Abstract
Growing up, I had the benefit of reading ‘High School English Grammar & Composition’ by Wren and Martin, ‘University Physics’ by Sears and Zemansky, ‘Integrated Electronics’ by Millman and Halkias and ‘Principles of Marketing’ by Kotler as the ultimate textbooks to study. In the early 90s, I was also fortunate to be given a copy of ‘In Search of Excellence’ by Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr. by my professional mentor. In the same vein, I have no doubt that ‘Creating Value for Leaders’ by Gautam Mahajan falls in the above category because if there is one place that you want to look to understand value creation, then this would be it. This book is a virtual cornucopia of everything a person, leader or otherwise, needs to know about the subject. The presentation and narrative are set in a very classical mould of sharing ideas that are more in the category of a textbook rather than a handbook or a quick-fix manual.
Having said that, if you think that this is a guide on value creation that you can peruse casually to get a full understanding, then the reader better change their mindset fast. The book demands your complete attention and step-by-step understanding, much as a school teacher would, to create a solid foundation on value creation, and believe me, it is worth the effort. This is a compendium of the gamut of value creation that covers topics in detail with numerous real-life examples to illustrate, measurement tools that you can deploy, and also some ideas that help dial in core concepts. So, it is important to read, review, understand and reflect.
The book is set up in a well-structured way through chapters ‘1. Value’ and ‘3. Customer Value’ present the foundation and definitions of value, while ‘5. Employee Value’ and ‘16. Value Creation for Suppliers & Partners’ discuss the importance of creating value for critical stakeholders in the value creation chain. Having laid the groundwork on creating value, Mahajan also draws your focus towards the ‘other side’ as to what could go wrong or what to watch out for in chapters ‘4. Customer Value Starvation’ and ‘8. Value Destruction’. The author also discusses an important and often confused aspect of value creation in chapter ‘17. Value & Values’.
My advice to get the best value out of this book—schedule time to read through the book completely at least once, and then review key sections like chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 16 and 17. It would also help to jot down bullet points as you go along. After that, you could read individual chapters once a week or per the reader’s requirement to ‘top up’ your understanding of value creation and to implement its ideas effectively in your organization. Importantly, I highly recommend leaders, with the author’s permission as need be, to print and frame ‘The Eight Principles of Customer Value Creation’ and ‘Some Misconceptions of Customer Value’ (pp. 42–44) and display them prominently in areas visible to all.
In conclusion, this reviewer’s opinion is that this book is not just for leaders; it would also greatly benefit and prepare students and aspiring leaders to understand value creation, its purpose, its practice and what and how to troubleshoot issues.