MAINAK DHAR's book Leadership in 100 words is all about leadership and mentoring. The book does not seek to provide answers, but rather provokes thought and introspection
Author Mainak Dhar’s book Leadership in 100 words published by Bloomsbury India is all about leadership and mentoring. The book is inspired by a series of Dhar’s LinkedIn posts #leadershipin100words. These were sparked by conversations the author was having with people he was mentoring, which made him realise that while he had been blessed with many great mentors throughout his career, many others did not have access to mentors to help guide them in life and career choices. These posts sought to address common questions people have about careers, through simple, straightforward advice — one hundred words at a time.
He says that the book does not seek to provide answers, but rather provokes thought and introspection. A good mentor does not tell you what to do, but makes you think of issues differently, to ask the right questions instead of giving you the answers. He hopes that readers find thought-starters to how they may approach common career and leadership challenges through this book. He has tried to distil not only his personal experiences, but a lot of what he learned and observed in the many great mentors he have had in his life and career. “There are many people out there who feel the need for mentors, but don’t have access to one, either because they don’t have broad enough networks or feel that senior leaders are not accessible to them. I hope that my book does its bit to change that status quo by making mentoring accessible to many,” he says.
His #leadershipin100words posts on LinkedIn had become a great way to engage with people, respond to questions he got and more than him providing the answers, it became a great way to dialog with people on common leadership and career challenges. “To be honest, I hadn’t planned on a book emerging from these, but several people began asking me on LinkedIn why I didn’t pull this thinking together in the form of a book, which would give readers these thought starters in an accessible form whenever they needed advice to common challenges. That was the spark which led to the idea for the book,” he says.
Dhar is an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad with twenty-five years of experience at blue-chip multinationals. In addition to being a senior business leader, he is also a prolific author.