The Tale of Mukesh Ambani

"In the last century, Mohandas K. Gandhi was India's most famous and
powerful private citizen. Today, Mr. Ambani is widely regarded as
playing that role, though in a very different way. Like Mr. Gandhi,
Mr. Ambani belongs to a merchant caste known as the modh banias, is a
vegetarian and a teetotaler and is a revolutionary thinker with bold
ideas for what India ought to become. Yet Mr. Gandhi was a scrawny
ascetic, a champion of the village, a skeptic of modernity and a man
focused on spiritual purity. Mr. Ambani is a fleshy oligarch, a
champion of the city, a burier of the past and a man who deftly — and,
some critics say, ruthlessly — wields financial power. He is the
richest person in India, with a fortune estimated in the tens of
billions of dollars, and many people here expect that he will be the
richest person on earth before long," says a profile of Mukesh Ambani
one of the world's richest people in the New York Times today.

Wow to be compared to Gandhi, that is something, isn't for a man who
is building the worlds most expensive, extravagant, and elaborate home
in Mumbai. (See my earlier post
http://vtilak.blogspot.com/2008/05/how-richest-of-rich-will-live.html)

""Can we really banish abject poverty in this country?" he mused aloud
in a rare interview at his headquarters here. "Yes, in 10, 15 years we
can say we would have done that substantially. Can we make sure that
we create a social structure where we remove untouchability? We're
fast moving to a new India where you don't think about this caste and
that caste."

As millions of Indians graduate from burning cow dung for energy to
guzzling oil, Reliance is plowing billions of dollars into energy
exploration and is building the world's largest oil refinery. It has
also opened a chain of nearly 700 stores selling food and various
wares; Mr. Ambani promises that it will funnel money from the
flourishing cities into the struggling agricultural heartland. He
envisions Reliance, with $39 billion in revenue, as providing incomes
to 12 million to 30 million Indians within the next five years by
buying from farmers and employing new workers in its stores.

And as Mumbai, Mr. Ambani's hometown and the commercial and
entertainment capital of India, has grown ever more populous and ever
less livable, he has proposed that Reliance simply build a new,
improved city across the harbor," says this very interesting article
about an even more interesting man.

Read the full article at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/business/worldbusiness/15ambani.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

The Age of Innovation

Yet another book from Management Guru C.K. Prahalad, titled "The Age
Of Innovation"

"Every so often, a book comes along that demands to be read --
sometimes because of the author's great reputation; in other cases,
because the subject is so important. In the case of "The New Age of
Innovation," both are true," says the Los Angeles Times, "Professor
C.K. Prahalad of the University of Michigan, whose previous books
include "Competing for the Future" and "The Fortune at the Bottom of
the Pyramid," is sometimes described as one of the most influential
thinkers in the world. And the book deals with a pressing issue for
managers today: how to compete in a time of rapid and unpredictable
change."

According to The LA Times, "Prahalad, who recently was appointed a
non-executive director by Pearson, owner of the Financial Times, and
co-author M.S. Krishnan, also a professor at Michigan, start by
telling us, "There is a fundamental transformation of business
underway," which will radically alter the very nature of the company
and how it creates value. "No industry is immune from this trend."

"All this might seem like common sense. Sadly, common sense is not
taught at business schools, nor do consultants offer seminars on the
subject. Management teams will continue to fail if they continue to
confuse technology with the potential value that technology can
create; if they think of customers as a mass rather than individuals;
and if they fail to realize that how they manage is as important as
what they manage. On all three of these failings, Prahalad and
Krishnan offer advice that managers need to get back on the right
track," says the LA Times.

Read the full review at --
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-books2-2008jun02,0,2234984.story

Sen on the Global Food Crisis

Amartya Sen, Nobel price winning economist has an op-ed piece titled
"The Rich Get Hungrier" in the New York Times today.

He says, "WILL the food crisis that is menacing the lives of millions
ease up — or grow worse over time? The answer may be both. The recent
rise in food prices has largely been caused by temporary problems like
drought in Australia, Ukraine and elsewhere. Though the need for huge
rescue operations is urgent, the present acute crisis will eventually
end. But underlying it is a basic problem that will only intensify
unless we recognize it and try to remedy it.

It is a tale of two peoples. In one version of the story, a country
with a lot of poor people suddenly experiences fast economic
expansion, but only half of the people share in the new prosperity.
The favored ones spend a lot of their new income on food, and unless
supply expands very quickly, prices shoot up. The rest of the poor now
face higher food prices but no greater income, and begin to starve.
Tragedies like this happen repeatedly in the world.

A stark example is the Bengal famine of 1943, during the last days of
the British rule in India. The poor who lived in cities experienced
rapidly rising incomes, especially in Calcutta, where huge
expenditures for the war against Japan caused a boom that quadrupled
food prices. The rural poor faced these skyrocketing prices with
little increase in income."

Voicing a popular concern that is causing a lot of debate he says,
"There is also a high-tech version of the tale of two peoples.
Agricultural crops like corn and soybeans can be used for making
ethanol for motor fuel. So the stomachs of the hungry must also
compete with fuel tanks."

