Sumit D Chowdhury’s Rules of the Game is an overall guide for personality development. The author shared essential tips with Darpan Mago on how to survive through cut-throat competition
Once an Indian businessman was asked by a foreigner of how he managed to export his crabs without having a lid over the containers. The Indian promptly replied: ‘Unlike your western tactical mentality, these are Indian crabs. If one tries to escape, the others will pull him down.’ The famous anecdote sums up the envy, jealousy and competitive feelings that we come across at most workplaces.
To help you overcome such emotions, Sumit D Chowdhury has written a book Rules of the Game detailing how one can survive and excel in the competitive corporate world. It focusses on self-awareness through practical experience of different professionals. “The crab-mentality exists in India but you have to immune yourself without bothering what others are saying. Even if you’re affected, you have to bake it into your story. I myself have experienced this, and made it a part of my story. I have learnt to accept it,” says the author.
Written for students and young professionals preparing for the corporate world, this book helps speed one’s career by allowing one to mobilise potential in the best possible way. It has author’s own experiences and insights from many successful professionals through face-to-face interviews asking them what is it they wished and knew when they were 22. “I have validated this book with interviews from CEOs. After talking to nearly 200 other people who are not so successful in the eyes of world, this book tells a person everything that one needs to succeed,” says Sumit. The book is divided into 10 chapters focusing on different sets of skills like self-confidence, enthusiasm, personality, discipline, self-correction and communication. Each chapter has an interview with an eminent business personality talking about career experiences. Some of them include Naina lal Kidwai, Sanjay Behl, Prasoon Joshi and Sidharth Roy Kapur. The book offers an insight into lives of renowned Indian dignitaries. Although Sumit has kept it simple with motivational quotes, it feels incomplete in satisfying the appetite of its intention. Keeping in mind that every person’s life is unique, the book has a narrowed definition of success. On a philosophical discourse, success has distinct meanings for different people. Peculiar case studies could have been provided for a better understanding.
After professional qualifications, majority of Indians spend time in unlearning and relearning various skills. The Indian education system is focused on theoretical knowledge and less inclined to practical applications. Sumit mentions that skills essential to succeed are not often found in course books. Rules of the Game becomes a handbook for anyone who wishes to acquire acumen and talent at early stages of their career. Sumit said, “The book encourages a consistent overhaul to one’s personality through an active interaction between oneself and his character.”
Rules of the Game prepares a person for different outcomes. Sumit juggles himself through many roles of a marathon runner, painter, musician and a determined warrior at the corporate battleground.