Rhapsodic

I got back from an Iftar hosted by my Alma Mater and the Kanoo Group a couple of hours ago.

I’ll be quite honest; I’m usually not very fond of events like this. AUS has had a series of Iftars for its alumni, sponsored by giants like Emirates Aluminum, Dana Gas, Al Habthoor Engineering etc. The general consensus amongst the people who go is that the hours are filled with standard corporate speeches interspersed with better than average food. Having been for just one of these Iftars before today, I expected this one to be the same. Instead, we got the reverse. We got Mishal Kanoo and chicken that tasted (and smelt) like it may have been cooked in the fish pan.

Disappointed with the main dishes, I turned my attention to sullenly texting Pravin (who’s galavanting in Goa) and mentally berating Kamran (friend and photographer/archivist at AUS) for sticking dad and me with this particular photography assignment. Yes, I AM an alumna but that wasn’t why I went. Did I fail to mention that? Anyway, I was lingering over tea and dessert (checking my watch all the while) when Mr. Kanoo took the microphone.

Now, the first thing that got my attention was that he doesn't hide behind the lectern. The second was that he didn’t talk down to us in patronizing manner that grown ups sometimes use while talking to idiots young adults. Nor did he read from notes; everything he said was off the top of his head. He was completely at ease with being in the spotlight and it was evident from his almost bouncy body language. It was impossible to ignore his enthusiasm, even if we had wanted to. We stopped eating and sat up straighter to listen. He turned out to be an absolutely engaging, compelling speaker and clearly a well read one. He spent roughly half an hour discussing family businesses starting from the reason they’re created to how they collapse (roughly around the 3rd generation) owing to lack of planning, a disconnect from the originator’s vision, lack of leadership and conflict management, and of course squabbles over inheritance and ownership. (Are you listening, Ambanis?)

Perhaps I should mention that his topic for the evening was one that I have grappled with since… well, the time I realized that many expected me to take over my dad’s studio. Kanoo’s examples were on a completely different scale compared to yours truly, but the tenets remain valid. If a family business is to survive beyond 3 generations, then meritocracy should (no pun intended) rule over nepotism. Not necessarily in terms of ownership, but in terms of management. Think the Bettencourt family.

Which brings me to dad. No, I’m not going to take over his studio. He doesn’t expect it of me either. Artistic talent cannot be manufactured, and he gets that better than anyone I know. When people ask me if I’m going inherit his business, my response usually is, “Sure, if I can somehow inherit a mere quart of his talent along with it.”

I don’t understand why some people, particularly, South Indians cannot understand that. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. Yes, it’s sad that when dad retires that’ll be the end of Hemlyn Studio. But it’d break his heart, and mine, to have one of his babies (because the studio is his 28 year old baby) run into the ground by one of his other babies.