It was in 2008. I had assumed the role of Director, LNMIIT Jaipur at a rather young age with no experience of even attending a board meeting. I was nervous. I had heard stories. How one had to prepare really well for the board meeting. Every agenda item, I should understand every issue. It had to be drafted well. All aspects thought of. All data in the file. And yet, be ready for someone to ask frivolous and mischievous questions, just to score a point. You had to satisfy egos of some people.
Like for many other things, I went to the office of my predecessor. We hardly ever agreed on anything, but still I would always go to him to seek his views on everything. He told me that I will feel much worse after the board meeting. This was strange. Wouldn't I feel relieved after the meeting, with the stress gone. "No," he replied. You will enjoy the board meeting so much that you will feel that the meeting should have lasted forever, and you will look forward to the next board meeting.
I remembered then. A few months earlier, when I was considering whether to take up the job or not, I had called a friend to seek his advice. I had told him that if I were to become Director at an age of 43, and that too only for 2 years, and when I come back to IIT Kanpur, my research would suffer and to reduce the level of research at an age of 45 was too big a risk in academia. And he had told me that the chance to work with the likes of Mr. Vaghul, Mr. Jhawar and Mr. Mittal, does not come to everyone in one lifetime. And I had not understood it then. I thought I will have four board meetings in a year, of 2 hours each. Mr. Mittal would probably come for one of them from London. So 2 hours of meeting time with Mr. Mittal and 8 hours of meeting time with Mr. Vaghul and Mr. Jhawar in a year. What difference would it make. That is like 0.1 percent of time in a year.
Mr. N Vaghul chaired meetings in the absence of Mr. Lakshmi Mittal. He came the previous evening and we had a 2-hour meeting about board agenda and about the institute in general. I understood what support a board member can provide. Next day, the meeting happened. The room had so many sharp minds. Many questions, but followed by solutions. We could achieve so much in those two hours. It was absolutely thrilling. And indeed, the afternoon was rather depressing. Missed all of them. Indeed wished that the meeting had lasted forever.
We had 6 more meetings in my tenure. Every meeting, there would be some new agenda, agenda to help us march towards excellence. And when I was going back to IIT Kanpur after 2 years, they made me an offer. I could become a consultant to LNMIIT and charge a good fee, or I could become a board member. The choice was obvious. The 2 hours every quarter were very addictive. Indeed I considered access to board room and board members as part of the compensation package during my tenure as Director.
I wish all board meetings were like those. But unfortunately, one feels like one should seek to double the compensation if one is forced to go through those board meetings.
