Transformation in Times of Crisis – Eight Principles for Creating Opportunities and Value in the Post-Pandemic World is the first book co-authored by Nitin Rakesh and Jerry Wind.

Nitin is the CEO of Mphasis, a leading global software services company, and a distinguished IT industry leader with a passion for innovation and technology. Jerry is the Lauder Professor Emeritus and Professor of Marketing at the renowned Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was one of the original Legends in Marketing.

Why did you write the book?

“Covid-19 has hugely accelerated the rate of technological and scientific advances. The global business landscape was already going through changes, but the pandemic crisis magnified these deep disruptions. When we began collaborating on the book, we already saw shifts in consumer behaviour and expectations, but the crisis accelerated these trends tenfold.” says Nitin.

“Transformation in Times of Crisis was devised as a business management and leadership book for our times, offering an adaptive, practical guide on capturing opportunity in the midst of crisis. The book itself underwent a transformation. When Jerry and I first began writing it, pre-pandemic, we wanted to share real-world industry cases to help business leaders, companies of all sizes and the entrepreneurs of tomorrow to navigate disruption and come out winning. Once the crisis hit, however, we made the decision to pivot our messages to be directly applicable to the most pressing needs of the moment – giving people the specific tools they need to survive the volatile climate and thrive post-pandemic.

The crisis was the tipping point for exactly the trends that we had already been talking about. We saw that almost every business would be affected and believed that the best way through turbulence is to get out of your comfort zone, lean into the crisis and the opportunities for change that it offers. We wanted to show how businesses can re-think their model to embrace a customer-focused approach and how to truly re-imagine the customer journey to create value.”

What value does the book offer?

“I think the book offers a wide-ranging, 360-degree framework because Jerry and I bring considerable experience and insights garnered over decades from the worlds of business and academia. We made the lessons we learned universally available in response to a very real and unprecedented global catastrophe.

The book sets out eight principles that can be applied and tailored to any unique situation, whether an individual or a business, in any location or sector. The result is a real, practical framework of how to create value through changing your mental models, re-imagining and re-architecting your business models and identifying the right talent to surround yourself with. We believe it can be helpful to read the real-world examples and case studies that we outline of how others have managed to future-proof their operations through throwing out old ways of thinking.

Unless companies equip themselves for a new reality, they risk becoming irrelevant. This book outlines the power of technology as an enabler of lasting and meaningful change and offers go-to tactics for businesses on how to disrupt – or be disrupted – to recover and grow.”

What did you gain from writing the book?

“As a leader of a major public listed company, I was in the same situation as everyone else once the crisis hit. I have taken the book’s learnings and applied them directly to my own situation and found it to be transformational. I saw the benefits first-hand of leaning into the opportunities in the midst of crisis to put customers’ needs first, to change our thinking and become the partner and advisor that clients needed at that specific moment.”

Transformation in Times of Crisis – Eight Principles for Creating Opportunities and Value in the Post-Pandemic World (published by Notion Press) is available to buy on Amazon.

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Winners of The Business Book Awards 2021 will be revealed online on Tuesday 25th May 2021.