good morning everyone my name is Amitabh
mal and I have the proud travellish and
also the beginners pressure of kicking
things off here today their thing do the
best that I can
my I am a partner and director at the
Boston Consulting Group as the MCS told
you I have been with the firm for 16
years and I am what they call a career
consultant usually when they say that
they don’t mean it as a compliment what
it means is that this is the only job
I’ve ever had
so the last 16 years which is probably a
few years less than probably the average
age of this room I’ve only done
consulting it has a lot of upsides I
have had the chance to work in some
fantastic cities
I started in Mumbai spend time in New
York did some work in Toronto in Sao
Paulo Ho Chi Minh City Sydney so I have
traveled the world more importantly when
I’ve traveled the world I’ve had the
opportunity to work with some remarkable
business leaders people who have
inspired me people who encouraged me and
people that I’ve learned a lot from and
while there is no one formula ever for a
great leader what I’m hoping to share
with you today is some of my
observations and learnings or what makes
great business leaders but I’ll not just
do it as one of those seven Habits of
effective people kind of list I actually
wanted to do it in the context of
another love of mind which is writing
many years ago when I was 20 years old I
thought that I wanted to be a writer and
I actually borrowed some money from my
dad printed a business card with a
journalist and went down went over to
editors of magazines and newspapers and
said look will you give me a break and a
kind of interaction did it died and very
soon I had written more than a half a
dozen feature pieces the moment I joined
the world of business and I and I joined
business school that world what left
behind but it was always there somewhere
under the surface last year after 15
years of being a career consultant I
took a sabbatical and some of it was
spent in this fine city of Iowa as a
part of the Iowa summer writers festival
it felt like a magical world it felt
like I was just surrounded by a very
different set of people that I would
normally be surround
by writers people wanted to talk about
writing aspiring writers and established
writers and in that I actually realized
that all these years as an avid reader
while I feel I can appreciate good
writing what I got to do in that time in
Iowa was appreciate good writers and
what I took away from that was a few
things that I see writers do incredibly
well and while this is not necessarily a
checklist but these are four that I’d
like to share today but I feel that
great writers are able to explore beyond
the imagination that normal people have
great writers observe they see the same
things that we see but they see them
differently they have a point of view
and they’re not afraid to share their
perspective and lastly they are masters
at showing and not telling what I’ll do
over the next I guess 12 minutes or so
is walk you through examples of great
writing and what I mean by these four
and bring it back to the world of
business let’s start with exploration
always a good place to start
Peter Tosh she wrote a book about the
craft of writing and I would like to
quote from the book eventually we find
the story not despite failed efforts to
find the story but through those efforts
this could almost have been Christopher
Columbus talking about finding America
when he went looking for India and it
does actually feel like that I remember
the first story that I ever wrote
started about the script describing the
stuffy heat of a loadshedding
town in small town Orissa became very
soon a love triangle and then eventually
was the story of a boy discovering that
he was gay I did not start with that
thought in mind I started with something
and the writing led me on and that is
about exploration and I think the best
writers from what I’ve been told by
instructor after instructor at Iowa are
people who let the writing write and
don’t try to shape the writing in the
world of business there are countless
examples of people who go on exploring
and I’m here to talk about one of them
anyone see the very recent movie
founders the founder quick raise offense
okay a few so for the rest of you have
not seen the movie well spoiler alert
it’s about Ray Kroc the founder of
McDonald’s chain with 40,000 stores
around the world interestingly
McDonald’s was not a business there was
not the first business that Ray started
in fact he started his career selling
paper cups went on to be a real estate
agent eventually was selling restaurant
equipment and that’s when he discovered
this the first McDonald’s which is run
by these brothers in San Bernardino
California
and he loved the idea and his
explorations had taken him there and he
decided to take the plunge and what he
started with that at that point of time
is today a twenty five billion dollar
business clearly his explorations and
this was when he was in his mid forties
is when he actually did this he was not
afraid to try new things and that’s what
led to his success and what we see as a
great establishment today so the first
lesson at least I take away is great
writers explore they go beyond what we
imagine and that’s what great business
leaders do as well
the second trade I want to talk about is
observation this is and I’m sorry you
can’t probably see it very clearly this
is John Fulford’s a walk to south school
you know basically a story on a page
it’s essentially a route map of a child
going from home to school and there are
all the different destinations that the
writer talks about as an example right
on top there is dr. combs vaccinate dr.
