Hello Friends,
Last year in my quest for delving into success stories of business leaders from various sectors I stumbled upon the journey of one of the most respected & celebrated leaders from the banking industry. I must say this was my first read on detailed journey of a bank & people associated with it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Interestingly I found two separate books depicting personal & professional life of the same business leader I am talking about. First book talks about how he was identified as a strong candidate to turn the fortunes of newly created bank whereas the other one talks about how he excelled as a perfect family man. The book written on his personal life makes an enjoyable read filled with some interesting instances showcasing various shades of his character & what makes it even more interesting is because of the fact that it was written by none other than his wife. This post is also significant because I am going to do a combined review of two books for the first time.
 |
| Image Design: Bala Kumar |
Aditya Puri, former MD of HDFC Bank is a well known name in the banking industry who had a strong presence in the industry for more than three decades. First book, HDFC Bank 2.0: From Dawn To Digital written on his journey with HDFC Bank presents some of the never talked about characteristics of a banking leader who took a brand from the grassroot level to the top in the segment. Tamal Bandyopadhyay, author of the book is one of the reputed business journalists in India. He has authored seven bestselling books so far on banking & finance segment. His weekly column Banker's Trust (In Business Standard) is considered as one of the most trustworthy resources when it comes to understand various decisions related to banking & financial world. Click here to know more about him.
In this book he has narrated the entire journey of Aditya since he started his career with Citibank. From the very first chapter all the significant events that have been narrated showcase one or the other side of Aditya's leadership. As the title suggests this book is primarily about the transformation that HDFC bank went through over the years to emerge as one of the largest private banks in India. Aditya had a significant role during the entire journey since being appointed as the chief by close friend Deepak Parekh. The book narrates each phase of growth & subsequent challenges for the bank in a simplistic manner. Simultaneously Aditya's journey at the helm of a newly formed bank keeps on rolling.
As the book narrates the journey of HDFC bank from its inception, Aditya had to run it like any other startup. While doing so different sides of his leadership was on show for everybody to watch. Managing everyday challenges of a business unit along with tackling the ever changing market dynamics wouldn't have been an easy task. But Aditya's calmness & clarity of thoughts were a major factor in dealing successfully with all sort of roadblocks. As per one of his colleagues he was rarely seen as stressed irrespective of the criticality of the situation. His habit of leaving office in time throughout the career is an invaluable lesson for modern day leaders on how to manage stressful situations at work without affecting your personal life.
This book is also an excellent read to understand how banking operations take place at the grassroot level. Every chapter narrates about different initiatives taken at different stages of growth of the bank. In depth analysis of every step taken at the bank showcases the fact of how much work goes at the backend of it that is going to affect financial decisions of millions in a country like ours.
Aditya had not only guided a strong unit consisting of efficient professionals to the top but also created a close bond that is going to last for years. Allowing his colleagues or peers to bring their children to the office on weekends, celebrating each & every success of the team, having regular get-togethers with colleagues were some of the rituals that makes Aditya a leader who is class apart. Ensuring your teams' well being is one of the prime responsibilities of a leader & Aditya was upto that throughout his career.
Today years after his retirement from HDFC bank Aditya is still remembered & acknowledged as the one who created such a prestigious brand out of nowhere. Truly he is one of those leaders who is looked upon by his team & family and more so during the crunch moments. And HDFC Bank 2.0: From Dawn To Digital is a wonderful accumulation of his professional journey.
That was about Aditya, the boss of HDFC Bank. Now let's talk about the second book named Adityanama which talks about Aditya, the person, the son, the husband, the father & the grandfather. Written by none other than his wife Anita Puri, this book showcases a completely different side of Aditya. This is more like seeing a husband from a wife's viewpoint.
Entire narration is divided into five parts including Aditya & Anita's initial interactions before marriage, their married life, balancing an ever growing career & family, personal likings & habits and lastly a few words from some of Aditya's admirers. Let me make it very clear that none of the chapters talks about his work or business related matters. Rather it showcases how nicely one can strike a balance between a successful career, nurturing a family & simultaneously maintaining a strong friend circle. Plenty of small stories can be found throughout the narration about Aditya's likings, his sincere efforts to make his family members happy by fulfilling even smallest of their wishes & his bonding with his friends.
People will find the story of this multi-faceted banker extremely amazing as how he performed multiple roles with so much ease. Couple of aspects of his character which have come up multiple times in the book are his love for food & travel. He can go any stretch to fulfill his desires with respect to these two. He has been an equally caring father who has taken immense interest in his kids' careers & showed them the right path to grow. He has been a nervous critique during the initial days of her daughter's acting career.
His habit of paying attention to minute details would have been extremely helpful in his professional life too as he had to handle multiple responsibilities at workplace. Final segment of the book is quite enjoyable too with the mentions of viewpoints of some of Aditya's long time admirers. Simple language with a collection of photos of some of the cherished moments of his life is a prominent feature of the book.
Both the books together showcases the journey of a modern day leader who excelled equally at office & home. In today's world where we are finding it extremely tough to balance our personal & professional lives leading to the never ending debate on work life balance, Aditya is a prominent example of how one can win the battle at both phases without compromising too much. That's why both the books are such must reads for modern day professionals.
Image Credit
amazon.in
TERumel, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Tamal Bandyopadhyay Books On Banking & Finance
|
|
|
|
Social Media Connect