Recently I had the opportunity to meet with Peter Church, Founder and Chairman of AFG Venture Group and author of Added Value - The life Stories of Indian Business Leaders.
You can review the book review
here
My discussion with Peter was about leadership and success. Peter gave some interesting thoughts on the differences between leadership in Eastern and Western cultures.
Peter is well connected with eastern societies. He has spent almost all of his career working and living in the Asian region as an international lawyer and corporate advisor.
Now, with the AFG Venture Group Peter provides corporate advice across Australia, South East Asia and India, including special counsel to Blake Dawson, a leading Australian law firm.
Peter was awarded an OAM for his services toward the promotion of Australian business in South-East Asia.
I began with asking Peter what his personal interpretation of 'Responsible Leadership' entailed?
Peter wanted to compare western and eastern entrepreneurs and the keys to success as entrepreneurs in relation to that subject of leadership.
Peter explains, in Australia one may not need much of a moral compass in how to act responsibly. However, in Asia it is much more important to have strong bearings on what is responsible or not.
This is because in western cultures most of us grow up learning what is right and wrong at home, in school and through religion and the media, whereas in a number of developing countries children grow up with corruption all about them and thus it is much harder to develop that moral compass without much stronger guidance from parents and others.
The rise of the importance of corporate governance in the West is starting to have a positive impact in developing countries as these Western businesses go global. And yet, in many developing countries the higher you are, the less likely you are to get in trouble for breaching the law or not behaving responsibly.
Certainly most developing countries have laws or regulations which are as good as ours but the problem is enforcement.
The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which I believe came into force in the 80's had a big impact on US businesses operating in countries where corruption was rampant. The legislation acted outside the US and a US citizen could be found to be in breach, not just because he knew a practice in which he was involved was corrupt but because he ought to have known.
This put US business at a disadvantage in winning contracts in countries where corrupt practices flourished and so over the years the US has put pressure on many countries, including Australia to follow their legislation.
And in Peter's experience more and more Western businesses are requiring their executives working in countries where corruption is a part of life to adhere to the same levels of corporate governance as they would in the country of their home office.
In his book Added Value, Peter interviews 30 of India's top business leaders. What he found their best attributes revolve around their perseverance and charisma.
The level of competition in India is at a level most Australians could not begin to contemplate. So to rise to the top in such an environment requires in almost all cases exceptional talent, hard work, timing, perseverance and that mercurial quality of "luck".
One commonality of all the leaders Peter interviewed has been that they all have shared their success with the less fortunate.
The Indian Government has little or no capacity to support the poor or infirm.
And so, it has become the norm upon achieving a certain level of economic success for most successful Indian entrepreneurs to create and support their own charities.
For example, Shahnaz Husain of ayervedic fame set up a school for the deaf and dumb to learn how to massage - silence being for most customers an important part of a good massage!
Through Peter's book you can learn the secrets about the Leaders - their ups, downs and success that enable them to give back...
Leaders interviewed are featured below:

Raghav Bahl - Network 18
Raghav Bahl, 48 years, is the Founder, Controlling Shareholder and Managing Director of Network 18. Raghav began his career as a management consultant with A.F. Ferguson & Co. followed by a stint with American Express Bank before he turned to his first love, media. Winner of the Sanskriti Award for Journalism in 1994, Raghav has over 22 years’ experience in television and journalism. He founded TV18 (now Network18 Group) in 1993.

Rahul Bajaj
Bajaj Group
Rahul Bajaj is the Chairman of the Bajaj Group, which ranks among the top 10 business houses in India. The Bajaj Group has diversified interests ranging from automobiles, home appliances, lighting, iron and steel, insurance, travel and finance. Rahul Bajaj is one of India's most distinguished business leaders and internationally respected for his business acumen and entrepreneurial spirit.

Kishore Biyani
Future Group
Kishore Biyani is an entrepreneur who has been credited with changing the face of modern retailing in India, with the introduction of innovation designed discount hyper markets and forming the concept of destination malls.
His company, Future Group operates 3 million square feet of retail space spread across 25 cities in India. He has been called India's own Sam Walton.
Bloomberg Businessweek listed him among India's 50 Most Powerful People in 2009.[1]

Subhash Chandra
Essel Group/Zee TV
Subhash Chandra, the Chairman of the Essel Group, is among the leading lights of Indian industry. A self-made man, Chandra has consistently demonstrated his ability to identify new businesses and lead them on the path to success.

