Sir M Visvesvaraya, an engineer of modernity, a century ago said, ‘Modernise or perish,’ on the issue of development and out-of-the-box thinking.
A century later, Sudheer Kumar echoes the same in his book “Never a bystander: Indian Railways in Transition.” This book is in tune with the thinking of our visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi to transform the railways into a world-class mass transportation. With this avowed aim the PM is life revolves around work and relentless activity, coupled with discipline and clever time management.
The author deserves all praise for incorporating all these vital points in this book.
About the writer
Sudheer Kumar graduated in Electrical Engineering with a gold medal in 1981 from GB Pant University, Pantnagar. He has studied at IIT Delhi; Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago; Tepper School of Business, Pittsburgh; and HEC Business School, Paris.
He joined Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers in 1983. He superannuated in 2020 as Additional Member Transformation, Planning and Railway Electrification after a career spanning 37 years with varied experience in operation and maintenance, TOT, infrastructure development, PPP, change management and policy making.
He joined FPM (Doctoral Programme) at ISB Hyderabad in August 2020.
About the Book
The story he read in his childhood, ‘Haar ki Jeet’ by Sudarshan, and the prayer, ‘Woh shakti hamein do dayanidhe kartavya marg par dat jaayen’ by Murarilal Sharma have left a deep impression on Sudheer.
This book is a collection of actual stories of change and transformation that give the reader an insider’s view of the incredible world of the Indian Railways. Driving successful change in government organisations is a Herculean task; many efforts fail, in any case. Grit, resilience and hardiness, along with a humane approach and the benign influence of critical stakeholders can often move mountains. The failures along the way are just the lead indicators of success.
Uncompromising integrity, service orientation, learning agility and intuitive use of emotional intelligence have been the pillars of the author’s transformation agenda. He has constantly challenged faulty assumptions, collaborated and connected with the people in the field through direct observation (Gemba kaizen) and involved himself to drive a successful change. This book captures these efforts in a storytelling format.
The biggest-ever Make-in-India PPP project an initiative of the Modi government, of setting up a locomotive factory at Madhepura, Bihar, forms a part of the book. ISB Hyderabad has written a case study on this project, and Harvard Business Publishing has published it in June 2020.
The book has lessons in leadership such as:
- Go beyond the rulebook, if it is in larger public interest,
- Create a guiding coalition and collaborate actively,
- Embrace empathy and always put people first,
- Challenge the status-quo and dysfunctional legacy systems but in an inclusive, humane way,
- Cultivate inner emotional stability and focus,
- Operate always from a tranquil mind for the greater good,
- Optimism and idealism with superior people-skills achieve miracles,
- Cultivate an environment of empowered and empowering leadership, and finally,
- Bring differentiated technical and functional mastery to everything you do.
