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“You never know what is going to happen tomorrow
morning. It is very dicey.”
can shift overnight, with “someone else comes in or jumps into the scene and
starts telling you or advising you.” His method requires “a lot of patience to un
derstand the exact need, and to stand on your feet that whatever you have told
yesterday, it’s still down now.” This necessitates a dual approach: sometimes
having “an iron face,” at other times needing to “wear a soft heart with people.”
This intricate balance of firmness and empathy, adapted to site-specific reali
ties, underpins his ability to sustain trust through protracted and unpredictable
engagements, proving that consistent presence and patient interpretation are
paramount for achieving long-term project viability and community buy-in.
Finally, Bijan’s decades-long conviction is forged in the fires of these successes.
He maintains the drive to persist where others might give up by drawing on four
key insights: re-listening to the situation and recalling past successes; conduct
ing global research on similar issues; understanding the limits of one’s own op
erational framework; and maintaining an unwavering personal belief that “yes,
this can be done”. This blend of empirical learning, strategic self-awareness,
and sheer conviction (“God is great, gives us courage”) is what enables him to
continually “do it again” despite the immense experienced difficulties.
Industry Priorities & Universal Contribution:
More than ESG Qualification
Drawing on his extensive experience in power, mining, and other industrial sec
tors Bijan offers sharp insights into India’s private sector priorities for sustaina
ble transformation. He highlights the imperative to optimize “mining machinery
equipment” for maximum energy efficiency and to ensure that mineral extrac
tion is both “technically as well as commercially... feasible without disturbing the
strata surrounding”. He firmly advises: “You should not do mining for the sake
of mining.” He emphasizes the critical importance of selecting machinery that
offers “minimum energy consumption and maximum extraction of the things
without disturbing the strata surrounding”. This pragmatic approach extends
to cost-benefit analysis, where a “surface miner” utilizing renewable energy
demonstrates clear advantages over more environmentally hazardous methods
like explosives, ultimately convincing operational teams that sustainable prac
tices “also make money for us”.