Harsha Bhogle and wife Anita have written a book The Winning Way together. Anita gives DNA a low down on the book.
What exactly does The Winning Way talk about?
Prosearch Consultants (Harsha Bhogle and me) run a motivational workshop called The Winning Way for corporates, that draws learnings from sport for managers. We have done 300 such sessions for most of the top companies in India, multiple ones for many of those. The book is a collation of our learnings from these sessions. The Winning Way stems from our deep-rooted belief that the formula for winning remains the same whether you are a sportsman, a musician, a financial planner, a pharma salesman or a housewife.
How and why have you sifted examples from sport to be used in the book?
Few things in life are as motivating and exhilarating as sport. Unlike in the movies which are really scripted drama, sport is real. Winning and losing and the emotions that go with them are most apparent and visible in sport. In corporate India today, there is a great need for teamwork. At the end of the day, every business is a people’s business. People who work in positive team environments develop faster like Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have.
What makes a good leader?
A good leader is one who makes the team add up to more than the sum of its parts, one who empowers the team and helps them discover how good they are capable of being. And he needn’t be the best player in the team. Different situations and different times require different kinds of leaders. And, yes, leaders also have a shelf life!
What sort of observations did you make while conducting the workshops?
We have been conducting these workshops for 10 years now and we have seen sport (particularly cricket) and business in India flourish like never before. We have also witnessed the emergence of champions from other sports. There is a new found confidence among the youth. Indians have traditionally been good thinkers but the need now is to be great doers as well. Execution requires discipline and a good work ethic. That is something we need to learn.
Does it help that you’re husband and wife and so the work gets done faster?
We have our roles cut out —while I work with clients and on the content, Harsha delivers the presentations. I suspect I am more efficient, but he is the better story-teller! We are often told that we make a great team having complementary strengths, but let me assure you, it’s not easy being the partner of someone so well known.
Are you working on any other book together?
Not one immediately. But I (along with some tech partners) have just launched a new product that promises to be India’s first digital learning content library for managers.
