When Bond Meets Baba

IN HIS NEW BOOK, STRATEGY CONSULTANT NINAD KARPE DISPENSES BUSINESS WISDOM THROUGH INTERESTING ANALOGIES CULLED FROM POP CULTURE

- Amit Ranjan Rai

When I got this book for a possible review from its publisher, I wasn’t quite sure if it merits a full-page write-up in our publication. Its title, Bond to Baba followed by #SuccessfulStrategies, sounded a bit frivolous, and the artwork on the cover looked but all too ordinary. What possibly could Bond to Baba imply, I couldn’t help wondering? What could be the link-up with strategy? And the hashtag in the title… shouldn’t the nuisance at least spare printed text?

In the event, I needn’t have worried. Baba refers to, of course, Baba Ramdev, and Bond, well, to James Bond, the popular film character/series. The book begins with a chapter on Bond and ‘the art of reinvention’, and ends with one on Ramdev and ‘the art of brand extension’. In between, there are chapters drawing analogies between a diverse list of subjects — Kabbadi, Alexander the Great, Hardik Patel, Bahubali, F1, Kejriwal and so on — and aspects of strategy.

My doubts started to wear away as I began reading the book, written by Ninad Karpe, a strategy consultant and former MD and CEO of Aptech. Far from being a mediocre read, it turned out to be refreshingly different and quite a page-turner. Unlike the many tomes on strategy where explanations to a theory or assumption would drag to 20 pages (at times drifting you into a nap) followed by even lengthier case studies or examples, in Bond to Baba, Karpe has kept his strategy takeaways, analogies and explanations succinct and lucid. His real-life stories, from which he draws his strategy lessons, are engrossing reads that never stretch too far. More importantly, the insights are practical and relevant to today’s tough business environment.