Adi Godrej * Ajay Piramal * Amit Chandra * Anu Aga Hafeez Contractor * Harish Salve * Javed Akhtar * Jayant Sinha Kavita Seth * Narayana Murthy * Dr Naresh Trehan * Rashesh Shah
Twelve distinguished Indians who have achieved dizzying heights of success
What lies beyond material triumph for these people? What is it that continues to motivate and sustain them? How much money do they think amounts to enough for individuals? What is the core philosophy of their life that has helped them achieve what they have?
Sonia Golani, author of the bestselling book Corporate Divas, delves deep into the minds of some of India’s luminaries and, through a series of in-depth conversations, attempts to throw light on the measure of a life well lived. What After Money and Fame is an insightful and engaging read, an indispensable resource for anyone striving to attain exceptional success and balance in life.
‘The book pushes us to consider how we can think about giving back and inspiring others, and the principles we could follow as we lead our lives. I congratulate Sonia for having assembled insights from remarkable people to guide us as we reflect on these issues’ Naina Lal Kidwai
'The biggest challenge is the person you look at in the mirror every morning. The people of this select club have gone beyond themselves. Sonia has captured their essence so poignantly’ Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Sonia Golani has a BA (Hons.) in History from Lady Shri Ram College and a Masters degree from the University of Delhi. An entrepreneur, she manages her firm, Management Consultants Group which specializes in recruitment of MBAs, CAs and other qualified professionals for Banking, Financial Services, Insurance and FMCG sectors.
Sonia had the distinction of securing second rank in Rajasthan State in class X Board examination. She completed ISC from Maharani Gayatri Devi Girl’s School, Jaipur and was the school topper. While in college at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi, she was elected as Treasurer, Students’ Union.
Sonia likes to tell enlivening and inspiring stories from within our milieu and has written 4 non-fiction books which are bestsellers, each on a theme of contemporary significance elucidated through stories of India’s super achievers from diverse domains.
Equipped with a fulfilling career of more than a decade as an entrepreneur in recruitment consulting, Sonia felt there was a paucity of books written in Indian context. She set out to bridge this gap by writing a book on women business leaders in India, the first of its kind. The book is titled Corporate Divas and was published by Penguin to much acclaim in October 2011. Corporate Divas brings forth the stories of 18 women business leaders and offers inspiring insights into what motivates and sustains them. It’s a useful resource for ambitious young professionals, especially women, aspiring for success in the corporate world. It explores what it takes for women to achieve pinnacle of success in their career.
Sonia’s second book My Life, My Rules was published in February 2013 by Amazon-Westland and soon after it was featured in Nielsen’s Bestsellers list. My Life, My Rules endeavours to challenge the idea of degrees & conventional careers as a measure of success and happiness in our society. All the individuals who have been covered in the book have had conventional success but they were missing happiness. That happiness came from doing the work they liked. ‘To do what you like is freedom. To like what you do is happiness’ can be said to be the tagline of the book. This book is an attempt at broadening the way our society thinks. By writing about people who have taken such calls in life, she has showcased their struggles, thought process and success stories which may inspire others who also want to follow such path.
Sonia’s third book, also published by Amazon-Westland, titled Decoding Bollywood is a tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema. Through 15 riveting stories of Bollywood’s masterclass directors, Sonia demystifies the world of Bollywood.
Sonia’s 4th & the latest book, What After Money And Fame, published by Penguin covers 12 distinguished Indians who have achieved dizzying heights of success. Foreword to this book is written by Kumar Mangalam Birla. Through a series of in-depth conversations with them, she has attempted to explore what lies beyond material triumph for them; what is the measure of a life well-lived? What After Money And Fame earned glowing accolades from some of the leading people of our country like Adi Godrej, Amitabh Bachchan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Naina Lal Kidwai, etc.
When not reading, writing or managing the business, Sonia loves the outdoors, music and golf.
Whilst offering a very promising read, the book was slightly disappointing in that the interviews are focused more on providing politically correct (or staying within the limits of such correctness) answers to questions that are deeply personal and demand a much more contextual, personal and deeper conversation.
Having said that, the book still manages to provide some thought provocation in terms of how one might begin thinking about success as a journey and not as a destination. Put otherwise, a common thought thread that stands out amongst the thinking of all these successful personalities is the necessity of always having a gold they are working towards, and hence making the real fun of success that journey to the goal and not the actual attainment.
