·High Performance Individuals and Teams
The Art of Public Speaking
Insights from the book ‘Say It Well’ by Terry Szuplat, Barack Obama’s speechwriter
All Books
66 results
·Leadership Practice and Development
Character is about who we choose to be
Insights from General Stanley McChrystal’s new book ‘On Character: Choices That Define a Life’. The book is in Shivakumar’s list of best books of summer 2025
·Strategic Affairs & Geopolitics
The global trends to watch in 2025
Insights from The Economist’s report ‘The World Ahead 2025’
·Development & State Capacity
The new business theme: Love the product, hate the producer
Insights from economist John Kay’s new book ‘The Corporation in the 21st Century’
·Digital transformation
The Age of Information
Insights from Yuval Noah Harari’s book ‘Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI’
·Transition Journeys
How to reinvent your career
Insights from Herminia Ibarra’s book, ‘working Identity’
·High Performance Individuals and Teams
The principles of excellence
Insights from sportswriter Sally Jenkins’ book ‘The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life’
·High Performance Individuals and Teams
Why being process-driven trumps being results-oriented
Insights on high-performance, distilled from Dr Dana Sinclair’s latest book
·Founder Journeys
The risk taker
What makes Elon Musk tick? Insights from the biography by Walter Isaacson
·Leadership Practice and Development
‘A leader’s role is to shape the decades ahead, not just react to the present’
Insights from Indra Nooyi’s memoir ‘My Life in Full’, on leadership in a world “where authority and brilliance, to many people, still look like an older gentleman”
·Development & State Capacity
A little joy, a tinge of hope
People are reclaiming little bits of their daily life. And life is stirring back to normal
·Behavioural Science, Mental Models and Decision Making
‘Trust is not a matter of morality, but of predictability’
Predicting behaviour isn’t rocket science, say Robin Dreeke and Cameron Stauth in their book, ‘Sizing People Up’. It is a social science, and requires you to apply the right equation of logic, strategy, scepticism, observational skills, and the ability to accept unwelcome truths
·Transition Journeys
How to live better into old age
In their book ‘The New Long Life’, Andrew Scott and Lynda Gratton say, as individuals and as a society, we need to reimagine work, career, learning and relationships, among other things. And both the young and the old will need to share the burden and opportunities of longer lives
·Corporate Strategy
Anticipating inflection points
Insights from Columbia Business School professor Rita McGrath’s book ‘Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen’
·Strategic Affairs & Geopolitics
The global trends to watch in 2020
Insights from The Economist’s report ‘The World in 2020’
·High Performance Individuals and Teams
Becoming indistractable
Nir Eyal wrote the definitive book on how to design tech products that will get people hooked. His latest book ‘Indistractable’ has advice on how to avoid digital distractions and hold our own in this war for our attention. Some insights from the book
·Leadership Coaching and Mentoring
Bosses need to be coaches in the new workplace
Insights from Jim Clifton and Jim Harter’s book ‘It’s the Manager’. The book is based on the largest global study by Gallup on the future of work
·Leadership Coaching and Mentoring
‘The power of coaching is to offer a different perspective’
Google’s Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle share what they learnt from their mentor, legendary coach Bill Campbell, in their book ‘Trillion Dollar Coach’
·Platforms & Data Economy
Robo-taxis, privacy committees and wearables to augment intelligence
May 04, 2019: A roundup of news and perspectives on disruptive technology from around the world. In this issue: Tesla’s robo-taxi networks, Facebook’s privacy positions, Microsoft’s Blockchain partnership, wearables, carbon sucking plants and more
·Platforms & Data Economy
The future of food, social media platforms and facial recognition
April 27, 2019: A roundup of news and perspectives on disruptive technology from around the world. In this issue: Sri Lanka’s social media ban, Beyond Meat IPO, facial recognition, employee activism, robot rights and more
·Deep Tech & Frontier Science
Bias, fixing brains, and the difficulty of regulating tech
April 20, 2019: A roundup of news and perspective on disruptive technology from around the world. In this issue: Regulatory sandboxes; brain implants and genetic engineering; and AI bias
·Deep Tech & Frontier Science
Exploring black holes, space, and mapping Earth
April 14, 2019: A roundup of news and perspective on disruptive technology. In this issue: the science behind the black hole photo; how Facebook is mapping Earth; private rocket science; data and privacy; the future of jobs; and EVs path to profitability
·Deep Tech & Frontier Science
The bias in technology
April 06, 2019: A roundup of news and perspective on disruptive technology. In this issue: Tech’s complicated relationship with government; robots, drones and anti-drones; and environmentally cool food
·Leadership Practice and Development
Forging strong, compassionate leaders
In their book, ‘Character Carved in Stone’, Pat Williams and Jim Denney talk about the values the United States Military Academy at West Point cultivates to make strong leaders
·Regulation & Institutions
The curious case of Section 57
Is there any scope for businesses to use Aadhaar authentication for ease of business and to provide innovative services? The Supreme Court ruling on the Aadhaar Act has left more questions than answers
·People and Organisation
Talent drives strategy in the digital era. Is HR ready?
