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WORK TITLE: Nimble: Make Yourself and Your Company Resilient in the Age of Constant Change
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1952?
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE: NC
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: Indian
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2147106/baba-prasad
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; wife’s name Leela (a professor at Duke University); children: two daughters.
EDUCATION:Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D. Holds additional degrees in mathematics, computer science, electrical engineering, and artificial intelligence/robotics.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, management strategist, entrepreneur, executive, educator, philanthropist, and management consultant. Vivekin Group (a management consultancy), Durham, NC, president and CEO. Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Sloan Fellow, 1997—. Member of faculty at business schools at Purdue University, University of Minnesota, and the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Visiting professor at the Center for Exact Humanities, International Institute of Information Technololgy and at the Woxsen School of Business, both in Hyderabad, India. Served as a technology strategy consultant on Wall Street. Aksharavani (a school of children of migrant construction workers in Hyderabad, India), cofounder (with wife, Leela); works with other economically underprivileged schools in Hyderabad.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Baba Prasad is a writer, management consultant, researcher, and prominent intellectual in the fields of leadership, management strategy, and business innovation. Prasad has taught in business schools in the United States, including at Purdue University, the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and the University of Minnesota. He is a Sloan Fellow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting professor at universities in Hyderabad, India, Including the International Institute of Information Technology and the Woxsen School of Business. In addition to his academic work, he has served as a technology strategy consultant on Wall Street, noted a writer on the website Founding Fuel. Prasad holds degrees in mathematics, electrical engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence and robotics, noted a writer on the MYRA School of Business Website. He also holds a Ph.D. in operations and information management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
As a business leader and consultant, Prasad founded the management consultancy The Vivekin Group. His goal with this company is to help businesses and other organizations “become excellent and sustain that excellence by focusing on, developing, and nurturing intelligence—the quintessential characteristic that makes human beings dynamic and adaptable,” commented a writer on the Vivekin Group Website. He has used his experience as a researcher at business schools to form the Vivekin Intelligences Framework and the Vivekin Agility Matrix, described by the Vivekin Group Website writer as “paradigm-shifting frameworks for business strategy based on theories of human intelligence.”
Prasad is married to Leela Prasad, a professor at Duke University, and the couple does considerable philanthropic work in Hyderabad, India. For example, they work in economically underprivileged elementary schools in that city, and have been responsible for setting up Aksharavani, a school for the children of migrant construction workers, reported the MYRA School of Business Website writer.
In Nimble: Make Yourself and Your Company Resilient in the Age of Constant Change, originally published in India as Nimble: How Intelligences Can Create Agile Companies and Wise Leaders, Prasad “delivers a solid if familiar guide to managing change in the swiftly shifting world of business,” commented a writer in Publishers Weekly. “The basic thesis of the book is that in today’s fast moving, uncertain environments, being fast is not enough; one needs to be fast and wise. Prasad posits that in turbulent contexts, intelligence offers an excellent framework to create lithe and resilient leaders,” observed P. P. Ramachandran in a review in Free Press Journal.
Prasad identifies and discusses five types of intelligences that must be present in a business for it to be nimble enough, and wise enough, to succeed in a turbulent business environment. The first type is analytical intelligence, or the ability to quickly shift from one kind of analysis to another to gather all options and make the best use of available information to solve problems. Second is operational intelligence, or the ability to adapt to sudden and unexpected changes in the operational environment of a business. The third, inventive intelligence, allows companies to react to change, and also encourage change where appropriate, through innovation and originality. Communicative intelligence stresses the importance of persuasion and communication as a method of dealing with and directing change. Finally, visionary intelligence deals with the ability of the company’s leaders to plan and think well into the future when setting directions for the business at all levels.
“All five types of agility, Prasad insists, must be present for a business to succeed,” commented Booklist reviewer Barbara Jacobs. They can also be enhanced through the application of MAST, a framework consisting of mapping assessing, strategizing, and testing.
Ramachandran remarked, “In resource-strapped and resource-rich environments alike, Prasad’s model is potentially game-changing for leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, January 1, 2018, Barbara Jacobs, review of Nimble: Make Yourself and Company Nimble in the Age of Constant Change, p. 25.
Economic Times, August 14, 2015, Priyanka Sangani, “In Turbulent Times, Companies Need Agility to Survive Drastic Change: Vivekin Group’s Baba Prasad,” interview with Baba Prasad.
Free Press Journal (Mumbai, India), August 23, 2015, P.P. Ramachandran, review of Nimble.
Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2017, review of Nimble, p. 51.
ONLINE
Founding Fuel, http://www.foundingfuel.com/ (May 7, 2018), biography of Baba Prasad.
