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BOOKS
AUTHORSPEAK
MOHANBIR S. SAWHNEY
A Poet On Business
By Arthur J. Pais
Mohanbir S. Sawhney
is not only fond of poetry, he also makes time to write some. Those who
have known his passion for poetry are naturally not surprised that he
can make his business writing-even when it is aimed at professionals-compellingly
engaging.
 His
latest book, The Seven Steps to Nirvana, authored with Jeff Zabin, (McGraw
Hill) is a good example of how he uses his poetic sensibilities even while
writing on e-commerce. "People learn things better through metaphors,
stories and analogies," says Sawhney, the McCormick Tribune e-commerce
and technology professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg Graduate
School of Management. "As Indians, we are blessed with a cultural
wealth from which we can always drink."
"We suffer from a bullet point culture,"
he continues. "There is so much of reductionism. We suffer from list-oriented
writing." For him weaving ideas into a "rich tapestry"
has always been vital.
Choosing the title for the book was also a challenge.
"When you think of e-business, you are thinking of a transformation
process, and that process involves a journey. Hence I put Seven Steps
in the title." The secondary title says: "Strategic Insights
Into Ebusiness Transformation". Number seven seems to be an industry
standard, he says, pointing out it is part of the titles of bestselling
books by Stephen R. Covey and Deepak Chopra. "I also believe at the
end of the journey, there should be enlightenment," he says. "I
also wanted to echo the use of ancient wisdom for contemporary times.
Hence the word Nirvana." But not everybody is happy with the title.
An academic from Brazil wrote to say he was "ashamed" to keep
such an insightful and intellectually stimulating book on his bookshelf
because people may think he was reading a New Age book.
He is now toying with the idea of writing on
"holistic management". He might collaborate with his friend
Deepak Chopra on the book. The two trade ideas often. "The Cartesian
thinking has created a schism between workplace and spirituality in the
West," he says. "This need not be. I want to examine how eastern
ethos could be applied to modern management."
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