Conviction — Your Best Guide on the tough road to Success
“We led with our conviction rather than rational, because rational said it was impossible.” — Daniel Ek
Bill Walsh is considered amongst the greatest coaches in American Football History. He was particularly known for helping San Francisco 49ers win Super bowl (annual American Football tournament championship) three times. In his first year after taking on the role of the Head Coach of the then languishing San Francisco 49ers team, he won two games and lost fourteen. In his second year, when his team lost to Miami Dolphins, their tournament record stood at three wins but eight consecutive losses. Bill went through an emotional meltdown immediately on their flight back after losing to the Dolphins. Bill had no way of knowing and no reason for believing that from that point on, they would start a legendary turnaround. He relied heavily on what he called “standards of performance” in affecting this turnaround. His conviction that success would ensue was based on his belief in the power of his framework and process for imbibing excellence in every aspect of his team — from play tactics and strategies to support regimen.
“With the power of conviction, there is no sacrifice.” — Pat Benatar
Consider the following pieces of information:
Amazon
Over the last 20 years, Amazon stock went down by over 30% in a (calendar) month once.
In the same period, Amazon stock went down between 20% and 30% in five (calendar) months.
Bajaj Finance
Over the last 20 years, Bajaj Finance stock went down by over 30% in three (calendar) months.
In the same period, Bajaj Finance stock went down between 20% and 30% in three (calendar) months.
How many investors would have weathered these drawdowns and still stuck with these stocks? Not many. The very few who had conviction in the prospects of these companies were rewarded super handsomely. Amazon stock grew by 17,423% and Bajaj Finance by 1,62,647% in these 20 years.
When uncertainty is limited or your decision has little scope for being tested, the end results are usually ordinary. Great accomplishments are made on the back of decisions in the face of limited information. Gandhi could not have been 100% sure that “non-violent” agitation against the militant British will lead to freedom.
“The man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.” — Malcolm X
I do not consider myself an expert on conviction (much less anything at all). But I certainly have benefitted materially from conviction in the past. Although I do not work in a corporate set up anymore, I did have a 25-year corporate career before my current vocation. Through a good portion of that long career (about 18–19 years), I did not accomplish much externally — I did OK, I had an OK title growth and I earned reasonable salary but experienced very little internal growth. However, in the last five to six years of my career, I grew well — both internally and externally. When I look back, I can characterize the “hapless” phase of my career as one where I had no particular internal strength — my views were heavily influenced by people and circumstances around me. However, by the latter phase of “real” career growth, I developed a rounded intuition of what may work and what may not — particularly in the context of my own personality quirks. I used my circumstances as a sandbox to experiment and finetune this intuition. This led to the development of strong internal conviction that informed and guided my actions.
“The only faith that wears well and holds its color in all weathers is that which is woven of conviction and set with the sharp mordant of experience.” — James Russell Lowell
In global organizations with complex organizational structures, progress comes relatively easy by being slippery in one’s alignments but I’m not built to operate this way. I believed that so long as I made decisions that created value to my organization — even if they may not tactically support my seniors in their immediate goals — my seniors will eventually come around in supporting me. In the end, this did work out well for me but on day-to-day basis I had to contend with a lot of doubt.
Bottomline
“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” — Muhammad Ali
Extraordinary accomplishments entail making decisions in the face of uncertainty and then sticking to the decisions even when the tide seems to turn against you. This is particularly tricky because there is never a guarantee that your decision will yield the intended results. The best you can aim for is a good chance or high likelihood of success. So, what will be the basis on which you will stick to your path particularly when your progress is tested. The most potent force that aids you in such circumstances is “conviction”.
***************************
Thanks for taking time to read this. In this newsletter, I share my learnings that could help you improve your decisions and make meaningful progress on your goals and desires. I share stuff that I have personally experienced or experimented with. If you find this newsletter worthwhile, please do share it with others — of course, only if you do not mind it.
A bit on my background
I worked in India and the USA with most of my work experience with large global organizations. My last corporate role was the Head of Technology for “Treasury and Trade Management Solutions” for Citigroup South Asia cluster. At Citi, I set up from my Business Unit and grew it from a team size of 1 to over 1900 Citi employees in a span of eight years.
I quit Citi in 2021 to focus exclusively on my interest area of improving decision making. In the last 2 years, I studied this topic closely and developed a training course to systematically improve decision making ability. I’m also an Investment Advisor (RIA) registered with the Securities and the Exchange Board of India (SEBI). As an RIA, I analyze and prepare financial plans to help people achieve their financial goals.
I have done MBA in Strategy and Finance from Carlson School of Management at University of Minnesota and B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
Follow me on LinkedIn by clicking here
