‘Integrity and character matter. Without them, no amount of ability can get you anywhere. In addition, you need courage–courage to make difficult decisions and courage to oppose something if your conscience tells you that you are right’–Rahul Bajaj
Rahul Bajaj is a billionaire businessman, the chairman emeritus of the Bajaj Group and a former member of Parliament. This book is not just the story of Rahul Bajaj but the story of India. The author takes us through the country’s transformation from the time Rahul Bajaj’s mother was imprisoned during the freedom struggle to the prism of his eventful life.
Based on unrestricted interviews, the book is full of anecdotes, business learnings and political asides. It is, at its core, a moving human story.
Catagory: Business & Economics
Whitaker’s World of Facts
Leadership to Last
Society tends to glorify the get-rich-quick entrepreneur–who builds a company, takes it public and then (maybe) contributes to charity.
In Leadership to Last, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna interview iconic leaders in India who have demonstrated leadership to last. There are leaders from South Asia and other emerging markets as well to illustrate that the ideas Indian entrepreneurs speak about are echoed by their counterparts in the Global South. All these magnates–Ratan Tata, Anu Aga, Adi Godrej, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Devi Shetty and Rahul Bajaj, to name a few–have built, to general acclaim and acknowledgement, organizations that are seen as forward-looking and innovative. They subscribe to a code of ethics and contribute to the betterment of society. The authors demonstrate that this is a lot harder to achieve than unicorn status.
The authors corroborate how these stories are less about building a get-rich-quick organization and much more about triggering foundational and institutional change in society. These interviews, encapsulating the history of recent decades, eloquently lay out the opportunities and challenges of today and the future. The profiled leaders inspire awe by displaying audacity of intent, humility of demeanour and steadfastness of purpose.
Open House
In Open House, Piyush Pandey takes the readers on a journey into his mind-his work, thoughts and experiences. He answers questions posed to him by people over the decades. Serious questions, incisive questions and frivolous questions. Is advertising a good career option? Should ad agencies work for political parties? Why does Ogilvy work for the BJP? Should citizens take the law into their own hands if they don’t like the advertising? Is Ogilvy a lala company? What is the future of advertising? Is Piyush Pandey too old to be in this business?
Honest, irreverent and informative, this is a roller-coaster ride with Piyush Pandey and Anant Rangaswami who has skilfully curated the book. With its practical wisdom and deep insights,
Open House will both entertain and enlighten you.
Achieving Meaningful Success
This book will be an adept lifetime mentor faithfully by your side to guide you through various stages of life. It guides you in achieving meaningful success including tremendous professional success through multidimensional and balanced life goals, which are the key to happiness and fulfilment. The book first focuses on defining the person you aspire to be through a step-by-step process to define your aspirational life goals. Then it guides you in becoming the best version of yourself and worthy of realizing your aspirations. The ideas shared are relevant to people of ages fifteen years onwards, from high school students to early and senior professionals to CEOs. It also includes insights from exclusive interviews with Ratan Tata, Narayan Murthy, Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, Sadhguru, John Chambers, Dr Devi Shetty, Rahul Dravid, Prakash Padukone, Vinita Bali, Vani Kola, and more. These distinguished people have achieved amazing success by passionately pursuing their goal-based journeys and have underlined the ideas shared in the book.
Small Is Big
What is the common theme in the following true-life experiences?
An organization becomes an iconic brand by retaining only 3 per cent of its products.
A CEO gets more done by organizing ten-minute focused meetings.
TED talk speakers inspire millions within eighteen minutes.
A father adopts a three-day workweek to spend quality time with his daughters.
A tired person transforms his life by embracing one micro habit of waking up at 5 a.m.
Observe Closely
These choices say YES to a small set of things that matter and say NO to everything else.
These choices remove clutter.
These choices find meaning and joy in little things.
And this is the essence of Small Is Big.
Using extensive research, life experiences, and hands-on exercises, this book reveals the Small Is Big source code and outlines how to apply it.
When you harness Small Is Big, fulfilment, productivity and extraordinary results are inevitable.
Let Me Hijack Your Mind
In this one-of-its-kind book by the late Alyque Padamsee, he invites us to re-examine and think afresh about some of our most deeply held beliefs, from love, marriage, terrorism, leadership, money, gender, faith to education. Let Me Hijack Your Mind is Alyque’s parting gift to Indians, exhorting them to throw out the old and embrace new ways of approaching everything, which will lead them towards a more exciting and contented life-and a better society and country. It is a way to open windows in their mind to think about life aside from greed, power and money. This is a book designed to throw everyone off-balance in a good way, because it is crammed with fresh ideas on how to live, how to dream and how to completely reset our mindset and attitudes. As Alyque says in his inimitable style: ‘Get people out of stuffy thinking.’
Some of the provocative questions he asks are:
– Why should marriage be ’till death do us part’?
– Why are terrorists breaking the law of their very own holy books?
– Why are multinational companies obsessed with GNP (Gross National Product) instead of GNH (Gross National Happiness)?
– Why do men fear women? And why do women hate themselves?
A fun, racy and often shocking read, the book busts some of the most well-known taboos, includes life hacks drawing on his experiences in advertising and theatre, as well as new ‘commandments’ for the present generation.
Investonomy
Are you inspired by billionaires around the world but think becoming a billionaire is too far out of your reach?
Are you confused about the behaviour of the stock market and the implications of investing in it?
Are you actually scared of investing in the stock market? If yes, then Investonomy is a must-read for you!
Investonomy not only explains modern value investing principles but also unveils certain secrets of the stock market. It busts popular myths and misconceptions as well. A thorough reading of this book will enable you to chart your own investment plans, and soon, you’ll be all set for your personal wealth-creation journey through equity investment. Investonomy is an initiative to empower existing, as well as potential, investors like you.
Everything Is Out of Syllabus
Life seldom comes with an instruction manual or a guidebook. It’s often messy and unpredictable too. While our education may prepare us for situations covered within its set syllabus, most of life happens outside this realm and this leaves us grappling with questions around work, life and everything in between.
Hence, this book.
Varun Duggirala has survived and thrived in a system that throws curveballs at us without the tools to actually overcome them. In Everything Is Out of Syllabus, he offers answers to important questions like:
What is the true meaning of success?
How can one become more creative and think outside the box?
How can we connect with people, including ourselves?
And much more.
Most importantly, he tells readers what are the skills one needs to master to live a more fulfilled life that is optimized for happiness.
Full of anecdotal wisdom, this book is partly funny, mostly reflective, and completely authentic. Everything Is Out of Syllabus is a must read for anyone who is trying to understand life and figure out their own roadmap to navigate it.
The New Rules of Business
Treating your customers well is no longer enough. The new rule is: employees, too, have to be treated as well, if not better than the customers. Happy employees make happy customers, and happy customers tend to be loyal.
Do you spend money in advertising to create awareness about your product? You don’t need to do that any longer. The new rule is: invest in making your product so good that it does its own marketing.
New-age companies, such as Amazon, Flipkart, Uber, Ola and Netflix, among others, are dismantling the old rules of business and installing new ones in their place.
This book unfolds the mysteries of these new ways of doing business which most companies try to keep under wraps. Compellingly written with several anecdotes, this is a gripping book full of incredible insights.