Bookwatch: Balaji Rajagopalan, Xerox

Balaji Rajagopalan, executive director, technology & channels, India and International Business, Xerox India is a man with eclectic reading habits, as is evident in the list of his top-five books. Look close, and you will notice there is a reason why he recommends these books. In an interview with PrintWeek India in January, when asked about his USP, this is what Rajagopalan said: “I believe it is my passion for the work I do along with my back to the basics approach which helps me remain focused on the responsibility at hand. Also it is imperative to apply common sense to every solution finding. I think staying close to the grassroots of the organisation is very important to me as that brings out the best in me.” Now, you know.

Here are Rajagopalan’s top five recommendations he shared with PrintWeek India.

1. The Art of Creative Thinking by Rod Judkins: The book reveals how we can transform our businesses, our society and ourselves through a deeper understanding of human creativity. Rod Judkins, a lecturer in creativity, examines the behaviour of successful creative thinkers and explains how all of us can learn from them to improve our lives. Judkins draws on an extraordinary range of reference points, from the Dada Manifesto to Andy Warhol's studio, via Steve Jobs, Nobel Prize winning economists and many others, and distils a lifetime's expertise into 90 succinct chapters. Along the way he shares the story of most successful class in educational history (in which every single student won a Nobel prize); shows why graphic nudity during public speaking can be both a curse and surprisingly persuasive; and reveals why, in the twenty-first century, it's technically illegal to be as good as good as Michelangelo.

2. The Secret of Leadership: Stories to Awaken, Inspire and Unleash the Leader Within by Prakash Iyer: Bestselling author Prakash Iyer uses simple but powerful anecdotes and parables from all over the world to demonstrate what makes for effective personal and professional leadership. Iyer draws lessons from sources as diverse as his driver, a mother giraffe, Abraham Lincoln and footballers in the United Kingdom. He shows how an instinct to lead can be acquired while flipping burgers at a fast food chain. All of these stories come together in an explosive cocktail to unleash your inner leader.

3. Transmission by Hari Kunzru: This witty novel about cyberspace, a Bollywood dancer and a world where everyone is connected, tells the stories of Arjun Mehta, an Indian cybergeek catapulted into California's spiralling hi-tech sector; Leela Zahir, beguiling Bollywood actress filming in the midge-infested Scottish wilds; and Guy Swift, hyped-up marketing exec lost in a blue-sky tomorrow of his own devising. Three dislocated individuals seeking nodes of connectivity - a place to fit in. Yet this is the twenty-first century, and their lives are about to become unexpectedly entangled as a virus spreads, and all their futures are rewired.

4. Black Belt Memory Jogger: Pocket Guide for Six Sigma Success by Six Sigma: Starting with a clear depiction of the DMAIC model and the roles and responsibilities that help ensure that Six Sigma methodologies become ingrained in the organisation, The Black Belt Memory Jogger clarifies concepts and tools, from Critical To flowdown through Control Plans, illuminating these methods in twenty-five detailed chapters of Six Sigma know-how.

5. Xerox American Samurai: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How a Corporate Giant Beat the Japanese at Their Own Game by Suzanne Snyder Jacobson: The sub-heading explains it all.