After reading the riveting book on American entrepreneurs, In Their Time by Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria, I was looking for some success stories of Indian entrepreneurs. I was very disappointed to read the portfolio book by the Penguin Group. Whether it was due to the great expectations set by having witnessed the penmanship of Mayo and Nohria in the American context or due to the poor structuring of the portfolio book, I could not wait for this book to end.
The portfolio book is a collection of excerpts from different books on different entrepreneurs. Some of the excerpts are quite out of context. For example, even after reading the book, I did not understand why was Walchand Hirachand counted among great industrialists of India. Even the chapter on MS Oberoi was written in such a serpentine way that I had to go back and forth to understand the sequence of events in his life. The book has 5 stories (out of total 13) on TATA directors, which by itself narrows the breadth of business tales in India. Most of the stories are about manufacturing firms and individuals who came from industrialist families, which is interesting but hardly inspiring. Vijay Mallaya's recent deeds have frittered away all of his achievements. He is an opportunist, a mediocre businessman and frankly not worth my time. Rahul Bajaj's story unrolls the problems of license raj and makes you happy to be India of 2016.
The 13 chapters describe the small and large achievements of these businessmen (yes, all men) offering some light into the problems of their era and their own personality traits. The chapter of Bhai Mohan Singh should actually have been named the story of his elder son, Dr. Parvinder Singh. This was a well spun tale of how Dr. Singh sacrificed his relationships with his father and brothers to make Ranbaxy a globally competitive firm. He rejected practices of helping the ailing companies owned by his brothers in the family conglomerate instead chose to strengthen the functioning of Ranbaxy. What his brothers saw as sibling rivalry was possibly Dr. Singh's loyalty to his shareholders. Despite these odds, Dr. Singh was successful in creating a merit-based innovation-led culture in Ranbaxy. The narratives of Jamsetji Tata, Ratan Tata and Aditya Vikram Birla highlighted their enterprising genius. All three came from affluent backgrounds but broke new grounds in their respective businesses. Without Jamsetji Tata's visionary planning, resourcefulness and selflessness, we would not have TATA Steel, Jamshedpur or IISc. He wanted to give India what she might have. Ratan Tata was inspired by the same maxim of his great grandfather. The book tells the tale of how he manufactured India's first indigenous car, Indica. His firm belief that Indians can create a world class car and more importantly, exhibit excellence in any field, in a period when India was still considered land of cows and snakes was stuff that Hollywood's inspirational movies are made of. Like him, Aditya Vikram Birla had monumental contribution in developing prowess of Indian firms in the era of globalization. These two men had the courage to dream (and make it a reality) of a corporation where Indians are at the technology frontier. Aditya Vikram Birla's last days show his strength as a human being, family person and a corporate leader. Subroto Bagchi's story was about how he started Mindtree, but I would have liked to hear details on his business ideas, building corporate ethos and how does an outsider handle competition with incumbents.
Overall, I did not chose a good book. Possibly Church's books, Added Value (2010) or Profiles in Enterprise: Inspiring Stories of Indian Business Leaders (2015) would have been more detailed books on entrepreneurs. Even the new book Living Legends, Learning Lessons: Up, Close and Personal With 10 Global Icons (2015) is creating some waves. My opinion on the portfolio book -- you are not missing much if you do not read it.
The 13 chapters describe the small and large achievements of these businessmen (yes, all men) offering some light into the problems of their era and their own personality traits. The chapter of Bhai Mohan Singh should actually have been named the story of his elder son, Dr. Parvinder Singh. This was a well spun tale of how Dr. Singh sacrificed his relationships with his father and brothers to make Ranbaxy a globally competitive firm. He rejected practices of helping the ailing companies owned by his brothers in the family conglomerate instead chose to strengthen the functioning of Ranbaxy. What his brothers saw as sibling rivalry was possibly Dr. Singh's loyalty to his shareholders. Despite these odds, Dr. Singh was successful in creating a merit-based innovation-led culture in Ranbaxy. The narratives of Jamsetji Tata, Ratan Tata and Aditya Vikram Birla highlighted their enterprising genius. All three came from affluent backgrounds but broke new grounds in their respective businesses. Without Jamsetji Tata's visionary planning, resourcefulness and selflessness, we would not have TATA Steel, Jamshedpur or IISc. He wanted to give India what she might have. Ratan Tata was inspired by the same maxim of his great grandfather. The book tells the tale of how he manufactured India's first indigenous car, Indica. His firm belief that Indians can create a world class car and more importantly, exhibit excellence in any field, in a period when India was still considered land of cows and snakes was stuff that Hollywood's inspirational movies are made of. Like him, Aditya Vikram Birla had monumental contribution in developing prowess of Indian firms in the era of globalization. These two men had the courage to dream (and make it a reality) of a corporation where Indians are at the technology frontier. Aditya Vikram Birla's last days show his strength as a human being, family person and a corporate leader. Subroto Bagchi's story was about how he started Mindtree, but I would have liked to hear details on his business ideas, building corporate ethos and how does an outsider handle competition with incumbents.
Overall, I did not chose a good book. Possibly Church's books, Added Value (2010) or Profiles in Enterprise: Inspiring Stories of Indian Business Leaders (2015) would have been more detailed books on entrepreneurs. Even the new book Living Legends, Learning Lessons: Up, Close and Personal With 10 Global Icons (2015) is creating some waves. My opinion on the portfolio book -- you are not missing much if you do not read it.