From the Bookshelves
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Can finding your 'Ikigai' make you a better business leader?
The Japanese have a long tradition of finding the secret to a sense of purpose, happiness and balance in everyday life. And they have a word—Ikigai—to represent just that. In this episode, Divya Shekhar meets up with Francesc Miralles, who has authored the globally bestselling Ikigai series of books along with Hector Garcia. They speak about whether finding your Ikigai can make you a better entrepreneur, whether business and doing good can go hand-in-hand, and making money
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Crony capitalism and controversial businessmen, with Nandini Vijayaraghavan
In this episode, Divya Shekhar discusses a brief history of the biggest corporate failures in India over the past two decades and what we can learn from them with Nandini Vijayaraghavan, who is the director and head of research at the Korea Development Bank. In her latest book 'Unfinished Business: Evolving Capitalism in the World's Largest Democracy', Nandini tells this story through four businesspersons. She talks about why the government, investors and other stakeholders have not learnt from past mistakes, why listing day pop is a risky game
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Bhairavi Jani on the diversity in Indian entrepreneurship
Can you develop a better understanding of your country if you travel across its States for over 18,000 kilometres, on the road? When fourth-generation entrepreneur Bhairavi Jani did that, she discovered interesting truths about India that are now part of her book 'Highway to Swades'. She speaks with Divya Shekhar about why "starting up" is very different in villages and non-metros, how the history of trade has shaped the way we trust and do business, and what her travels taught her about the purpose of enterprise and giving back to society
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Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka on his next book and life after winning Booker Prize 2022
Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize 2022 for his novel 'The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida' barely three months ago. He speaks with Divya Shekhar about using ghosts, ghouls and horror to craft a whodunit in the backdrop of the raging civil war in 1990, Sri Lanka, how people in the country use humour to convey pain and trauma, why his next book is on the "absurdities of the corporate world", why he has barely been able to write after the Booker Prize win, and what his win means to writers and the publishing business for his country Sri Lanka
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Kris Gopalakrishnan on framing India's IT story
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys co-founder, looks back at his early days to talk about how a few "middle-class entrepreneurs" built one of India's most successful IT companies, and in the process, describes the emergence of India's technology industry
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Modern-day feminism equals financial freedom: Shaili Chopra
How can we bridge the gap between men and women, particularly in terms of economic opportunities and parity? Shaili Chopra's new book, Sisterhood Economy, addresses these issues and more. The former journalist, who is the founder of the digital platform SheThePeople, speaks with Divya Shekhar about the importance of financial freedom and putting value to unpaid care work, reimagining gender roles and creating role models that are not only aspirational, but also relatable
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Innovation and resilience, ft. iPhone and iPod co-creator Tony Fadell
In a masterclass on how to build companies and products that change the world, and how to persevere through failure, Tony Fadell speaks with Divya Shekhar about his illustrious career, which, through its twists and turns, has helped him become the man behind some of the most inventive products in the world today
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Jimmy Soni on Elon Musk, Twitter as a stepping stone for everything app X, the PayPal Mafia and more
Jimmy Soni spent more than six years of his life documenting the origin story of PayPal and the rise to power of its founders, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Max Levchin and Reid Hoffman. Soni's book, The Founders, chronicles how the payments platform shaped modern consumer internet. In today's episode, Soni discusses Musk's Twitter takeover and his vision for X, the everything app, Peter Thiel's emergence as a right-wing power player, and how PayPal has created a template of entrepreneurship for a generation of young startup entrepreneurs
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Can we trust India's drug regulator? Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy weigh in
Four cough and cold syrups made in India have allegedly caused the death of 66 children in Gambia, which is being investigated by Indian drug regulator. India has had at least five major events of poisoning by DEG in the past. In today's episode, Dinesh Thakur and Prashant Reddy, authors of 'The Truth Pill' (published by Simon & Schuster India) talk about the problem with drug regulation in India, regulators are more responsive to pharma companies rather than the people of India, and what adverse events due to substandard drugs mean for the $42 billion pharma industry in India
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Workplaces need to be less stressful: Aparna Piramal Raje on living with bipolar disorder
Aparna Piramal Raje comes from a prominent business family. She is a writer, educator, public speaker, and, in her own words, "happy, thriving and bipolar". Her new book, 'Chemical Khichdi', is published by Penguin Random House India. In this episode of From the Bookshelves of Forbes India, Aparna talks about how she and her family coped with her mental health condition, finding one's identity, the role of privilege in mental health awareness and de-stigmatisation, and why it's important for corporate leaders to be more vulnerable, sensitive and empathetic
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On building brands in the social media era, with Anjana Menon
'What's your story? The Essential Business Storytelling Handbook', is a collection of experiences of three co-authors Adri Buckner, Anjana Menon, Marybeth Sandell who talk about how companies should map their audience and engage with their target audience. It is filled with examples of companies and whether they are doing it right or wrong, and how one should engage with customers. From finding the mission of the brand to channelising your company's SEO, the book provides an insight into how companies should interact in today's times