Many people said this book is good, so wanted to read it, but I never cared to ask what was in the book. I started with the feeling that it could be one more boring autobiography. When I finished the book, I had a complete different feeling.
What a legacy Scientist/Engineer/Leader/Poet/President of India/Padma Bhushan/Padma Vibhushan/Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam has left! Just count the number of decorations conferred up on him. A small town boy who started from Rameswaram, conquered the world with his Satellite Launch Vehicles and Missile systems. People like him, mentored and groomed by legends like Prof. Sarabhai put India on the forefront of technological advances, made her self-reliant and pushed towards the league of developed countries.
If you would take this as some boring scientist’s autobiography, you will be totally mistaken. The journey from the sand beaches of Rameswaram, to successfully test firing five different missile systems that India can be proud of, if not more, is amazing. With limited resources and only dreams and hopes, these men of excellent character changed the tech scene in India. This book also has sound management principles which helped the scientific community to stay apart and ahead from the otherwise terrible bureaucracy of Indian government organizations, are also applicable to today’s enterprises. And I am positively surprised how the government managed to keep the scientific institutions away from the complex politics of India and allowed them to make solid progress. The INC party sucks today, but there were legends in the past who laid solid foundation to building the “young” nation, by establishing IITs, universities and other research institutes.
It’s amazing how he kept the scientific community upbeat even at experiencing big failures:
The country doesn’t deserve anything less than success from us. Let us aim for success.
And how he inspired young engineers:
A big shot is a little shot who keeps on shooting, so keep trying.
Essential leadership lessons:
The collective understanding of the problem is the main attribute of effective leadership.
A good plan violently executed right now is far better than a perfect plan executed next week.
What a great man and what a great contribution he had made to build the nation! He rightfully earned all his positions/titles. And yet a humble human being.
I closely follow the Indian space program and missile program as the SHAR rocket launching center is hardly a hundred miles from my hometown. I was always fascinated, as a child, by pictures the majestic SLVs displayed in newspapers the next day after a successful launch, with the five letters “I N D I A”. That only said to me, this nation is less to none, so are you. And now I know how that was possible.
I’m very happy I read this book, I learned a lot from this book!
