I have to start by acknowledging those who helped me in my journey in the corporate world. If it had not been for this journey, I would never have built the learning and insights required to write a book like this. Foremost in this have been the two influential bosses of mine, Anand Kripalu and Bharat Puri. I am also deeply thankful to a set of leaders and colleagues who have inspired and taught me: P.M. Murty, Ashwinbhai Dani, Ashwinbhai Choksi, Abhaybhai Vakil, Jalaj Dani, Manish Choksi, K.B.S. Anand, Amit Syngle and P.G. Ponnapa from Asian Paints; Gulu Mirchandani, Vijay Mansukhani, G. Sundar and Sasha Mirchandani from Onida; and Todd Stitzer, Ken Hannah, Marck Reckitt, Bob Stack, Rajiv Wahi, Nick Fell, Amit Banati, Irene Rosenfeld, Tim Cofer, Karen May, Mary Beth West, Manu Anand and Pradeep Pant from Cadbury/Mondelez. I am also thankful to the partners I have worked with who have been great teachers and friends: Piyush Pandey, Madhukar Sabnavis, Govind Pandey, Kinu, Hepsibah Pathak, Sonali and Ganapathy from Ogilvy; Ravi Deshpande, Umesh Shrikhande and Rohit Shrivastav from Contract and Lemon and thereafter; Sam Balsara, Bikram Sakhuja, Dnyanadha, Shekhar and Gautam from Madison; and Vispy Doctor, Jasmeet, Gita and Meera from my research agencies. Each one of them has contributed in some way to what I have learnt and some of their teachings are what is reflected in this book.
I also want to thank those who made the writing of this book possible. I must start with those who triggered the thought that I must write a book. While many people have often told me that I must write one, had it not been for the prodding of Govind Pandey, Savitha Shivshankar and Chavvi Bindal, I might not have even seriously considered this. I must thank my publishers Penguin Random House for readily accepting my synopsis and being tremendous partners in this journey. I want to thank all the teams in Penguin Random House for making this happen—your commitment and professionalism are outstanding. A special thanks to my editor Radhika Marwah for her partnership with me.
I want to thank my author friends Ambi Parameswaran and Prakash Iyer for providing a debutant author like me some valuable tips. I am also indebted to my current employers, Pidilite Industries, M.B. Parekh and Bharat Puri for giving me the space and encouragement to write a book. I am thankful to Anand Kriplau, Siddartha Mukherjee and my brothers Balaji and Swami for reviewing the book and giving me valuable feedback. Many thanks to Harish Thawani and the staff of Indus Club, where I have sat many a day from morning till evening writing the book, for providing a fantastic environment. I also want to thank a core group of dear friends who have selflessly helped me in the marketing of this book. God bless them.
Lastly I want to thank every company where I did ‘Tee off with Mouli’ sessions, the leaders who invited me there and every participant of these sessions. The energy I got from them was phenomenal and the questions they asked helped me sharpen every point I have made in this book. Thank you all.