combs equals vaccinations equals ouch
somewhere down there it says the
greatest treehouse ever ours you can
sense the feeling the emotion of
ownership of the pride and the joy of
probably countless afternoons spent on
top of the treehouse
my favorite is somewhere in the top you
can see it’s a stone wall and you can
walk by the wall but it says always walk
on top also a good place to ask a girl
to go steady
everyday locations every day emotions
but brought to life
writers who are able to observe and see
something in the same things that
probably you and I don’t when we are
thinking of it observation is also
usually a great inspiration for business
ideas I want to talk about at least one
of them a product that we use probably
quite regularly I know at least my son
just loves gobbling these up the
originally many years ago but she is
used to be sold in slabs and people
would have to slice it into small pieces
or into into slices and put it in
sandwiches or in burgers someone saw
that someone observed it and realize
that people did not like the wastage
people did not like the variations in
size and shape that would lead to
someone innovated on the product side
and created something which is now a
multi-billion dollar business a simple
observation of how people eat sandwiches
and how people consume cheese which led
to an idea which is seen as a business
success today so observation of everyday
things which leads to great business
ideas is another thing that business
mirrors best business leaders are able
to do well next I talk about sharing of
perspective for this I’ll actually you
don’t take your license and while my
talk said what business leaders can
learn from writers I’ll wear away and
talk about a couple of other streams of
creative space as well let me start with
this map of the world anyone notice
anything odd about this speak up it’s
upside down that’s right
who said that north should always be on
top who decided that it’s a matter of
perspective it’s the same facts
presented in a very different way which
make us think about the world
differently where Australia on top and
Alaska is at the bottom so it’s all a
matter of perspective here’s another
example two paintings side-by-side with
exactly the same subject it’s someone
soaking their feet in a tub and having
drawn it what makes it interesting is if
you think about who the people are and
who the painters and what perspective
did they have in mind the one on my left
I guess you’re right is by the famous
Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and she was
known for her and is known today even
today for her imaginative self-portraits
so you see you know and I’m not sure I
you know pick up all of the nuances here
but you see a toenail with a little bit
of blood trickling down you see a what
looks like a dead bird on top of a tree
you see a sky scraper with smoke coming
out coming out of volcano and I don’t
know frankly what some of this means but
the painter had a perspective that she
wanted to share the one on the right is
by George Bush the junior American
president 2001 to 2009 relatively bland
and plain perspective but his
perspective netherland nevertheless
exact same subject matter seen
differently with a very different
perspective and I feel that the best
business leaders actually are good at
what they do because they put a stake in
the ground they are not shy to actually
have a point of view they sometimes a
point of view will be based on facts
sometimes based on what the team’s tell
them and sometimes based on pure
intuition I remember a few years ago an
industrial conglomerated asked us to
look at the feasibility and the
attractiveness of setting up a
manufacturing plant in China team worked
pretty hard over six weeks we did all
the analysis and came to the conclusion
that the real cost benefit was almost
marginal there was no for all the hassle
that they would have to go through it
was not worth it so I remember going to
the boardroom and presenting to the CEO
saying that’s what our point of view was
and she turned to me and said Amitabh
let me show you with you my point of
view I’m going to do it and I’m like but
why look at the facts look at the data
she said let’s call it an entrepreneurs
call we are going to do it you went I
rented it they set up the factory five
years later now it’s actually you know
our numbers have turned out to be
exactly the way we had estimated the
cost benefit has been frankly marginal
but the team of that organization which
is actually worked in sedima of the
factory in China has learned so much
about manufacturing styles and cost
systems in China and has been able to
bring it back to their factories in
different parts of the world that is not
something that we could ever have
calculated or estimated so it’s been a
great learning from that point of view
and hence you know a perspective one of
the best examples
in the world of business leader with the
perspective is a business leader that
touches many of you how many people with
an iPhone here in the room quite a few
so Steve Jobs is probably the master of
this when he you know first came up with
the Macintosh it wasn’t an IBM dominated
world where the systems were just not
compatible but the Macintosh had
creativity the Macintosh had romance the
Macintosh had the vision that Steve Jobs
went ahead with and then he repeated it
again with iPod with iTunes with iPhone
