R Gopalakrishnan has led in the corporate sector in India for over three decades. He is a former Director of Tata Sons and Vice Chairman of Hindustan Unilever, currently serving as an independent director for various companies. He is also a Distinguished Professor at IIT Kharagpur and has studied at Kolkata University, IIT Kharagpur, and Harvard Business School.
R Gopalakrishnan has led in the corporate sector in India for over three decades. He is a former Director of Tata Sons and Vice Chairman of Hindustan Unilever, currently serving as an independent director for various companies. He is also a Distinguished Professor at IIT Kharagpur and has studied at Kolkata University, IIT Kharagpur, and Harvard Business School.
Undoubtedly SHE is an idealistic goal, but it is practical
India presents a unique enigma. It has too many poor enterprises, but many rich entrepreneurs
Over more than 100 years, we have experienced the social-economy benefits brought by the early 20th-century founders of sustained, humane, and enlightened enterprises. India needs more of them now
Most companies, scientific and educational bodies, and charitable organisations encounter two challenges - developing sound business philosophies and safeguarding them across generation
Unilever has successfully demonstrated how virtue can be sustained over generations in enterprise. Can the same be said about venerable Indian companies?
History is replete with examples of when an enlightened business approach did not prevail, but even cynics agree it is worth striving for
Today, as in the days of HG Wells, the dilemma that society faces is one of the need for aggressive entrepreneurs, but not entrepreneurs who undertake spiralling risks, unfettered by ethics or nous.
To improve governance, can a coach help by holding a behavioral mirror to a board?
Commentary on misgovernance dwells on misdemeanour, but perpetrators often do not demonstrate malintent. There are plenty of smoke signals, however, before every episode
Corporate leaders aggressively pursue shareholder wealth creation. But companies that put more emphasis on profit are, in fact, less profitable
Mercurial founders get disproportionate public exposure, but nothing pulls down leaders with extra-gravitational speed than front-page coverage in the media
Independent directors add value to a company not only through their explicit knowledge and cognitive skills, but also through their experiential intuition and heuristic skills
Leaders are judged in the short term by their rational accomplishments. What lingers are the qualities of heart
Authored jointly by a business leader, Chairman of IMC Pan Asia, Frederick Tsao, and an academic at Case Western University, Chris Laszlo, the book elegantly harmonises practice and theory
The sharing of experiential assets requires one to upgrade that asset into a customer-friendly form
Borrowing the term crux from mountaineering, Dr Rumelt argues that it represents the most critical challenge to the desired progress
Applying the intellectual framework of anthropology could help a person see around corners, gain empathy for others, and derive fresh insights on problems
We don't always know what we think we know
The book is replete with examples of the twin benefits of humility of ignorance and curiosity from passion
The theme of this book follows in the genre of several books like the Lessons of Excellence by Tom Peters and Bob Waterman - both also, coincidentally, McKinsey consultants