Business is all about optimism. You can't run a business with a pessimistic view. If you look at the business houses or groups that have either gone out of business or become a smaller shadow of their glorious past, you can see that they are those that either did not take risks or failed to predict the business trend. Just scan through Business India Super 100 over the years and you will see the change. Two decades back, Super 100 was dominated by PSU companies. Out of the top 10 companies of the year, as many as five were PSUs. In 2000, companies like IOC, BPCL, HPCL, VSNL and BHEL were part of the top 10. Today, they struggle to find a place even in the Top 50. The reason is evident: the PSU companies never took risks. They never thought out of the box. And, the blame is squarely on the successive governments that controlled these PSUs, which lacked the focus and strategy to survive and thrive in the ever-changing world. MTNL was once a force to reckon with (ranked 20th in 2000) but, today, it’s struggling for its existence. Many Indian business houses have become risk-averse, with most in the listed space not thinking out of the box. Their aim seems to be surviving, rather than thriving. They have become too conservative in their thought processes. Instead of expanding businesses horizontally or vertically, they have started shrinking their businesses. Risk-taking is a word they have removed from their vocabulary. While not taking a risk may appear a good strategy in the short run, this kind of mindset will eventually ensure that one will soon run out of the business. Someone else will take the risk and replace your business with theirs. This is where Mukesh Ambani stands out. He took the risk and went on for massive capex, when India Inc was shying away from doing it. At one point in time, Reliance Industries’ capex was higher than all Nifty 50 companies’ capex put together (excluding PSUs). The stock market rewarded Ambani for his risk-taking. He not only transformed his business from oil to chemicals, making it world-competitive, but ventured into the new area of telecom. Remember, most players lost money in telecom, including Tata and Birla. And, yet, Ambani not only ventured out but also became the market leader in no time. His out-of-the-box thinking of offering voice service free helped him make Jio the market leader. Ambani, at the same time, scaled up RIL retail business too, which many others would not have thought of. He roped in some of the world’s best companies to invest in its telecom and retail businesses. The stock market has rewarded Reliance Industries handsomely. In 2000, Reliance Industries’ market cap was a mere Rs30,000 crore. It was not the most valuable company, as companies like Wipro and Hindustan Unilever had a much higher market cap. Today, Reliance Industries has a market cap of Rs12.60 lakh crore (the growth has been at a CAGR of 20.5 per cent for 20 years!) and it is India's most valuable company.