The corporate world is supposed to be a dog-eat-dog world where the base rule is ‘survival of the fittest.’ However, that doesn’t always help you thrive.
Adapt To Thrive, Not Just Survive by Harit Nagpal, CEO, Tata Play, is a book that not just categorically points out the difference between surviving and thriving, but also helps you navigate through the sea of snags with the help of stories.
“They are not just stories. They are case studies. Every one of these I’ve seen with my own eyes, some has happened to me. Some I have seen other people go through… All are real,” says Harit Nagpal, as we talk about the book and the inspiration behind it.
“Because every time there is a disruption that faces you, one’s response is how do I save myself? That’s a chameleon-like response — like the one on the cover. That does not improve your life. So, the life of the chameleon that you see in your garden today is the same as the life of the chameleon that existed in your garden 5,000,000 years ago. It hasn’t improved,” he adds.
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This is what he mentions in the Introduction of the book as well. ‘Like the chameleon, humans are capable of adapting themselves – and not just for survival. We adapt also to thrive.’ (sic)
Adapt To Thrive, Not Just Survive is not just a narrative of a CEO. Nor is it a management or self-help book. It explores the basic principles of business, employee and employer needs, and market changes. But on an entirely different level.
The entire book is written in form of stories. They are or not just narratives or anecdotes, but proper short stories that keep you engaged while giving you a lesson at the end; almost like moral of the story. Be it Ears to the Ground that talks about listening to the customer or From PowerPoint to One-Point where the CEO creates and drives agenda in a unique way, all chapters are short stories that leave you with a management lesson. “Panchatantra and all those kinds of books, comics like Amar Chitra Katha that we used to read in our childhoods kept us engaged because there was a story. And there used be a moral at the end of the story which stayed with us,” says Nagpal. “That’s exactly what I decided to do. Instead of a 2x2 matrix and a textbook kind of a format, I chose storytelling as a format with 10 questions at the end which help derive the moral.”
All stories have 10 questions, which the reader is supposed to ask her/himself to gauge where they stand. At the end of chapter Sticky Products and Repeat Customers, Nagpal also advises to read more about ‘compelling propositions’ if there are more ‘Nos’ as an answer to his questions at the end of the chapter.
These stories happen on the backdrop of varied cities and countries including Lahore. “I’ve been around the world and everywhere I see the same problems. Human beings are different from one place to another, but their brilliance as well as stupidity, both are universal. You’ll see brilliant people in every community, and you’ll see stupid people in every community,” Nagpal says. “The whole purpose of locating these stories in 10 different countries or geographies and 10 different industries was that whatever you learn is not geography or industry specific. Learnings from one community or one industry can be applied in any other community or any other industry,” he elucidates.
Which one is closest story to your heart? “For me, I would say it is Nur story in Malaysia,” says Nagpal. “It is the closest to me because that basically tells you that most people, when they’re looking for a differentiator, they look for an activity as a differentiator, like a price cut, or an advertising campaign. But my belief always has been that a differentiator needs to be embedded in a process and not in an activity, and that’s what she does. She creates a service culture. Which takes some time to establish. Hence it becomes difficult for any competitor to copy.”
A Healthy Team Engages Everyone discusses the importance of work culture and the role of leadership in creating that. The story not only deliberates the varied practices but also problems that employees face. It talks about ‘boss management’ along with employee management and comes up with some great solutions.
“It is important to voice the opinion or raise a point of contention with your boss. But more important is to raise it at the opportune time,” says Nagpal.
Adapt To Thrive, Not Just Survive is an interesting book with management lessons delivered via appealing stories. Pick it up for a good read if you are not keen on imbibing the lessons. But read it.
