It started with a simple, uncomfortable observation: young people, especially those between 25 and 45, were choosing their heroes based on money and success, without ever asking what actually made these people great. Wealth and greatness got treated as the same thing. They’re not. That gap is the reason this series exists.
Because here’s what we’ve found: once you encounter real greatness, something in you wants to become it too.
That’s what this series is about. Honest conversations with people who’ve built something real, not to celebrate their success, but to understand what shaped them. Because none of them set out to become who they are. Their paths were built on accidents, unexpected influences, and people along the way, artists, craftsmen, industrialists, anyone who brings total dedication to their work.
If even a few of these conversations change how someone sees the world, they’ll have done their job. Because greatness isn’t reserved for a few. It’s something anyone can grow into.
Author, Parliamentarian and Former UN Diplomat
A lifelong student of Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor unpacks what made satyagraha genuinely radical: a leader who called off an entire movement over a single act of violence, because good ends never justified unworthy means.
Co-Founder of Infosys
For Narayan Murthy, greatness is measured in actions, not words: a noble vision, pursued with discipline and sacrifice, that lifts more than just the person at the top. He traces that principle straight back to Gandhi, the only leader he believes truly walked the talk.
Chairman and Managing Director of Nestlé India
Suresh Narayanan’s Gandhi moment came secondhand: a grandmother who marched in khadi during the freedom struggle, and a movie that finally connected the dots decades later. A conversation on why treating everyone the same, all the way up and down, might be the hardest leadership habit to actually practice.
Director of Thermax & former Member of Rajya Sabha
Anu Aga never set out to run a company. As a girl, she was expected to marry and raise a family, nothing more. This conversation traces the path from a woman who dreamed of nothing more ambitious than an average life, to a leader who reminds us that not knowing is no reason not to begin.
Managing Director at Titan Industries
Co-Founder of HCL
Educationist and Philanthropist
Novelist and Columnist
CEO of Cipla
Chairman of the Piramal Group
Indian theatre and film director
Executive Director of the Population Foundation of India
CEO of Ashoka
Indian social worker & designer
Lawyer and former Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions of India
Former member of Planning Commission of India, He is also former chairman of Boston Consulting Group, India
“Show me the heroes that the youth of your country look up to, and I will tell you the future of your country.”
– Idowu Koyenikan