Forbes India 30 Under 30: The dynamic, diverse young achievers
The Forbes India team was cognisant of the relevance of variety when firming up the annual 30 under 30 list—on which you will find young men and women that lend diversity across dimensions from gender to geography
What does it take to be young and successful? An early start, hard work, differentiated thinking, a penchant for calculated risks… the answers would be all of these, among many more. Perhaps one prerequisite that may not be considered hygiene is an early exposure to diversity, which, down the road, can be key in team building and leadership.
Diversity spans across several dimensions. It would mean a sense of variety in race, ethnicity, gender, age and sexual orientation. You could add geography, and varied skills, talents and tastes to that mix. Suffice it to say that it involves befriending, working with and even seeking out those who are not quite ‘people like us’.
Biographies of some of the poster boys and girls of leadership offer clues to how diversity played a critical role in shaping their career path. Satya Nadella’s memoir Hit Refresh (2017, William Collins) tracks the Microsoft CEO’s journey from Hyderabad Public School (HPS) to Redmond.
“The whole school was multicultural: Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Sikhs all living and studying together. The school was attended by members of the elite as well as by tribal kids who had come from the interior districts on scholarships.”
(This story appears in the 11 February, 2022 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