with iPod just again and again and again
probably one of the best examples I can
think of of just having a point of view
and having a perspective and sharing it
to the world in fact he is very famously
known to have said that he doesn’t
believe in customer research or consumer
research because consumers don’t know
what they want
till someone tells them what they want
that to me my friends is an example of
sharing a perspective having a
perspective and sharing it the final
piece I’ll talk about is what writers in
the world of writing and I had not heard
this term before till I went to Iowa
called show not tell which is a skill
that great writers have and I will
there’s an extract here from our own
that is Roy’s god of small things and
I’ll read some parts of it I know it’s
very small font but I’ll read some of it
for you me in M&M is a hot rooting month
the days are long and humid the river
shrinks and black crowes gorge on the
bright mangoes in still dust green trees
red bananas ripen jackfruits burst
dissolute blue bottles hum vacuously in
the fruity air then stun themselves
against clear window panes and die
faculty baffled in the sun the nights
are clear but suffused with sloth and
sullen expectation look at the richness
of detail in that a reader reading it
can actually imagine that main M&M and
what use of colors and language in the
same passage there are dust grain trees
there is an immodest green in the
countryside and there are brick walls
that turn moss green all green but very
different versions of green evoking very
different image
or mine and this is all about the detail
about getting into the detail now you
may be wondering what does this have to
do with business leaders should they be
in the details all the time actually no
on the contrary best business leaders
zoom up but the point I wanted to make
is that the best business leaders are
the ones who lead from the front they
are not afraid to roll up their sleeves
and jump in and fight it out when they
have to fight it out one of my best
examples of this is so I do a lot of
work in retail and one of the best parts
of my job is actually sitting retail
stores I love being in stores where
strategy becomes reality or actually is
very poor strategy and you find it out
in the stores and a few years ago I was
in Punjab visiting the stores of a major
retailer it was sweltering hot and I was
with the CEO of the business and we were
very happy that we actually went inside
the store air-conditioned nice we walked
around the store everything looked good
and then the CEO said let’s actually
just do a quick huddle in the back room
the entire stores staff and myself and
we all went into the back room and I
thought he was going to give them a pat
in the back for a very well-run store
room nice for the store for the
customers instead he goes and he picks
up this fire extinguisher and he raises
it and he says how many people know how
to use this it’s mandatory by law to
have a fire extinguisher
also since they have one it better be
useful and hence people should be able
to know how to use it
and he asked the question and they were
all very honest two of them said raise
their hands and everyone else looked
down at their feet I thought he was
going to give him a lecture I thought he
was going to tell them why it was really
important for them to do it and he was
going to well not be very pleased about
it instead he just smiled I said come
with me we all trooped outside back in
the sweltering heat of Punjab and he
lifted up the fire extinguisher went
through the steps and actually operated
it on the ground there was no fire but
Lee one by one he got every single store
employee and remember he’s the CEO of
the company these are the lowest paid
employees in the firm he got one by one
all of them to take the fire
extinguisher and actually operate it for
a few minutes till they all felt
comfortable that is a lesson I can
guarantee you they will never forget
that’s the power of showing not telling
that’s the power of a leader not being
afraid to
details and actually doing what he
expects his or her team to do and yes
that is John snow from the Battle of the
bastards I’ll end with a quote from
Anton Chekhov one of my favorite short
story writers one of the most gifted
ones I would argue that you know our
generation Israel talent is long
patience there are many people and many
of you sitting here who will be great
business leaders many of you have the
talent and I would argue that while they
can be all kinds of lists that you see
in business books out there my
submission to you is that if you want to
be a great business leader there are
four things that you need to keep in
mind first you have to have the courage
to explore to go to a song mode you have
to have the discipline to observe to pay
attention to those details and see in it
beyond what everyone else is seen you
have to have a perspective and you have
to have the confidence to share this
perspective as yours and take the fall
for it when it goes when the calls go
wrong and finally you have the humility
to show and not tell thank you everyone
for the time it’s been a pleasure
talking to you thank you very much
mal and I have the proud travellish and
also the beginners pressure of kicking
things off here today their thing do the
best that I can
my I am a partner and director at the
Boston Consulting Group as the MCS told
you I have been with the firm for 16
