Dr. Vivek G. Mendonsa | The Man who keeps adding Matchsticks to the Unbroken Bundle | Story of building Relationships | Global TV
By NV Paulose, Chairman, Global TV +91 98441 82044
Sometimes, in a quiet office, a chance meeting introduces you to a man whose entire life is a demonstration of an ultimate truth; a connecting thread is the force that retains the unbreakable strength of a bundle. It was a chance meeting, very casual and very much unusual. I would have travelled a lot to meet him, but, as the saying goes, who you are searching for… is searching you as well.
There is a narrative in the 50th poem of Tagore in Gitanjali, beginning with “I had gone a-begging from door to door in the village path” and the poem goes like this; “The chariot stopped where I stood. Thy glance fell on me and thou camest down with a smile. I felt that the luck of my life had come at last. Then of a sudden thou didst hold out thy right hand and say “What hast thou to give to me?” Ah, what a kingly jest was it to open thy palm to a beggar to beg! I was confused and stood undecided, and then from my wallet I slowly took out the least grain of corn and gave it to thee.
“But how great my surprise when at the day’s end I emptied my bag on the floor to find a least little grain of gold among the poor heap. I bitterly wept and wished that I had had the heart to give thee to my all.”
Meeting with Dr. Vivek G. Mendonsa was not in a boardroom, it was in a corridor passing a waiting launch. I was waiting, where he was escorted back from the meeting. A simple introduction was made. What happened next was not in a corporate protocol; it was a character reveal.
He turned to me, and with a genuineness that cannot be rehearsed, he apologized for making me wait. In that small, gracious act, I saw the essence of the man. This was not Dr. Vivek Gerard Mendonsa, the third-generation genius of the legendary Lawrence & Mayo Group. This was Vivek, the ten-year-old boy who confided in his sisters, “Come what may, we always have to be together.” The man who internalized his father’s wisdom about the single matchstick versus the bundle.
His story, as I discovered, is not just one of business expansion; from hundreds of stores across India to pioneering ventures in drones, scientific equipment, and environmental technology. That is merely the footprint of his philosophy. His story is about building an ecosystem of relationships. Every matchstick matter to him the most.
Dr. Vivek is a unique alchemist. He has mastered the delicate art of weaving the two often-opposing systems of Family and Business into a single, strong unbreakable and unending thread. Where others see blurred lines and potential conflict, he sees strength in multiplicity of roles, wisdom of generations, and the power of added ideas.
Appointed as the Group Director of Marketing and Growth, he built hundreds of relationships, each one a new constituent and a feather component on the hats shining on top of his establishments.
He is a man who grows younger every day because his curiosity never ages. His willingness to meet new people; a willingness I was fortunate to experience firsthand, is the very engine of his success. He is a “positive and possibility thinker,” whose mentors are not only people but also books and seminars, constantly fuelling a mind that sees the organization not as it is, but as it should be.
He embodies the Jack Welch quote he lives by: “A leader’s job is to look into the future.” And in that future, Dr. Vivek sees a sprawling, interconnected community, bound by togetherness. That is his Mantra.
So, when Dr. Vivek G. Mendonsa apologized to me, he was doing more than being polite. He was instinctively strengthening a new strand, adding another matchstick to his ever-growing bundle. He wasn’t just building a business empire; he was building a human one, where every relationship, no matter how casual, is valued.
The world is fragmented lot many times. It often feels fragmented further. Dr. Vivek G. Mendonsa is a connecting link. He connects the fragments that into a single inclusive ecosystem. His search is towards the unknown that can take the dream to a space where it should reach.
I am humbled and grateful for such a beautiful piece ,well researched in a short period of time .
I have experienced at first hand his networking skills, amiability, openness to strangers, always trying to increase his networks, connections and influence.
The outreach is always intentional – to serve, grow, enrich, inspire and add value to others.
A true leader is one grows better leaders. And Dr. Vivek certainly walks the talk in this, respect.
Brenda Mendes
Career Coach