The Teresa Principles
Love is a fruit in season at all times,
and within reach of every hand.
MOTHER TERESA
RUMA'S STORY: My love for Mother Teresa began when I was a little child living in a small town outside of Montreal. My mom told me bedtime stories about this saint living in Calcutta. Each story held a lesson on the importance of faith and gratitude, service and love. Every night I looked forward to hearing the continued adventures of this “super angel.” One very cold evening, I saw an old man going through our garbage, and I didn't understand why. My mom explained that some people were not as fortunate as we were. I felt an overwhelming sense of unfairness, so I decided to write Mother Teresa a letter asking her what I could do. A few months later, I received a letter back. She told me the poor are wonderful people. She told me to pray for peace and love for the oldman, and to smile at him. “The more you smile and love your neighbors, the more love will spread.” That letter had a profound impact on me.
Although my family was Hindu, I later graduated from the Sacred Heart School for Girls and studied at a Catholic college, all while living with two thousand nuns at the Mother House of the Grey Nuns in Montreal. Those sisters who truly loved and lived their faith inspired me and became true examples of living your passion. I kept quotes from Mother Teresa in my school agenda to inspire me daily, and she was often the topic of my high school and college essays. I was inspired by acts of service and helping others. They made me feel valued. At the time, I had a heart filled with love for others, yet very little for myself. I had my own personal struggles, and it seemed so much easier to channel the pain of growing up into doing charitable work and being idealistic. Life at nineteen, after a year of college, felt overwhelming. I was filled with both disillusionment and idealism. The desire to escape and the seduction of saving the world were calling me. So I did the only thing I knew how: I fled. I packed my bags and took a trip to India with an open heart and a rebellious mind to “find myself.” I went to Calcutta to meet Mother Teresa.
After a thirty-hour journey halfway across the world, I made my way to 54A A.J.C. Bose Road to the Convent of the Missionaries of Charity. As I drove past the slums and poverty that defined the lives of so many in this city, I felt a sense of peace within it all. When I arrived at the motherhouse, I was summoned into a small room with a simple table in the middle. I could smell the humidity from the monsoons permeating the wood. As I heard footsteps in the corridor, butterflies began to stir within me.
The moment Mother entered the room, I realized why people described her presence as a life-changing experience. She may have been all of four feet eleven, but her incredible spiritual glow radiated through her being. I suddenly felt naked, with all my imperfections exposed. My vulnerability rendered me speechless. This is the closest I've ever come to an out-of-body experience. She felt like God. As she saw my overwhelmed expression, she smiled and said, “What is your name?” And there began my relationship with Mother Teresa in Calcutta.
Fifteen years later, I found myself at a similar juncture—disillusioned by my experience with the corporate world, yet still believing in the idealism of my youth. I had done many interesting things, from international marketing to international banking. I was well educated, with an MBA. Most people would have said I was a successful professional. Yet I felt I was living an empty lie. So I started looking for my new recipe for success. As I began exploring and studying different theories and models and speaking to mentors to look for inspiration, I became introspective and looked into my past. As the searching got deeper, I gained a different perspective and developed a different lens through which to evaluate my life. This brought tremendous clarity on the impact of my year with Mother Teresa.
At the end of my time with her, she gave me her greatest personal gift. When I went to say good-bye, she enveloped my hand in hers and looked deeply at me with those luminous brown eyes. She spoke softly and had a wonderful way of making you feel like the most important person in the world. “We all have a purpose in life,” she told me. “Some people are born to make a difference to one person, and some people are born to make a difference to their families or their countries.” Then she pressed her hands more tightly onto mine. “You, Ruma, are meant to make a difference to the world. Go find your vehicle, and don't give up.”
Wow! I was so afraid of those words and the empowerment they gave me. How could I translate them into something meaningful for myself and the world? I couldn't imagine that someone like me could possibly make an impact on the world. I was left speechless, but her message kept reminding me that I did have a purpose, and that if I took the time to explore it, it could manifest as something profound, transformative, and much greater than I was. The ingredients for success were always in my own experience, waiting to be discovered.
