From the bookshelves of Forbes India

The two-time World Cup-winning Australian all-rounder talks to Divya Shekhar and Kathakali Chanda about his new book The Winner’s Mindset. He talks about a tragedy that triggered a fear of the short ball, how he overcame his anxiety, why it’s important to train the mind, and what he wants to do next after a successful career as a cricketer and now commentator. He also discusses what young players have in stake ahead of the T20 World Cup, and how they can cope with the pressure

In his book 'Slip, Stitch and Stumble', senior journalist Rajrishi Singhal takes a broad-scope look into the evolution of financial sector reforms in India. From Manmohan Singh's landmark July 1991 Union Budget speech to the current complicated relationship between fintech companies and regulations, the book takes stock of the various events, stakeholders and motivations that propelled financial sector reforms in India at different stages, as well as the roadblocks along the way. Also joining Divya Shekhar in this episode is Forbes India journalist Nasrin Sultana.

Gurcharan Das believes that reliving your life is better than living it. In his memoir Another Sort of Freedom, he reflects on 80 years of his life. The author talks to Divya Shekhar about how he fled his home during the Partition, stumbled through various academic disciplines—from engineering and literature to philosophy and Sanskrit—survived doing business during the License Raj and scaled the corporate ladder, only to let go of it when he reached the top, all because he wanted to find his life’s purpose.

To compete in the new age, companies need to fuse the physical and digital to create value, says Vijay Govindarajan. The Coxe distinguished professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, his new book Fusion Strategy is all about how companies need to use technology and real-time data to turbocharge their products, strategies and customer relationships. He also talks to Divya Shekhar about why AI should be ‘augmented intelligence’ and not ‘artificial intelligence’ and why India should focus on high-level manufacturing to get the most out of its demographic dividend.

We’ve heard about the popular phrase “leading from the front”. It means taking the lead in making decisions and showing people the way. But Ravi Kant, former vice chairman and CEO of Tata Motors, is of the belief that business leaders should no longer aspire to lead from the front, but instead, aim to lead from the back. Why does he say that? What does he mean? And is this something organisations will even be open to implementing? Let’s find out. In this episode, Kant discusses his new book ‘Leading from the Back’, which he has co-authored with bestselling writers Harry Paul and Ross Reck.

Sudha and Narayana Murthy are no doubt icons of our generation. But when so much is known about their life already, what can you possibly write that seems new to readers? And when the subjects of your book are your primary sources, how can you avoid being hagiographical? In this conversation with Divya Shekhar, celebrated author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni talks about ‘An Uncommon Love’, her first work of non-fiction, where she focusses on the early life of the Murthys. She traces their childhood, courtship, marriage, family life, and also their individual professional milestones, including the founding and initial years of Infosys.

In this episode, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner, managing director of Graham Fisher and Co., talk about their book These are the Plunderers: How PE runs and wrecks America. The book is a well-researched critique of how private equity firms in the US that specialise in buying companies, load them with debt and completely squeeze them for profits. The authors talk to Divya Shekhar about the insurance takeover by PE, the lack of transparency in their dealings, and the responsibility of the media while covering PE billionaires.

The author and leadership coach, known for international bestsellers The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and The 5 AM Club, speaks with Divya Shekhar about his forthcoming book The Wealth Money Can’t Buy, and the relevance of self-help books in the age motivation content fatigue, thanks to social media. He also discusses why hubris takes down many great people and companies, why most CEOs and billionaires are “cash rich and happiness poor”, how technology takes us away from creativity, and the secret behind how successful people separate good advice and decisions from all the noise

Raghuram Rajan and Rohit Lamba believe that India’s best days are still ahead and that the country shouldn’t lose its biggest strength—its democracy—by “any stretch of the imagination”. In their new book, ‘Breaking the Mould: Reimagining India’s Economic Future’, Rajan, former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, and Lamba, an economist at Pennsylvania State University, talk about why creativity and human capital should be at the centre of growth and development. They also tell Divya Shekhar why it’s essential to reprioritize our resources to focus on the basics.

