Rajat Book Corner presented a talk between Shiv Shivakumar and Harish Bhat in Jaipur on 7th January. The event was an informal get together with the two industry stalwarts sharing their life stories, learnings, and business experiences through the kaleidoscope of their bestselling books.
The talk, held at The Rambagh Golf Club, revolved around Shivakumar and Bhat’s thriving careers, their attitude towards business, and life-changing meetings with inspirational people. While most of their insight and wisdom can be found in their books and interviews, the event was unique in creating an atmosphere of synergy and success between the speakers and the audience.
Harish Bhat Said, “My first book happened in a strange way… I had been part of the TATA
group for about 25 years. I wanted to write about this brand, and so I told my boss I wanted to take a leave to write a book.”
“Every book I’ve written has a different starting point, but at the centre of all of them is my
love for the written word.”
“Vision develops over a period of time… it requires imagination, it requires community building.”
Shivakumar Said, “When I signed on to write my first book, I had no idea what to write
about. But then I started to think about the questions that are asked most often by my audience whenever I give a talk. And so I got the idea for a book that would help everyone.”
“What’s the vision you should have for yourself? You should ask yourself, ‘What am I good
at?’ Think deeply. The most successful or visionary people I have seen, they are the people who love what they do. That’s different from doing what you love. These people love what they do. Whatever they do, small tasks, big tasks, they absolutely love it.”
“The most important thing to remember is, failure is not fatal. Never look back. You don’t
drive a car looking in the rearview mirror. Look ahead.”
Shiv Shivakumar is the Group Executive president at Aditya Birla Group for Strategy and Business Development. Prior to this, Shiv was Chairman and CEO for PepsiCo for four years, and before that he was with Nokia as CEO for India and later Emerging markets for nearly a decade. He has worked with over 50 brands in his career and seen many business transformations. Shiv writes on innovation, leadership, business models, digitisation, etc., and lectures regularly across leading business schools in the world.
In his bestselling book, The Art of Management, Shivakumar tackles the question of career
management in a fast-changing world. How does one think about career stability and long-term success in this age of rapid innovation? With in-depth interviews with top industry leaders across the spectrum, he presents the readers with a guide on how to stay relevant and manage the self, a team, or a business successfully in this competitive global landscape.
Harish Bhat is currently the brand custodian at Tata Sons, but over the past thirty-four years he has held many other roles within the Tata Group, including the Managing Director of Tata Global Beverages, and the COO of the watches and jewellery businesses of Titan Company Ltd. He is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. An avid marketer, he has helped create many successful Tata brands. He is a prolific writer and a columnist for The Hindu Business Line and Mint. His books include the national bestseller Tatalog, The Curious Marketer, and #Tatastories.
Sharing his passion for ingenious marketing strategies and exploring the demand for fresh ideas, Bhat collected his writings on more than fifty brilliant products, places, people, and publicity campaigns in his book, The Curious Marketer. Casting an inquisitive glance at the nature of modern branding and consumer behaviour, Bhat offers a delightful insight into the fascinating areas that marketers are targeting today.
The event was hosted by Mohit Batra, a third-generation bookseller and proprietor of Rajat Book Corner. He is the man behind the initiative: A Book is the Smartest Hand-held Device. The idea for the initiative originated from the image of a gadget being replaced by a book in a child’s hand. His aim is to create more booklovers by organising events that connect authors to their readers, and to curate a space where thought leaders from various fields can come together and interact, and inspire an ecosystem of collective learning.