Lesson from Delhi Metro

Key Thought:

Best practices can be found in the most unlikely places, because it’s not the place, people or culture that makes the difference, it’s the leader. Time and time again, I have seen this validated.

The article in question profile Delhi Metro’s MD Elattuvalapil Sreedharan. His claim to fame in the article - ‘finish building the initial $2.3 billion subway system in 2005 under budget and almost three years ahead of schedule.’

Summaries:

- weekly inspection of expansion, solve problems on the spot

- deeply spiritual man, meditate every day, does yoga and walks at least 45 minutes in the evening

- plaque in his office quotes from the Indian scripture Yog Vashist: “Work I do; not that ‘I’ do it.”

- More than 800,000 people use Delhi Metro each day, and it remains clean and punctual, with 99.9% of all trains running on time since it began operating (eat your heart out, KTM!)

- digital clocks that counts down to the days before the next line must be completed are found throughout Delhi Metro’s offices and construction sites

- it’s one of the few subway systems in the world that is operationally profitable without government subsidies

My Thoughts:

Just the above few points tickle the imagination. What’s going on here? We see intensity, passion, detailed minded, relentless focus on the goal, manage efficiently and effectively. It’s also balanced with personal development (spiritually). There’s no doubt a lot of the achievement is due to the leader himself. Look at it simplistically, it would seem it’s reachable for most people to achieve what he had achieved, it’s a matter of execution.

Reference: Delhi’s Subway Is Cheap—and Early, by Amy Yee, Forbes Asia, May 11, 2009, pg26-27.