The Costco Connection – August 2004

RENAISSANCE MAN

Divan Da’ve, Software consulting (Member at Yonkers, New York)

Many People come to a new country for material gain, to improve their lives through the acquisition of things they could not obtain at home.
For Divan Da’ve, the motivation to come to the United States in 1984 was rooted in something much deeper.
“I did not come to America to get a new car or a house.” says Da’ve , founder of integrated Systems Management Inc. (www’ismnet.com), a highly successful 150 employee software consulting firm in New York.”I had these things in India. I had a very good life.”
Da’ve left that good life-two master’s degrees, a successful job, important family and political connections-to come to the U.S., where the 21-Years-old had nothing, Knew no one and found that his education and abilities were questioned at every turn. So, why did he immigrate? What advantage did he see? What was the potential?
“I saw in America a renaissance: a renaissance in terms of culture, art, politics, science, mathematics and technology, That was the main attraction for me, I wanted to make sure I was part of that,” says Da’ve who found it necessary to obtain a third master’s degree once he was in the U.S. essentially a duplicate of the computer science degree he earned in india-in order to convince employers of the adequacy of his education.
“When I was growing up, I remember learning about the gold rush.” continues Da’ve , now a married father of three. “ I wondered, How would that be, to travel so many miles, to take a journey into these uncharted, unknown areas? I wanted to experience what that felt like.”
Da’ve’s journey to America ha allowed him to build a firm with a prestigious list of clients (“in 15 years I have never lost a client.” he says), including computer manufacturers such as gateway, Food giant Ralston Purina and financial institutions such as Citibank and T. Rowe Price.
“I always felt that America had no boundaries.” Says Da’ve, who worked as a programmer for five years before starting his business in 1989. “I felt that I would be very successful.”-T Foster Jones
Thought he was very motivated to emigrate to the U.S., Da’ve faced family pressure to stay in india-especially from his grandfather. Who had been a freedom fighter with Mahatma Gandhi.

Dr. Subramaniam Swamy

Divan Dave (Divyang Da’ve) is the CEO of Integrated Systems Management Inc. (ISM, www.ismnet.com). Divan values the importance of education, hopes to aid greatly in the fight against illiteracy, devotes time to social work, spirituality, meditation and yoga. A leader is not only successful in technology and entrepreneurship, but with a sense of universal brotherhood. ISM is a leader in Internet, Healthcare and e-business IT development since 1989 and is based in Tarrytown, NY. OmniMD (OmniMD company, www.omnimd.com), a division of ISM, is a developer and provider of HIPAA compliant Internet-based and enterprise clinical solutions, designed to fully automate the workflow of contemporary healthcare organizations. ISM/OmniMD is a global company in that it has established bases in both India and in the US (America). Assisting healthcare providers and medical practices through EMR (Electronic Medical Records), EHR (Electronic Health Record), Practice Management (Billing Software), Medical Revenue Management and Billing service, Transcription Service and Health Care IT is the ISM community’s ultimate goal. ISM/OmniMD has successfully positioned itself as a dominant force in the health care information technology field, rapidly securing a large base of clients that has continued to grow exponentially since the division’s formation.

Appreciating Gandhijee and Teaching Leadership

On October 30th 2009, the day of Gandhi’s Jayanati, CEO of ISM/OmniMD Divan Dave appreciated Gandhijee’s leadership and immense contribution to India’s struggle for freedom. He taught leadership basics to the ISM/OmniMD team through Gandhijee’s efforts. Quoting Maharishi Patanjalee: "When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all of your thoughts break their bonds, your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great & wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculty and talents, come alive and you discover yourself to be great person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be." Divan believes, “While leaders are both born and created, leadership cannot not be taught. A leader to be must want to be a leader. Many leaders are made out of necessity, while few are born with certain leadership traits.” We’ll be taking example of Gandhijee.
A) Have a Self initiated objective to achieve, which inspires you. Don't do something for heck of it. Life is too short and too precious to waste on mediocre achievements. Take an example of Gandhijee, he had life mission to free India from British rule.
B) Find a solution commiserated to your nature to achieve the objective. Gandhijee devised the non-cooperation and the non-violent movement, as that was his TRUE nature. He wouldn’t have been too successful on the path of violence.
C) Believe in that objective and solution fully and unwaveringly. Stay committed throughout - even in toughest of times. Tough times are the true testaments of one’s leadership and set examples to your team, how committed and focused you are. Throughout his struggle of freedom of India, Gandhijee was endearing to his commitment to non-violence.
D) A true leader devices an effective method to communicate his/her objectives and solutions to the masses. Your team must buy into your project & methods to achieve it. Win Followers, Friends, converting foes into friends to communicate your objectives and its solution; making everyone to buy-in. Remember everyone is on the Frequency WIFM (What's IN For Me?). Show them why, how, when and what they need to do. Gandhijee orchestrated many acts to gather masses like the Dandi March to collect salt.
E) Leadership is full-time. Be a Fulltime and Fully committed leader, there is no part-time leadership. It’s said Gandhijee was used to work 18 hours/day for seven days week.
F) Be a likable leader. Though leadership in NOT a popularity contest, one must make oneself a likeable leader. You'll have far less resistance. Lead by inspiring, rather then fear. Many decisions will be hard and unlikable, but everyone you're dealing with must follow you. One of the key achievements for a leadership trait is willing followers. Many disagreed with Gandhijee. There were many freedom fighters, even who believed in violent struggle against British rule, but Gandhijee was able to convince the majority of masses; a great achievement on his part.
G) Produce results. W/o results there is no leader. Leaders don’t make excuses, they get things done. Gandhijee, with help of many freedom fighters, did achieve freedom from British rule in India.
H) Leave a legacy. A leader creates his/her legacy. During his life and after, Gandhijee created many leders who still follow his vision today. An organization or Philosophy created by a leader should not fall apart after his/her going. A leader creates a principle based organization, not based on his/her personality. Because people come and go, they can make mistakes and their image can be tarnished. A principle based organization will not have such an issue.