What if I tell you there’s a company that can scrape every photo you casually upload on social media? A company that uses powerful facial recognition technology in ways that even big tech companies like Google and Facebook have refrained from using. The New York Times Journalist Kashmir Hill speaks to Divya Shekhar about her book Your Face Belongs to Us, which investigates the inner workings of Clearview AI, a controversial facial recognition startup. She discusses the promises and perils of such technology and its impact on privacy.

Fali Nariman is arguably the greatest living expert on the Constitution. He started his legal practice the year the Constitution of India was enacted in November 1949. He spoke with Divya Shekhar and Forbes India Editor Brian Carvalho about his new book 'You Must Know Your Constitution'. He discusses pertinent issues, including how the Constitution can be taken to the masses, questions around sedition and censorship, national vs official languages and whether it’s time for India to have a new Constitution. (Published by Hay House Publishers India and distributed by Penguin Random House India)

All through his career, Madhav Gadgil has worked closely with communities on the ground, roping in researchers, policy-makers, NGOs, farmers, teachers, students and citizens for environmental conservation. His contributions towards saving the Western Ghats and building an inventory to monitor biodiversity in India, among other things, have made him one of the country’s most eminent field ecologists. Gadgil speaks with Divya Shekhar about his newly-released memoir, A Walk Up The Hill, and summarises his decades-long experience of how we interact with the environment, the role of government and bureaucracy, and why there is hope for climate-conscious action in India.

The teachers of sustainability at the Azim Premji University in Bengaluru discuss their new book ‘Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities’, which combines scientific rigour with anecdotes, community histories, and nostalgia to take us through water bodies across the country. The authors talk to Divya Shekhar about our complicated collective history with water, community warriors who are showing the way, whether we need to put a price on water, and how we can start rebuilding our relationship with it.

In his book ‘Back to Bharat: In Search of a Sustainable Future’, impact investor Nagaraja Prakasam distinguishes between India and Bharat. For him, the word ‘Bharat’ means the “ignored billion” in the country. These are people, he says, that are still largely left out of the digital revolution—venture investors are mostly wary of them, and businesses stay away as they do not see profit in solving for them. Prakasam, who calls himself a farmer, retired from a software career at the age of 41 and has since spent his time backing social enterprises. He talks to Divya Shekhar about his new book and life choices.

Anurag Behar is the CEO of the Azim Premji Foundation that has been working in the space of education and now healthcare. In his new book, ‘A Matter of the Heart: Education in India’, he shares a collection of essays that takes us to schools in some of the most remote villages in India. Behar leads an organization of thousands of people working across districts in India. He tells Divya Shekhar that his book is about stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary work. It also throws light on the struggles and infrastructure challenges at these schools, but at its core, it is about voices that are life-affirming and insightful

You might be all in on the #OOTD (outfit of the day) trend or not care about leftover food from a takeout. All this, and a multitude of small daily habits that we might not think twice about, could add to the climate burden. Digital influencer and activist Aakash Ranison attempts to decode these in his new book ‘I’m a Climate Optimist’. He takes stock of various sectors—like transport, beauty, food, textile and technology—to talk about how we can be more mindful of the choices we make in our daily life and make a positive difference at an individual level.

In her book, 'The Defiant Optimist', Durreen Shahnaz, the first Bangladeshi woman to work on Wall Street, presents a glimpse of her life and her effort to make financial markets more equitable and inclusive. The founder of the Impact Investment Exchange in Singapore believes that financial systems that enrich the few can be transformed for the good of the many. As India is working on its own social stock exchange, she speaks with Divya Shekhar about what it takes to build an ecosystem to measure and prioritize social impact, whether India is ready to launch a social stock exchange, and why the rules for women to succeed are different—and often harder—than men.

Her previous book, Let’s Talk Money, was a national bestseller and in it, Monika Halan offered a practical approach to financial security and how we can make our wealth work for us. In her latest book Let’s Talk Mutual Funds, she provides a wealth of information on everything you possibly need to know about investing in mutual funds. Halan also talks to Divya Shekhar about the psyche of the Indian investor, the role of financial influencers on social media, why the government’s recent move to tax debt mutual fund investments as short-term capital gains is not very well-thought through, SEBI’s move to allow PE funds to own mutual fund companies, and a lot more. Tune in!

