Sanjay Dwivedi CEO, Spectranet Ltd

Sanjay Dwivedi swears by the 80:20 rule. The chief executive officer of Spectranet Ltd believes that everything, absolutely everything, in life comes in that kind of ratio. So while he?s pretty sure there?s 80 per cent success waiting for him, he?s also braced himself for the possibility of 20 per cent failure.

?More than the joy of winning, I hate failure. Winning is a journey. After it happens, it?s over. You move on,? says Dwivedi. He?s held more jobs in his 40-something life than he can remember. And a very wide assortment of them too. Dwivedi has washed dishes for McDonald?s, flipped pizzas and burgers, dabbled in real estate and run a state-of-the-art nursing home in the UK.

Now, as CEO of Spectranet, he is making sure it becomes one of India?s premier broadband convergence services projects. Earlier, while giving directions to reach the office building, he had said it was a beige colour with ?Spectranet, think broad? written in ?large, friendly letters?. Inside the office, it?s as friendly.

The office has a very soothing effect, with bright colours and potted plants giving it a very happy touch, despite rooms full of cables, and servers lining the corridors. Later, he tells you that he understands quite a bit of Feng Shui, which he learnt for three months during his real estate days. ?It?s not about the laughing Buddhas and plastic doves. The entire concept of Feng Shui is about environmental compliance and improving the conditions in which you work and live,? he explains.

The fact that the office has the feel of a happy place is due to Feng Shui, the real kind, he says. It must have worked, because in the past two years, Dwivedi has radically improved the condition of the company. He was working as a chartered accountant in the outsourcing arm of financial consulting firm Deloitte & Touche in the UK, when he decided to come back to India. Dwivedi had grown up in the UK and everyone he knew told him it was not a wise decision.

?Right now, everyone?s coming back. In 2000, it was considered foolish,? he says. But he came, nevertheless, after living for 20 years in the UK and three in the US. Dwivedi joined Spectranet as executive director (corporate). Two years later, he became its chief marketing officer and then, was promoted to CEO. Dwivedi went to school with one of the Punj brothers, who own the company.

?He is the managing director of the company. When I became CEO in 2002, the dotcom bust had happened, and the value of the company had shrunk considerably. But he and I worked together and brought the company around,? he says.

Within 15 months of Dwivedi?s CEO-dom, Spectranet had returned to being a profitable enterprise. But that was because, even as a youngster, he knew what worked and what didn?t. For example, when studying to be a chartered accountant in a south-west London college, instead of going in for the standard accountancy course, he decided to take up a commercial accounting course. This dealt a lot with business and taxes and helped him understand business economics very rapidly. Then, during his schooldays, he says he was always the guy at the back of the class who cracked jokes, and the sports hero. But when it came to his final exams, he gave his best shot, and finished third in class. ?I was ahead of so many others who studied a lot harder than me,? he says. But he attributes that to his British bulldog mentality that he owes to his upbringing in the UK.

?You have to keep your core values in mind. Those in my team who stick to the truth and make a solid effort in whatever they do earn my respect,? says Dwivedi, who doesn?t mince words when it comes to getting the job done. In his spacious office at the Okhla in New Delhi, he and his team work diligently, perseverance being his motto. He even has a framed picture with the word prominently displayed in his office. Just like he has the book, The Spirit Of Lagaan, for all to see.

?I tell my team to believe that they have a 80 per cent chance of success, and that should be good enough,? he explains. ?You should always know what it takes to be happy.? Dwivedi surely does. Even though, like his company, he believes in thinking large.