Anand Mahindra is an Indian businessman and the chairman of The Mahindra Group, a Mumbai-based international conglomerate with a turnover of $21 billion and a presence in a variety of industries, including agribusiness and aerospace. He was born on May 1, 1955.
According to Forbes, his net worth is predicted to be $1.5 billion as of February 2020. Fortune magazine named Anand one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2011 and put him on a list of Asia’s 25 most prominent businesspeople. He was also selected ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ by Forbes India in 2013. In January 2020, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan Award, India’s third highest civilian honour.
Anand attended Harvard University and Harvard Business School and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics. Nanhi Kali, a non-governmental organisation in India that encourages education for poor girls, was founded by him in 1996.
Mahindra, 64, has also invested in Indian businesses such as SheThePeople, LocalCircles, DishCo, Naandi Education Support & Training (NEST), Thinkerbell Labs, and others. He also has a shareholding in Kotak Mahindra Bank, which joined the Mahindra Group in 1986 and he describes as his “greatest move.”
Over the last few months, his activity on the social media front has also kept him in the limelight. We list down a few quotes by the man who believes in thinking big, and hope they will inspire you to think – and dream – bigger.
“Leaders don’t look behind or to the side. Instead, they look ahead.”
“You have to treat every day as a new challenge, and you have to remain paranoid, as they say.”
“When you set the right targets, aspirations, and you work efficiently and diligently, the numbers happen.”
“Whether in services or in manufacturing, the trick is to stay ahead of the curve. I believe we should not wait to be disrupted — we should become disruptors ourselves.”
“Anyone who makes time frames beyond tomorrow probably isn’t pushing himself hard enough.”
“Nobody understands how the world will change. The only way you can plan for the future is to have scenarios. You have to have the courage to take a leap of faith on one of them.”
“Sometimes the only kind of innovation comes when you have some solitude; when you step away.”
“My aspiration is that M&M become one of the most customer-centric organisations in the world. If we focus on understanding our customers, we will be able to develop customer-centric innovations.”
“You have to seed internal disruptors. You need sources of internal disruption. They don’t guarantee your survival, but you have got to try.”
“In 2001, I did some research and identified four characteristics that successful companies share. One, they aspire to be leaders in their businesses. Two, they have global potential. Three, they are innovative. Four, they display a ruthless focus on financial returns.”
