Coimbatore Krishnarao (CK) Prahalad speaks in a measured baritone and asks for feedback on his latest book - The New Age of Innovation - which was launched in India last Thursday, almost a month before its scheduled distribution in the US.
The University of Michigan professor listens intently, almost like a student eager to know whether he has gone wrong anywhere. "That's co-creation of value by the author and the reader - the thesis of my latest book," says Prahalad.
It's easy to figure out why Prahalad, the author of classics such as Competing for the Future, The Future of Competition and The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, has acquired the reputation of an incredibly influential corporate strategist.
For, at the end of the two-hour interview conducted at the noisy lobby of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, the formula, "N=1 and R=G" (the main theme of his latest book), does not sound daunting any more.
"My formula is fairly simple. CEOs also have to act like junior BPO executives: both have to respond to a situation instantly," says Prahalad.
Excerpts from an interview with Shyamal Majumdar...
Text: Shyamal Majumdar
Image: C K Prahalad, the author of The new age of Innovation
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