VIKAS POTA CHARTS THE RISE OF INDIA THROUGH AN EXCEPTIONAL BOOK - INDIA INC

This new book, launched worldwide in 2010, is an intimate portrait and true story of India's top ten entrepreneurs, and how they are collectively raising the quality and reputation of the Made in India brand. The strength of the book is that it is based on their personal lives and experiences, each of whom are at the helm of billion-dollar corporations. The names of people profiled include Narayana Murthy of Infosys, K.V. Kamath of ICICI, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, Subhash Chandra of Zee TV... among many others. The narrative is simple, rich with key facts and achievements, and made accessible by the true challenges and hurdles faced and overcome by the visionaries. I found it difficult to put down any of the 220 pages of fact and vision, written so simply and lucidly. It is a must book for anyone keen to learn from masters of entrepreneurship, those humble enough to want to unpack the secret of India's drivers, and learn from global giants.

For Diverse Ethics and me, what was fascinating about reading the book is that many of these pioneers are also very ethical and charitable, not because of any 'corporate social responsibility' strategies, but simply because 'it is their moral duty'. This is the real beauty of Indian wisdom, and having known Vikas personally for many years, I recognise this trait and community loyalty in him also. The book also reads like a personal journey of a young Hindu raised in Britain, wanting to master the secrets of entrepreneurial leadership. Vikas is a giant among his peers, radical in his vision, and has done a lot to help these large Indian corporations come to Europe and break into the political and business elite, through his company Saffron Chase.

One of the qualities of the truly great leaders is a 'borderless mind'. And it seems from the very beginning, these masters exhibited it, and were not afraid to learn from others, nor too proud about their own culture and developed their own strategies of global domination. Indian culture equips everyone with a pluralist mindset and one develops an instinct to cohere and co-operate with all kinds of different people from an early age. These leaders are the product of this mindset, and hence their success is also not so surprising.

At Diverse Ethics, we specialise in helping improve culture intelligence among our clients - especially for leaders and managers. What India Inc shows is that all these leaders invest a lot in building cultural intelligence for their staff, in many cases hiring local staff to show their commitment to the country in which they operate. Whereas in the UK, the multi-national corporations still have a strong white upper-class of executives, these Indian companies do not appear to have a class barrier and each hire people from over fifty to 100 different nationalities to work for them. This is diversity in practice - no wonder they are so successful.

Reviewed by Dr. Atul K. Shah. More details about the book and to purchase it, a video interview of the author, and excerpts from the interviews of business leaders can be found here.

Article added on 21st July 2010 at 8:05am
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