Finally its India’s 67th independence day and unlike many individuals in office who see it as just another holiday, I see it as an opportunity to learn – An opportunity to learn about a different breed of humans – who rarely speak (pun intended). I am definitely going to witness the guy hosting the flag on the red fort and more importantly see him summarize the entire year’s update all at once.
Though I thought I would borrow a voice recorder or a camera from a colleague in office and record the event but I am told that spectators are not allowed to carry anything. I wished they allowed me to carry at least one device on which I could have somehow ‘shown him’ that no matter you speak or not there were and are Indians who have made the world hear them.
Needless to say that we have proved our mettle in sports, science and technology (especially software) in the past, but there are some unsung heros in the field of Management who need a mention this independence day.
An Indian shook up Justice Theory which was considered unbeatable, another Indian crafted most effective business strategy to fight low cost rivals, 2 Indians feature in the list of world’s top ten management professors and there are another ‘n’ number of examples where individuals have made themselves heard around the globe.
If you look at the most celebrated Management Gurus in the world, you would realize how Indians have made a mark.
Amartya Sen (Harvard University); Vijay Govindarajan (Tuck Business School); Pankaj Ghemawat (IESE Business School); Tarun Khanna (Harvard Business School); Jagdish Sheth (Goizueta Business School); Nirmalya Kumar (London Business School); Nitin Nohria (Harvard Business School); Bala Balachandran (Kellogg School of Management); Jagdish Bhagwati (Columbia University) and Ram Charan are a few Indians about whom you should definitely Google and read.
It’s not that Indians are only good at preaching. Indians are increasingly rising to the top of global corporate ladders and just 10 of them are together managing business worth over $400 billion — an amount nearly double the total exports from India in a year.
Anshu Jain (co-CEO, Deutsche Bank); Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo Chairman and CEO); Vikram Pandit (CEO, Citigroup); Sanjay Jha (CEO, Motorola Mobility); Ajit Jain (CEO, Reinsurance Division, Berkshire Hathaway Inc); Shantanu Narayen (CEO, Adobe); Harish Manwai (COO, FMCG giant Unilever); Rakesh Kapoor (global CEO, Reckitt and Benckiser); Ajay Banga (CEO Mastercard) and Arcelor Mittal chairman Lakshmi N Mittal are another set of people about whom one should Google and read.
Almost all the leaders have navigated the organization through deep turmoils and made it reach the shore successfully. For example- Vikram Pandit was asked to head $111-billion Citigroup at a time when it was deep in financial crisis and he has successfully handled a turnaround.
I am sure life story of these personalities (Do Google their names to read more about them) would make you believe that history is written with an attitude and will to write it. So what if my country ranks low in the Human Development Index, so what if we rank low on the literacy rate, so what if we have poor infrastructure and so what if we have a shabby governance led by a numb leader but we also have world’s youngest population which ranks highest in zeal of entrepreneurship amongst developing nations – does infrastructure, literacy, governance still matter ??
Go spread your wings.. Happy Independence Day…
Aprit, you should see the content and style change in your writing (+ve way). This is a beautifully written article, to the point and has a flow of thoughts and expression. I like it.
Thank You !! Increasing followers and blog visits has made me a responsible writer 🙂 I think its time to buy a ddomain name.