The self-made businessman has worked with several pharma and biotech companies for targeted therapies and innovation through his company MedGenome. He has also incubated and launched many companies leveraging next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics through his incubator SciGenom Labs. He talks to host Divya Shekhar about his book, ‘Sam’s 12 Commandments for the Indian Entrepreneur’, where he draws upon over 35 years of experience to delve deep into the psyche of Indians doing business and shares lessons that will help them succeed.

What does it take to build a legacy and ensure generations of people benefit from your work? Are there leadership lessons old industrialists can offer young founders of today? These are some of the questions that family business historian Sonu Bhasin attempts to answer through a series of books called 'Entrepreneurs Who Built India'. The latest book is on Lala Shri Ram, who built Delhi Cloth and General Mills (DCM) into a conglomerate and market leader and founded various educational institutions, including the Lady Shri Ram College. In a conversation with Divya Shekhar, Bhasin also talks about women in the workforce and how family businesses can attain longevity.

How did India’s earliest Finance Ministers shape the economic story of the country? In his new book 'India’s Finance Ministers: From Independence to Emergency (1947-1977)', senior journalist AK Bhattacharya presents a detailed account of the work done by finance ministers in India’s first three decades since Independence. He speaks with episode host Divya Shekhar about how finance ministers like RK Shanmukham Chetty, John Matthai, CD Deshmukh, TT Krishnamachari and Morarji Desai balanced economic considerations with politics of their time, their relationship with prime ministers and other prominent political and economic figures, and how this book can be read in the context of the current political and economic scenario of the country.

In this episode, Divya Shekhar speaks with science writers Aashima Dogra and Nandita Jayaraj, who run The Life of Science, a platform dedicated to highlighting the stories and voices of women and minorities in science. In late-2015, they decided to visit the labs of women scientists and researchers in India, and their recent book ‘Lab Hopping’, is a result of hundreds of conversations they have had with these women. It navigates the web of patriarchy, isolation and ineffective regulations to highlight the grit, wisdom, victories and challenges these women face in everyday life as they pursue their love for the sciences

In this episode, Divya Shekhar speaks with HCL co-founder Ajai Chowdhry about his book 'Just Aspire', building a career in IT in the 70s, creating a domestic market for computers in the country, whether the recent instances of layoffs, onboarding delays and attrition point to deeper systemic issues in Indian IT, and how India can use its software prowess to become a hardware product nation.

To commemorate the six-month run of From the Bookshelves, Divya Shekhar brings you a special episode featuring a Michelin-starred celebrity chef who is an ambassador for Indian cuisine and culture to the world. Vikas Khanna speaks about his latest book Imaginary Rain, which is the story of an immigrant woman running a restaurant in the US, and a semi-autobiographical dedication to Khanna’s grandmother, who is also an inspiration for his cooking. In a straight-from-the-heart conversation, he talks about why he started writing as a result of a promise made to his father, the challenges of translating Punjabi to English, and why his book—which is also being made into a movie starring actor Shabana Azmi—is another attempt for him to “remain inspired”, which he says, is the most important in life.

What are the numerous untold tales behind a plate of food that you’ve ordered at a restaurant? In this episode, Divya Shekhar speaks with restaurateur Gauri Devidayal about her new book ‘Diamonds for Breakfast’, which she has co-written with writer-editor Vishwas Kulkarni. She discusses how and why she wrote about her experience of running one of the most celebrated restaurants in Mumbai; who are the foot soldiers silently working behind-the-scenes to help run a successful business in India’s hyper-competitive F&B industry, and why running a restaurant, with all its perceived glamour and fun, is a game of patience and perseverance. Gauri is honest, fun, and candid. Listen on.

