Very few people are truly impacted by TV shows these days. But, I’ve been really moved by the episode on Sahara India Pariwar on Netflix's #BadBoyBillionaires. And I think it has one really strong entrepreneurial lesson

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Sahara India Pariwar was apparently worth 10s of billions of dollars by 2010. Subrata Roy was close friends with the who’s who of Bollywood, cricket & politics. I grew up watching Sahara plastered all over the Indian cricket team’s jersey. And it was synonymous with great pride

While I started by wondering HOW he remained unquestioned by authorities for the longest time, despite impacting 60 million poor Indians - the real question I found myself asking was - Was it his intention to deceive all along? And the answer, I suspect, is no

He probably started with a vision to help the nation and to find his own individual success along the way. He must've found even more validation as he saw others benefit and be happy. Initially, no one must have poked holes in the legality of his business

But as Sahara grew, his ego must have played a bigger role in his decisions. He may have thought he was above humanity and also above the law because he was helping so many people. But the law is there to protect people

There is a thin line between the narcissist and the genius. The narcissist is able to become a genius and make great discoveries when he asks the right questions of himself. Unfortunately for Sahara, this was not the case

Why I strongly believe it cannot just be ill-intention is because no one can create that kind of mega business and execute at this scale without really believing in the good of the business and in their purpose to uplift the poorest

As an entrepreneur, it made me ask - how do I prevent myself from falling prey to my own ego? Being aware is a good starting point. Following the law and 'spirit of the law' is also important. Raise your voice if you don't agree but don't disregard the law

And finally, If your ego leads you to believe that ethics and law don’t matter as long as your intentions are noble, ask yourself - If I die am I 100% sure the organisation will run with the same intentions?

No one can be absolutely certain what will happen once they are gone and hence it is wrong to think that the law is made to be broken due to your positive intention. There can be no bigger reality check than this

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