years and I am what they call a career
consultant usually when they say that
they don’t mean it as a compliment what
it means is that this is the only job
I’ve ever had
so the last 16 years which is probably a
few years less than probably the average
age of this room I’ve only done
consulting it has a lot of upsides I
have had the chance to work in some
fantastic cities
I started in Mumbai spend time in New
York did some work in Toronto in Sao
Paulo Ho Chi Minh City Sydney so I have
traveled the world more importantly when
I’ve traveled the world I’ve had the
opportunity to work with some remarkable
business leaders people who have
inspired me people who encouraged me and
people that I’ve learned a lot from and
while there is no one formula ever for a
great leader what I’m hoping to share
with you today is some of my
observations and learnings or what makes
great business leaders but I’ll not just
do it as one of those seven Habits of
effective people kind of list I actually
wanted to do it in the context of
another love of mind which is writing
many years ago when I was 20 years old I
thought that I wanted to be a writer and
I actually borrowed some money from my
dad printed a business card with a
journalist and went down went over to
editors of magazines and newspapers and
said look will you give me a break and a
kind of interaction did it died and very
soon I had written more than a half a
dozen feature pieces the moment I joined
the world of business and I and I joined
business school that world what left
behind but it was always there somewhere
under the surface last year after 15
years of being a career consultant I
took a sabbatical and some of it was
spent in this fine city of Iowa as a
part of the Iowa summer writers festival
it felt like a magical world it felt
like I was just surrounded by a very
different set of people that I would
normally be surround
by writers people wanted to talk about
writing aspiring writers and established
writers and in that I actually realized
that all these years as an avid reader
while I feel I can appreciate good
writing what I got to do in that time in
Iowa was appreciate good writers and
what I took away from that was a few
things that I see writers do incredibly
well and while this is not necessarily a
checklist but these are four that I’d
like to share today but I feel that
great writers are able to explore beyond
the imagination that normal people have
great writers observe they see the same
things that we see but they see them
differently they have a point of view
and they’re not afraid to share their
perspective and lastly they are masters
at showing and not telling what I’ll do
over the next I guess 12 minutes or so
is walk you through examples of great
writing and what I mean by these four
and bring it back to the world of
business let’s start with exploration
always a good place to start
Peter Tosh she wrote a book about the
craft of writing and I would like to
quote from the book eventually we find
the story not despite failed efforts to
find the story but through those efforts
this could almost have been Christopher
Columbus talking about finding America
when he went looking for India and it
does actually feel like that I remember
the first story that I ever wrote
started about the script describing the
stuffy heat of a loadshedding
town in small town Orissa became very
soon a love triangle and then eventually
was the story of a boy discovering that
he was gay I did not start with that
thought in mind I started with something
and the writing led me on and that is
about exploration and I think the best
writers from what I’ve been told by
instructor after instructor at Iowa are
people who let the writing write and
don’t try to shape the writing in the
world of business there are countless
examples of people who go on exploring
and I’m here to talk about one of them
anyone see the very recent movie
founders the founder quick raise offense
okay a few so for the rest of you have
not seen the movie well spoiler alert
it’s about Ray Kroc the founder of
McDonald’s chain with 40,000 stores
around the world interestingly
McDonald’s was not a business there was
not the first business that Ray started
in fact he started his career selling
paper cups went on to be a real estate
agent eventually was selling restaurant
equipment and that’s when he discovered
this the first McDonald’s which is run
by these brothers in San Bernardino
California
and he loved the idea and his
explorations had taken him there and he
decided to take the plunge and what he
started with that at that point of time
is today a twenty five billion dollar
business clearly his explorations and
this was when he was in his mid forties
is when he actually did this he was not
afraid to try new things and that’s what
led to his success and what we see as a
great establishment today so the first
lesson at least I take away is great
writers explore they go beyond what we
imagine and that’s what great business
leaders do as well
the second trade I want to talk about is
observation this is and I’m sorry you
can’t probably see it very clearly this
is John Fulford’s a walk to south school
you know basically a story on a page
it’s essentially a route map of a child
going from home to school and there are
all the different destinations that the
writer talks about as an example right
on top there is dr. combs vaccinate dr.