Of particular interest (personally) was the interview with Amit Chandra, where some very practical concepts like calculating basic survival income etc. are talked about, primarily because it exposes you to a line of thinking that we consider extremely aspirational but could in fact be in grasping range for a large populous
I was attracted by the title of the book. All successful people face this situation at some point of time in their life. Sonia has selected the right persons who can authoritatively share their life experiences. And this makes the reading very interesting. All the personalities are from different professions and businesses. She has conducted the discussions with exemplary clarity. Her style of writing is is very simple and lucid. It was amazing to realize the common thread in thought processes of all the luminaries when it comes to money. It was , indeed , a very happy experience to read this book . I am eagerly looking forward to reading her other books.
Most of the working people like us dream about money and fame, but what it really takes to achieve it and what is it like after actually achieving money and fame, is what this book tells us. The author doesn't just narrates us about her beliefs on the above mentioned questions, rather she manages to answer those questions by interviewing twelve distinguished and powerful personalities in India.
This book containing the conversations of the author with the 12 - rich,famous and powerful persons of India. The conversations along with various aspects of the persons interviewed highlight the what after the money and fame. The answers that are given by these people are worth reading.
Wonderful read. Each chapter is about one famous personality who has achieved big! I really liked choice of people included. I initially thought politicians shouldn't be part of it as system is bit farm from ideal. But seems they are all genuine and trying their best. Some cases, I thought people linked with corrupt politicians/personalities should be avoided in such list. I read some famous names working with such politicians.
Book really inspires once to do good and give back to society and help you understand how much you really need and what should be the goal. This is really interesting read.
The book is basically an interview with 12 peoples who have aced in their respective fields and what can be learnt from them. However, it goes quiet well in 1st few interviews but after a while, the writer is much focused on how they achieved the level of success they are at rather then her basic questions as already mentioned by the name. I would have liked this more if it focussed a bit more on the basic question.
The flow of the book in very simple language is very engaging and covers deeper aspects of what leads to success. My take away from the book are enumerated below :
• There are common set of principles running through everyone’s story and I believe these are the very principles for success. The principles that I have observed are :
- Money is a byproduct. Larger sense of purpose and the passionate efforts directed towards the purpose brings in success naturally. - Struggles are inevitable part of life. Quality of our responses to situation decides our destination. - Courage to choose untraveled path and believing in your dream can lead to success irrespective of your current circumstance. - Value people who support you in your cause and acknowledge their contribution. - Humility and humbleness in accepting success or failure and transcending beyond them to constantly create value. - “How much money is enough” is relative and can vary from person to person. But, invariably each of them have reworked on their own needs introspecting and discarding unwanted accumulations. But, still each of them refused to be judgmental on people who could have higher needs.
• Reading stories of these 12 successful people together was a treat as these people were from diverse background viz., fields in which they worked, economic background, social set up etc., Nevertheless they created lasting impressions in their chosen area and made difference to people they were servicing.
• To contribute to society it is not necessary that NGOs is the only route. You can contribute from where you are. If you are mindful of service that you are giving and improve life for people around you that in itself is a contribution.
The book is an in-depth conversation of the author with 12 powerful individuals in India who have attained success materially, professionally as well as in social spheres. The people with whom she converses are Adi Godrej, Ajay Piramal, Amit Chandra, Anu Aga, Hafeez Contractor, Harish Salve, Javed Akhtar, Jayant Sinha, Kavita Seth, Narayan Murthy, Dr. Naresh Trehan and Rashesh Shah.
The book follows a conversational style with questions ranging from philanthropy, what motivates them, their success mantra, spirituality and how they balance between work and home.
The author has done a good job in ensuring that the focus is on individuals from every area be it business, politics, entertainment industry and social work which ensures that everyone can associate with these conversations in some way. The questions that the author poses to the individuals are apt and one which brings out meaningful conversations. I especially loved the conversations of Anu Aga, co founder of Teach for India and Amit Chandra, Managing Director of Bain Capital, India.
I was unaware of the fact that Amit Chandra donates 90 percent of his income to causes that he and his wife believe in. He pinpoints how he is able to do so. Further his thoughts around why philanthropy is still something which people are not interested in and how in this bid of rat race at times we forget to care is profound and makes you think.