Dr R. Balasubramaniam’s New Book on PM Modi’s Legacy Explores Leadership Through Indic Principles
A deep dive into leadership from an Indic perspective, Power Within provides a road map for aspiring public servants and leaders. The book has garnered high praise from captains of industry, academia, and civil society leaders in India and worldwide.
- “[T]he [book] explores how Indigenous knowledge and centuries-old wisdom can inform global leadership today and accelerate progress for some of the world’s most under-resourced communities.” – Bill Gates, Co-chair, of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- “A thought-provoking book that will undoubtedly change perspectives and perceptions on powerful leadership.” – Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group.
- “R. Balasubramaniam’s Power Within: The Leadership Legacy of Narendra Modi is a compelling exploration of leadership dynamics that has propelled India to greater heights.” – Falguni Nayar, Founder & CEO, Nykaa.
- Power Within is a timely, well-researched, and accessible book on effective public leadership that draws on valuable research, principles, and perspectives from both the East and the West.” – Deepa Mani, Deputy Dean, Executive Education & Digital Learning, ISB.
- “In this book, R. Balasubramaniam sketches a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership, using a blend of concepts drawn from Indic thinking and modern global literature.” – N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons.
- “Modi will be the most studied global leader in the centuries to come but what one needs is an “in-prism” understanding of his leadership from our civilizational worldview. Dr Balu fills an important gap here.” – Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group.
Hyderabad : Distinguished development scholar and author, Dr. Ramaswami Balasubramaniam (Dr. Balu), also well-known for his pioneering development work with rural and tribal communities in Karnataka, India, launched his latest book, Power Within: The Leadership Legacy of Narendra Modi in the city today. The book is a compelling narrative that offers a unique perspective on leadership, contrasting Western trait-oriented approaches with Indian practice-oriented philosophies.
The book launch event was held at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad campus, in the presence of the Dean, Madan M Pillutla, delivering the Inaugural Address. The event was attended by distinguished dignitaries such as B Narasimha Sharma, Additional Solicitor General, Telangana High Court, Nagaraj Paturi, Dean, Indica Academy, and Raghava Krishna, Founder, Bṛhat, who participated in a panel discussion following the launch. The audience included numerous thought leaders, philanthropists, industry captains, policymakers, and avid readers, gathered to hear Dr. Balu talk about the civilizational wisdom of Bharat through the lived experiences of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his new book.
Madan M Pillutla said, this is an important book that marries Indian philosophy with some western models, it tries to synthesise some of the ideas from these two concepts. The best part it doesn’t reject the western concepts, but engages with it. There are different models of leadership in existence for some time, what Balu does is to engage with them seriously and wherever there is an opportunity to learn from and adopt from them, he does it very efficiently. We generally dismiss views that are very different from us, we just say they are all wrong, we make a caricature of such arguments and make a fun of them. To have a book like this which engages it and engages in the depth it does is refreshing, welcoming and is a model for the way we want to conduct ourselves of being open minded, accepting, engaging and taking the things that are good and leaving the things that we don’t agree with. The methodology is also super interesting and is a take away for students, scholars from this. Balu takes the profound thoughts and presents them in a manner that people can actually consume and use them. Going forward, look at him writing more books like this. Balu’s other side which is less explicit, which I know from my conversations with him, he is hoping that this book will inspire people towards public leadership and public service. There are multiple goals that are out there in the book, there are multiple things that different audience infer from it, that is the hall mark of a good book.
Dr. Ramaswami Balasubramaniam said, this book is a personal journey, anything I put out there I want to stand by it, whatever I wrote in this are based on what I discovered, either through observational analysis of mine, experiential anecdotal I went through or through direct conversations with PM himself or from people who report to him. I tried to use only those theories which are relevant today, intelligent and practical. It’s a book for academic work which can be deeper. This book is for global audience, when I requested the prime minister’s permission to write this book, use him as an example, he only put one condition, he said make sure that this book is not about me, but by reading it a thousand leaders from this country should emerge and I really hope that this book will enable that resurgence from this country, which this country richly deserves and today demands, so that India is perceived as the Viswa guru to the whole world. This is a unique book which looks at appreciation of leaders from and Indic lens, thoughts are brought from scriptures, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Jataka Tales, Panchatantra, and analyses Prime Minister Modi’s leadership. It is not something about the past, but about using civilisation wisdom to analyse a current sitting Prime Minister to see what drives his leadership performance. I also offer it as a solution for the world, how this knowledge can help make the world a better place to live. It is also unique in the fact that it’s a global book with prescription for the global leadership, it combines the best of leadership knowledge from the west with the best that the Indian civilisation system offers and putting it together as the way forward for all of us.
Raghava Krishna who moderated the panel discussion on the occasion said, this book is about our culture, about Indian values, what are the leadership qualities in our culture, how are we correlating these values and qualities in the leadership presented by Modi.
This book was launched in Delhi on June 28th by Ajay Piramal, Chairman of Piramal Group, in the presence of Amitabh Kant, Former Niti Aayog CEO, Debjani Ghosh, NASSCOM President, and Prof. B Mahadevan from IIM Bengaluru. In Bengaluru, its launch on July 5th was attended by Sadguru Madhusudan Sai, Spiritual and Social Leader, Archit Gupta, Founder, and CEO, of ClearTax, Manish Sabharwal, Vice-Chairman, Teamlease Services, Prashanth Prakash, Founding Partner, Accel, and Deepak Shetty, CEO and MD, JCB India Ltd.
Power Within delves into the prime minister’s fifty years of public life, exploring the formative years that sowed the seeds of his purpose and leadership. Through poignant anecdotes from colleagues like Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the book sheds light on his relentless efforts, hard work, and communicative approach, which propelled him to the highest office in the country. It also underscores his continuous quest for self-discovery in the service of others, offering a road map for those aspiring to a life of public service.
Through a meticulously crafted narrative, Dr. Balasubramaniam captures the prime minister’s leadership journey, interpreting it through both Western and Indic lenses. This is a unique amalgamation of perspectives that provides readers with a comprehensive understanding of leadership dynamics, making it an essential read for anyone interested in public service and leadership development.
- Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons, shared his thoughts on the work, saying “In this book, R. Balasubramaniam sketches a portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary leadership, using a blend of concepts drawn from Indic thinking and modern global literature.”
Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder, Zerodha, recommended the book, stating: “Please give this book a read; there are practical lessons we can all imbibe in our lives.”
“Exercising leadership is a way of giving meaning to our lives by contributing to the lives of others. And such an opportunity to express leadership crosses our paths every day. What is required is the sensitivity to recognize purpose when it emerges and the courage to act on it as a labour of love.” – Dr. Balu’s newest book is full of such wisdom and captures the essence of leadership in the truest sense. It is available to order on Amazon India.