pavan Choudary has turned a crusader to convince people that it is possible for good people to succeed and has described a path that could lead them. He has demonstrated it in the way he has been running a company for 17 years that it is possible to grow rapidly by following best practices. Pavan is the CEO of Vygon India, a euro 250 million French medical and surgical products MNC, based in Delhi. He joined the company as a CEO when he was only 33 and continues to be its head as he touches 50 this year.

He is a prolific author and an engaging speaker. His most recent book has an interesting title – How A Good Person Can Really Win. His other books include: Machiavelli for Moral People, A Trilogy of Wisdom on Chanakya, Confucius and Kabir, When You are Sinking Become a Submarine and The Rx Factor. He co-authored two books – Broom & Groom and Uprising 2011 – Indians Against Corruption with Kiran Bedi and Lal Bahadur Shastri – Lessons in Leadership with Anil Shastri.

Beating the Unscrupulous
So, how can a regular person compete and win against those who are happy to bend and break all rules to get ahead? Pavan’s mantra is – “Through desire, hard work, differentiation and wisdom, you will succeed spectacularly. By combining wisdom and creativity a good man can beat the unscrupulous man. Character is a passport to success. Today’s world is not so much about competition but collaboration. If you have good character people will be happy to associate with you.”

He makes a very interesting differentiation between, what he calls are two types of creativity – Gray and Blue. Gray creativity is the regular creativity which is achieved through synthesis but Blue Creativity is what ‘you just pull it from universal intelligence.’ And Blue Creativity happens only when people are in
harmony with Nature.

About ego – the most powerful human condition that can either make or break a person’s career and life – Pavan says it should be worn like a raincoat – only when it is needed and should be tucked away most of the time. He says ego can be controlled or managed only with compassion. “Compassion gives birth to character. It is formed by unique interplay of forces – concern for self and concern for the other.”
www.pavanchoudary.in