Gopichand Delivers Leadership Talk at CDK Global

Hyderabad, Oct.20: Pullela Gopichand spoke about how the best results of his life are attributed to sheer hard work and personal excellence. The veteran Badminton player and Chief Coach of Badminton Association of India said, “There are no shortcuts to success. What I am talking to you today is not something that I read in books, but the lessons I drew from my personal experiences.” Gopichand was addressing employees at CDK Global for a Leadership Talk here today. The talk was attended by 400 associates of the organization – 200 in Hyderabad and 200 in Pune via live video conference. After the talk, Gopichand along with Reddy Malledi, Managing Director – CDK Global, and the senior leadership team unveiled the T-shirts for the forthcoming CDK Global Corporate Badminton League (CBL) to be held at Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in the first week of November. The veteran Badminton player also shared the difficulties he faced when he was setting up the academy. “Corporate houses had funds for a lot of welfare activities but no funds for sports in those days. I had to mortgage my home at Jubilee Hills to set up the Badminton Academy at Gachibowli. I asked for support from many organizations, but nothing worked out. I thank my family and wife for allowing me to mortgage our home for the academy. If we had not taken that risk then, we wouldn’t have the academy which you’re seeing today”. Towards the end, he answered questions asked by the participants. On a question about how he identified talent, Gopichand replied, "If talent was that easy to be identified, we all would have focused on it. But it is not so. As a coach it is my continuous effort to identify talent and nurture it.” “I believed in Sindhu’s ability as a player. As a coach,my job was to see that she continued her top performance always. I went prepared to the Olympics. I carried a blazer not to wear in Rio, but to wear on our return to the city. As a coach, if I hadn’t believed, how could I make Sindhu believe”, he said. He closed his address with a powerful remark – “The more you know, the more you will realize what you don’t know."