Jimmy Mistry

A pioneer of many firsts, Jimmy Mistry never let the discouraging scoffs of competition get in the way of him successfully setting new standards in design, architecture and development. Over the years, he’s managed to have his name across designs for some of India’s giants and forayed into real estate and then hospitality where Della Resorts, Adventure Park & Villas bring to life his vision for modern design and its marriage with luxury.

To be an entrepreneur, is to change the way a system acts and thinks. That sharp business sense combined with a strong commitment to social betterment is what takes a person from an entrepreneur to a giver. And giving back to the community, is exactly what Jimmy Mistry had in mind when he decided quite early on in his journey to switch his business focus back towards the people.

In 2006, he formed a Parsi Resource Group to bring together like-minded individuals from his community, which is one of India’s richest and oldest, to focus their energies towards their priests, who even then, were surviving on minimum wages while being a strong influence on the community as a whole. In the following years, he took an active interest in strengthening his community and went on to win a competitive election to serve as a trustee for Bombay Parsi Panchayat (a 300 year old charitable organization) for 7 years. What he lacked in political and community service experience, he made up for with his passion to be able to do in return that which was done for him, a lesson he graciously credits his parents for imparting. Following the tragic loss of lives during the 26/11 terror attacks, he set up D.A.T.A (Della Adventure Training Academy) as a tribute to every innocent life lost which aims at igniting the passion to serve the country amongst the youth and providing them with the best counter-terrorism and survival training.

Even today, he continues to see the world no as it is and as it should be. He believes that social entrepreneurs aren’t meant to be heroes, working tirelessly in isolation; but leaders who can create opportunities for themselves and others to play their part in undoing social inequality. At Della Leaders Club, that is exactly the philosophy he aims to bring into practice by helping changemakers transform their life of success
into a life of significance.

Where did the idea for Della Leaders Club come from?

The idea of Della Leaders Club came from my belief as a first-generation serial entrepreneur, from not having a support system or a support platform for entrepreneurs. As a generation entrepreneur, I have always realized that there is a vacuum and a need for a support system, hence landed up innovating the world’s first business platform to provide that support.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

My days are always over-packed with work. The best way to make the day productive is to achieve at least one thing out of everything else that you have planned to achieve throughout that day and that one thing needs to be achieved with unflinching dedication and 100% commitment, so that at the end of the month you have at least 26 to 27 things that you achieved in that month which are substantial rest is a day’s job.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I am a believer of design thinking. I practice design thinking as a management discipline. For any idea to be fruitful, you need to begin with the ideation stage, research, allowing yourself to have child-like curiosity, allowing yourself to be motivated by your environment around you. When you follow design thinking principles, you start understanding the process that needs to be followed to implement your ideas into reality. A rapid prototyping being one of them. So, whatever your idea is, you need to prototype it. Either you move to the next page, or you go back to the drawing board, and you start all over again. That’s how you bring ideas to life.

What’s one trend that excites you?

Post-pandemic, the trend of human-centric design, the trend of empathy playing a pivotal role in every human’s life is what excites me. I think empathy is a game changer when it comes to the DNA of an individual or organization. Everything beyond looks different. Everything beyond looks exciting because with empathy you realize to acknowledge the fact of thinking about others before you think of yourself.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

The habit of perseverance. The ability to be able to visualize. And the ability to execute is critical. Our ability to be persistent and consistently persevere your dreams is what it takes to be productive in life as an entrepreneur.

What advice would you give your younger self?

The only advice I would give to my younger self is to not take life so seriously. Perhaps to enjoy a lot more, to soak in the moments, not to get impatient for results without living in the moment. If I had a chance to the rewind, then I would love to cherish those little moments of life.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

What’s true is reaching out to people and asking for help. It is a wonderful tool give to us, but most people refuse to do so out of ego, while others out of sheer non-belief in themselves. If you reached out to somebody and ask for help, most of the time- you receive a positive response. Sometimes you won’t get that helping hand but believe you me at least five out of ten times you’ll get the help you are looking for.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

As an entrepreneur, I believe in the power of trust and believe in the speed of trust as state by Stephen Covey. The more you trust, the more you get your results. So, that’s one thing that I would recommend to everybody.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

One strategy that helped me grow my business is to allow myself to pivot. Each time there was a need to and each time I felt stagnated. Allowing myself to pivot not only helped me increase my business but also allowed me to grow intellectually and kept me going towards quests and search for something bigger, something more impactful and something that could impact societies and humanity at large.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Failure and growth are part and parcel of entrepreneurship, you cannot have growth and success without hitting the ground. The way in which you overcome failure will determine whether you will succeed or you will not. Hence, one should believe in themselves to succeed.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

I firmly believe there are a lot more requirements for concierge services and not just for the wealthy and the super wealthy but customized service should be available for people at a cheaper price. There is a requirement and I think this idea needs to be explored, even though there are many concierge services and agencies. But there are very few of them and relatively limited for the super-rich. So if we have a concierge service designed for the rest of the world, it would be an amazing and a successful idea.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Recently, I came across this platform Frontify. We within our group we have 6 brands all by the name of Della; Della Resorts, Della Adventure, Della data, Della by Jimmy Mistry, Della villas, Della Leaders Club, and Della Talks. The platform allowed me to host my brand, and it becomes a fantastic repository and a brand manual. I really love the platform and I think every dollar of the money spent is worth it on this platform.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

I use Zoom every day of my life now. I think this is one piece of software that has allowed me to reach out to thousands of people across the world. Because of these virtual communications, it is responsible directly or indirectly for creating and innovating the world’s first business platform. None of this would have been possible without the ability to be able to seamlessly reach out to people and so economically and efficiently.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

I firmly believe people across the world have got fantastic vision and fantastic strategy. However, what they lack is the discipline of execution. My recommendation is Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan. I have lived by it for years and years, and I can’t get enough of the book. I can’t stop recommending it to more and more people, as you need to learn the art of execution.

What is your favorite quote?

My favorite quote is the one that I learned at a very early stage of my life that I learned from JRD Tata, “No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless and until it serves the needs of the community and its country and is achieved by fair and honest means”.

Key Learnings:

• “No success or achievement in material terms is worthwhile unless and until it serves the needs of the community and its country and is achieved by fair and honest means.” – JRD Tata
• Seek a support system or a support platform for entrepreneurs. Don’t live and work in a vacuum through isolation.
• Ask for help. The more you trust, the more you get your results.
• Allow yourself to pivot.
• The way in which you overcome failure will determine whether you will succeed or you will not.