The Japanese have a long tradition of finding the secret to a sense of purpose, happiness and balance in everyday life. And they have a word—Ikigai—to represent just that. In this episode, Divya Shekhar meets up with Francesc Miralles, who has authored the globally bestselling Ikigai series of books along with Hector Garcia. They speak about whether finding your Ikigai can make you better entrepreneur, whether business and doing good can go hand-in-hand, and making money. And in the age of startup successes, where young entrepreneurs chase dizzying valuations and want to hit it big in a short period of time, does the process of finding one’s Ikigai, and the values of purpose, patience and perseverance, have much resonance?

In this episode, Divya Shekhar discusses a brief history of the biggest corporate failures in India over the past two decades and what we can learn from them with Nandini Vijayaraghavan, who is the director and head of research at the Singapore office of the Korea Development Bank. In her latest book ‘Unfinished Business: Evolving Capitalism in the World’s Largest Democracy’, Nandini tells this story through four businesspersons: Anil Ambani (R-ADAG), Naresh Goyal (Jet Airways), VG Siddhartha (Café Coffee Day) and Vijay Mallya (Kingfisher). In the episode, she talks about why the government, investors and other stakeholders have not learnt from past mistakes, why listing day pop is a risky game, and what her research tells her about Gautam Adani. She also gives insights on the future of Jet Airways, startups that value scale over sustainability, and a lot more

Do you think you will have a better understanding of your country and what it means to be Indian if you travelled over 18,000 kilometres, on the road for more than 50 days? When fourth-generation entrepreneur Bhairavi Jani did that, she discovered new facets and truths about India that are now part of her new book Highway to Swades. In this episode, she speaks with Divya Shekhar about why the definition of entrepreneurship and “starting up” is very different in villages and non-metros, how the history of trade has shaped the way we trust and do business, and what her travels taught her about the purpose of enterprise and giving back to society.

From the Bookshelves of Forbes India is back after a short New Year break, and is happy to present the first fiction title to be discussed on the podcast. Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize 2022 for his novel ‘The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida’ barely three months ago. He speaks with Divya Shekhar about using ghosts, ghouls and horror to craft a whodunit in the backdrop of the raging civil war in 1990, Sri Lanka, how people in the country use humour to convey pain and trauma, why his next book is on the “absurdities of the corporate world”, why he has barely been able to write after the Booker Prize win, and what his win means to writers and the publishing business for his country Sri Lanka.

Did you know the word computation made its first appearance only in the second Five-Year plan, and the word 'computer' was introduced only in India's third Five-Year Plan? But there were a few individuals who were first-movers, early believers in the power of technology who eventually helped shape the IT industry into the behemoth worth billions of dollars that it is today. One such early believer is Infosys Co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan. In this episode, he speaks with Divya Shekhar about building India's IT industry through his personal experiences, and what the future looks like.

How do women in India navigate their everyday freedoms, both big and small? With the rate of female workforce participation in India low and stagnant at less than 25 percent—how can we bridge the gap between men and women, particularly in terms of economic opportunities and parity? Shaili Chopra's new book, Sisterhood Economy, addresses these issues and more. The former journalist, the founder of the digital platform SheThePeople, speaks with Divya Shekhar about the importance of financial freedom and putting value to unpaid care work, reimagining gender roles and creating role models that are not only aspirational but also relatable​.

In a masterclass on how to build companies and products that change the world, and how to persevere through failure, Tony Fadell speaks with Divya Shekhar about his illustrious career, which, through its twists and turns, has helped him become the man behind some of the most inventive products in the world today.

The co-creator of the iPhone, who led the team that built the first iPod at Apple, Fadell's new book 'Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making' is all about how to find one's place in the world, think differently about work-life balance and solving problems, and the lessons he learnt from his mentors, including Apple Co-founder Steve Jobs and Google Co-founder Larry Page.

Jimmy Soni spent more than six years of his life documenting the origin story of PayPal and the rise to power of its founders, who, as the PayPal Mafia, are among the most influential people in Silicon Valley today. Soni's book, The Founders, chronicles how the payments platform shaped the modern consumer internet. It features rich anecdotes, backstories and interviews with all of PayPal's co-founders, including Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin and Reid Hoffman. In today's episode, Soni discusses Musk's Twitter takeover and his vision for X, the everything app, Peter Thiel's emergence as a right-wing power player, and how PayPal has created a template of entrepreneurship for a generation of young startup entrepreneurs. The Founders is published by Atlantic Books and distributed by Penguin Random House India.

