Wednesday, May 14, 2014


Institutions and institutional processes provide stability, are a means to progress, and thus fulfil the needs of society. This functionality, however, has been lost in recent times, and citizens around the world are losing confidence in institutions of government and democracy, free markets and capitalism. Reforming institutions has thus become the most urgent task for leaders across the world. Not an easy task: it is as risky as redesigning an aeroplane while flying in it; it shakes up the foundations of stability.

This insightful book, penned by a member of India’s Planning Commission, looks at how India, the world’s largest democracy, which embraced capitalism twenty years ago, has become the principal laboratory for institutional reform. It provides new ways to think about institutions and the process of reforming them, and explains how we should go about reformation as a nation. The principles given in this book apply to institutions of government and business in all countries. Timely and incisive,Redesigning the Aeroplane While Flying addresses the most essential need of the hour.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

START-UP NATION addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel-- a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources-- produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?

With the savvy of foreign policy insiders, Senor and Singer examine the lessons of the country's adversity-driven culture, which flattens hierarchy and elevates informality-- all backed up by government policies focused on innovation. In a world where economies as diverse as Ireland,Singapore and Dubai have tried to re-create the "Israel effect", there are entrepreneurial lessons well worth noting. As America reboots its own economy and can-do spirit, there's never been a better time to look at this remarkable and resilient nation for some impressive, surprising clues.

Monday, January 13, 2014

The Money of Invention: How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth


Contrary to popular belief, the venture capital revolution is far from over. In fact, claim authors Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner, venture capital will continue to dramatically alter the American economic landscape. In their new book, The Money of Invention, they provide a definitive analysis of this powerful and unique industry, and offer a meaningful framework for understanding the relationship between venture capital and entrepreneurial success. The Money of Invention will be an important book to all managers who wish to capture value from innovation. The authors offer actionable advice for managers of venture organizations, for entrepreneurs, and all managers who seek returns from innovation in an environment that disdains hype and rewards careful, original thought and dogged execution. Gompers and Lerner place the overheated atmosphere of recent months in context, exploring the dynamics today's economy within a longer, more compelling narrative of entrepreneurs and money. In explaining why venture capital is the solution to the problem of financing entrepreneurial firms, the authors elucidate the structure and functioning of the venture industry. Readers will understand precisely how venture capital drives innovation, economic growth, and job creatio
A book for IT professionals, young aspirants, managers, parents, social researchers and observant readers.

Millions of bright young minds are driving India’s vibrant IT sector. There shall be millions more who will succeed them. Therefore this book!
What do Gen Y members aspire for? How can they turn their dreams into reality? What role should their parents play? How can the IT industry captains and managers make it a collaborative endeavour?

Written by an IT icon (Ganesh Natarajan) and his able associate (Lavanya Jayaram), the book is replete with first person accounts of youngsters, interviews with IT leaders, best practices in the IT sector, peeks into the future, practical career tips and much more…

In the early 1800s, in the small, sheltered village of Vilakkudi in the Tanjore district of Tamil Nadu, Ranganathan, a small-time landowner, was raising his children, at the time unaffected by British rule in India or upheavals in the rest of the world. As time passed, railways were built and newspapers appeared; isolated villages like Vilakkudi were exposed to social and cultural change. It is this transition that the author, Ranganathan’s great-great-great grandson, tries to trace through the story of his family.


Anecdotal and fascinating, A Comma in a Sentence includes the experiences of Ranganathan; of Ooshi, the author’s great grandfather, who was deeply concerned by the mismanagement of the great Madras famine by the British (an incidental benefit was that the family could earn a wee bit more out of paddy in those years); Gopalan, the author’s grandfather, who encouraged modern school education for his children; Rajam, the author’s father, whose generation moved to the cities for the first time to find work in colonial Calcutta; and R. Gopalakrishnan himself, whose generation was the first to attend college and whose children—the present generation—were fortunate to study in universities like Stanford and Harvard.

Told in lucid, insightful prose, this story provides a microcosmic view of the societal changes India has seen over the past two hundred years.

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