Dream With Your Eyes Open by Ronnie Screwvala is an inspirational and incisive book. He has shared his insights from his 25 years of work experience.
I found this following section on business leadership is a must read. The most valuable skill is knowing to spot the opportunities and avoiding failures. Identifying “Trucks” and “Trends"- Ability to spot a potential trouble is critical to save time, energy and grief, lest this truck will run over. He says organisations can thrive by having a honest and frank interaction on “trucks” and “trends”. Biggest problems getting in the way of these candid conversations is one word: "presentation". Invariably we present what people higher on the organizational chart want to hear.
He shares his many key learning's during his new content production at UTV. Author and his team’s resilience story to obtain a censor certificate for "Rang De Basanti". It is motivating to read as to how his team embarked to create 260 episodes each year in 1994- a television series Shanti. Launch of new kids channel- Hungama TV. They disrupted this space by using content from Japan. Doraemon and Shin-Chan. Despite pressure, legal and otherwise he & his team were undaunted while producing "No One Killed Jessica"
'When you’re driven by your peers, you are not being disruptive". After reading this statement- now i keep reminding this to myself on a regular basis. Few instances in this book, made me realize the significance of breaking away from classic conditioning thinking.
Ronnie Screwvala has quoted instances about his failed ventures and his lessons learnt from them. While producing "Chance pe dance" he says it was like a "loaded truck" coming towards them. But they did not take decision and paid the price for it.
Trucks, Trends, Focus, Choices and Empathy are his guiding principles for his future endeavours. Going beyond self-importance and know-it-all-attitude will aid in decision making. This is empathy. These sections are loaded with wisdom.
His view point on business plans - Plan B, is very straight. He says real conviction and focus, not Plan B allow one to stay the course and navigate do-or-die scenarios.
This book contains a section of FAQ’s. These 17 questions and answers are exceptional and direct. For instance, his perspective on brand building is very simple and intuitive. He says most people believe brand-building and marketing are one and the same. They’re not. Credibility, sustained excellence builds a brand. My take of this book - it will certainly ignite the readers.