Free Press Journal, http://www.freepressjournal.in/ (August 23, 2015), review of Nimble
MYRA School of Business Website, http://www.myra.ac.in/ (May 7, 2018), biography of Baba Prasad.
Vivekin Group Website, http://www.vivekingroup.com/ (May 7, 2018), biography of Baba Prasad.
Baba Prasad (Prasad) is a leading thinker in the area of management strategy and leadership. He is President & CEO of Vivékin Group, a management consultancy that focuses on helping leaders and organizations become strategically agile. Prasad has a Ph.D. in Operations & Information Management from the Wharton School, where he has also been a Fellow since 1997. He teaches courses on strategy and innovation at various business schools.
Prasad studied computer science and artificial intelligence and robotics at universities in India and the US. He has been a technology strategy consultant on Wall Street, and has served on the faculty in the business schools at Purdue University and the University of Minnesota.
Prasad lives across two continents and is a fitness enthusiast. He and his wife, Professor Leela Prasad of Duke University, also work in economically underprivileged schools in Hyderabad, India. They helped to set up “Aksharavani,” a school for children of migrant construction workers, in the city. They are currently making a documentary film titled Moved by Gandhi.
In turbulent times, companies need agility to survive drastic change: Vivekin Group's Baba Prasad
By Priyanka Sangani, ET Bureau|Updated: Aug 14, 2015, 08.25 AM IST
Agility is becoming the latest business buzzword. With turbulence and uncertainty becoming an integral part of the new normal, companies need to hone their abilities to respond quickly to change.
In his new book, Nimble, Baba Prasad, president & CEO, Vivekin Group, a strategic management consultancy says that there are five kinds of intelligences organisations need to develop if they want to be truly agile. In an interview with Corporate Dossier, Prasad talks about visionary intelli ..
Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/48467310.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Baba Prasad, president and CEO of Vivékin Group, is a leading thinker in the area of management strategy and innovation. Prasad studied computer science, and artificial intelligence and robotics at universities in India and the USA. He holds a PhD in operations and information management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. After his PhD, Prasad taught in the business schools at Purdue University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Students in his MBA courses noted him as insightful and inspiring and he was rated MBA faculty of distinction at Purdue. Prasad is a Sloan Fellow at the Wharton School and a visiting professor at the Center for Exact Humanities at the International Institute of Information-Technology (IIIT-H) in Hyderabad, India, and at the Woxsen School of Business, Hyderabad. He has also been a technology strategy consultant on Wall Street. Prasad's recent book Nimble: How Intelligences Can Create Agile Companies and Wise Leaders (Random House India, May 2015) has won wide praise from CEOs and leading thinkers across the world. Narayana Murthy calls it a "must-read" while Adi Godrej says it "promises to change the thinking on strategy and leadership."
Prasad and his wife, Professor Leela Prasad of Duke University, work during the summers in economically underprivileged elementary schools in Hyderabad. They helped to set up Aksharavani, a school for children of migrant construction workers, in the city. They are currently making a documentary film titled Moved by Gandhi. Prasad lives across two continents, has two daughters and two dogs and is a fitness enthusiast.
Baba Prasad (Prasad) is a leading thinker in the area of management strategy and innovation. He is President & CEO of Vivékin Group, a thought-leading management consultancy with offices in the USA and India. Prasad is also a Sloan Fellow at the Wharton School (USA) and Visiting Professor of Management at the International Institute for Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-H).
He has degrees in Math, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, as well as a PhD in Operations & Information Management from the Wharton School. He taught at Purdue University (where he was rated MBA faculty of distinction), the University of Minnesota (where students consistently noted him as insightful and inspiring) and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (where students called him “one of the nicest persons they’ve known”).
Prasad founded Vivékin Group to help organizations become excellent and sustain that excellence by focusing on, developing, and nurturing intelligence—the quintessential characteristic that makes human beings dynamic and adaptable. Through years of research at some of the world’s best business schools, Prasad has drawn on theories from psychology, operations management, information systems, and cultural anthropology to develop the Vivékin Intelligences FrameworkTM (VIFTM) and the Vivékin Agility Matrix, paradigm-shifting frameworks for business strategy based on theories of human intelligence.
Prasad’s work has been cited in various papers and trade journals from Australia to the US. His research formed the basis for a chapter in Nicholas Carr’s book, Does IT Matter? (Harvard Business School Press, 2004). Prasad’s work has also been featured in publications like US Banker (cover page article, August 1997) and presented to prestigious audiences that have included luminaries like Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Bank of the USA. Knowledge@Wharton, the online business research journal of the Wharton School has also featured Prasad’s work.
