My Celebration of the Life of Uncle Bala

Uncle Bala's life is his message. His simple message is that you must continuously reinvent yourself.

He was the best example of my Three Box Solution. For an organization, the Three-Box Solution describes the framework for managing actions in three time horizons at once: executing the present core business at peak efficiency (Box 1); taking steps to avoid the inhibiting traps of past success (Box 2); and inventing a future built on breakthrough ideas (Box 3).

Three Box Solution applies equally well for an individual. Unfortunately, most of us, once we taste success in Box 1, get trapped in the present. We mistake current success as validation of the past. So, we continue doing the same things the rest of our lives. Not Bala. He lived by the principle: What got me here won't get me there.

He was a distinguished scholar-teacher at the prestigious Kellogg School at Northwestern. He could have retired from Kellogg and that would be considered exceptional. Instead, at the age of 65, he started a Box 3 Idea, a new and innovative business school, Great Lakes Institute of Management. Starting a new business school is no piece of cake. The amount of work involved in institution building is enormous. It takes courage to do Box 3. Today, Great Lakes is a leading B-School in India.

Uncle Bala is my role model. He was a dreamer and a doer. India needs more like him. The world needs more like him.

Vijay Govindarajan