Business Today

The biggest management lesson I have learnt in my 29 years of professional life is the importance of Trust and Credibility. In our personal lives, we take these for granted. We build trust with our parents as children. We build trust with our spouse

As a young executive at JWT, New Delhi, a couple of decades ago, I had made a presentation on the 'Future of Work' at one of our workshops. Mike Khanna, the then CEO who was present at the workshop, was impressed and thought it would be a good idea f

After spending 37 years in the financial services industry, I am often asked about the one management lesson that has made a lasting difference. For me, it has always been about learning continuously. In March 2017, at the annual convocation of my al

Bill Cosby, American actor, musician and stand up comedian, once said, "In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure." There will be a point in everyone's life when you look for a catalyst, the thing or the

Having spent over 28 years working in business and management, there are a number of lessons I have learnt. But if I were to pin down one lesson that has stood the test of time and been applicable in every sphere of my working life, it would be "Pers

I distinctly remember my first meeting with Dr Verghese Kurien in the boardroom of our headquarters at Anand. It was a brand review meeting and one of my colleagues said: "Why can't we reduce the quantity of Amulya, our dairy whitener, from 500 grams

Being honest, transparent, and building trust with all stakeholders is the best corporate policy, and something that I have always followed. It helps the leader in difficult situations, and tackles those dark periods of uncertainty that loom over bus

I am often asked about the tough times when starting out, or a challenge that seemed too difficult to surmount while setting up OYO. I believe that when you are having so much fun, challenges and tough times contribute to the adventure. I started as

In our everyday activities of always having more to do than the time to do it in, most of us don't spend enough time to consciously assess not just what we are doing but also how we are going about it. As we go through our careers, the jobs we are re

It was the early 1980s, long before the era of consumerism set in. Quality healthcare in India was the privilege of a few. If you couldn't afford to travel abroad for treatment, you would probably die. The death of a 38 year old patient of mine, onl

When we started Edelweiss in 1996, we never thought where or how big we would be 21 years later. The only thought at the time was to thrive on the wave of privatisation (which was sweeping through not just Indian economy in general but specifically t

What is entrepreneurship to you?" I was asked during a light hearted conversation at an event. "I think it is a very expensive hobby," I quipped. It raised quite a few laughs, but a small gang of entrepreneurs knew it was dark humour. It got me think

We are taught lessons in schools and colleges, and even though we forget most of them, they lurk somewhere, in some mysterious corners of our subconscious, only to emerge when we are faced with situations where we are unable to find solutions. The sa

It is unbelievable the things you can achieve with an uncluttered mind. In 1979, when I stepped up to the task of managing my father's long distance tyre business in Kerala, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My father, who managed his bus

I vividly recall an opportunity that came my way 12 years ago. I was in New York with Warburg Pincus when I got a call from Deepak Parekh, then Chairman of IDFC. Back in 2005, the Indian economy was in the ascendant. For me, while the pace of corpora

I have written several articles in Business Today on leadership. In these, I have focussed on, perhaps, the most important attribute that a leader has to demonstrate to earn the trust and confidence of his or her people. That attribute is leadership

It was the summer of 2004, and I was at Seattle, working as Strategy Officer at Nordstrom. I was young, ambitious and good at what I did. I understood the importance of teamwork and hard work, but at the time, I was like a teenager who intellectually

As an individual, I am totally committed to lifelong learning. This, I believe, not only provides an open mind for gaining tremendous knowledge and expertise, but more importantly, inculcates the right values that make learning a life skill. And so,

As I look back on my career, there are many lessons that I have learnt; but the one that has and will always stay with me has been about people; that "People are all that matter". This is not a learning confined to the corporate world, but rather to

One of the earliest tasks given to me in my youth was to control petrol bills of drivers at home. I took to the task in earnest, made a large sheet to diligently capture details of kilometres run daily and fuel refilled and so on. I would then questi

The greatest management lesson that I learnt was not taught in my MBA programme. It is something that I learnt the hard way from my mistakes. And it is the power of focus. Once I realised and learnt it, this simple mantra has helped me deliver resu

This is something we keep reminding ourselves at Amazon, every day. In his latest shareholder letter, Jeff Bezos talks about an interesting incident at the company all hands meeting, when he was asked what Day 2 looks like. "Day 2 is static. Followed

