Cutting Edge

We are proud to bring you the third edition of Masterspeak, a collection of interviews with global thought leaders. As is the tradition, the personalities in this edition are expert thinkers or practitioners in one of the three sections that we focus on at Outlook Business: Enterprise, Strategy and Markets. Last month, executive editor Rajesh Padmashali and I travelled across the United States to conduct these interviews. Starting from Los Angeles on the West Coast, we crisscrossed many cities to bring you these extraordinary interviews. 

It’s a rarity that you would find in one edition the most authoritative voices on behavioural psychology sharing their insights on how leaders can overcome fallacies of human behaviour or use them to increase their odds for success. You will also find experts in the field of data sciences, talking about how analytical software can be used effectively to make better decisions. As we progress and evolve on multiple counts, the dimensions of leadership, path to business success and decision making is also expanding. Leaders can ignore these new dimensions only at their own peril. 

Even in the world of investing, the distinction between value and growth is becoming blurred. If on one hand you have technology — which was once a complete no-no for value investors — entering the value portfolios, you have someone like Jeremy Grantham, with his remarkable investment track record of 50 years, arguing how this time it’s indeed different. It’s truly a new world, and we have great insights on this new world through the prism of four remarkable market mavens: Bill Nygren, Howard Schilit, Tobias Carlisle, and the legendary Grantham. 

Like we reiterated in the 2015 edition, the intent behind the Masterspeak interviews is not only to get you the latest in business thinking, but also capture the timeless lessons learnt by those who have made it. These personalities are the best in their business and their thought process and execution sets them apart. The journey conducting these interviews was an exhilarating experience and it was a privilege interacting with these brilliant minds. We hope you’ll equally enjoy reading these interviews.