Big Billion Startup : The Untold Flipkart Story

                         

                         

Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story by Mihir Dalal a business journalist has amazingly covered India's startup scenario. His depth in the Flipkart story and his interesting writing style has made him win many accolades. This book which is soon to be a major motion picture is a must on every Indian household bookshelf. 

In the era of unicorns, startups, and entrepreneurship, every other Indian is binge-watching Shark Tark India. Flipkart is one such famous Ecommerce started by two daring Indian software engineers when e-commerce and startups were distantly unheard of. Creating internet e-commerce after the dot-com bubble in a country like India, when most Indians had little to no access to the Internet, was not only considered a risk. But a grave stupidity scuffed by many VCs, investors & friends of the founders. Flipkart's journey, starting from when people would struggle to pronounce Flip- what? In its acquisition battle by Amazon, Walmart to get a strong foothold in the enormous Indian Ecommerce and glaring headlines is a journey- of - kind. 

This book is a tale of intellectualism, egos & mishappening. It will give all the retrospect of what right can happen to make a company a big billion startup and what wrongs for a forceful exit of its founders.   

The Ride Of A LifeTime By Robert Iger

Robert Iger was the Cheif Executive Officer of Walt Disney Company for 15 years. In this book, Robert Iger gives excellent leadership lessons.

In his epilogue, he narrates an incident where a family visiting Disneyland had a traumatic experience where an alligator attacked their young toddler; Though his team was handling the issue; he took it upon himself to reach out to the family. Again, this shows his excellent leadership quality. 

As a studio supervisor, Robert Iger worked from scratch, sometimes experiencing terrible office politics., receiving end of boss's terrible mood swings or at times abuse. But, through constant perseverance, he rose through the executive level. Even at the executive level, his encouragement for creativity, taking risks and accepting honest mistakes made by employees. A multinational company CEO accepting his mistakes publicly and encouraging a work environment of creativity, risk-taking & ethics is a leadership skill needed even in our own lives.  

Optimistic & calm - behaviour, never tell your employees " the sky is falling" or being pessimistic around them will get the work done or things better. Being empathetic to others will only do you good no matter what position you work in; it's okay to have problems, but it's essential to find a solution. 

Constant Pursuit of Perfection, give your best to everything you do, but you should also realise pitfalls and setbacks are a part of life. 

Trust your instinct; when you trust your intuition, things will go in your direction even when the world is against you. For example, when Robert Iger became CEO, people sued the board for their decision. Still, his ability to hear them solve their problems eventually, everyone against him gives in to his support. The way he handles people and situations is a life - lesson in itself. 

This book is a bundle of life- lessons definitely a must-read!

 

MY LIFE IN FULL : WORK , FAMILY AND OUR FUTURE

My Life In Full is written by Indra Nooyi, one of the first women of colour to lead a Fortune 500 company. She is one of the most powerful women in the world. She was the CEO of Pepsico, former chairperson, and now the board of directors of some great companies and organisations like Amazon, Philips and ICC.

When Indra Nooyi became the CEO, the headlines were all over the news. I remember watching her interviews with great awe and admiration as a kid. 

Indra Nooyi talks about her journey from Madras to Connecticut in this book. She talks about her personal and professional life, the constant tug of war of time between home and office, and the continual juggling between home and office. At one point, she is ready to soar high to chase her dreams, but the regret of not spending quality time with her children is something that I have experienced with my working mother.

In one of the incidents with her mother when Indra Nooyi becomes the President of Pepsico, she is enthralled to share the news with her family. When she comes home, her mother asks her to get some milk. Her obvious response is you could have told Raj(her husband, who had already arrived before her), but she responds that her husband was tired when Indra Nooyi finally gets the milk; she tells her mother, I became the President of Pepsico, and all you care is about the milk. Her mother replied, "You may be the President /Board of Director of the Company, but at home, you are a mother, you are a wife, a daughter-in-law, and a daughter leave the damn crown in the garage. This same behaviour I have seen of my maternal grandmother with my working mother. As rightly phrased by Indra Nooyi, Indian mother's attitude towards their daughters is like "One foot on the accelerator and one foot on the brake" at one point, they want their daughters to do well in life make a name for themselves, but at the same point, they want them to be good wife, daughter and mother.

 I am sure all Indian women can relate. Our mother's want us to cook well, do all the household chores and at the same time get good grades, which I realise is quite a time-management lesson. 

Indra Nooyi's sincerity in her work is commendable. Indra Nooyi has a bird's eye view of all the business strategies and decisions, her consumer-centric approach and her efforts towards making Pepsico's business operations environment friendly and focusing on nutritional food through PwP(Performance with Purpose), which was applauded by some criticised by some, when one of the board members responded by passing a shrewd comment like "What do you think you are, Mother Teresa !" but she was firm to her point. Later, she set up a child-care centre in the Pepsico office; the personalised letter's to employees' families acknowledge that the companies are not just hiring a single employee but indirectly the employee's family. 

