Bitzua and Chutzpah

Wonder what the weird title of this post is about? Is it some kind of Hebrew stuff no one is supposed to have a clue about?

Well it is Hebrew. LITERALLY. I found these words when one of my friends shared this Economic Times article by R. Gopalakrishnan at our GDS Group. I was too "busy" to read the article the first time I came across it.(I did read it later on.) But I liked the way the words looked or rather sounded. After searching on the net I found out 'Chutzpah' is pronounced like "Hootzpah". And I hope "bitzua" should be pronounced somewhat like "bitzooah". I would like to pronounce it that way because I like the sound of it. I have this romance with the way some words sound to my ears. But that is not the only reason I am writing this post. These words are nowhere near romanticism.

I went out to look for their meanings. When I looked for "Chutzpah" I found something like "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts,'......" in some source. But I found this example on the right which really made the meaning crystal clear to me. Imagine some man killing his parents and demanding mercy from the court because he is an orphan! This word is used both positively and negatively. But more importantly somebody with chutzpah is a person who does not give a damn about existing norms and takes up challenges however darn difficult they possibly might be. Somebody who can go against the tide and have the audacity to challenge a GOLIATH. Israelis have this habit of praising daring people because I believe such arrogance, aggression and daring attitude has helped the country survive amidst hostile neighbors. Words conveying the same sense in other languages are difficult to find.

Bitzua is a much simpler yet a very important word. It signifies implementation or putting into effect. I was reading this book by Barry J. Moltz "You need to be a little crazy", which talks about implementation in the light of starting and growing a business. He calls people who start businesses crazy because they have a statistically very low probability of surviving. I definitely think it requires chutzpah to survive the debacles a business throws at you. Starting a business can be very different from ensuring its survival and implementing all its plans. That might require the CEO of the company to clean his own toilets or carry his own mail sometimes. And sometimes businesses fail because of trivial defects in implementation. The cashflow in your business might dry up just because your customers are taking more time to pay you!! Or what if you do not have any customers who trust you? Would any amount of strategic thinking or path breaking ideas help? Barry emphasizes on bringing the right people inside your business, which is far more important than the idea that started the business. Because they are the people who can implement your ideas and strategies and mold them according to the scenarios your business is exposed to. "Bitzua" sounded like "business" to me even before I came to know about its meaning. Now I am not surprised.

GDS is organizing a workshop at V4, Vikramshila, IIT Kharagpur for enthusiasts in finance, game theory, business strategies and consulting on 4th February,2011 at 6 pm. Hope we come across more people who have the bitzua and chutzpah to help GDS grow, challenge existing notions and deliver a strong impact. People who are not afraid to ask questions and look at threats as opportunities. We would love to bring them within the folds of our organization.