Divan in a surprised revelation to the group revealed a picture. “I’m glad to reveal a picture of my own grand father, who was not only a true Gandhian, but Chief Minister of Gujarat and five times Member of Indian Parliament, Shri Ghanshyambhai Oza. Here is he with Gandhijee on a train station in Gujarat. This picture was taken somewhere in the 1930’s. The man in a black hat with raised hand in front of Gandhijee is my beloved grandfather.”

NRI Representation

Mr. Divan Dave, CEO of ISM/ OmniMD was invited to represent NRI (Non-resident Indians) during the inauguration ceremony of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in India. It is quite the achievement to represent the NRI community at the BJP government inaugural event. A selected group of eight business leaders and luminaries were invited from the US by the BJP Government to represent the NRI community of America. Divan remembered meeting all the politicians of India and wished BJP a great success.

Meeting Sushma Swaraj

CEO of ISM/OmniMD Divan Dave had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Sushma Swaraj, an Indian politician to the Bharatiya Janata Party. Mr. Dave met Ms. Swaraj at an honorary reception held in New York City. There, they discussed various aspects of politics, economics and worldly matters affecting society today.

Vinod Khanna

While meeting Vinod Khanna MP of BJP, Minister of Tourism and Bollywood Super Star, at his residence at 5 Tughlaq Lane, Mr. Dave was impressed by Mr. Khanna’s, care for his country and constituency, that ISM decided to create a website for Mr. Khanna (http://www.vinodkhanna.in) at no cost. Divan quotes, “I was meeting Vinodjee with a doctor and another businessman. Vinodjee made sure that the doctor received an MRI machine for a hospital of Gurdaspur (his constituency). A local singer, Jasee was preset there and Vindojee asked us to promote him in the US.” Such a leader is required for India, who is constantly thinking about his country and people.

Meeting Advani

While meeting Advani, one of the persons introduced Divan Dave as grand son of former Indian politician, Chef Minister of Gujarat, and muti- time member of the Indian Parliament, Shri. Ghanshayam Bhai Oza. Right away Advanijee invited Divan to join politics, which Divan respectfully denied to. Subsequently Advanijee was gracious enough to show Mr. Dave his office. His ceiling had paintings of all the laws of India including the Hindu law, Mahmedan law and others.

Murlee Manohar Joshi

Mr. Divan Dave, CEO of Integrated Systems Management Inc. (ISM and OmniMD) met Mr. Murlee Manohar Joshi, Human Resources Development minster to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected a Member of Parliament from Almora. Mr. Da’ve and Mr. Joshi met during the swearing-in ceremony of the BJP government in 1999 at Raj Bhavan. Subsequently, Divan met Mr. Joshi and was invited to lunch. There, Mr. Dave and Mr. Joshi discussed politics and other such matters.

A Praise to Indira Gandhi, India’s Revered Prime Minister

Divan Dave, CEO of ISM/OmniMD, remembered Indira Gandhi on the 25th anniversary of her assassination. Divan said ‘Today, while India faces a plethora of terrorist attacks, no political leader is able to take any decisive action. We need a leader like Indira Gandhi, who reduced the threat of Pakistan by creating Bangladesh in six days of war.” Remembering meeting Indiarajee personally as a young boy Divan said ‘While my Grandfather, Shri Ghanshyambhai Oza, was Chief Minister of Gujarat, Indiarajee visited our home for dinner. I as a kid remembered plenty of politicians and dignitaries coming to our home.” Before that, when my grandfather was India’s industrial development minister, my brother and I used to stand outside our home at 15, Safdarganj Road while Indiarajee lived at 1, Safdarganj Road. Many times we saw her travelling in a white open Jeep around 10:00 AM to attend Parliament meetings. India’s Prime Minister (PM), Indiarajee was free and daring. Today, almost all politicians have to travel in bullet proof cars with an entourage of blackcat commandos. What a shame.”

Dick Armey and Terrorism

On behalf of the Indian community of Westchester and Rockland County, Republican Party Chief Dick Armey was welcomed by Divan Dave, CEO of ISM and OmniMD. While meeting Dick, Divan and other Indian delegates pressed on the republican leader not sell any weapons including F-16s to Pakistan. Additionally, the situation in Kashmir, where Pakistan is waging a proxy war against India through terrorism was explained in detailed by Divan.
Dick noted that “We need such ground level information for citizens to counter terrorism globally and make sure America is not on the wrong side of war against terrorism.”