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  • Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen – Porus Munshi

    It has been long since I completed a book. I generally read multiple books at a time and the one that catches my interest the most is the one which gets completed the earliest.
    Entrepreneurship is so much about keeping yourself inspired and at the required task most of the time. Books are probably the best source of inspiration and this book
    “Making Breakthrough Innovation Happen”, is probably amongst the top few books in the category.
    Its a book about India and Indians who made a dent in the history of innovation. It the story of 11 companies/individual who made the impossible. Its definitely worth a read. Take a personal copy I would not share mine!
    The instances in the book are:
    Dainik Bhaskar
    Arvind Eye Hospital
    CavinKare
    ITC-IBD
    Bosch India
    Trichi Police
    Chola Vehicle Finance
    Titan Edge
    Shanta Biotech
    The Surath Transformation
    Su-Kam
    Each of these stories are so inspiring and get you on your feet and in action… It makes you feel better. This book would always remain to have a special impact on my life and will hold a special place.

  • Blink – Malcolm Gladwell

    ‘Blink’ – the power of thinking without thinking; is an interesting book in the sense that it talks about the small split second in which we make the first perceptions.
    I had never seen that fraction of a second; the first feel, the first look so seriously though I had been using it unconsciously since birth. Some questions always used to linger about how this is possible – this book gives me the answers I was looking for.
    The book talks about concepts like – thin slicing, snap judgment, behind closed doors etc… when understood in greater detail help us build on these and strengthen our first impressions there by
    For people interested in knowing more about psychology, and the way we function unconsciously… this is definitely a must read.

  • Every Step is here to stay

    Every Step is here to stay

    None was built in a single day

    It a journey not a stay,

    Like the marks on clay

    Every Step is here to stay.

    Every single step has something to say

    It’s not the goal but the way,

    Showing us light farther away

    Every Step is here to stay.

    Life with its twist and turn

    Makes us earn,

    A moment left not to return,

    Filling life with fun;

    Leaving no heart burn,

    Every Step is here to stay

    It’s not in one single spot

    Connecting every single dot

    Looking back, making a plot

    More beautiful than you thought!

    Every Step is here to stay

    – Chi

  • First, break all the rules – Markus Buckingham

    This book was gifted to me by the Quetzal group when I was interning with them. I started reading this book on the journey back from Mumbai. I couldn’t concentrate too much while traveling that time so stopped reading and the book was lying aside for quite a long time.
    Recently while doing my routine Business Development stuff I thought of looking back at the book. It’s just amazing how we can effectively use this book to foster excellence in organizations. The book challenges the conventional wisdom and explains how the most successful managers handle the situation. This book is very revealing and I would say a must read to every manager. We manager need to understand that we are catalysts to the process…
    The book deals with 4 key ways which the great managers have in common and how this can be used to enhance the effectiveness of others. The four keys are
    – Selection of talent
    – Definition of outcomes
    – Strength’s focus
    – Finding the right fit
    To know more about these 4 keys to improve your managerial effectiveness I would definitely suggest a read. A must read for all managers

  • Leadership wisdom from the monk who sold his ferrari

    Robin Sharma doesn’t stop to inspire me. Every time I read his books I get all the more thrilled to work towards something more meaningful. May be the start up phase of my company also has something to do in me appreciating the points he puts across.

    This one is the latest of this books I have read. Ya! There is a new collection of all his works a set of 9 books – some day I will get that collection (a good gift too I can say). I have read 4 of his books and get all the more involved in them.

    Leadership wisdom is an awesome book the 8 rituals he suggest towards increasing leadership effectiveness is a compilation of the leadership knowledge this far from history. The way he weaves a story around the rituals makes it even more exciting. I think the apt review of this book would be to list the 8 rituals of Leadership here and let the interested people read through the book. So here goes the list.

    1. The ritual of a compelling future force
    2. The ritual of human relations
    3. The ritual of team unity
    4. The ritual of adaptability and change management
    5. The ritual of personal effectiveness
    6. The ritual of self-leadership
    7. The ritual of creativity and innovation
    8. The ritual of contribution and significance

    These rituals are aptly designed to help us improve our leadership capabilities. So if you are searching for the book which would help you do that; here’s one.

  • Joker in the Pack – Ritesh Sharma & Neeraj Pahlajani

    What a time to reflect on the life at IIMB? Graduated in March with the convocation, it been just around 3 complete months but feels like ages since those magical days in the corridors on the college.
    The book is a nice read for people going into the college but similarly, its worth while to be read post the college days. No new insights but gives good memories of the days.
    The issues dealt in the book are really interesting for I could relate closely to many emotions but with a mix of characters…. Go ahead read if you want an interesting view on the life @ IIMs

  • Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert M Prisig

    Some books are path breaking in the world of philosophy and this one is definitely one them, a book which has inspired new thinking of thousands across the world.
    Did I like the book? Definitely, then I need to ask Why did I like to book as much as I did? May be its part narration, part the content – the questions that it has dealt with, part just the timing of reading the book.
    The narration:
    One of my hobbies as is clear from some of the blogs that I have posted is trekking, very similar to the motorcycle ride across The United States; these are times when you get to think a lot about your own ideology of life. On a trek, in the lap of mother nature, its time to reflect and search for any meaning that comes out, any new insights that comes from the past; this a one of the reason why I loved the book.
    The content:
    The details of the story apart, what interested me most of the many things the attempt at understanding quality, the unity of eastern and western approaches in searching for the meaning of life and to be most precise – the attempt at understanding ‘dharma’ in the Indian philosphy.
    There are as I mentioned already a lot of other issues he deals with, its worth reading at a slow pace and letting things sink… I personally spent over 4 weeks to read this book, and I still feel there is lot more to this.
    The timing:
    While I am working for most of the time on starting up, this book talks of a lot of the philosophy, which looks so very true when I read about it and relate to the context in the real life. May be at some other point in time you can read it to be understood quite differently from what I understand it now – but that is so true of awesome works like these.

