You are currently viewing Author Interview – Mr Rajesh Srivastava, Author of the book The New Rules of Business

Author Interview – Mr Rajesh Srivastava, Author of the book The New Rules of Business

About the Book:

The New Rules of Business by Mr Rajesh Srivastava is Published by Penguin India.

Treating your customers well is no longer enough. The new rule is: employees too, have to be treated as well, if not better, than the customers. Happy employees make happy customers, and happy customers tend to be loyal.
Do you spend money in advertising to create awareness about your product? You don’t need to do that any longer. The new rule is: invest in making your product so good that it does its own marketing. New Age companies, Amazon and Flipkart, Uber and Ola, and Netflix, among others, are dismantling the old rules of business and installing new rules in their place.
This book unfolds the mysteries of these new ways of doing business which most companies try to keep under wraps. Compellingly written with several anecdotes, this is a gripping book full of incredible insights.

Interview:

1: Tell us the Idea behind this Book?

New age companies, Uber and Ola, Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hot Star, Amazon and Flipkart are dismantling the old rules of business & installing new rules in their place.

If you continue to operate your business using ‘old’ rules, then it would be equivalent to using rotatory phones in an era of smart phones. You run the risk of becoming irrelevant.

This book unfolds the mysteries of these new ways of doing business which most companies try to keep under wraps. Armed with them, you can feel inspired & confident to take on business challenges and come up trumps! 

2: What are these new rules of business?

Treating your customers well is no longer enough. The new rule is: Employees, too, have to be treated, as well, if not better than customers. Happy employees make customers happy; happy customers tend to be loyal.

Do you believe that the job of a salesperson is to sell & sell more? No longer. The new rule is: They have to transform into a sales consultant & in this new role they have to inform, educate, & assist customers in taking a decision which is in their best interest.

Do you spend money in advertising to create awareness about your product? No longer. The new rule is: Invest in making your product so good that it does its own marketing. This will have a cascading effect. It will delight customers, who will willingly become ‘unpaid’ salespeople of your company.

Finally, competition. What triggered the collapse of Nokia? Not a competitor from the handset industry. It was iPhone introduced by Apple, which was from a different industry. New age competitors are indirect, invisible & from cross industry.

In almost every facet of business ‘old’ rule are being challenged and dismantled and ‘new’ ones are being installed. If you are not familiar with them, then a Nokia-like fate awaits you.

3: Are these ‘new’ rules applicable only for large corporations?

Corporations, be they big, medium, small or start-ups, face similar business challenges:

How do I get more customers?

What can I do to engage my employees?

How do I create communications which customers seek out instead of running away from them?

This book provides insights into addressing these challenges. Businesses, irrespective of their size, can reap the benefits.

4: Can I apply these rules to my business?

Yes, but you should intelligently adapt the rules to suit your unique requirements and reap the benefits.

Remember: McDonald’s, the world over sells its burger with beef patties. When they entered India, they adapted burger to suit Indian culture, taste & sensibilities. They launched burger with chicken patties.

5: Can my business grow by following the New Rules?

The rules have been curated by gaining insight into how successful companies from across the world, including India, have grown. By intelligently adapting them to your business, you too should reap similar benefits.

6: What is the narration style of this book?

The content is narrated in the form of powerful stories which are easy to read but have the power to inspire, educate & motivate readers. These stories are drawn from the lives of business icons we admire & adore; from brands that have enriched our lives & empowered us to ‘do more’ & from businesses that have become an integral part of our lives. 

7:I am a veteran. I have overcome many business challenges. What new tools, techniques and frameworks can this book teach me?

Let me get Professor Albert Einstein to answer this.  In 1942, he was teaching a course in Physics, at Oxford University, to senior class students. As a course requirement, he gave an examination to them.

While walking in the campus, he was accompanied by his assistant, who posed a question to him. ‘Dr. Einstein, this exam you just gave the senior students is exactly the same exam you gave exactly the same class a year ago?’  he asked.

‘Yes, Yes, I did’ nodded Dr Einstein. ‘The questions remain the same, but the answers have changed.’

Similar is the case in business. By and large the business challenges have largely remained the same but the solutions for satisfactorily resolving them have changed.

This book will introduce you to new thoughts, ideas, tools, techniques and frameworks which will help you come up with impactful answers to business challenges.

8: How much time it took in the process of writing? How has been your writing schedule?

The actual writing took 12 months. But it took a life time to gather the content to write the book.

9: What made you start writing?

I have over three decades of corporate & academic experience. At United Spirits (now Diageo India) I played a significant role in creating some of India’s most recognized, beloved and enduring alcohol brands, including McDowell Signature, Royal Challenge, Bagpiper and Blue Riband Duet.  I was the President of J.K. Helene Curtis, where I reenergized the company & the deodorant category by relaunching Park Avenue deodorant as a ‘perfume’. Today, ‘perfume’ has become a generic benefit for the deodorant category.

Since 2008, I directed his focus toward teaching and conducting corporate workshops. As an educator, he has taught at IIM Indore and S P Jain School of Global Management. As a corporate trainer, I have worked with prestigious companies like Siemens India, Mercedes Benz Research Centre and Reliance Industries amongst others.

I wanted to share my rich experience with the reader.

10: When you started reading? Your favorite book as a child and your current fav?

I have been reading since a young age. As a child I loved Enid Blyton books.

My current favorite is not a book, but Harvard Business Review.

11: What do you think makes a good business book?

A good business book must be narrated in a form of stories and its content should be fresh and non- googleable. It must have a healthy dose of content drawn form the writers own experience.

12: A quote that always motivates you?

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit – Harry S Truman.

13: Lastly- A message for all the readers?

Just do not read. But internalize the contents you have read.

Also Read – Interview with Richa Gupta – Author of Slices of Life and Skeins

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