That time finally arrived a decade and a half later. A fire ignited in my soul, and I dared to dream again. I embraced the empowerment this time and decided that my vehicle was to start my own company in an industry that served those who were forgotten. I applied all the lessons learned from Mother Teresa and cofounded a floor-finishing company in the janitorial services industry. This began a new journey filled with passion, impact, and purpose. Everyone thought I was crazy—janitorial services? But for me, it was about what 80 percent gross margins could do for people if some of those profits were redistributed to workers. It was about valuing employees in an industry where no one did, and providing them with training and benefits and profit sharing. With passion and determination, my cofounders and I built a team and grew our operations to two hundred people and twenty-three offices nationally. My biggest rewards were watching people begin to believe in themselves and seeing people's standard of living improve. At last I understood what Mother Teresa was saying. Like many startup stories that begin with great success, the ending was less favorable than we had expected. We lost sight of the principles and vision that drove us to start the company in the first place. I spent many years reflecting on that journey, so as to avoid repeating similar management mistakes in the future. The lessons I learned through this process were a gift to me, they impacted me tremendously and helped me in my future business career.
So why this book?
Almost twenty years after my time with Mother Teresa (where did the time go?), I was conversing over pasta with a small group of people, including Richard Murphy, then the editor of Fortune Small Business. He asked me about my background and what inspired me. My time with Mother Teresa was such a profound and meaningful experience, one cherished so deep in my heart, that I didn't often bring it up in conversation. It was very private, something I could not share until the time was right. That time was between the salad and the ravioli on June 16, 2009. Richard asked me, “What was Mother Teresa's leadership style like?” That question ultimately led me to write this book with my mentor, Lou Faust. Completing the book has proved to be an important part of my purpose. So, thank you, Richard, for shifting my lens to view Mother Teresa from a leadership perspective, which allowed this wonderful story to emerge and be shared.
LOU'S STORY: I was working late one night when my telephone suddenly interrupted me. Before I could finish saying hello, an excited voice yelled out, “Lou! Lou! You'll never believe the conversation I had today! I was at lunch with the editor of Fortune Small Business and…” I don't think she stopped to take a breath before she ended with, “He asked me if I'd be interested in writing an article on the management secrets of Mother Teresa! Can you believe that?” It was clear to me in that moment that a great idea had been born. I let her finish her story and catch her breath, and with a smile, I said, “Ruma, don't write the article. Write the book.”
“Really? A book? That's a great idea! But I don't know the first thing about writing a book! Well, if I write this book, then you have to write this book with me. Deal?”
Her enthusiasm was so contagious that I didn't realize what I was signing up for when I said “Yes.” But almost two years later, I'm glad I did. The result of that conversation is the book you are holding.
I have more than thirty years of business experience, including ten on Wall Street at Salomon Brothers. I've worked in New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, and many places in between. I have held management positions in large companies and have made my own photocopies in start-ups. I've been the CEO of three institutionally funded companies. I only wish I had had the leadership principles you are about to learn when I started my career. They would have made my life and the lives of the people I was trying to lead a whole lot easier and better!
This book will give you a leadership framework that you can use every day as you confront the challenges you face, both personal and professional. When you commit to these principles and apply them consistently, they will make a positive difference in your life and to your organization.
This book is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of how Mother Teresa ran the Missionaries of Charity. That is a very different book and one we will leave for others. Instead, it is built around simple stories that we hope will inspire you and demonstrate the eight leadership principles that led Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity to build one of the most successful organizations in the world.
You, the reader, will now have the opportunity to hear the story that Ruma shared for many hours at lunch that fateful afternoon in answer to the question, “What was Mother Teresa's leadership style like?”
Enjoy the journey.
