Showing titles in Business Leaders

In April 2017, Prashant Desai founded a venture to build the first truly Indian sports brand - D:FY. In six months, Rajiv Mehta, who started Puma India and led it for seven years, joined him as a partner. They opened 17 stores in seven cities, riding on great aspirations and confidence. The business lost Rs 30 crore in 30 months, virtually wiping out all that Prashant had earned for nearly 30 years. The venture failed not because Prashant did not possess the necessary vision, determination, and courage.

When planning for the future we often ask, “What will the economy be doing this time next year?” Or, “What will be different ten years from now?” But forecasting is hard. The important events that will shape the future are inherently unpredictable. Instead, we should be asking a different question: What will be the same ten years from now? What will be the same one hundred years from now? Knowledge of the things that never change is more useful, and more important, than an uncertain prediction of an unknowable future.

Naval Ravikant is an entrepreneur, philosopher, and investor who has captivated the world with his principles for building wealth and creating long-term happiness. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant is a collection of Naval’s wisdom and experience from the last 10 years, shared as a curation of his most insightful interviews and poignant reflections. This isn’t a how-to book, or a step-by-step gimmick. Instead, through Naval’s own words, you will learn how to walk your own unique path toward a happier, wealthier life.

Azim Premji: The Man Beyond the Billions, the fi­rst authoritative biography of the icon, shows how Premji is a philanthropist at heart and a businessman by choice - a man who wanted to give away his billions, but realized early enough that he would ­first have to earn them. It peels the layers off Premji's life while chronicling his professional and charitable work in the context of his many strengths and shortcomings.

The eight business maharajas profiled here are among Asia's most powerful industrial tycoons. Their combined turnover runs into billions of rupees, and between them they employ some 650,000 people, while indirectly affecting the lives of millions more. Sip a cup of tea, drive to work, listen to music, build a house and the chances are that in these and a myriad other ways you are using products that they manufacture or market. By any yardstick, the achievements of these men would rank among the great business stories of our time. How did these men build their enormous empires?

For nine years, Rajat Gupta led McKinsey & Co. - the first foreign-born person to head the world’s most influential management consultancy. He was also the driving force behind major initiatives such as the Indian School of Business and the Public Health Foundation of India. A globally respected figure, he sat on the boards of distinguished philanthropic institutions such as the Gates Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and corporations including Goldman Sachs, American Airlines, and Procter & Gamble.

University of Berkshire Hathaway is a remarkable retelling of the lessons, wisdom, and investment strategies handed down personally from Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger to shareholders during 30 years of their closed-door annual meetings. From this front row seat, you'll see one of the greatest wealth-building records in history unfold, year by year. If you're looking for dusty old investment theory, there are hundreds of other books waiting to cure you of insomnia. However, if you're looking for an investing book that's as personal as it is revelatory, look no further.

Out of Paypal's ranks have come three billionaires and dozens of multi-millionaires, including household names like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman. Paypal's alumni have built, funded and advised almost all of the billion-dollar-plus companies to emerge from Silicon Valley in the past two decades.

Jim Paul's meteoric rise took him from a small town in Northern Kentucky to governor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, yet he lost it all - his fortune, his reputation, and his job - in one fatal attack of excessive economic hubris. In this honest, frank analysis, Paul and Brendan Moynihan revisit the events that led to Paul's disastrous decision and examine the psychological factors behind bad financial practices in several economic sectors.

South African-born Elon Musk is the renowned entrepreneur and innovator behind PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity. Musk wants to save our planet; he wants to send citizens into space, to form a colony on Mars; he wants to make money while doing these things; and he wants us all to know about it. He is the real-life inspiration for the Iron Man series of films starring Robert Downey, Jr.

Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history - Doom and Quake - until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry.

A rags-to-$9-billion-riches story. A crash course in Burger King history and fast food in America, The Burger King is McLamore's candid and conversational memoir. Written before his death in 1996, he talks of his life, the birth of the Whopper, and the rise of Burger King. McLamore's account of Burger King offers an instructive and inspiring tale to young entrepreneurs. Here's a story of entrepreneurship development from one of the top entrepreneurs of fast food chains.

In just a decade and a half, Jack Ma, a man from modest beginnings who started out as an English teacher, founded Alibaba and built it into one of the world's largest companies, an e-commerce empire on which hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers depend. Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014 was the largest global IPO ever. A Rockefeller of his age who is courted by CEOs and presidents around the world, Jack is an icon for China's booming private sector.

Rahul Bajaj is a billionaire businessman, the chairman emeritus of the Bajaj Group and a former member of Parliament. This book is not just the story of Rahul Bajaj but the story of India. The author takes us through the country's transformation from the time Rahul Bajaj's mother was imprisoned during the freedom struggle to the prism of his eventful life. Based on unrestricted interviews, the book is full of anecdotes, business learnings and political asides. It is, at its core, a moving human story.

Felix Dennis is an expert at proving people wrong. Starting as a college dropout with no family money, he created a publishing empire, founded Maxim magazine, made himself one of the richest people in the UK, and had a blast in the process. How to Get Rich is different from any other book on the subject because Dennis isn't selling snake oil, investment tips, or motivational claptrap. He merely wants to help people embrace entrepreneurship, and to share lessons he learned the hard way.

This autobiography collection contains My Life and Work: The Autobiography of Henry Ford, My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. 

In this audiobook, you'll discover everything you need to know about how, exactly, many of America's most famous (and infamous) millionaires and billionaires acquired their fortunes. The big surprise is that all of the super-wealthy it profiles got where they are today by taking one of just 10 possible roads - including starting a business, buying real estate, investing wisely, and marrying extremely well. Whether you aspire to shameful wealth or just a demure fortune, best-selling author and self-made billionaire Ken Fisher will show you how to walk in the footsteps of tycoons.

How did the trailblazers of Indian business turn their dreams into reality? The Pilani Pioneers profiles twenty-five accomplished BITS Pilani graduates, including startup founders, entrepreneurs and CEOs, who have made an indelible mark on the Indian and global business landscape while deftly navigating the twists and turns of their professional and personal lives.

The year was 1983. A cotton trader, still in his early thirties, began to dream big. His aspiration was to become an 'industrialist'. The venture he was about to embark on was uncharted territory for him. He knew nothing about cement, limestone or anything remotely associated with it. In the era of Licence Raj, where everything from production to consumption was controlled by the government, Narotam Sekhsaria saw the huge potential in cement and its role in a growing nation.

In the early 20th century, young Ganga Bhishan Agarwal, aka Haldiram, gained a reputation for making the best bhujia in town. Fast-forward a century and the Haldiram’s empire has a revenue much greater than that of McDonald’s and Domino’s combined. In Bhujia Barons, Pavitra Kumar manages to tell the riveting story of the Agarwal family in its entirety - a feat never managed before. It begins in dusty, benign Bikaner and traces the rise and rise of this homegrown brand which is one of the most recognized Indian brands in the world.