combs equals vaccinations equals ouch
somewhere down there it says the
greatest treehouse ever ours you can
sense the feeling the emotion of
ownership of the pride and the joy of
probably countless afternoons spent on
top of the treehouse
my favorite is somewhere in the top you
can see it’s a stone wall and you can
walk by the wall but it says always walk
on top also a good place to ask a girl
to go steady
everyday locations every day emotions
but brought to life
writers who are able to observe and see
something in the same things that
probably you and I don’t when we are
thinking of it observation is also
usually a great inspiration for business
ideas I want to talk about at least one
of them a product that we use probably
quite regularly I know at least my son
just loves gobbling these up the
originally many years ago but she is
used to be sold in slabs and people
would have to slice it into small pieces
or into into slices and put it in
sandwiches or in burgers someone saw
that someone observed it and realize
that people did not like the wastage
people did not like the variations in
size and shape that would lead to
someone innovated on the product side
and created something which is now a
multi-billion dollar business a simple
observation of how people eat sandwiches
and how people consume cheese which led
to an idea which is seen as a business
success today so observation of everyday
things which leads to great business
ideas is another thing that business
mirrors best business leaders are able
to do well next I talk about sharing of
perspective for this I’ll actually you
don’t take your license and while my
talk said what business leaders can
learn from writers I’ll wear away and
talk about a couple of other streams of
creative space as well let me start with
this map of the world anyone notice
anything odd about this speak up it’s
upside down that’s right
who said that north should always be on
top who decided that it’s a matter of
perspective it’s the same facts
presented in a very different way which
make us think about the world
differently where Australia on top and
Alaska is at the bottom so it’s all a
matter of perspective here’s another
example two paintings side-by-side with
exactly the same subject it’s someone
soaking their feet in a tub and having
drawn it what makes it interesting is if
you think about who the people are and
who the painters and what perspective
did they have in mind the one on my left
I guess you’re right is by the famous
Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and she was
known for her and is known today even
today for her imaginative self-portraits
so you see you know and I’m not sure I
you know pick up all of the nuances here
but you see a toenail with a little bit
of blood trickling down you see a what
looks like a dead bird on top of a tree
you see a sky scraper with smoke coming
out coming out of volcano and I don’t
know frankly what some of this means but
the painter had a perspective that she
wanted to share the one on the right is
by George Bush the junior American
president 2001 to 2009 relatively bland
and plain perspective but his
perspective netherland nevertheless
exact same subject matter seen
differently with a very different
perspective and I feel that the best
business leaders actually are good at
what they do because they put a stake in
the ground they are not shy to actually
have a point of view they sometimes a
point of view will be based on facts
sometimes based on what the team’s tell
them and sometimes based on pure
intuition I remember a few years ago an
industrial conglomerated asked us to
look at the feasibility and the
attractiveness of setting up a
manufacturing plant in China team worked
pretty hard over six weeks we did all
the analysis and came to the conclusion
that the real cost benefit was almost
marginal there was no for all the hassle
that they would have to go through it
was not worth it so I remember going to
the boardroom and presenting to the CEO
saying that’s what our point of view was
and she turned to me and said Amitabh
let me show you with you my point of
view I’m going to do it and I’m like but
why look at the facts look at the data
she said let’s call it an entrepreneurs
call we are going to do it you went I
rented it they set up the factory five
years later now it’s actually you know
our numbers have turned out to be
exactly the way we had estimated the
cost benefit has been frankly marginal
but the team of that organization which
is actually worked in sedima of the
factory in China has learned so much
about manufacturing styles and cost
systems in China and has been able to
bring it back to their factories in
different parts of the world that is not
something that we could ever have
calculated or estimated so it’s been a
great learning from that point of view
and hence you know a perspective one of
the best examples
in the world of business leader with the
perspective is a business leader that
touches many of you how many people with
an iPhone here in the room quite a few
so Steve Jobs is probably the master of
this when he you know first came up with
the Macintosh it wasn’t an IBM dominated
world where the systems were just not
compatible but the Macintosh had
creativity the Macintosh had romance the
Macintosh had the vision that Steve Jobs