How safe are medicines made in India? Four cough and cold syrups made in India have allegedly caused the death of 66 children in the African nation of Gambia, which the Indian drug regulator is currently investigating. The syrups contained diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol, which can be fatal for humans who consume it. India has had a record of at least five major events of poisoning by DEG in the past. In today's episode, Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy, authors of The Truth Pill (published by Simon & Schuster India), speak with Divya Shekhar about the problem with drug regulation in India, how drug regulators are more responsive to pharma companies rather than the people of India, and what adverse events due to substandard drugs mean for the $42 billion pharmaceutical industry in India, which, according to the Economic Survey 2021, is expected to reach $120-$130 million by 2030.

Aparna Piramal Raje comes from a prominent business family. She is a writer, educator, public speaker, and, in her own words, “happy, thriving and bipolar”. Her new book, Chemical Khichdi, is published by Penguin Random House India. In this episode of From the Bookshelves of Forbes India, Aparna talks about how she and her family coped with her mental health condition, finding one’s identity, the role of privilege in mental health awareness and de-stigmatisation, and why it’s important for corporate leaders to be more vulnerable, sensitive and empathetic.

'What's your story? The Essential Business Storytelling Handbook', is a collection of experiences of three co-authors Adri Buckner, Anjana Menon, Marybeth Sandell who talk about how companies should map their audience and engage with their target audience in a more interactive and relevant way. It is filled with examples of companies and whether they are doing it right or wrong, and how one should engage with customers. After all, the key is to identify your audience and craft a narrative of your brand. From finding the mission of the brand to channelising your company’s SEO, the book provides an insight into how companies should interact in today’s times

“What we learn from the music business tells us so much more about who we really are, than other media industries; music is important not only because it was first to suffer and first to recover, but because it was the first to discover who we really are,” says Will Page, formerly the chief economist at audio streaming company Spotify. In his book 'Tarzan Economics', Page takes a leaf or two from the music industry to explain how lessons from there can be used by anyone to disrupt an industry. The book is filled with case studies and talks about eight principles to pivot through disruption

Marketing guru Philip Kotler and Christian Sarkar in their new book discuss the seven wicked topics they have identified for brand activism. The book is an insightful read on how brands end up on either side of the regressive or progressive activism debate, with examples like Anita Roddick building the Body Shop. In this conversation, Kotler and Sarkar discuss moral myopia to brands, why credibility of CEOs in India is at an all-time low, to climate change

'Pandemonium' by veteran banking editor Tamal Bandyopadhyay narrates untold gripping stories from the Indian banking ecosystem. From the bad loans war room created far from the Mint street in Mumbai, to the arrests made in connection to the disbursal of such loans, he breaks down the nuances of bad loans in India, the key faces, and a collection of rare interviews of all the Reserve Bank of India governors on what they think has caused the big banking mess

Binod Chaudhary is Nepal’s sole billionaire according to Forbes World Billionaires list for 2021. In his autobiography, 'Making it Big', he writes about building his business, the impact of monarchy and politics, running 169 companies and how he plans to consolidate them now. His company CG Corp Global manufactures the widely popular Wai Wai noodles and has a controlling stake in Nabil Bank. Chaudhary now dreams of a NYSE-listed company—the first one from Nepal

Steven Levy has updated his book 'In the Plex' and now takes a look at how Google has changed over the last decade. In the middle of the decade, Larry Page decided to call the company Alphabet. Alpha meant Google and Bet means the new bets or the moonshine projects it will undertake. Levy believes this structure has made it tougher for these bets like the fibre optics business to succeed on their own and a lot of them have eventually failed. He says Google has become something the founders never wanted to be—Conventional

In the summer of 2010, Xiaomi Corporation didn't start out as a mobile handset company, choosing instead to launch as the company behind MIUI, an operating system based on Google's Android OS. In fact, Xiaomi officially launched as a mobile phone maker in August 2011. Since then, it has managed to become the largest-selling smartphone manufacturer in India, the 2nd largest smartphone market in the world. In his book on 'Xiaomi', Jayadevan P. K., a technology journalist, traces the journey of China opening up a market for smartphones with Motorola, and how it brought lessons for entrepreneurs in China, including Lei Jun, the main man behind Xiaomi.

