Men of Steel: India's Business leaders in candid conversation

by Vir Sanghvi

These are in-depth profiles of India's biggest business barons. These are the men who are powering the new India's leap into the 21st Century; the faces behind the great Indian success story. You'll find them all here. The traditional big names of Indian insutry; Ratan Tata and Kumar Mangalam Birla. The new gurus of information technology; Nandan Nilekani and Azim Premji. The wizards of the sunrise entertainment and telephony Sunil Bharati Mittal, Sunhash Chandra and Rajeev Chadrasekhan... And many more.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, India, Biography, Management, Indian Literature

110 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Vir Sanghvi is an Indian print and television journalist, author, columnist and talk show host. He has been a member of many professional, academic and government bodies including the National Integration Council.

Reviews

[Vaibhavi Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

MEN of STEEL, got a nice compilation of interviews and author's interpretation about few business person who made there businesses bigger than themselves. It includes Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani, Azim Premji..etc names we are already familiar with and inaddition to that some new ones like Uday Kotak, Sunil Mittal, Subhash Chandra.

Though the content and descriptions are very facile but gives you a generous amount of insight about the personality, there USP and challenge that made them what they are.

Ending on a positive note, it leaves me with the quest to find out more about the ones, I didn't know earlier like Uday Kotak, Bharati Mittal and Subhash Chandra etc, who really appealed my fascination.
Overall it's a good book with quick reading stuff.

[Parth Agrawal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Men Of Steel-As the name indicates men of steel is a book by one of the directors of "Vir Sanghvi" which takes you to a concise biography of some of the leading India industrialists Nandan Nilekani,Mr Malya,Sir Premji,
Mr wadia,Sir Ratan Tata etc.

Men Of Steel is must read book for one who is to began reading nonfiction books as well as biographies.This book is a coalesce of short stories of success which give you a ride to life of many of our industrialists,ups and down in their lives,strategies implemented by them to achieve such an enormous success.A light book with moderate vocab.Can be read on a lazy sunday evening.A 2-3 hour read.An inspiring book and can light up the mood of anyone.

Some of the drawbacks of the book are
1) Lack of complete description
2) Irrelevant statistics
3) Biased biography for some of the industrialist by the author

Overall I will rate 3.75/5 for the book.Go for it..!!!!!!

[Saurabh Hooda · Rating 1 out of 5]

book is just a collection of very mundane interviews.

[Nikhita Ramakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very, very well written book. It is based on real people, real dreams, real ambitions but what I truly liked was that I never once got bored reading about people who are already very well known. Sanghvi has a slightly sardonic style and adds a pinch of sarcasm to his narrative that really brings about a slice of life feel even when the focus is on people who are larger than life. I liked this book as much for the way it's been written as for the content itself.

[Prasad BSRK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occasional candid revelations, interesting brief profiles and crisp connection of few dots. Some conversations did bring out the essence of the men but only in bits and pieces. Lacking real depth, this book only makes for a slightly amusing read.

[Uttam Sushant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb

The book is well written and magnificently presented. While reading the I got an idea to write a book in Hindi named Kharabpatiyon kee achchhi aadten.(खरबपतियों की अच्छी आदतें)

[Rahul Sinha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicest

[Solanki Haresh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crispy interviews, and understanding for start ups(a buzz word today)

[Nachiket Dabhadkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good insight into the lives of the eminent Indian Businessmen from Ratan Tata to Nandan Nilekani.

[Deepsinh Jhala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though the book contains interviews from the 2000s, still they are quite interesting and gives a deep insight into the timelines of Indian entrepreneurs.

[Shreyas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant...

[Jenal Ivishrodia]

well i met uday kotak sir personaly. Thank you Anupam Uncle for shiksha.com

[Abhilash · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cursory treatment of subjects. Don’t expect to learn anything deep.

[Tanvi Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative read.

[Sukriti Aggarwal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published in 2006 and we are in 2023. The lives of people interviewed in the book have turned around massively and it was fun and interesting to read about them.

[Vaibhav · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's lonely at the top 🤎
- Ratan Tata Sir

[Chetan Hegde M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book by the well known journalist Vir Sanghvi, contains the candid conversations of 11 eminent business leaders of India who have made a mark on the business map of India. They are: Ratan Tata of Tata Group, Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, Kumar Mangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group, Sunil Bharti Mittal of Airtel, Rajeev Chandrasekhar currently an MP, Azim Premji of Wipro, Subhash Chandra of ZeeTV, Uday Kotak of Kotak Group of companies, Bikki Oberoi of East India Hotels group, Nusli Wadia of Bombay Dyeing and Vijay Mallya of Kingfisher fame. As said by the author in the preface, each profile was put in 2000 words for the Hindustan Times, Mumbai edition under the HT Leadership series.

What I liked about the books is the format of the book which one can easily read and understand in as less as 2000 words for each of the 11 personalities. The book shows each of the 11 business leaders along with their struggles in life, their flamboyance et al. At the beginning of each chapter it is also laced with quotations by the 11 business leaders which makes it more enjoyable to read and understand. It is a very useful book not only for students of business management and for those aspiring to be future business leaders but also to the general public at large to understand the lives of business leaders who have put India on the World Map of Business.

