The book is here : Page Eight

Page Eight

Chapter Zero

“Is that what they are teaching at business school these days? To walk away from
a shot at a few hundred million for seventy thousand after taxes”

You have never met Sarwar. Sarwar to friends, SM to partners and clients, Mr. Mushtaq to others. Direct, curt and to the point now, attentive and charming a few seconds later. You could predict high tides and phases of the moon, but you could never tell where you stood with him. Take an artist, throw in the right mix of eye, moods, controversy, awkwardness, conflict & color and you will have Sarwar. With an aura of mystique and a hint of mischief in his voice, he loved throwing challenges at unsuspecting audiences. The wiser walked away, the less unfortunate took the bait. I am not sure if it was wisdom, fortune or the absence of both that led to the conversation we had just finished. Looking back I know that the book that follows would never be written if either had prevailed.

The shot at a few hundred million was a business plan that had been written, tested and put aside. We had gotten a decent grade on the class project, which was the first warning sign. In a world of contrarian successes, anything more than a C, should be an immediate stamp of failure. In our infinite wisdom we had shelved it because every single member of the original team who had touched the plan had chosen certainty over ambition. Arno was off to CSFB in London, Ken to Hudson River Inlay, Kamar to BCG in Boston, Jun to Korea and Daniel to the public policy school down the street.

(to be continued)