The book’s title 'From Incremental to Exponential' is a giveaway and Vivek Wadhwa, a tech entrepreneur and a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School and Carnegie Mellon University joins us on today's episode. He points out there will be more disruption in this decade than in the last 50 years. Since 1935, the average membership duration in S&P 500 has fallen from 90 years to less than 20, and it will continue to fall. At the current rate of turnover, a full 75 percent of the current S&P 500 will be replaced in less than a decade. Wadhwa take us through how legacy companies cut the middleman to stay in the game, why he says AI is an excel sheet on steroids, and why Amazon’s monopoly is not a good thing for the Indian market

GE was created in 1892 and it finds its roots with Thomas Edison. But after 110 years, in 2018, GE was booted from Dow Jones. Many pointed fingers at the senior management. In this tell-all podcast, Jeffery Immelt the ex-CEO of GE talks about his time leading the conglomerate, including decisions that went wrong and some which will bear fruits later. In his book Hot Seat, Immelt talks about the various business verticals in detail, especially the breaking up of GE Capital which was one of the drivers of the conglomerate.

Startups and e-delivery models are usually the talks of the town and they have managed to harness growth during the pandemic but what about the old school enterprises? The book 'Transformation In Times of Crisis' by Nitin Rakesh, CEO of Mphasis and Professor Jerry Wind, who taught at Wharton School, delves upon how enterprises are rewiring themselves and adapting to the new normal. The book outlines eight key principles which include agility, mental models, digital transformation, tapping open talent resources among other ideas. The book prods companies to ask themselves to build their new strategy for the new normal.

All of us go through career dilemmas at some point. Shivakumar discusses the top ten dilemmas that we may experience and backs them with research and data to analyse how we can make better career moves. In his book, 'The Right Choice', he says India produces nearly half a million MBAs every year but less than 5 percent of an IIM batch makes it to the CEO’s office, thus explaining that merely possessing a degree from a prestigious institute does not guarantee a ticket to the corner office. He discusses the importance of career moves, board membership and CEO’s dilemmas.

Marketers, globally, are facing an existential crisis as more companies are losing confidence in what marketers can do for their brands. In his book, Rajamannar points out what he calls quantum marketing, the fifth paradigm, that can help marketers to stay relevant in the business. The need to adopt experiential marketing, harnessing machine learning, artificial intelligence, 5G, and more relevant data to create campaigns which can resonate with customers. He also talks about the new ways that he is planning to launch campaigns for Mastercard.

As more people feel dislocated in the face of the inexorable forces of globalisation and technology and lash out against immigrants, free trade, governing elites, Professor Michael Sandel, one of the foremost philosophers in the world and a professor at Harvard University challenges the usual notions of meritocracy in his latest book, 'The Tyranny of Merit: What's become of the common good?' While the book delves more into Donald Trump’s win and Brexit as the base for its narrative, it has lessons for everyone as education plays a key role in how citizenry votes around the world.

Dr. Sudipta Sarangi's debut novel 'The Economics of Small Things' questions our small actions and why we do things the way we do them, and the economics behind them. The book explains concepts of economics with real-life questions, like why we ask for freebies while buying vegetables, and more importantly, why the shopkeeper will give you freebies. The book presents some interesting case studies, including the correlation of the pied piper of Hamelin in the context of economics.

Every pandemic which tore through the Indian subcontinent like in 2020, brought businesses to a standstill. In 1907, India’s GDP contracted by 5 percent due to the impact on agriculture. One of the biggest shocks was felt in 1918, when India’s GDP fell by 10 percent, which, coupled with high inflation, created a classic case of supply-side shock as 20 million Indians lost their lives that year. The Age of Pandemics by Chinmay Tumbe argues the close connection between pandemics, economics and politics that have shaped Indian history in this period and why we need to give a central role to pandemics.