With a good work environment and support schemes, employees can bring their best to work. But, of course, all of this entails Indra Nooyi's outstanding leadership. 

This book will not only give you life lessons but, as an aspiring entrepreneur, has made me realise that businesses are not about short term profit or cash-making models; indeed, they are about values that you offer to society if you want to go for a long run. Without a doubt, this book is a must-read.

The President Is Missing:- Bill Clinton & James Paterson

This book is a political thriller written by Bill Clinton and  James Patterson. The story starts with the US President giving an impeachment trial, and his team is preparing him for it by asking high-pressure questions. But the reason for impeachment is still unclear.  

 The president is seen dealing with a significant threat to the United States, But what is that threat? What is the president hiding from the nation? He figures out there is a culprit in the White House helping the biggest enemy of the United States. The president juggles his ailing health, heartbreak from his wife's death and internal politics from impeachment. 

Throughout the book, the author keeps us on our feet, guessing what's next. In this book, you'll experience what it is to be a leader and the staggering suspense.

THE SILENT PATIENT BY ALEX MICHAELIDES

The Silent Patient ,this story is in the backdrop of England, where Alicia Berenson (a famous artist) kills her husband (a photographer for fashion magazines) Gabriel. The couple were prominent, wealthy, known for their love, married for seven years. Their friends and family never suspected anything wrong between them. What happened that drove Alicia to shot her husband several times in the face.  The gunshots were heard by their neighbour, who called the police. When the police arrived, Alicia didn't speak a word in her defence.  Before her trial, she never slept nor ate; she only painted her last masterpiece, "Alcestis". Her enduing silence generated a lot of speculation among the media and the public. 

Alicia is kept in a psychiatric ward. After the murder, she never spoke. The storyline shifts to Theo, a psychotherapist who gets an offer at the "Grove " medical facility. The same one where Alicia is kept. Theo considers this an opportunity to get Alicia to talk about the murder and increase his medical endeavour. 

The question is will Theo succeed in getting Alicia to talk? What exactly happened? To know this, you should read the book "Silent Killer". This book is hard to keep down, and the end plot twist is exciting. 

The Tatooist Of Aushwitz : Heather Morris

 

The Tattooist Of Auschwitz is a story based on the holocaust. This story has bones of the past, friendship and love. Holocaust during World War II was the Jewish, Romani and Poles genocide. The Nazi and their allies set up concentration camp across Europe to wipe out the inferior race. The holocaust stories are disturbing and a crucial testimony of humanity. The tattooist of Auschwitz is the story of a holocaust survivor. 

The story starts when Nazi Germany takes over Czechoslovakia, present-day Slovakia. The Slovakian government gives notice to the Jewish Community that they should send at least one family member to the camp to save other members. That's when the main protagonist comes into the story, "Ludwig",, Lale a Slovakian Jew. A fierce young Slovakian soldier who takes pride in his nationality than his religion and is let down by his own country. Nevertheless, to save his family, he willingly goes to the camp.

 Ludwig is taken into Auschwitz - Birkenau Camp; he is horrified and disturbed by the conditions in the camp. Men and women are forced to wear prisoner uniform, shave their heads and work from the morning dawn to sunset. Many die from starvation and exhaustion. There is a fine line between life and death in the camp. He vows to get out of the camp alive. His willpower to fight through the brutality of the concentration camp is inspiring. His resilience and survival instincts are commendable—more than that, his larger than life personality. There is a quote by him, "If you wake up in the morning, you are alive, and that's a blessing, which he used, to cheer his campmates. Moreover, you'll learn forgiveness and mercy from him. The story is genuinely intriguing and definitely, a must-read.

A RIVER IN DARKNESS : MASAJI ISHIKAWA

 

"A river in darkness", this book is about Masaji Ishikawa, who fled North Korea, his lifetime experience of North Korea, the worse conditions that a human has to go through beyond imagination. "NORTH KOREA" is a country located in the Korean Peninsula, an independent socialist country often considered a hermit and an isolated country. There are many media reports about its human rights violation, speculation about the life of North Koreans. 

                    Firstly, Masaji, a half Korean and half Japanese, born in Japan and then his family moves to North Korea, promised to be a fruitful land. 

                 The family's expectations are short-lived when they find the living conditions in North Korea far worst than their life in Japan, and to their agony, they have to go through brutal inferior treatment as a returnee. Despite all the hardships, Masaki studies hard and dreams of going to college to study physics but is cut short when he is not allowed. As a returnee, he can follow only certain professions. After that, there are further ups and downs in his life. But things go worst with the plague. There is a shortage of food. People were starving to the extent that they were cases of men eating their family members. Looking at the unbearable condition of his family members, Masaji decides to escape North Korea and save his family from the catastrophe. 

                  This book is a must-read as it will give you an idea about the horrifying living conditions in North Korea and make you count your blessings.