Prasad and his wife, Professor Leela Prasad of Duke University, often work in economically-underprivileged elementary schools in Hyderabad. They helped to set up “Aksharavani,” a school for children of migrant construction workers which was subsequently adopted by Vivékin Group in 2012. Prasad and Leela are making a documentary movie titled Moved by Gandhi.
Dr.Baba Prasad
President and CEO,
Vivekin Group Durham, North Carolina, USA and Hyderabad, India
Ph.D.-Wharton School, USA
Baba Prasad (Prasad) is a leading thinker in the area of management strategy and innovation. He is President & CEO of Vivékin Group, a thought-leading management consultancy with offices in the USA and India. Prasad is also a Sloan Fellow at the Wharton School (USA) and Visiting Professor of Management at the International Institute for Information Technology-Hyderabad (IIIT-H).
He has degrees in Math, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, as well as a PhD in Operations & Information Management from the Wharton School. He taught at Purdue University (where he was rated MBA faculty of distinction), the University of Minnesota (where students consistently noted him as insightful and inspiring) and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte (where students called him “one of the nicest persons they’ve known”).
Prasad founded Vivékin Group to help organizations become excellent and sustain that excellence by focusing on, developing, and nurturing intelligence—the quintessential characteristic that makes human beings dynamic and adaptable. Through years of research at some of the world’s best business schools, Prasad has drawn on theories from psychology, operations management, information systems, and cultural anthropology to develop the Vivékin Intelligences FrameworkTM (VIFTM) and the Vivékin Agility Matrix, paradigm-shifting frameworks for business strategy based on theories of human intelligence.
Prasad’s work has been cited in various papers and trade journals from Australia to the US. His research formed the basis for a chapter in Nicholas Carr’s book, Does IT Matter? (Harvard Business School Press, 2004). Prasad’s work has also been featured in publications like US Banker (cover page article, August 1997) and presented to prestigious audiences that have included luminaries like Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Bank of the USA.Knowledge@Wharton, the online business research journal of the Wharton School has also featured Prasad’s work.
Prasad and his wife, Professor Leela Prasad of Duke University, often work in economically-underprivileged elementary schools in Hyderabad. They helped to set up “Aksharavani,” a school for children of migrant construction workers which was subsequently adopted by Vivékin Group in 2012. Prasad and Leela are making a documentary movie titled Moved by Gandhi.
Nimble: Make Yourself and Company Nimble in the Age of Constant Change
Barbara Jacobs
Booklist. 114.9-10 (Jan. 1, 2018): p25.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Nimble: Make Yourself and Company Nimble in the Age of Constant Change.
By Baba Prasad.
Feb. 2018.272p. Tarcher, $26 (9780143131458). 650.
The "something new" in business these days almost invariably centers on one word; management consultant Prasad's is agility. He takes his swing at the definition and its applications and identifies five types: analytical, operational, inventive, communicative, and visionary. All are fairly easily described; for instance, analytical agility focuses on awareness of all options to solve a problem. Prasad gives good and not-so-good examples for each, accompanied by the downsides of too much dependence on that particular attribute. Retailer Zara, for one, is a superb representative of operational agility, as Prasad cites the chairman's statement, "In fashion, stock is like food. It goes bad quick." But companies that overcommit to operational excellence exhibit micromanagement, action for action's sake, and intimidation. All five types of agility, Prasad insists, must be present for a business to succeed. At the end, he tacks on the simple framework MAST (mapping, assessing, strategizing, testing) to guide executives in the use of the agility gene.--Barbara Jacobs
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Jacobs, Barbara. "Nimble: Make Yourself and Company Nimble in the Age of Constant Change." Booklist, 1 Jan. 2018, p. 25. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525185515/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=36569e7c. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525185515
Nimble: Make Yourself and Your Company Resilient in the Age of Constant Change
Publishers Weekly. 264.48 (Nov. 27, 2017): p51.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Nimble: Make Yourself and Your Company Resilient in the Age of Constant Change
Baba Prasad. TarcherPerigee, $26 (272p)
ISBN 978-0-14-313145-8
Prasad, a management consultant, delivers a solid if familiar guide to managing change in the swiftly shifting world of business. According to the introduction, it's a "no-brainer" that today's executives need agility in order to succeed, and Prasad sets out to help readers get comfortable with a nimble mind-set at work and at home. He begins by describing how his consultancy work has focused on finding "the equivalent of human intelligence in organizations" and making corporate operations and strategy more responsive to evolving challenges. As a key part of his management philosophy, he introduces five types of agility (operational, analytical, visionary, inventive, and communicative) and his MAST (map, assess, strategize, test) method for using them. The book's strength lies not in its classification categories and acronyms but in its real-world illustrations--including NASA's crisis management during the Apollo 13 mission and the rebuilding of an Indian dam--and emphasis on strict, honest self-evaluation. However, the topic of agility has been so thoroughly covered in other business books that it would take a truly revolutionary idea to change the conversation, and this effort comes across as merely another earnest discussion about how change is the only constant in the 21st century. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Nimble: Make Yourself and Your Company Resilient in the Age of Constant Change." Publishers Weekly, 27 Nov. 2017, p. 51. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517575694/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=03621f60. Accessed 15 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A517575694
Book Review: Nimble
— By P P Ramachandran | Aug 23, 2015 08:20 am FOLLOW US:
Nimble Book review
Nimble provides a path-breaking assessment methodology and a systematic four-step approach that every company and individual can use to lead amid turbulence.