I was able to finished reading this book in a matter of 12 hours. If more business leaders were included it would have served a greater purpose.
My rating: 4/5

[Kandhasamy Muthu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vir Sanghvi is one of those rarest breeds of Indian journalists - he places substance over style at the fore. His journalistic acumen shines in the piece about Vijay Mallya where he skillfully narrates the 'success' story. He even sounds skeptical about Kingfisher airlines' strategy and bingo, he was right! For this year(2012) sees the turbulence that airline seems to go through.

As for the rest of the perspectives on the prominent Indian businessmen - Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Rajeev Chandra Sekar, Azim Premji, Subhash Chandra, Uday Kotak, Bikki Oberoi, Nusli Wadia - he tries and gives us an insight into the minds of these Men of Steel.

Would have been better if the Ambanis were included but he reasons why it was left out and so convincing enough not to miss that part.

A breezy read and quite charging, if you have got your perspective in place.

[Abhishek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every business leader, whose name brings a sense of awe in us, is in the end a human being. Ever wondered, how does the human aspect of these leaders works? Is it different set of rules for personal & professional lives? Well, this book attempts to address these questions, and succeeds in some manner of speaking.

I have been following Vir Sanghvi from as long as I can remember, and have tremendous respect for him as a journalist. He does not disappoint in his book as well. The narrative is as honest as possible and captures the human side of the business. Still, one would feel that at some level the depth of the study is missing. Maybe a touch improvement on that would have catapulted this book in the leagues of classics in non-fiction genre. All in all, a nice little read!

[Eti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book and I love it thoroughly.
This book is the second book I read by, Vir Sanghvi, and I like this one better. I like the way it is written and this book is a light-read and it is for a wide readership.

It contain interesting insights into the lives of some great Indian businessmen of the 21st century.

Since, I was so much connected and interested in knowing these businessmen,about their life, the transition between failure and success, betrayal and other things they faced before becoming who they are now.I loved learning about them and I too discovered a thing about me that I can cry while reading a non-fiction book as well (this might be funny or might not be).

I enjoyed this book very much.

[Girish Kohli · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are few people who use their resources and power for the benefit of others.
I respect Mr. Vir Sanghvi for doing exactly that and coming out with such a book.

The book is a collection of interviews with the rich and powerful and also quite deserving.

I hate business men. They are the true manifestation of devils for me and I have had no redemption in my short life.

Yet this book was a fascinating read. It presented a group of immensely successful businessmen in a typically inspiring manner but it did not fail to criticise them or note their shortcomings.

I discovered real stories and the real stories behind those real stories.

Its a 'good read'.

[Rohit Vaidya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring book. Is collection of interviews and authors opinion on the person been interviewed. The best part is you can relate to these people/business tycoons described in the book, really honest answers. Written in a very simple language the book is nice weekend read and can be finished in one sitting. Its interesting to note each entrepreneur interviewed in this book comes from a different background and yet they have one common string bringing them all together, passion fuelled with foresight. A definite read.

-Rohit Vaidya

[Tirath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had read this book many years ago and again read it 2 weeks ago.
The book is brilliant because it is made of mini-biographies of Indian businessmen.
It is more interesting now because some of the subjects have retired, become more successful or have gone through terrible times six years thence.
Get the book - and read it over 2 hours on a lazy evening.

[Ravish · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book seems nice on cover but insider account is very shallow and contains pretty much same things as we all know. Few info about mr kotak and bikki oberoy comes up as interesting. But definitely much more could have been done with the narration, particularly when you have such an access to who n who of India's industrialists. Thumbs down!

[Danish Haidar · Rating 5 out of 5]

the sotry of the most recognised faces of Indian businesses espcially the ones who struck home in the post economic-liberalization period cannot get more crispy and concise than this. a must for all from journnos to MBAs to any any man of reasonable education.

[Sumeet Mahendra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Already read couple of years ago while boarded for New Delhi from Pune, there's nothing but all about Business czars, their struggle and flamboyancy. but Rashmi Bansal's Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish is far better …!!

www.sumt7.wordpress.com

[Ram Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving 4-stars for this book. It has led me to the insides of those amazing business tycoons. A good one. Give it a shot if you're interested to read a briefly stories of Ratan Tata, Nandan Nilekani and many other. I've skipped Vijay Mallya's story. I hate to read it.

[Bookish Devil · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Quick Good read. however, I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone as it is very outdated. (Published in 2007) Which is nearly a decade back ! So I don't think it's worth investing time and money to read an old book like this. :/

[Abhishek Sengupta]

In conversation with some of the best business leaders of India including Ratan Tata and Nandan Nilekani and of course the telecom man of India, Sunil Mittal. A light and fun read containing short excerpts of their decisions and journey through corporate world.

[Tejas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Handsomely composed, though was disappointed not the see biggies like Ambani brothers not interviewed.. A Provides a good insight into the life of corporate big shots of India.