Think differently, take more risks
Priyanka Singh

Smart Leadership: Insights for CEOs
by Gita Piramal and Jennifer Netarwala Penguin. Pages 207. Rs 325.

Innovation, by definition, requires people who think differently. People who are not afraid to fail. If you are really structured ...and follow rules and regulations, then the room for innovation is very little, says Sam Pitroda, while emphasising the cardinal rule of incessant innovation, the absence of which could sound the death knell for a business. This thought in particular is the drift of the essays written by leading CEOs of the country.

One would think of management books as prosaic, but this one is worthy of a place in any collection. The essays are terse and though mainly technical, capsules on management couldn’t have been more interestingly executed. The essays are interactive and incisive—without losing brevity—and offer solutions that could be adopted for use in anybody’s life, not for corporate leaders alone.

The best brains in the business have drawn from their personal experiences to underscore aspects that must form the core of any enterprise for it to be world class. Running a business successfully without compromising on any of the values that help generate goodwill, besides the effectual management of men, resources and time, form the focus.

They also stress on the culture of "no politics" and constant free flow of information that is vital for sustainability.

Infosys chief, Narayana Murthy, says a leader must walk the talk. Anything short of that would be counter-productive to the organisation.

Subhash Chandra, Chairman, Zee Telefilms Ltd, warns against greed, as he talks about the tumultuous downturn to Zee’s profits. He wiped out Rs 3 billion from his personal account when he realised that greed was enfeebling the company.

As a policy, HDFC shuns "stars" during recruitment and prides in its integrity, says Deepak Parekh, HDFC Chairman. The company’s unique people-centric corporate culture resulted in 10x growth with the same people.

The old must be dovetailed with the new, believes R.A. Mashelkar, Director-General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, who lent a new dimension to the council by fusing science and technology with business, hitherto thought of as unethical.

Other essays by Kumar Mangalam Birla, Ramadorai (Tata Consultany Services Ltd), Ashwin Dani (Asian Paints), Ajay Piramal (Nicholas Piramal) and Rahul Bajaj also offer enriching insights.

Informative tidbits like Mahindra and Mahindra is the first Indian company to win the Deming Prize for quality management; ICICI Bank Ltd, under its CEO K. V. Kamath, was the first to spearhead the ATM revolution and Internet banking in India; and why in the past 50 years every major invention has come only from the US, are strewn in plenty across the book.

Another gem for corporate masters is from Pitroda, who says that to think out of the box, you have to live outside the box.

To make a business to reckon with, it won’t do to follow the trodden path. CEOs can ill-afford to be risk-averse. They have to hack roads through jungles and obtain a high-octane drive to propel a business to new heights.

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