The management-cum-historical saga The Making of Hero: Four Brothers, Two Wheels and a Revolution that Shaped India, penned by Sunil Kant Munjal was released at Hotel Hyatt Regency early this week. Present at the hi-profile event were former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Mrs Sangeeta Jaitley, wife of the Late Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Mrs Santosh Munjal, the author’s mother.
Published by HarperCollins, the book has forewords written by both, Dr Manmohan Singh and late Arun Jaitley. The launch, jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and HarperCollins, saw the attendance of prominent members from the business fraternity and diplomatic community.
The book release was followed by a panel discussion on Beyond the Third Generation: Building Businesses that Last, moderated by media personality, Dr Prannoy Roy. The panellists included Venu Srinivasan (TVS Group), Ajay S Shriram (DCM Shriram) and the author, Sunil Kant Munjal, who spoke about the nature and beauty of setting up a family business and the impact and influence the senior family members had on succeeding generations.
“This book has been both, a labour of love as well as a trip down the memory lane. This story is meant not just to preserve the legacy of our founders but also to show the world that it is possible to build a world-class business ethically even during trying times,” said Munjal. Speaking on the occasion, Shriram stressed on the importance of trust and open communication in a family run business.
“An environment must be created so that everyone has a voice. People can have different opinions and it is important to respect all those,” he said. Srinivasan spoke about the key business lessons that he learnt from his grandfather, especially the ones relating to building win-win partnerships with vendors and channel partners. “Everybody needs to win, and that holds the key to the success of a business,’’ he remarked.