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To commemorate BusinessLine turning 25 in January 2019, the newspaper is publishing a series of books from its rich archival content. The first of these is Table Talk: Conversations with Leaders.
Over the years, BusinessLine’s reporters and editors have had the opportunity to meet and interact with thought leaders from every sphere of economic activity.
In particular, the free-wheeling exchange of ideas BL’s writers had with industry heads and politicians, planners and sportspersons as part of the Table Talk series highlights the importance of the kind of wisdom and experiential knowledge that emerge from such dialogues.
Conducted over the informal atmosphere of a meal, the Table Talk interviews are deeply insightful, offering rare glimpses into leaders’ minds and the reasoning behind why they do what they do.
There is often sparkling wit and humour on display, as well as surprising admissions and revelations of hidden talents, usually overwhelmed by the pressures of a demanding career.
28 interviews
After trawling the archives to curate material for Table Talk: Conversations with Leaders , 28 interviews were selected from around 50 conversations BL had with business leaders over a span of five years, keeping in mind that many of the business chiefs may have moved on in their careers or retired.
The book features dialogues with Tata Sons’ N Chandrasekaran; New Development Bank’s KV Kamath; TVS Motor’s Venu Srinivasan, HCL Group’s Shiv Nadar, the Murugappa Group’s A Vellayan; Biocon’s Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw; NIIT’s Rajendra Pawar, Mindtree’s Subroto Bagchi; Ashok Leyland’s Vinod Dasari and its former MD, R Seshasayee; and many more.
There is a conversation with India’s first woman defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, several years before she assumed the post; with Kaushik Basu, former chief economic advisor to the government, and one with India’s badminton legend, Prakash Padukone, a leader in his own right in the sports arena.
As these interviews were published some years ago, a preamble has been added in this volume, giving a brief update on the person and how they have progressed the past few years.
Many of the Table Talk protagonists have shaped the industries and spheres they operate in and, in some sense, have been builders of contemporary India. Their thoughts can continue to stimulate and help ideate for the future.
Table Talk: Conversations with Leaders is available in both hardback and paperback and can be ordered at www.thehindu.com/publications. Call 1800 3000 1878 or email bookstore@thehindu.co.in for details.
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