An Idea Whose Time Has Come: The Story of the Indian School of Business

by Pramath Raj Sinha

Ten years ago, the founders of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad articulated a vision that was as daunting to execute as it was simple to state: to build a world-class business school in India.

The rest is history: within a decade the ISB grew from a start-up venture to globally top-ranked business school, named among the top twenty business schools in the world three years in a row, with the distinction of being the youngest business school ever to enter the world top twenty rankings.

An Idea Whose Time Has Come traces the ISB’s eventful history and also examines the reasons that account for the institute’s success. What emerges is a tale of perseverance and dedication, of challenges met and rewards reaped, and of an unshakeable idea that was painstakingly transformed into an invincible institution. It is no wonder that the ISB continues to attract thousands of confident, purposeful men and women every year and moulds them into talented professionals.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Education

210 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Sachin Bhatia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring

[Dr. Tathagat Varma · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Medieval Europe, #guilds led to creation of universities such as Bologna, Oxford and Paris. Indeed a great way to codify the collective knowledge inside a guild and make it available to future generations. However, in modern times, we haven't seen many examples where prominent industry folks came together and pooled in their collective ideas to create a university. Especially in India, where either the government was traditionally charted with creation of educational institutions, or left to entrepreneur-led initiatives. So, it was indeed very interesting to read how some of the most prominent industry folks, MNCs and top business schools came together in late 90s to setup Indian School of Business.

As any #entrepreneur knows, setting up something new, especially in areas that are traditional strongholds of government is always a huge challenge. Reading the story of how #ISB was conceptualized and its initial #startup days is a great testament to what all is possible when a group of extremely passionate and strongly determined individuals come together and stay committed to the vision and the cause. I hope this inspires similar initiatives not just in #education but other sectors too.

[Ankur Aggarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is how great institutions have been built. The vision and focus of the founders and the team made it possible.
The biggest learning from the book is not compromising on quality which they want to bring in the Indian education system and make ISB World's top business school.

[Shivnarayan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a good read if you are part of ISB. Anyhow, the first three chapters are good and give the details of how ISB achieved what it did in a very short span of time. The last two might be perceived as borderline advertisement.

[Shantanu Gharpure · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is ISB 101 - explains how the institution came into being, the thinking behind it, and how it grew. I clearly see Pramath used similar thinking to build Ashoka University.