This book is the latest non fiction book by Rashmi Bansal, a former IIM-Ahmedabad student who is the co-founder and editor of JAM(Just Another Magazine). It has no relation with health & nutrition nor does it have anything to do with Steve Jobs, except that “Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” is a statement coined by him at the commencement speech at Stanford University. This book seeks to inspire young graduates to look beyond placements and salaries and to follow their dream. The header on the cover page aptly gives out the real essence of the book- “The inspiring stories of 25 IIM-Ahmedabad graduates who chose to tread a path of their own making”.
The author has categorized the entrepreneurs into “Believers”, “Opportunists” and the individuals with “An Alternate Vision”. The “Believers” like Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani of naukri.com, and Mr. Ashank Desai, the founder of Mastek are those people who know that entrepreneurship is the path they want to follow. They persevere until they make it big. The “Opportunists” do not plan to take up this path, but when the opportunity knocks, they seize it. Mr. Raseesh Shah is one such “Opportunist” who founded Edelweiss Capital in a world dominated by the likes of J P Morgan and Merrill Lynch. The individuals with “Alternate Vision” use entrepreneurship to create a social impact, just like Mr. Vijay Mahajan, the founder of Basix who has devoted his life to addressing issues of inequality and social injustice.
The short narrations in this book not only provide inspiration, but also highlight the struggles, challenges and hardships each of these individuals faced and how they emerged out of it with success! Success to them did come in different forms- for some it was money, for some it was fame, while for some it was a contribution towards society. They did not possess a single key to success. It was a combination of multiple factors like passion, perseverance, care and luck that did the trick. These entrepreneurs possessed a zeal to achieve something beyond mere money and fame. Often nothing mattered to them except enjoying the work they did. They sensed, they saw and they grabbed the opportunities. These people had the hawk-eye vision to go after things no one else even thought of noticing. 4 out of the 25 entrepreneurs in the book just wanted to do good for the society. They may not have had monetary success, but they created non-profit organizations for the betterment of their motherland India. Each of them stood by their employees with genuine care. They thus commanded the love and respect of their subordinates without a demand for it. All in all, this book is about the people who brought huge progress to India and the world. Irrespective of their field, they brought a long-lasting whiff of freshness and novelty in their respective domains. Instead of cribbing aimlessly like several others, about the evils in the Indian System, they brought about a change!
The myth that one needs to be a genius in order to be an entrepreneur is proved wrong in this book. What makes the difference between a leader and rest of the herd is the fire within to achieve success, the courage to quit a meaningless job and step out of one’s comfort zone and ultimately to have faith in one’s dream. ”Stay Hungry Stay Foolish” is surely bound to bring out a hidden passion, trigger a long-lost dream and maybe imbibe a spirit of motivation in each of its readers.
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