Doing both: A simple plan for a better life

    We all try to do our jobs and have a life. At the same time. Inder Sidhu, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Planning for Worldwide Operations at Cisco Systems (CSCO), has unusual and interesting perspective on the balancing act. This Guest Post is an adapted excerpt from his recently released book, Doing Both: How Cisco Captures Today's Profit & Drives Tomorrow's Growth. In the book, Sidhu urges leaders to resist making trade-offs because some of the toughest business choices -- i.e. to perfect existing products or to invest in future ones, to enter emerging markets or to focus on core ones -- are often false choices. Often the best strategy -- yielding bigger outcomes -- is to do both, no matter how daunting the challenge.

    We strive to achieve at the office and succeed at home.

    We try to live for today and plan for tomorrow.

    We labor long and hard to give our children the things that our parents gave to us: roots to keep them grounded and wings to help them soar.

    As a son in the East and a father in the West, I "do both" whenever I can. To respect tradition and embrace progress. To fulfill my emotional needs and nurture my intellect. To be tough when the moment demands and compassionate when the need arises.

    There are unlimited ways to "do both," but one has served me more than any other: preparing meticulously and improvising enthusiastically.

    I first learned this as a 15-year-old when I applied to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). I was one of about 150,000 applicants—a long shot considering that the school accepted just 1,500 students each year.

    Given the long odds, I wondered how best to prepare for the school's entrance exams. I had heard about a preparatory class in Delhi, but that was six hours from my home and a world away from the small-town life I knew. In all my life, I had never been to a big city. To me, a big town was one with more than two movie theaters. Delhi had somewhere north of 60— unimaginable to me.

    Still, I wanted to attend the class. But there were so many hurdles to overcome. For starters, I had no place to sleep. My family couldn't afford an apartment or hotel, and we knew no one I could stay with in Delhi. As luck would have it, a colleague told my father that there might be a place for me at a nearby army base. "Send him over and we'll see what we can do," he said.

    I boarded the bus and headed to Delhi. This was a bit out of character, to say the least. My life to that point had been geared around studies and family life. There were routines and rhythms that I followed over and over. They became my touchstones. A perfectionist by nature, I didn't generally like to leave things to chance. And yet, the situation compelled me to step out of my comfort zone.

    When I arrived at the army base, there was no bed for me to sleep, no desk to use for studies, and no place to store my clothes. Instead, I was directed to an outdoor porch without walls. Where will I eat, I wondered. What if someone steals my things? Don't worry, I was told. Make the best of your situation and see what happens.

    And so I did.

    I made a pillow from books and clothes. I fashioned a desk from cardboard boxes and a light from a single bulb and a few wires pulled from a nearby electrical socket. For seven weeks, the porch was my humble home. Every night I'd return from class late to find a plate of food set out for me by my makeshift bed. Though the food was cold, it warmed my heart and fueled my desire.

    Doing both—preparing and improvising—paid off. My entrance exam scores won me acceptance to a prestigious program at IIT, which changed the trajectory of my life. Gaining entry to that school opened the door for me to come to America, where I continued to do both.