Reading unlocks doors for SAWO Labs founder
Prabhat Sahu learnt from 'Shoe Dog' to not look for better employees - simplify the job
By Maleeva Rebello, ET Bureau | Updated:
Agencies
Prabhat Sahu - Founder, SAWO Labs is a fan of biographies and memoirs. He told ET Panache, "My lockdown reading list apart from a bazillion work documentations has been taken over by biographies. I’ve been reading a variety of books and they stand out for me in different ways. The last book I read which left a remarkable impact on me was 'Shoe Dog' by Phil Knight."
Sahu says he learnt from 'Shoe Dog' to not look for better employees - simplify the job. "Everybody says they can’t find an employee who cares about the company like they do and that finding good people is the key to success. You will never find anyone who cares as much as you do. You have to simplify the job and give normal people the ability to thrive so you don’t need a unicorn to scale your business," he shared.
He used to make a lot of time to read before but as of now, he spends approximately an hour, everyday to read - religiously.
Reading biographies for Sahu is all about perspective. "Reading unlocks doors for me, shows me how the strings can be untangled, and clears blocks in my thought process and helps me make decisions faster. I could be reading about history, about the Silk Route or even about shoes - reading helps me achieve a clarity that enhances how I experience the world as well as my life," he says.
Being in the SaaS enterprise, all Sahu's time is screen time. "Be it coding, taking decisions for virtual teams, pitches, customer success or more - everything is digital. Reading physical books therefore is not my escape from the digital world but a reintroduction to a newer world and myself. It is tangible and tactile, something that one is often deprived of in this industry. Physical books seem more personal to me and I would prefer them any day over e-books," he ended.
Sahu says he learnt from 'Shoe Dog' to not look for better employees - simplify the job. "Everybody says they can’t find an employee who cares about the company like they do and that finding good people is the key to success. You will never find anyone who cares as much as you do. You have to simplify the job and give normal people the ability to thrive so you don’t need a unicorn to scale your business," he shared.
He used to make a lot of time to read before but as of now, he spends approximately an hour, everyday to read - religiously.
Reading biographies for Sahu is all about perspective. "Reading unlocks doors for me, shows me how the strings can be untangled, and clears blocks in my thought process and helps me make decisions faster. I could be reading about history, about the Silk Route or even about shoes - reading helps me achieve a clarity that enhances how I experience the world as well as my life," he says.
Being in the SaaS enterprise, all Sahu's time is screen time. "Be it coding, taking decisions for virtual teams, pitches, customer success or more - everything is digital. Reading physical books therefore is not my escape from the digital world but a reintroduction to a newer world and myself. It is tangible and tactile, something that one is often deprived of in this industry. Physical books seem more personal to me and I would prefer them any day over e-books," he ended.
You know those fat books that have forever been on your reading list and shelf, but end up collecting dust due to your busy schedule. There's no time like the present to go back and finish those long reads.
The lockdown has left many of us with more time on our hands than we'd like, so why not make the most of it and turn the pages of a worthwhile read.
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