About the Book
Number of pages: 152
Release Date from Amazon: 11 Sep 2023
Publisher: Juggernaut Books
Book Summary (From Amazon)
Culture eats strategy for breakfast.
In this short, sharp, witty book originally written for Zomato employees, get an insight into how one of India’s most exciting and successful companies works, and what it does to create the culture of excellence that makes it break barriers – time and time again.
It won’t just help you understand Zomato; it might just change the way you work.
My Thoughts on the Book
I first came across several social media posts about ‘Culture’ – How to rewire your brain for greatness – Survival guide for new employees – by Deepinder Goyal with Ashish Goel and Naina Sahni. As someone who spends a LOT of time on social media, I also happened to see the Twitter post made by The Juggernaut Books Twitter handle, which was a video about the book showcasing an interview of the founder of Zomato with a social media influencer. It was in Hinglish and the casual conversation between the interviewer and the founder resonated with me.
The founder casually mentioned how he flunked class five, to which the interviewer said, “How is that even possible” or words to that effect. And the founder then laughed it off and carried on with the rest of the conversation. Later, in the video, in answer to a question, the founder says stakeholders, shareholders, and everyone takes a cue from his expressions and how he comes across. So, if he remains calm, the rest of the team remains calm. After watching the entire video, I felt peaceful, stress-free, and calm. I’d also received an email about whether I would be interested in a review copy by the publisher. So, I was excited and waiting for the book to arrive. It came on 16 September 2023.
Book Cover Pic from Amazon
It’s a cute red book – the brand colors of their Zomato newsletter are reinforced. The book has big letters, some pictures, and NOT oodles and oodles of text that tired people worldwide usually postpone reading due to eye strain or brain fog. It’s something that calls out to you. You know you can finish the book quickly; Get some value out of it; It looks pretty. The color red reminds you of love/passion. You immediately connect it to what the book is about – culture – work – passion project. It revitalizes your thinking and brain. At least it did mine!
I’ve been whining about the work culture in different organizations that I have worked with now and then. So, this book is of great interest to me. I believe work should be fun. Not a chore. The workplace shouldn’t be a place you dread. It should not induce anxiety on Sunday evening.
And here’s a guy (the founder of Zomato) who calls Zomato an accidental company. Some people might say “What BS!,” but to me it makes perfect sense.
He says in the beginning, he did not even intend to start a company. What was driving him was that he saw a problem, identified a solution, and carried out a service to help the community that followed him. He put up some restaurant menus on a website, so that his coworkers could benefit from it and order food while staying late at work. On page 16, he says, “Serving people has forever been our end goal. We don’t build products and services to make money. We make money to build products and services so we can serve our communities better.”
How we do something matters – we have two ways to do something. The easy way and the right way. (This so reminded me of that dialogue from DDLJ, I smiled). He talks about building a legacy and a people-first culture.
Amazon is full of low ratings for this book. Well, I can’t speak for others, but as far as I’m concerned, I love this book. It’s always good to support indie bookstores, but I live in the suburbs, and I appreciate Amazon because it enables me to get what I want at my doorstep.
Thank you, Juggernaut Books for the review copy.