went ahead with and then he repeated it
again with iPod with iTunes with iPhone
with iPod just again and again and again
probably one of the best examples I can
think of of just having a point of view
and having a perspective and sharing it
to the world in fact he is very famously
known to have said that he doesn’t
believe in customer research or consumer
research because consumers don’t know
what they want
till someone tells them what they want
that to me my friends is an example of
sharing a perspective having a
perspective and sharing it the final
piece I’ll talk about is what writers in
the world of writing and I had not heard
this term before till I went to Iowa
called show not tell which is a skill
that great writers have and I will
there’s an extract here from our own
that is Roy’s god of small things and
I’ll read some parts of it I know it’s
very small font but I’ll read some of it
for you me in M&M is a hot rooting month
the days are long and humid the river
shrinks and black crowes gorge on the
bright mangoes in still dust green trees
red bananas ripen jackfruits burst
dissolute blue bottles hum vacuously in
the fruity air then stun themselves
against clear window panes and die
faculty baffled in the sun the nights
are clear but suffused with sloth and
sullen expectation look at the richness
of detail in that a reader reading it
can actually imagine that main M&M and
what use of colors and language in the
same passage there are dust grain trees
there is an immodest green in the
countryside and there are brick walls
that turn moss green all green but very
different versions of green evoking very
different image
or mine and this is all about the detail
about getting into the detail now you
may be wondering what does this have to
do with business leaders should they be
in the details all the time actually no
on the contrary best business leaders
zoom up but the point I wanted to make
is that the best business leaders are
the ones who lead from the front they
are not afraid to roll up their sleeves
and jump in and fight it out when they
have to fight it out one of my best
examples of this is so I do a lot of
work in retail and one of the best parts
of my job is actually sitting retail
stores I love being in stores where
strategy becomes reality or actually is
very poor strategy and you find it out
in the stores and a few years ago I was
in Punjab visiting the stores of a major
retailer it was sweltering hot and I was
with the CEO of the business and we were
very happy that we actually went inside
the store air-conditioned nice we walked
around the store everything looked good
and then the CEO said let’s actually
just do a quick huddle in the back room
the entire stores staff and myself and
we all went into the back room and I
thought he was going to give them a pat
in the back for a very well-run store
room nice for the store for the
customers instead he goes and he picks
up this fire extinguisher and he raises
it and he says how many people know how
to use this it’s mandatory by law to
have a fire extinguisher
also since they have one it better be
useful and hence people should be able
to know how to use it
and he asked the question and they were
all very honest two of them said raise
their hands and everyone else looked
down at their feet I thought he was
going to give him a lecture I thought he
was going to tell them why it was really
important for them to do it and he was
going to well not be very pleased about
it instead he just smiled I said come
with me we all trooped outside back in
the sweltering heat of Punjab and he
lifted up the fire extinguisher went
through the steps and actually operated
it on the ground there was no fire but
Lee one by one he got every single store
employee and remember he’s the CEO of
the company these are the lowest paid
employees in the firm he got one by one
all of them to take the fire
extinguisher and actually operate it for
a few minutes till they all felt
comfortable that is a lesson I can
guarantee you they will never forget
that’s the power of showing not telling
that’s the power of a leader not being
afraid to
details and actually doing what he
expects his or her team to do and yes
that is John snow from the Battle of the
bastards I’ll end with a quote from
Anton Chekhov one of my favorite short
story writers one of the most gifted
ones I would argue that you know our
generation Israel talent is long
patience there are many people and many
of you sitting here who will be great
business leaders many of you have the
talent and I would argue that while they
can be all kinds of lists that you see
in business books out there my
submission to you is that if you want to
be a great business leader there are
four things that you need to keep in
mind first you have to have the courage
to explore to go to a song mode you have
to have the discipline to observe to pay
attention to those details and see in it
beyond what everyone else is seen you
have to have a perspective and you have
to have the confidence to share this
perspective as yours and take the fall
for it when it goes when the calls go
wrong and finally you have the humility
to show and not tell thank you everyone
for the time it’s been a pleasure
talking to you thank you very much
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