Mr Dipak Biswas : My Ex Boss in Ames, Iowa, USA.

I would like to tell a bit about my boss when I worked in Iowa State University Memorial Union, Catering Department, Ames, Iowa State, USA. He is an Indian guy and live in Montreal Canada. He left his wife alone in Montreal, Canada to work in USA. He is a funny guy and hard-working kind of guy. He was driving an old car to his rent house somewhere in Ames, I forgot the name of the street. We helped each other out when we faced problems. I helped him to fix his old computer to run again. He is a humble manager. He lives like a student. He only bought a thing that he really needed to buy.

One day, he organized a camping with his staffs. We had bbq and lunch in park in Ames. We really had fun.

I went back to Indonesia for good in year of 2000. After that, I lost contact with him for several years. I tried to search and found him to be Catering Director in Reimand Garden, ISU. I was so happy he got his career way up. After years, I searched again in google and found Dipak Biswas opens his own Indian cuisine restaurant, Indian Delights, 127 Dotson Drive, Ames.

I am so glad he takes very brave action to be one of the entrepreneur. He got out of his very cozy box as Director to be Chef for his own restaurant and to be a server for his guests.

As always, every business is a service business. He treats every one of his guests / customer to be one of his family. He treats them very well and serve them with his own calm and passionate heart.

Good Luck Dipak, hope your restaurant will be known nation-wide even has franchised all over the world. You can take action and get out of the box, not just sitting on the Director’s chair.

 

For the complete story, please read the article below is written by one of writer Iowa State Daily Newspaper. Iowa State Daily newspaper is owned by Iowa State University and read by thousands of students and people in Ames.

 

 

 

Posted: Sunday, October 11, 2009 12:00 am | Updated: 3:24 pm, Mon Apr 12, 2010.
Source : Iowa State Daily

http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/business/article_da8e943a-1433-5775-87d8-2bc2aa3f008f.html

By Kyle Peterson — Daily Staff Writer

If he hadn’t had a mustache as a young man, Dipak Biswas wouldn’t be the owner of Indian Delights, 127 Dotson Drive. In fact, if he hadn’t had a mustache, he probably wouldn’t be anywhere near Ames today.

Raised in Calcutta, Biswas initially wanted to move to Germany in order to be near friends, and found work in a hotel in Cologne.

“At that time, I had a mustache, and they said ‘you have to cut your mustache off,’” Biswas said.

“I said ‘no, I’m not going to Germany any more.’”

So, instead, he went to Brussels, Belgium, working first as a waiter and then moving to the kitchen. From there he moved to Paris to study French, where he worked in hotels and met his wife.

When they grew tired of France, the pair moved to Montreal, where Biswas worked in the kitchen of a Hilton Hotel.

Finally, they moved to Ames in 1993, at the suggestion of a friend who was living here.

But that almost didn’t work out, either.

“When I came here, I applied for ISU, and I didn’t find a job, so I went to Kansas,” Biswas said.

Finally, he got a call back from the catering department of Memorial Union, where he eventually worked for several years.

After getting a graduate degree in interdisciplinary studies and working as the catering director at Reiman Gardens, Biswas decided to branch out on his own.

“I have always been in food and beverage industry,” Biswas said. “I thought that we really need a good restaurant here.”

But as he transitioned from a university job to a small business owner, Biswas kept the connections he has made with Iowa State and now nearly all of his employees at the restaurant are students.

“I’m so happy that they are helping me because I have always worked with ISU students,” Biswas said.

“They are great, great kids.”

Along the way, he has taught several of them how to cook the recipes on the restaurant’s menu and shown them how to operate the business.

“It’s practically run by ISU students,” Biswas said. “You don’t need to have Indian people to be a chef — you can run this place as Indian.”

For their part, the students who work for him get the opportunity to put their skills to use.

Mark Purk, senior in management, has been working at the restaurant since it opened, and said the small, entrepreneurial environment has allowed him to test concepts he has learned in class.

“If I want to do a couple different management techniques … then they give me the opportunity to do that,” Purk said.

In all, the student help adds a diverse set of skills to the restaurant’s staff.

“Some of them have graphic design majors, some of them are advertising majors, some of them have business management majors, so they are also helping me to promote the place in any way they can,” Biswas said.

The strategy, he said, is for students to “learn and earn at the same time.”

“They have developed menus, they have developed takeout menus, they have put us on Facebook, they are working on a Web site,” Biswas said.

So far, the students’ work seems to be paying off. Biswas said, since opening on Sept. 19, business has been steady.

“We were very busy the first week,” Biswas said. “It has cooled down a little bit, but we are very busy on weekends.”

Hopefully in the future, students’ work will pay off in another way — through the skills they’ve developed while at the restaurant.

“I’m looking to someday start my own business,” Purk said.

“I can learn a lot by watching what they do and how they’re handing their problems.”

And the restaurant is giving Purk a little taste of internationalism, too.

“Before I worked here, I hadn’t even had Indian food before,” Purk said. “It’s a new experience for me.”

Karyawan Bermental Pengusaha, Pengusaha Berjiwa Karyawan

Grow with Character! (15/100) Series by Hermawan Kartajaya di jawapos tanggal 03 Februari 2010
Karyawan Bermental Pengusaha, Pengusaha Berjiwa Karyawan

SATU hal yang saya lihat konsisten pada diri Pak Ciputra sejak dulu sampai sekarang ialah entrepreneurship. Beliau percaya bahwa inilah yang akan membawa Indonesia maju. Tanpa entrepreneurship, sebuah negara tidak akan maju.

