Modern India is resplendent with educational institutions some of which have attained world-class standards. Some of the alumni of these famed educational institutions are in very good positions either here in our country or elsewhere, whereas others are not. On careful introspection I believe that the difference between those who made it and those who did not make it to those starry heights is in their attitudes. The distance that some of them have covered is directly equivalent to the depth of their personal vision either of themselves or the organizations that they now are a part of Murasoli Maran, my father, stood out of the crowd for two reasons. One, he had a striking guru in the form of Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, himself a gigantic figure on the political arena, gifted orator, and writer par excellence. Dr Kalaignar Karunanidhi imparted the core belief in my father to never believe in the word ‘impossible’ and to fight the odds; he taught him politics and he gave my father a taste of Tamil theatre and literature.

Secondly, my father was a fighter. He never quit. He never complained of all the things that he could showcase as classical and politically acceptable ‘reasons’ for failing and instead strode on to become a leader of substance, because he dared to walk the talk. As I said before, my father with a guru in Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, his political mentor, became what the world knew him as. Luckily for me, I have the same mentor that my father had. Coupled with the fact that I was learning literally at my father’s feet from the time I barely could talk and walk, I became one of India’s youngest ministers.

From these giants I have learned what I could never have learned anywhere, even if I went to the best B school in the world. By that I am not belittling either education or educational institutions. I am just highlighting the wonderful education that I have received at the hands of some of the best survivors I can ever come across in this lifetime.

This country has never witnessed such growth. If telecom density is an indicator of growth, we are growing and if telecom density is an indicator of the distance which information is travelling, then it is travelling the length and breadth of this country. India is awakening and we need to understand the significance of this in a worldwide context. We cannot be complacent anymore; we cannot loose the advantages that are now India’s in terms of IT and retail growth. There are miles to go before we sleep. We in India have to be watchful, lest we lose that advantage.

India has to produce world-class managers. One Lakshmi Narain Mittal is a good Indian ambassador to make a presence felt on the global arena, but there must be more. One in a billion is a good personal statement, but not a good national statement. There must be at least one million out of a billion. All the top-notch companies we have today are good as benchmarkers of our nation’s capability but they cannot be stand-alone entities, only a sampling of our tremendous reservoir of talent, a forerunner of the companies that will be coming forth from a new resurgent India. Unless we nurture leaders of world-class standards, how can we nurture world-class companies?

Unless we are performance-centric, and unless we are delivery-centric, unless we discover and then unleash our own potential we will not become, what Jyothi Menon calls in these pages, the stuff of our dreams.

I also personally endorse what this book states – that if you cultivate your thoughts, you become your thoughts. That is how you can use your mind and that is how you can become your dream. That is how you can live your dream. It really depends on the extent of your self-belief and your commitment towards your dream.

I wish this book every success and I wish you, the reader, the very best in your endeavour to convert your dream to your reality.

Dayanidhi Maran - Union Minister of Communications and IT

Increasingly, being associated with impressive corporate Gains, realised in recent years by companies ranging from FedEx to Starbucks, “branding” has developed into one of the marketing world’s hottest concepts. The well-known strategist Al Ries and his daughter Laura Ries, in The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding: How to Build a Product or Service into a World-Class Brand write, “Marketing is building a brand in the mind of the prospect..if you can build a powerful brand you will have a powerful marketing program. If you can’t, then all the advertising, fancy packing, sales promotion and public relations in the world won’t help you achieve your objective”.

Branding an organization is therefore something that all of us should be passionate about. I personally think that each and every CEO must get passionate about the Organisation’s branding. He must roll up his sleeves and get to the act of creating the Brand. When the people in the organisation see the CEO being involved in this exercise, he/she becomes the primary brand ambassador and, slowly but surely, each and every employee will then take the onus of flaunting that Brand. In some sense this is exactly what happened 2004 years ago when one leader decided to launch a brand of what is modern day “Christianity” and it was 12 evangelists that laid the foundation of the modern church.

Our employees make brands; our customers make brands. Brands are being lived by those “inspired minds” that dare to dream and enjoy the experience of seeing dreams come true. However, just as the best clay in the hands of a careless, sloppy potter will come to nothing, we need to be careful about ensuring that the brand is indeed a true reflection of the emotion of the organisation.

Jyothi has mentioned that reputation is central to a brand. This is indeed important. The existence and the longevity of a brand are built on the sterling pillar of reputation. Without a credible reputation, it is impossible to build a long-lasting brand. People today want to belong to an organisation for a variety of Reasons and the sooner those reasons are discovered, established and broadcast to the world, the sooner will the organization be branded as a great place to belong.

I do hope this book finds its way into the hands of every Decision-making CEO, every passionate CEO, every passionate head of HR and every other individual who truly believes in the Power of a brand. I do wish Jyothi and Pradeep all the very best.

Vivek Harinarain IAS - Secretary – Information Technology, Government of Tamil Nadu.

Projections indicate that whereas developed countries, and – strange as it may seem – China too, will face a shortage of working-age people in the next few years, India will have a surplus of 47 million people in this age group in 2020. While this situation could provide us exciting possibilities, it is also quite a scary one. After all, 47 million “surplus” could also mean that many unemployed youth. While ensuring employment to these millions will require many things to be done, one of the obvious needs is education. However, this is not sufficient; to tap the full productive potential of this huge human asset, each individual has to be motivated, has to be optimally fitted into a team, and the effort channelised.

These are, in fact, the classic challenges of the Human Resources function (by whatever name it may be called): attracting talent, selecting the appropriate persons, motivating them, retaining them, and providing them further learning and growth opportunities. Through disciplines like Industrial Relations, Personnel Management, Human Resource Development, there has been focus over the years on aspects related to the optimum use of human resources within an organisation. The growth of the “knowledge economy” has given further visibility and impetus to this discipline, since people are both the “machinery” and the “technology” of this sector.

It is, however, not the knowledge industries alone where people are the critical resource. Today, in almost every sector – including the non-commercial arena – managing human resources has become the most important element of management. Success in this area translates directly to an improved bottom-line, and this is widely understood (which may be the reason why the cliché mentioned earlier is so widespread!). It is, therefore, of utmost importance that human resources get prime attention, and not just from the HR department.

It is in this context that one welcomes any attempt at a sharing of knowledge and experience in this area. This book is a laudable effort at doing so. Authored by a professional who has transitioned from engineering to human resources, it looks at HR from the point of view of a practitioner, not a theoretician. Its format, as a dialogue between a young, once-brash CEO and his wise grandfather, is reminiscent of a Zen master and his pupil. The book, as the author warns, is “not a book for the light-hearted”, yet its style and approach make it eminently readable. It is the kind of book that anyone who manages people will relate to and learn from. To the extent that people management is increasingly a key to enterprise success, this book should be of great relevance to all managers, and particularly those in the new, people-driven, knowledge-economy sector.

Kiran Karnik - President, NASSCOM.