I am happy to write with a view towards motivating the younger generation. I would like to share with them the first 10 years of my working life and the four mantras that I have been following throughout my life face challenges, work hard, master s

Around 30 years ago, Naik and his colleagues were in Mumbai's Powai workshop, working late one night as there was a problem with the machinery. After some anxious moments, they finally left the workshop at 2 a.m. The next day, at exactly 8.20 a.m., N

It was 1990. I was 29 years old, with some experience in running a construction business and a not so successful start up. I was asked to lead one of the two companies that is today Dr. Reddy's. Here's an account of what happened and how the events t

About a decade ago, we invested time in finding out how various stakeholders, including our employees, viewed our group, and what the reasons for its continued growth were. The year long study revealed that it was our values that were the common thre

This is a habit I picked up from the very first days of Nykaa. The orders were in double digits, and it was not difficult to browse through each one, looking at the product selection, understanding the geographic market and trying to get a hint of th

I have always believed that you should make yourself better in whatever work you do. When I got associated with the Aadhaar project in 2010 with nearly 26 years of administrative services experience behind me, the Unique Identification Authority of I

In the ever changing and challenging business environment, a dedicated and loyal workforce is the backbone of a successful enterprise. This is one of the most important management fundamentals that I picked up early on. It is very important to spot a

As we get ready to welcome 2018, we are passing through an era of unprecedented disruption at every level technology, business, society, politics and globalisation. We are also welcoming a new generation of future leaders in our workforce. What can

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has suspended the eKYC licence of Airtel Payments Bank alleging it routed LPG subsidy payments worth Rs 190 crore to its payments bank accounts, wherein some of the accounts were opened and force s

1) Founder: Akshay Singhal started the company while studying B.Tech at IIT Roorkee along with his father, who now handles manufacturing for the company He is also pursuing a PhD in nanotechnology. 2) Big Idea: A nanotechnology R&D company that bridg

For those of us who struggle for storage space on the smartphone every now and then, the recently launched Files Go app by Google brings good news. The app's neat user interface is divided into two tabs storage and files. The storage page displays

Former Facebook vice president Chamath Palihapitiya unleashed a typhoon in the virtual world with his "social media is ripping apart society" remark. He minced no words stating that social media sites encouraged "fake, brittle popularity," pushing us

Smartphone manufacturers are working towards pulling off the perfect balance between brain and brawn. Even as phones are taking on slimmer and sleeker forms, they are also becoming more intelligent and intuitive. The brain of a smartphone lies in its

The CBI court's ruling on 2G licences has people debating the issue hotly. Especially because it looks as if CBI judge Om Prakash Saini's verdict contradicts the Supreme Court (SC) findings on the 2G case where it cancelled 122 licences and held that

Brand Cool Lower Parel in Mumbai is emerging as a luxury hub with hotels, restaurants, residential apartments and high end stores. Luxury furniture brand Maison by International Furniture Brands has now opened its first flagship store in India there.

Have you noticed how you breathe when you work or in the workplace and checked if you tend to restrict the intake of breath? Often, when we get absorbed in things we do or become tense, we hold our breath for far longer than is good for us. Studi

Are you spending too many hours inside your office, away from the sun, and eating junk food to fill in the long hours? All these can take a toll on your health, resulting in Vitamin D or B 12 deficiency, calcium loss, iron shortage or even low magnes

Making predictions about the future is a risky business. Business leaders, economists, astrologers and futurologists have all been wildly off the mark if long term analysis is done. A few predictions do come true but over a long period of time, predi

One Mission: How Leaders Build a Team of Teams By Chris Fussell Pan Macmillan UK; 256 pages; `599 The book urges leaders to harness the agility, adaptability and cohesion of small teams, and break down company silos to deliver extraordinary results.

Flight simulators of one kind or another have existed for a long time. Incredibly, the first dates back to 1927, though like everything else its technology has advanced. Today, it's Virtual Reality (VR) that can help simulate situations that are not

The Indian economy has witnessed numerous initiatives to stimulate growth in the recent past. The growth trajectory has improved the sentiments for the equity markets, leading to greater participation from individual investors, including home makers

'Housing for all' has been at the top of the agenda of the government. Budget 2017 had introduced certain measures to boost the real estate sector and achieve the target by 2022. Implementation of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 20