Podcast Themes

Tarun speaks about how Family businesses in emerging economies proactively fill in to take care of elements of Public Good that are not taken care of by the state.

Raghu speaks about the notion of being Dharmic and how it can be simply defined using three filters – 1) How is it enlivening you? 2) How is it enlivening the person you are interacting with? 3) How is it enlivening the wider context you are in? He goes on to speak about how he has discovered his Dharma in his journey.

Dorie speaks about how Marshall Goldsmith (inspired by Paul Hersey) moved from being an effective Coach to start thinking about his legacy and started writing and conceiving of several initiatives including MG100.

Lloyd throws some light on a question that a lot of leaders grapple with – What should be my role in the Social Sector? He speaks about how we should think about our contribution towards Social Impact as we move from Success to Significance.

Harish speaks about the three different levels at which the Tata Group tries to make a difference to the communities it operates in. One is at the level of the Tata Trusts and the organizations it supports. Second is at the level of each company in the Tata Group and the CSR initiatives within each company. The third is through the various brands (such as Tanishq and Tata Tea) and the messages they carry when they reach out to the consumers.

Ramesh speaks about how he ended up getting involved with Education. He speaks about how his meeting with Shaheen Mistri galvanized his wife Charuta and him to involve themselves with Akanksha Foundation, Teach For India and Peepul. He urges us to pick a topic that we are passionate about and stick with it for a long period of time to make a dent.

Ashish speaks about how we all could spend some part of our life involving ourselves with the Social Sector. He specifically speaks about Indian Leaders for the Social Sector (ILSS) run by Anu Prasad that conducts a 9 day boot camp for corporate leaders who want to consider transitioning to the Social Impact world.

Measurement of metrics in a Social Impact context can be complex. This is unlike the corporate world where there are established P&L and Balance Sheet metrics that can be used to measure progress. Ashish speaks about how he thinks about metrics when it comes to evaluation of progress with Ashoka University or Central Square Foundation.

Ashish speaks about the challenges involved in leading in the Social Impact sector. He speaks about why the production function in this space is much more complicated and that coupled with not having adequate control over key levers of change makes it much harder to drive outcomes. He also speaks about the nuances involved in attracting and motivating talent in this space as they respond to different cues. He then goes on to discuss what he had to learn and unlearn as he transitioned from the Corporate Management world to the Development Management world.

Ashish speaks about the notion of controlled ambition which enabled him to stay detached from the material outcomes and also gave him the conviction to step away from the corporate world despite his accomplishments. He speaks about expenses growing at a much slower clip than his income that enabled him to take the step to move towards philanthropy.

Venkat speaks about some of the givers that have inspired him. He speaks about mythological characters like Karna, Mahabali and business men like Chuck Feeney and Andrew Carnegie who have set the bar really high for giving. He also speaks about how we can derive inspiration from Indian leaders like Gandhiji, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya or Vinobha Bhave in the way they approached Giving. He also speaks about his perspectives on how we should think about keeping it private versus doing it in a visible way. He urges us to keep our WHY front and central as we think about this.

Venkat speaks about how we can approach our journey in Giving as a marathon and not as a sprint. He speaks about how we need to take baby steps in a certain direction, reflect on our experience, make course corrections and then move forward rather than taking a sudden plunge into a new domain. Such an approach could lead to disillusionment.