Dear Readers,
Our themes for this issue of Thinkers are dynamic as they are evergreen—innovation and entrepreneurship. Quite honestly, these were triggered by the book Riding The Tiger written by Wilfried Aulbur and me. In the course of writing the book we were fortunate to learn about a vast array of enterprises whose stories and performance firmly confirmed our belief that operational excellence and solid execution are the key for business success in a developing nation such as ours.
Of course, these characteristics are separate and do not undermine the need to nurture continuously a desire to innovate and create innate in entrepreneurs.
In the wake of liberalization many Indian companies have proved they are up to the mark on operational front, while at the same time many are rolling up their sleeves to start this journey. There’s a lot that can be shared and learnt from both parties—large world-class enterprises based out of India that have a certain gravitas and newer, cutting-edge start-ups that are looking at a dynamic and competitive global market.
As in previous issues here too we have brought you the front-runners from the business, academic and governmental arenas who have candidly and thoughtfully shared their individual perspectives on where India is and where we ought to be and the road we need to take to get there. Leadership, analysis, and reflection are all part of the equation. We hope you get a strong whiff of these traits from the articles in this issue and are able to apply them towards meaningful action, because at the end of the day, no matter what anyone says, its up to each of us who have the zeal for development and progress to act on it towards a larger notion of nation building.
Each of the authors in this issue, be it Anil K. Gupta of IIM Ahmedabad or Bibek Debroy of Niti Aayog or Rajeev Dubey of The Mahindra Group or the young, inspirational social entrepreneurs who through our panel discussion have articulated the steps they have taken towards this grander notion. My hope is that we can all distill this further in our lives to give us greater meaning and determination as we work towards our goals.
