It’s not for everyone, I know, but perhaps the best of times for me have been those when my back was against the wall and all seemed lost. This is when my persona of braggadocio and devil-take-the-hindmost, in business and in life generally, is ditched. When the sliver of ice lurking in every entrepreneur’s heart (and every poet’s heart, for that matter) takes control and the world is reduced to hard choices in dire necessity. Abject failure can result, but to lose in such circumstances builds a legend that will serve you on the next occasion. It rarely matters what choice one makes—often, what seems most mad at the time proves to be an inspired course. Choice is the elixir of a full life. Those of us born in the West, should feel privileged that there are choices we can make; choices not available, say, to a rag-picker’s child born in Mumbai. My advice to the young comes from that old genius and fraud, Winston Churchill: ‘never flinch, never weary, never despair.’