Dr Anand Deshpande
Persistent Systems
He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Computer Society of India (CSI) and the Young Presidents' Organisation (YPO). He currently serves on the executive committee of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA).

Arun Firodia - Kinetic Group
Mr. Arun Firodia is a rare combination of a brilliant Engineer and an astute Businessman. He is the Chairman of Kinetic Group, India's leading manufacturers and exporters of two wheelers. A leading Industrialist, he is also a Social activist.
Captain G. R. Gopinath (Kannada: ಗೋರೂರು ಗೋಪಿನಾಥ ) is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and has served the Indian Army. He is considered the father of low cost air travel in India and launched India's first low cost airline, Air Deccan.
To combat AIDS, YUSUF K. HAMIED insisted that supply meet demand.

Shahnaz Husain, the pioneer and leader of herbal care in India, has achieved unprecedented international acclaim for her practical application of Ayurveda. With a burning desire to recapture an ancient heritage, Shahnaz Husain has taken India's Ayurvedic tradition to every corner of the globe.

Today, Bharat Forge is one of the two largest forging companies in the world, supplies engine parts to China and has manufacturing plants in India and Germany

Mr. Habil Khorakiwala, the Chairman of Wockhardt Limited, founded the company in the early 1960s. Under his dynamic leadership, Wockhardt has emerged as a leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical company, driven by research and global strategies. Today, Wockhardt has an annual turnover of US$ 650 million, and a market capitalisation of over $ 1 billion.
Mr. Uday Kotak, B.Com, MMS (Masters in Management Studies), aged 50 years, is the Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Bank, and its principal founder and promoter. Mr. Kotak is an alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.
In 1985, when he was still in his early twenties, Mr Kotak thought of setting up a bank when private Indian banks were not even seen in the game.

Harsh Mariwala
Marico
Harsh C. Mariwala leads Marico Limited (Marico) as its Chairman and Managing Director
Over the last 3 decades, Harsh Mariwala has transformed a traditional commodity driven business into a leading Consumer Products & Services Company, in the Beauty and Wellness space

Subash Menon
Subex
Subash Menon founded Subex in 1992 and has been its CEO since inception. Under his stewardship, Subex has transformed from a Systems Integrator in the telecom hardware space to a leader in the telecom software space with a niche focus in revenue maximization. Subash charted Subex's growth from its humble origins as a one-man company to a global thought leader in the telecom software space

NR Narayana Murthy
Infosys
N. R. Narayana Murthy is the Founder-Chairman of Infosys Technologies Limited, a global software consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. He founded Infosys in 1981.
Mr. Murthy articulated, designed and implemented the Global Delivery Model which has become the foundation for the huge success in IT services outsourcing from India. He has lead key corporate governance initiatives in India. He is an IT advisor to several Asian countries.

Captain CP Krishnan Nair
The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
Capt. Nair (Chairman) pioneered the export of fabrics to the USA in the late 1950s with the “Bleeding Madras” fabric. He was the first in the organized sector to set up a unit to produce cotton laces in India with Scottish Collaboration in Leela Scottish Lace Private Limited. He was also instrumental in organizing the “Small Exporters’ Guild” which helped many small exporters. He promoted The Leela Kempinski Mumbai in 1986, The Leela Kempinski Goa in 1990 and The Leela Palace Kempinski Bangalore in 2001.

Deepak Parekh
HDFC
Deepak Parekh stepped down as chairman of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Limited, an Indian company providing home loans. A chartered accountant by profession, he started his career with Ernst and Ernst Management Consultancy Services in New York.

Deepak Puri
Moser Baer India
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Deepak Puri provides strategic direction to the company. He is the driving force in creating an environment of integrity by ensuring fair business practices and profound respect for Intellectual Property Rights. It is his ceaseless quest for human capital development that has helped steer the company along a continuous growth path.
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AVS Raju
Nagarjuna Construction Company
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The company aims at achieving transparency, accountability and equity in all facets of its operations, and in all interactions with the stakeholders, including the shareholders, employees, government, lenders and other constituents while fulfilling the role of a responsible corporate representative committed to good corporate practices. The company is committed to achieve the good standards of corporate governance.
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Arun Bharat Ram
SRF
Mr Arun Bharat Ram, Chairman of SRF Limited is an alumnus of the University of Michigan, U.S.A. He set up SRF in 1970 as a manufacturer of nylon tyre cord, which over the years has not only diversified but has also acquired global leadership in most of its businesses. His strong support of initiatives of corporate governance, Total Quality Management and professionalisation of management led to SRF’s Industrial Synthetics Business winning the coveted global Deming Award in 2004.