    A nice read if somebody is interested in philosophy and the associated debate – just to emphasize… there is no much relation with ‘zen Buddhism practiced in the east.’

  • Screw It Let’s Do It – Lessons in life by Richard Branson

    We are inspired by some people to the core, and Richard Branson is one of those some special people for me.
    A man who has done so much in life, who has risked so much in life just to be himself is definitely one from whom you need to take a leaf.
    This book is a short read, can be completed in a couple of hours; but inspires one to the core, probably one of the best books which I can compare with the likes of ‘Alchemist’. Why did I choose this smaller book when I could have read the bigger one… well no explanation to that its just the paucity of time and the let me try it out first (may be I fell to the trap of what the marketing genius wanted me do …. would be more than happy for this one… coz it given me a lot more)
    Some of the lessons shared in the book are worth being mentioned in a lot of places. Here are some of those gems which I would like to share; probably more relevant to those who would start off and experiment, the adventure type… every one would take something out of these definitely. So here I go

    1. Just do it!
    2. Believe it can be done
    3. Have goals
    4. Live life to the full
    5. Never give up
    6. Prepare well
    7. Have faith in yourself
    8. Help each other
    9. Have fun, work hard and money will come
    10. Don’t waste time – grab your chances
    11. Have a positive outlook on life
    12. When it’s not fun, move on
    13. Be bold
    14. Calculate the risks and take them
    15. Believe in yourself
    16. Chase your dreams and goals
    17. Have no regrets
    18. Keep your word
    19. Challenge yourself
    20. Aim High
    21. Try new things
    22. Always try
    23. Rely on yourself
    24. Chase your dreams but live in the real world
    25. Work together
    26. Live the moment
    27. Love life and live it to the full
    28. Enjoy the moment
    29. Reflect on your life
    30. Make every second count
    31. Value family and friends
    32. Put family and the team first
    33. Be loyal
    34. Face problems head on
    35. Money if for making things happen
    36. Pick the right people and reward talent
    37. Have respect
    38. Be polite and respectful
    39. Do the right things
    40. Keep your good name
    41. Be fair in all your dealings
    42. Do some good
    43. Change the world, even in a small way
    44. Make a difference and help others
    45. Do no harm
    46. Always think what you can do to help

    This is definitely a long list… but its worth practicing. Having taken the entrepreneur way, I see the value of each of these in my daily life. The book is a must read for a quick dose of inspiration to change the world in our own small way.

  • The High Performance Entrepreneur – Subroto Bagchi

    I heard Subroto Bagchi, when he had come down to IIMB to deliver a lecture for the incoming batch of our juniors. It was also the occasion when he released ‘Go Kiss the World’ in our college. He made a brief reference to the accolades he got on with the first book of this -‘ The High Performance Entrepreneur’.

    I had decided I would start off on my own after my PGDM from IIMB, and did so. I started off my company along with a few friends of mine – ‘edu-next’. I began working full time on the company after my completion of the course, i.e. since last week of Feb 2009.

    I had taken up a few entreprenuership related course and interned in a startup during my summers. A lot of places while working on these courses there were sufficient references being made to the book. I decided to read this book following all this background.

    It is definitely a very insightful book for entrepreneur who want to start off; a lot of the caveats which are given which these people need to be cautious about. A very good book to read before you start to ensure that you are on the look out for these caveats. However, every enterprise that starts has its own course to follow, its own challenges to face – this book doesn’t solve all the issues. It is a must read before you start, but the challenges of each start up are very different.

    An interesting read in general and a must read for entrepreneurs to be.

  • Games Indians Play – V. Raghunathan


    We have heard about the famous anecdote of Indian Crabs not being covered with a lid while transported across the oceans. This book takes up issues like this and explores the questions we sometimes ask ourselves as Indians – ‘Why are we the way we are?’


    Most of the things that we do look so usual for us that we accept them at the face value never questioning the logic behind our actions. This book is a summary of the efforts which Prof. Raghunathan has made towards analyzing the behavior in terms of Game Theory, and Behavioral Economics.


    The book tries to look at the ‘Indianness of Indians’ as detached as possible checking the personal biases at every stage and looking at answering the apparent paradoxes that emerge. Some of the questions that he tries to answer are – Why are we a nation that is individually so smart and collectively so naive? Why do we mistake talk for action? Why is our self-worth massaged only if we have the ‘authority’ to break rules? Why are we among the world’s most corrupt? Why do we jump red lights? Why do we dump our garbage at the neighbour’s doorstep?


    In the last chapter Prof, tries to link the Gita with the concept of game theory; this I believe is a very interesting attempt at interpretation of the slokas from the Gita with a game theory perspective. These can always be debated and a new understanding be derived from them, none the less it is very interesting interpretation.


    This attempt by Prof, should be only the starting point and a lot more needs to be done in taking the subject of understanding the ‘Indianness of Indians’ and make it a main stream of study.