Menurut Pak Ciputra, paling tidak lima persen penduduk sebuah negara haruslah berjiwa pengusaha. Jadi pengusaha sungguhan atau tetap bekerja pada orang lain, tapi punya jiwa pengusaha. Buat saya, kalau Anda karyawan tapi menganggap perusahaan tempat Anda bekerja sebagai perusahaan sendiri, dampaknya akan lain. Bukan cuma pada perusahaannya, tapi terutama pada diri sendiri. Itu yang kurang disadari orang.

Banyak yang berpikir bahwa dia merasa “rugi” kalau menganggap perusahaan tempat dia bekerja kayak perusahaan sendiri. “Kok enak..rugi dong aku…nanti aja kalau aku sudah punya perusahaan sendiri, baru begitu…” Itu alasan orang yang gak mau jadi intrapreneur.

Pak Ci “mengajarkan” kepada saya bahwa orang seperti itu rugi sendiri. Tidak memanfaatkan kesempatan yang ada. Memang, harus diakui, tidak semua perusahaan memberikan kesempatan kepada Anda seperti itu. Harus diakui, susah juga kalau Anda bekerja di divisi produksi, operasi, atau administrasi yang rutin.

Tugasnya hanya melakukan sesuatu menurut SOP (standar operasi prosedur), bahkan tidak boleh berinovasi sedikit pun. Tapi, bila ada bos seperti Pak Ciputra yang selalu “menantang” karyawannya untuk mempunyai jiwa entrepreneurship di perusahaannya, rugi besar kalau tidak diambil.

John Kao adalah bekas profesor di Harvard Business School yang juga produsen film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. Dia melakukan survei entrepreneurship dan menemukan bedanya dengan profesional murni.

Katanya, ada tiga yang paling utama. Pertama, seorang entrepreneur pintar melihat peluang atau opportunity. Sedangkan, seorang profesional lebih suka melihat sisi threat atau ancaman dari suatu situasi.

Situasinya bisa sama, tapi yang satu dilihat sisi positifnya, sedangkan yang satu dari sisi negatifnya.

Tahu cerita orang yang dikirim bosnya untuk survei sepatu di suatu pulau? Ketika balik ke bos yang minta dia survei, si karyawan mengatakan bahwa di sana tidak ada peluang. Kenapa? Di pulau itu tidak ada orang pakai sepatu. Semuanya masih pakai sandal.

Buat si bos, kata “masih” itu jadi peluang untuk ngajarin mereka pakai sepatu. Jadi, peluangnya sangat besar! Sedangkan, si karyawan yang tidak punya jiwa entrepreneurship bilang begitu karena melihat ancaman. Ancaman untuk sebuah tugas jualan sepatu di situ. Maunya cuma jual sepatu di tempat yang orangnya sudah pakai sepatu, tapi banyak saingan!

Tempat seperti itu buat si bos justru ancaman. Jadi, beda kan cara melihat suatu situasi yang sama? Kedua, seorang profesional yang “berhasil” melihat peluang minta semuanya safe. Tidak mau ambil risiko.

Balik ke cerita tadi, walaupun dia mengerti bahwa pulau tersebut adalah peluang, si karyawan minta jaminan bahwa dia akan berhasil jualan sepatu di situ. Mana ada jaminan seperti itu. Si bos, sebaliknya, sudah melihat cara “ngajari” orang-orang di situ untuk pakai sepatu. Dia juga sudah membayangkan berapa besar effort dan cost yang harus dikeluarkan pada tahap awal. Selanjutnya, dia juga sudah membayangkan cost-benefit analysis yang harus dihitung.

Si bos mau ambil risiko dengan perhitungan. Dia juga siap menjadi risk taker dengan persiapan exit strategy kalau gagal supaya tidak rugi secara besar-besaran. Sedangkan, si Karyawan sama sekali gak mau ambil risiko, bahkan menghindarinya. Risk averter!

Dia juga tidak mencoba mencari cara-cara kreatif untuk membuat peluang tadi jadi kenyataan. Menunggu ada SOP-nya…”Kan saya anak buah, kan saya karyawan, kan saya orang gajian….” Dan seterusnya!

Para profesional sering hanya pintar bikin alasan dan defensif kalau ditanyain. Tidak berani menerima challenge. Sedangkan, seorang entrepreneur berani melakukan sesuatu tindakan nyata dengan perhitungan.

Ketiga, sesudah bisa melihat peluang dan menghitung risiko serta mengambil keputusan, masih ada satu lagi yang penting. Yakinkan orang lain, libatkan orang lain, ajak orang lain untuk dapat modal, dapat dukungan, maupun dapat talenta yang bagus.

Seorang profesional yang tidak punya jiwa entrepreneurship tidak berani mengajak orang lain. Takut salah, takut ditolak, dan takut dimarahin orang. Inilah “penyakit” orang yang begitu. Karena itu, banyak pengusaha kecil yang cuma bisa marah-marah pada pemerintah. Minta pelatihan, minta modal, minta bimbingan, bahkan minta bisnis! “Masak saya pengusaha lokal dan kecil tidak (dibantu) memenangkan tender!” Begitu keluhannya.

Seorang entrepeneur sejati -apakah dia sudah jadi pengusaha atau malah tetap jadi karyawan- jarang mengeluh! Tapi, mereka selalu berusaha “menjual idenya” kepada orang lain karena dia yakin bahwa idenya bagus !

Nah, sekarang Anda tahu kan? Ada karyawan yang bermental “pengusaha”. Sebaliknya, ada yang sudah mendirikan perusahaan, tapi “berjiwa” karyawan. Anda milih jadi yang mana? Hahaha!

Setelah 20 tahun lebih, saya pikir-pikir apa yang saya “pelajari” dari Ciputra itu pas dengan hasil riset Prof John Kao. Memang Ciputra is the real entrepreneur! Dia adalah inspirator besar saya saat memulai MarkPlus Professional Service pada 1 Mei 1990 di Surabaya. (*)