Book review”DHIRUBHAISM”

Book name:- Dhirubhaism

Author:- A G Krishnamurthy

About the author

This book is written by A G Krishnamurthy, the author of the bestseller “The Invisible
CEO”. A G Krishnamurthy is the founder chairman and managing director of Mudra
Communications. Mudra is one of India’s largest advertising agency. A G Krishnamurthy
is also credited with starting one of the world’s largest and only one of its kind
advertising educational institution in the world, MICA. Author is a graduate from
University of Andhra Pradesh, and had the opportunity to be a pupil to great leaders like
Dhirubhai Ambani, Dr. Verghese Kurien and Giraben Sarabhai. In December 1998,
‘Media International’ the British Magazine recognized him as one of the 25 key
personalities in the international advertising industry.

About the book:

1.Describe the book:- This book really inspires me of how to convince the general public
of our country. It tells us how to be a leader which dhirubhai ambani was in true sense.
In this book, Krishnamurthy talks about in details about his close associations with
Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of Reliance group of industries. Reliance is the largest
private sector corporation in India. The book has a very interesting and thought
provoking six page forward by Dhirubhai’s son, Mukesh Ambani. Dhirubhai Ambani
does not need any introduction – he is the pioneer in bringing India to a stage where it is
today. He holds the credit of bringing the concept of issuing shares to the common
masses.
The author beautifully explains his rendezvous with Dhirubhai Ambani, and portrays
Dhirubhai’s leadership prowess in the form of words. The book is a great learning
experience for all the upcoming Entrepreneurs. The book gives details on Dhirubhai’s
entrepreneurial journey and how he started building his company from scratch. This book
gives hope to all the readers that anybody can claim to achieve great heights if one is
passionate about it.
Some quotes which motivates me throughout my reading were:
Live the Gita.
 A vision has to be within reach not in the air. It has to be achievable.
 Trust and transparency stimulates entrepreneurship.
 Think big, think fast and think ahead.
 Ideas are no one’s monopoly.
 If you work with determination and perfection, success will follow.
For those who dare to dream, there is a whole world to win… Dream and dare.In all I
found the book really interesting and motivating because it tells me about the insights of
a great leader.
2.Describe the main character:- Think big, think fast and think ahead. Born in 1932 to a
school teacher father in the small village of Chorwad in western Gujarat state, Ambani
followed this advice all his life. He dreamt big even as a small boy when he used to sell
hot snacks to pilgrims outside a temple in his native village. And he did not stop
dreaming big even when he went to Aden as a petrol pump attendant at the
age of 17 to help support his family. It was this desire to make it big in life which
prompted his return to India in 1958. Ambani came to Bombay and started his first
company, Reliance Commercial Corporation, a commodity trading and export house.
The company was set up with an investment of 15,000 rupees (about $375). Forty-four
years later Reliance has grown into a conglomerate with an annual turnover of $13.2bn. It
is the only Indian private sector firm in the Fortune 500 list. In the process, the company
has also acquired one of the world's largest groups of shareholders, with over four million
investors putting their faith in its stock. In 1966 the Reliance group opened its first textile
mill in Naroda in Ahmedabad. The textile mill won accolades in 1975 from a World
Bank technical team, who described it as "excellent by developed country standards".
Two years later the company went public, evoking a tremendous response from investors.
That made Ambani something of a revered figure among the stock investors' fraternity,
who held him in awe from then on. They credit the Reliance chairman with introducing a
stock market culture in the country. In the 25 years since it went public Reliance has
become more than just a textile industry player.Dhirubhai Ambani was no ordinary
leader. He was a man who gave management a whole new “ism” .He was a simple
matriculate person with big dreams in his eyes, choose to keep numb after his demise. He
was a man of great caliber and beliefs. He himself had turned the table. His astronomical
rise from a mere oil mill worker in Aden to the founder of India’s largest private sector
enterprise is no less than a miracle. The book highlights the beliefs of Dhirubhai. ‘I Live
the Gita’, said Dhirubhai who believed in the quality of human resource and his products.
‘We Bet on People’ is yet another Dhirubhaism that goes on to show how simple the
man, who made India’s first Fortune 500 company, was. His amazing ability to connect
with the masses and his undying trust and faith in his professional staff proved to be the
ultimate strength of Reliance. AGK uses instances from the advertising campaign of
Vimal; the brand launched by Reliance, to explain how Dhirubhai’s belief in his people
would give rise to success in no time. Dhirubhai’s startling ability to see the future was
unmatched. GK writes that Dhirubhai never ran behind money. He always felt that
money was the byproduct of success and success would come only if one focused on
quality products and services. These were possible by the determination and hard work of
the people in the organization. Hence Dhirubhai believed in nurturing people’s talents,
rather than setting financial targets for them, a class of a man who knew that ultimately
what matters is the strength of the roots, than the height of the tree!
3. Major incidents influencing the life of Dhirubhai ambani:
These are some of the incidents which influence the life of mr.ambani
a)moving from Aden to India: Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani —known as Dhirubhai —
moved to Aden as a teenager in order to seek his fortune. He started work as a petrol
station attendant before taking up a clerical position for an oil company that was the sole
distributor of Shell products there. While in Aden, home to many Gujarati expatriates, he
realized that a discrepancy between the rial-sterling exchange rate and the intrinsic value
of the silver content in Aden’s coinage afforded an excellent opportunity to make money.
This arbitrage
generated some $3,000 in seed money for the modest trading enterprise that Ambani set
up when he returned to Bombay in 1958.

b)sensing the opportunity at the right time: In the 1950s, the Yemini administration
realized that their main unit of currency,the Rial, was disappearing fast. Upon launching
an investigation, they realized that a lot of Rials were being routed to the Port City of
Aden. It was found that a young man in his twenties was placing unlimited buy orders for
Yemini Rials. During those days, the Yemini Rial was made of pure silver coins and was
in much demand at the London Bullion Exchange. Young Dhirubhai bought the Rials,
melted them into pure silver and sold it to the bullion traders in London. During the latter
part of his life, while talking to reporters, it is believed that he said “The margins were
small but it was money for jam. After three months, it was stopped. But I made a few
lakhs. In short, I was a manipulator. A very good manipulator. But I don’t believe in not
taking opportunities.”

4.Learning from the book: After reading the book I can clearly say that it gives me a
sense of clarity of distinguishing between a manager and a leader. Dhirubhai gave
management a whole new ‘ism’ and was no ordinary leader. He was a man who gave
management a whole new “ism”. There is a new “ism” that I’ve been meaning to add to
the vast world of words for quite a while now. Because, without exaggeration, it’s a word
for which no synonym can do full justice: “Dhirubhaism”.

Inspired by the truly phenomenal Dhirubhai H Ambani, it denotes a characteristic,

tendency or syndrome as demonstrated by its inspirer. Dhirubhai, on his part, had he been
around, would have laughed heartily and declared, “Small men like me don’t inspire big
words!” I’m sure everyone who knew Dhirubhai well will have his or her own little
anecdote that illustrates his unique personality. He was a person whose heart and head
both worked at peak efficiency levels, all the time. And that resulted in a truly unique and
remarkable work philosophy, which is what I would like to define as Dhirubhaism.

It gives me a better understanding of how he used to work.He was first so humble and
yet so effective in his approach. In the end I just want to write a quote from his book
which inspires me the most.

“Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into
opportunities.”