A very thought provoking op-ed, this can be accessed at--
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/opinion/28sen.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Learning to Lead

Wow... Very Inspiring video titled, "Lead India"

Inspiring for all to take the initiative and lead, wherever, this may be.

Becoming Smarter...

"What is perhaps most intriguing about the list in Condé Nast
Portfolio of the 73 Biggest Brains in Business is how few traditional
businesspeople are among them," says a New York Times article. One of
the Indians represented on this list is Ratan Tata of of the Tata
Group, the multinational conglomerate based in India.

In this article titled "How to Be Smarter," The Times quotes from
Wired magazine and says, "WHILE your I.Q. is basically determined at
birth, "still, there are lots of ways to get smarter — to max out your
so-called functional intelligence" at work and elsewhere." They list
ways to get smarter as below, and I quote--

-- Discover. "Learning new things actually strengthens your brain —
especially when you believe you can learn new things," Steve Knopper
writes. "It's a virtuous circle: When you think you're getting
smarter, you study harder, making more nerve cell connections, which,"
he says, makes you smarter.
-- Don't panic. "While a little nervousness can boost cognitive
performance, periods of intense stress essentially turn us into
Neanderthals," Eric Hagerman writes. Try to control your breathing.
Yoga could help.
-- Drink tea. "Caffeine jump-starts the body and sharpens the mind,"
Mathew Honan says. "But studies show that we Yanks are doing it all
wrong" by drinking coffee and high-energy drinks. "For optimal brain
gain, regular tea breaks" are the way to go, he writes. Small doses
throughout the day are more effective than one huge drink.
-- Practice the types of questions that appear on intelligence tests.
"They're supposed to be objective and consistent, but don't believe
it," Mr. Knopper writes. "By prepping for the verbal, numerical and
spatial problems on a typical psychometric test, you can boost your
score."
-- Exercise. Studies have shown that students who are aerobically fit
perform better on cognitive tests.

Read the full article at--
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2008/05/10/business/10offline.html&tntemail0=y

Aditya Mittal - Like Father, Like Son...

"Aditya Mittal has spent a decade helping his father build the world's
biggest steel company. Will he take the top slot? Or could worries
over nepotism make him prove himself elsewhere?" asks an article in
the Times Online. The UK based paper has done a nice interview with
the son of Lakshmi Mittal, the UK based steel magnate.

An intriguing look into the life of a boy who grew up with a silver
spoon, yet one who seems so capable, level headed and down to earth

Another excerpt, "Aditya Mittal nods. "You hope one generation learns
from another's mistakes. I am my own man. So long as I am doing what I
want, and it works for him and me, it's perfect."
That trust was fostered by an upbringing where Aditya stayed close to
his father's side, visiting steel plants with him, living near the
business in Indonesia where Lakshmi started his operations.
Unlike many entrepreneurs' children, he never lost his father to
business – he was taken along for the ride. And Lakshmi, say those
around him, is good at making business fun.
But father-son bonds make family-owned firms difficult for everyone
else, not least colleagues and other shareholders. Can it be a
meritocracy? Is that why he calls his father Mr Mittal?
Aditya grins. "Well, I could hardly call him Papa in the office, could I?""

Definitely worth a read at--
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article3778499.ece

Bobby Jindal proves to be a doer...

A very nice article about Bobby Jindal and what he has accomplished
within a short period of time in the New York Times.

An excerpt --
"Six weeks into the term of Gov. Bobby Jindal, an extensive package of
ethics bills was approved here this week, signaling a shift in the
political culture of a state proud of its brazen style. Mr. Jindal,
the earnest son of Indian immigrants, quickly declared open season on
the cozy fusion of interests and social habits that have prevailed
among lobbyists, state legislators and state agencies here for
decades. Mostly, he got what he wanted."

More excerpts --
"I've talked to C.E.O.'s in New York, even the president of the United
States," Mr. Jindal said in an interview, and when "you ask them for
more investment, more help on the coast and other areas, their first
reaction always is: 'Well, who do you need to know? Who do I have to
hire? Is this money going to end up in somebody's pocket?' "
That had to change, the governor said, and he was using his "narrow
window" — his honeymoon at the Capitol — to do it.
The volume of grumbling suggested real change was afoot.
"This is huge," said D. W. Hunt, a veteran lobbyist at the Capitol.
"This is a sea change. This will seriously, dramatically change
things. The meta-theme is the transparency."
Barry Erwin, president of the Council for a Better Louisiana, a
good-government watchdog group, described the new bills as "a major
change in the culture."
"It's a world of difference, particularly on the disclosure side, and
the same thing with conflict-of-interest," he said."

Read the full article at--
http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntget=2008/02/28/us/28jindal.html&tntemail0=y&oref=slogin

Gandhiji's Ashes Immersed

In India, Women Leaders Have a Legacy

From NPR -- "As the United States contemplates the possibility of its first female president, we look at India, which in 1992 mandated a place for women in local governments. Esther Duflo of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab found that women there lead differently than men."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18016575