Nimble
Baba Prasad
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 275; Price: Rs 499
The author of the book under review Baba Prasad is an expert thinker in the field of management strategy and innovation. He is President and CEO of Vivekin Group which is a management consultancy dedicated to creating strategic agility. Prasad is a Sloan Fellow at the Wharton School and Visiting Professor of Management at the International Institute for Information Technology-Hyderabad. He has degrees in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence & Robotics from Universities in India and the USA, as well as a PhD in Operations & Information Management. He has been a technology strategy consultant on Wall Street, and has served on the faculty in the business schools at Purdue University and the University of Minnesota.
Prasad and his wife, Prof. Leela Prasad of Duke University, work in economically underprivileged elementary schools in Hyderabad. They helped to set up “Aksharavani” a school for children of migrant construction workers. Prasad and Leela are connected with a documentary film titled “Moved by Gandhi.”
The world today can be best described by one word: “Turbulence”. Whether it is business or our personal lives change is the paramount feature and the speed of change itself is accelerating. As change swirls all around, how can we cope with it, and even take advantage of unexpected circumstances?
This book offers solutions to two related problems. How can organizations and individuals develop the potential to survive and achieve success and emerge as leaders? How do we create long term strategies that will ensure success?
Two problems. Two solutions. (1) The book proves that the concept of strategy can be altered to a means of developing capacities within the company so that it moves with the company adapting to changing conditions. Instead of engaging in the meaningless exercise of predicting inflections, companies and individuals ought to develop capabilities that permit them to deal with the inflections as and when they occur. (2) The book formulates a model of Five Intelligences that companies have to develop and apply differently depending on the context. The author brings a much needed amalgam of human orientation and microeconomic thinking to the field of strategic management.
The Five Intelligences are (1) Analytical — the ability to move nimbly from one kind of analysis to another; (2) Operational — the ability to deal with sudden dramatic change through bold action; (3) Inventive —the ability to handle and even create change through originality and novelty. (4) Communicative — the ability to deal with change through persuasion; (5) Visionary – the ability to think beyond the short term and the tactical ability to consider beyond ourselves.
Given any situation in the world great leaders and agile companies can generate the appropriate mix of the intelligences that are necessary to find solutions to the problems at hand. Each of the intelligences has been devoted a chapter. Each story is that of a leader and his individual triumph in which the particular intelligence was dominant. The book gives examples of how companies used different mixes and the results thereof. Examples include Nokia, Merck under Roy Vagelos — in India EID Parry.
Challenging traditional notions of strategy, Baba Prasad draws on his research at some of the world’s best business schools to show how intelligence can help individuals navigate this maelstrom and become leaders in everyday life. In resource-strapped and resource-rich environments alike, Prasad’s model is potentially game-changing for leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship.
The basic thesis of the book is that in today’s fast moving, uncertain environments, being fast is not enough; one needs to be fast and wise. Prasad posits that in turbulent contexts, intelligence offers an excellent framework to create lithe and resilient leaders.
The intelligences framework goes beyond the commonly understood concept of ‘agility.’ It presents an immensely practical approach to identify and develop the five kinds of intelligence detailed. These five intelligences, when energised and employed contextually, make us indomitable and enterprising, and at the same time, reflective and unselfish leaders. The same intelligences framework allows us to design and build institutions that are dynamic, enduring, and visionary under rapidly changing circumstances.
Different intelligences are used by great leaders and companies in unique manner and this has ensured breaks new ground in strategic thinking, eventually resulting in solutions. According to Dr. Narayana Murthy, “Baba Prsasad has identified the elephant in the room—the role of strategic, analytical and operational intelligence in succeeding in these turbulent times. A must read for entrepreneurs of today.”