RIP Prof. Bala

Its quite sad that I had to even choose this day to restart a blog that I had long forgotten.

Last year lost my aunt and uncle both of whom stood for humility and someone who served the society taking on huge institutions in the run of his life. A life well spent in serving others. Tutoring folks who were/ are transformational leaders in the spheres of their influence and beyond.

The year itself has been quite a bad one as many of the stalwarts who had taught us in schools left us into the ever beyond. A few weeks ago most of us were shocked with the demise of Prof. Swaminathan – an ex IIM-C, HUL alumnus turned Marketing guru.

Yesterday morning, the buzz on the phone brought another news that Padmashree Prof. Bala (BVB – fondly called by his ex-colleagues), a pioneer of activity based costing, the idea of a balanced scorecard and a founding member of many premier educational institutions in India was no more! Shocking it was as at 85, he was hale and hearty and even used to communicate frequently with the people who were in touch with him and his beloved student community.

He helped many aspiring management graduates in India find their path to success and mentored them in his own arena or beyond.

Studying in his school was a different experience. The energy he brought about to the entire community was beyond our thoughts. Sitting through his classes in Managerial Accounting and Strategic Cost and Profitability Management was an experience of a lifetime. Fond memories.

Probably the year spent in the B school under I his guidance, I rubbed shoulders with who’s who of the industry and even stalwarts like T N Seshan – the former election commissioner, Mr. Murthy, Shiv Shivakumar (who now heads Aditya Birla strategy), Mr. Premji and a host of others.

Anyway as I look back, still remember the lighter moments from his class the movement from customer satisfaction to customer nirvana – where he used to quip that Topline has become a vanity, the bottomline has no sanity, the only reality is a customer… so strive for customer satisfaction!

A poor score in accounting – he used to quip – a phenomenal accountant, not only manages accounts receivable but also manages account deceivables… Got it!!

Not only figures can lie, but liars can figure! (What??)

Sell it, or smell it

Those Colin Powell mailers (yeah!)

I doubt if the student community will ever hear these now!

He always suggested on taking the path of opportunity with careful experimentation. There, take the right path, taking the unethical path, at the end of your life – you will always regret and wish you had done differently.

His approach to life, with a positive attitude and lots of humility – with the stress that worrying is optional and planning is of paramount importance is a lesson to carry for life!

Anyway wish all these folks’ enthusiasm and exuberance in life rubs on at least for a short while in our lives and gets us to achieve something great for the larger good!