“Hello, main Krishnan bol raha hoon!”
(Hello, this is Krishnan speaking)
That’s how my father would start his 4 AM calls with his team, every single morning. His voice would echo through the house, almost like an alarm clock, signaling the start of a day filled with purpose.
These calls weren’t casual. They were status meetings — gathering updates on wagons being loaded with iron ore, tracking the size of the ores, tonnage produced, wagons dispatched, and equipment breakdowns.
I must have been about 7 years old, half-asleep yet strangely fascinated by this early morning ritual.
After the calls, he’d take me along to the local dairy. He always insisted on arriving before the milk was drawn, carefully ensuring the milkman didn’t have a chance to dilute it. Quality mattered to him — whether it was iron ore or a simple bottle of milk.
At that age, I didn’t understand why he was so particular, so systematic. It seemed excessive.
It’s only much later, when I started working myself, that I realized the truth — being systematic isn’t just about being organized; it’s about leadership.
Today, even though I try, I know I may never match the precision and discipline he lived by. But the values he demonstrated have stayed with me.
Systematic people are upfront.
Systematic people are leaders.
In all walks of life.
Author: Raghuraman Kadambi
Image credit – AI Generated