Today business strategy means sensing new opportunities, and people are the key to creating value. So how do you approach human capital in this new era? Corporate guru Ram Charan, McKinsey’s Dominic Barton and Korn Ferry’s Dennis Carey explore in their book ‘Talent Wins’
·Venture Ecosystem
Agile start-ups, large firms and a jugalbandi for innovation
When the agility of start-ups is combined with the scale of a corporation, great things can happen. Snapshots from the SJPIMR Business – Academia Conclave 2018, hosted by SPJIMR in partnership with Founding Fuel
·Strategic Affairs & Geopolitics
The trends to watch in 2018
Insights into the forces that will shape the world, from The Economist report, ‘The World in 2018’
·Deep Tech & Frontier Science
Disruptive tech: There’s hope for the future. But fear too
We are facing an avalanche of disruptive technologies. But adapting to change will not be easy. Sometimes it will even seem traumatic. Some insights from Vivek Wadhwa with Alex Salkever's book ‘The Driver in the Driverless Car’
·Product & Innovation
Celebrate authentic failures
In his new book ‘A Biography of Innovations’ R Gopalakrishnan, former Tata Sons executive director, talks about learning from mistakes and the importance of intellectual curiosity, collective ingenuity and storytelling
·High Performance Individuals and Teams
Get Smart: Making effective decisions
Think long term, plan for success based on real facts, and have clear goals, says Brian Tracy in his book ‘Get Smart!: How to Think and Act Like the Most Successful and Highest-Paid People in Every Field’
·Personal Reinvention
‘Playing boldly is a philosophy’: Life lessons from golf legend Arnold Palmer
Nicknamed The King, Arnold Palmer played a big role in making golf popular and not just a game for the elite. His rivalry with Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus is legendary. In his memoir ‘A Life Well Played’, he shares his experiences
·Corporate Strategy
How Nokia rewrote its story
In his book ‘Against All Odds’, Nokia’s former CEO Jorma Ollila chronicles how a troubled conglomerate engaged in rubber, cable, forestry, electronics and power generation businesses became a global mobile phone behemoth, but lost out to the iPhone
·Behavioural Science, Mental Models and Decision Making
Making tough calls in business and life
In his book ‘Managing in the Gray’, HBS ethics professor Joseph L Badaracco presents a framework to arrive at the best possible decisions in a hard situation
·Leadership Practice and Development
When growth leads to a slowdown, how do you tackle the paradox?
In their book ‘The Founder’s Mentality’, Chris Zook and James Allen, partners in Bain & Company, talk about what leaders can do for sustainable and profitable growth
·Leadership Coaching and Mentoring
Ask these questions to make your coaching and leadership effective
Coaching is an essential leadership skill. And questions are a good way to open doors, says Michael Bungay Stanier in his book ‘The Coaching Habit’
·Founder Journeys
When Nike just did it
Quick takes from the book ‘Shoe Dog’, Phil Knight’s account of creating Nike
·Leadership Practice and Development
The secret of power: Not ruthlessness, but empathy
American psychologist Dacher Keltner says, those who gain power are the ones who work for the good of others. But paradoxically, power can lead to selfishness—and loss of power
·Leadership Practice and Development
Building a business in complicated times
Dynamic times call for dynamic leadership. Here are some insights from the book ‘The Hard Thing About Hard Things’ by Ben Horowitz, co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz
·Product & Innovation
What a fable about meerkats tells us about innovation
Discipline and maverick ideas—both are necessary for dealing with rapid change and coming out ahead, say John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber in their book ‘That’s Not How We Do It Here’
·Leadership Practice and Development
Are you persuadable?
An ability to change decisions is not about inconsistency, it is about flexibility. Insights from Al Pittampalli’s book ‘Persuadable: How Great Leaders Change Their Mind to Change the World’
·Leadership Practice and Development
What makes a winner
Insights from Larry Weidel’s book ‘Serial Winner: 5 Actions to Create Your Cycle of Success’
·Development & State Capacity
Indian e-commerce in 10 charts
A snapshot of what is happening in online retail
·Leadership Practice and Development
How we think and how we can get better at collaboration
Insights from Dawna Markova and Angie McArthur’s book, ‘Collaborative Intelligence: Thinking with People Who Think Differently’
·Leadership Practice and Development
Lee Kuan Yew: A leadership style that got results
Lee turned Singapore into a prosperous, developed nation in one generation. On his first death anniversary, a glimpse into his thoughts on leadership and governance
·Leadership Practice and Development
Managing the matrix: How to cope with ambiguity and change
A matrix organization is more flexible and better able to respond to dynamic situations. But working in a matrix requires a different set of skills than in hierarchical structures. Insights from Kevan Hall’s book ‘Making the Matrix Work’
·Leadership Practice and Development
The most successful football manager shares how to be a great leader
Insights from the book ‘Leading’ by Alex Ferguson, former manager of Manchester United with Michael Moritz, chairman of Sequoia Capital.
·Leadership Practice and Development
How to make meetings purposeful
Insights from Al Pittampalli’s book ‘Read This Before Our Next Meeting’ on how to get more done
·Leadership Practice and Development
Does your team have runners or passive riders?
In his book ‘Move Your Bus’, Ron Clark talks about the different kinds of people companies typically have—high performers, the dependables, average workers and deadweights—and what leaders can do to get the best out of their teams