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Mr. Vallabh Bhanshali is a leading investment banker, investor, venture capitalist and Capital Markets expert in India. He is the co-founder and Chairman of ENAM group. He is a Trustee of the Bombay Stock Exchange and serves on various Committees of the Stock Exchange, SEBI and other bodies. A person with diversified interests, Mr. Bhanshali has lectured throughout his career and conducted professional level seminars in the behavioral field and published several articles in professional and other magazines.

Mr. Bhanshali is also famous for the role he played in helping Narayan Murthy in the IPO of Infosys, one of the pioneers in the Indian IT revolution. Today Infosys has a market capitalization of $54 Billion.

I had the opportunity to meet Mr Bhanshali here in U.S when he was visiting Silicon Valley, his humility and presence made an impression on all of us present at the event. Hence when I got an opportunity to seek wisdom from his talks, I am all ears and I am sharing my notes from his talk (link below) here. Hope this is helpful for you. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments or on twitter @harirama.

His Advice

#1 Developing good character

Discover the power given by nature to you and you can overcome the natural weakness

#2 Learn from History and experience of others both alive and dead

You learn from others experience on thing that go wrong and you learn what works for you from your experience.

If you read history and focus on what does not work… you can come up with a narrow model. – Marcus Cicero

#3  If you try and work inch by inch it is easier...

than trying to do all at once. you always overestimate what you can do in one day and underestimate what you can accomplish in a year

#4 Avoid distractions

specially with social media

#5 Cultivate “Humility” 

Begin with gratitude – Mr Bhanshali’s formula

We do not recognize the great power within us and fail to understand nothing we have including our breath is ours.
First recognition: I am nobody, without the help of so many factors and people you are no one

Gratitude: Once you understand your limitations and strength, you can work with passion on things that matter to you.

#6 Address the 5 reasons that prevents us from achieving our potential

1. Easy – We want it easy
2. Lazy – We don’t want to do what it takes
3. Copy – We follow the herd
4. Crazy – We do irrational things due to greed and desires
5. Proudy – Our Ego is our biggest enemy

#7 Mr. Bhanshali’s model for education and life long learning

Three parts to education

(1) Personal Development – healthy and resilient

(2) Being good citizen – Social justice

(3) Active citizen – Constructively Engage with Govt and nation building

#8  Mr. Bhanshali’s Book recommendations

• Thinking fast and slow,
• All I want to know where I am going to die
• Seeking wisdom from Darwin to Munger,
• Poor Charlie’s Almanac
• Vinodha Bhave on Geetha ,
• On Up on the Wall street,
• Tipping point
• Incentives.

#9 Mental models discussed in the talk

1. Margin of Safety
2. Critical Mass

#10 Qualities Mr. Bhanshali aspires for at this phase of his life

1. Good Food Habits
2. Be Bolder

Reference in the talk : Satya Vignana foundatin