CK Ranganathan
CavinKare
C K Ranganathan, chairman and managing director of CavinKare, has shown the world it is possible to beat the multinationals even in the most difficult market of fast moving consumer goods.

GM Rao
GMR Group
A visionary businessman, G M Rao recognised the huge business potential in entering the infrastructure space, with the opening up of the power sector in the 90s in India. Under his guidance, the Group is now developing several power projects in various parts of India & abroad and is also expanding its presence globally.

Dr K Ravindranath
Global Hospitals
Global Hospitals was founded by Dr. K. Ravindranath, an internationally renowned Surgical Gastroenterologist and his associates in Hyderabad in 1998. Though Dr. Ravindranath had to wait a while for the passage of the Human Organs Transplantation Act before he could design and build Global Hospitals, it soon became a synonym for outstanding and compassionate health care.

Dr Anji Reddy
Dr Reddy's Laboratories
Under Dr. Anji Reddy’s leadership, Dr. Reddy’s has become a pioneer and a trendsetter in the Indian Pharmaceutical industry. It turned the Indian bulk drug industry from import-dependent in the mid-80s to self-reliant in the mid-90s and, finally, into the export-oriented industry that it is today. Dr. Reddy’s was the first company to begin drug discovery research in India in 1993 and has led the industry in turning from ‘copycats’ into innovators.

GVK Reddy
GVK Group
GVK is a diversified business house. With a predominant focus on infrastructure - power, roads and urban infrastructure. The Company also have a significant position in services and manufacturing.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Biocon
A successful technocrat of global standing, Ms. Shaw heads India’s leading Biotechnology enterprise, Biocon. She is highly respected in the corporate world and was recently named among TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. Her pioneering efforts in biotechnology have drawn global recognition both for Indian Industry and Biocon.

Shashi Kiran Shetty
Allcargo Global Logistics
In 1982 Mr Shetty set up TransIndia Freight Services to cater to liner shipping services.
He has served as ex-trustee of Mumbai Port Trust and as the Vice-Chairman of the Association of Multimodal Transport Operators of India (AMTOI). Mr. Shetty has been appointed as the Chairman & Managing Director since the inception of the Company.

Vijaypat Singhania
Raymond
When Dr. Vijaypat Singhania took over the reins of the company in 1980, he injected fresh vigour into Raymond, transforming it into a modern, industrial conglomerate.
Vijaypat is famous for his 'Hot Air Travels' A keen aviator, Singhania holds the world record for highest altitude gained travelling in a hot air balloon, notably carried out at the age of 67[1].

Professor MS Swaminathan
The MS Swaminathan Research Foundation
Professor M S Swaminathan has been acclaimed by the TIME magazine as one of the twenty most influential Asians of the 20th century and one of the only three from India, the other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. He has been described by the United Nations Environment Programme as “the Father of Economic Ecology” and by Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary General of the United Nations, as “a living legend who will go into the annals of history as a world scientist of rare distinction”. He was Chairman of the UN Science Advisory Committee set up in 1980 to take follow-up action on the Vienna Plan of Action.

Added Value - The Life Stories of Indian Business Leaders

by Peter Church
This inspirational book combines invaluable advice with remarkable and candid inside stories of thirty Indian business leaders. Uncompromising vision, a willingness to take risks and exceptional business acumen enabled these leaders to add value to the business fabric of India.
Through a series of interviews Peter Church details the paths they travelled, the obstacles they overcame and the important lessons they learnt along the way. Not only do these stories provide guidance to young entrepreneurs trying to decide whether and how to embark upon a business career, but they also provide valuable insights to those looking for tie-ups and investment in India.
Enlightening and fascinating, Added Value celebrates larger-than-life ambition, inspired leadership, hard work and the twists and turns of fate.
You can purchase 'Added Value' here
Another directors report by Grant Crossley