Articles

April 24, 2019

Building trust key to entrepreneurship

24th April 2019 BUSINESS STANDARD

Business and entrepreneurship are clearly promoted by fostering and advancing trust in a society. I came across two books, both of which emphasized trust as a social and behavioral ingredient in the spread of entrepreneurship--Rainforest:

April 12, 2019

The concept of ‘promoter’ is dead

12th April 2019 BUSINESS STANDARD

In other countries, the concept of the founder/promoter of a company has relevance at the time of the founding—whose idea it was or who initiated formation of the company, a bit like the parents’ names when a child is born.

April 4, 2019

17 crore agri-preneurs crying for attention

1st April 2019 BUSINESS STANDARD

The cacophony and energy around Startup India and entrepreneurship has bypassed the agri-preneur. It is time to reverse this unfortunate and cumulative neglect. In economic terms, it is a bit like setting right traditional caste discrimination in social development!

March 15, 2019

What should a director do if she senses smoke

15th March 2019 BUSINESS STANDARD

On 20th January 2019, Los Angeles Times carried a report about the allegedly toxic leadership style and adverse impact on colleagues of an important public figure, the Chancellor of the University of California.

February 28, 2019

Behavior & culture essentials in Startup Land

27th february 2019 BUSINESS STANDARD

The narratives of super ego and toxic behavior among CEOs of large companies are disturbing and increasingly prominent. They have a pattern. After ascent, the CEO is powerful, power damages the brain, and the CEO’s behavior changes visibly.

January 17, 2019

Old Truths, Fresh Startups

17th January 2019 BUSINESS STANDARD

Reportage and commentaries on startups attract huge interest, creating as unreal an image about startups as Bollywood and Cricket. In a Martian’s reading of our newspapers, startup founders need not bother about a path to profits, they should chase something called GMV and losses over long periods of time are alright.

December 21, 2018

Year-end cautions for restless entrepreneurs

20th December 2018 BUSINESS STANDARDD

Entrepreneurship is positive for economic development, but the process is at its infancy in India. Hence, a few symptoms of aberrant behavior among founders are natural. If they persist, they could signal an approaching problem.

December 8, 2018

How to improve board dynamics

7th December 2018 BUSINESS STANDARD

In my column of 14th September 2018, I mentioned some factors which could cause a leader to feel vulnerable and become prone to a governance mishap

November 29, 2018

Successful entrepreneurs plan, plan and plan

29th November 2018 BUSINESS STANDARD

It is silly to think that past entrepreneurs did not have a solid business plan or that a Rambo business idea alone matters, that there is no need to have a detailed plan.