BOOK REVIEW

CONNECT THE DOTS

BY RASHMI BANSAL
ABOUT THE AUTHOR- RASHMI BANSAL

 A graduate in Economics from Mumbai’s Sophia College, Rashmi

Bansal also completed MBA from IIM Ahmedabad in 1993.
 She is a non-fiction writer, entrepreneur and a youth expert.
 After a brief career in journalism she became an author by writing
her first book ‘Stay Hungry Stay Foolish’ in the year 2008 which
eventually went on to become the best seller.
 In a career of a decade as an author she has published 8 books
 ‘Connect The Dots’ is her 2nd book which was published in 2010 and
was also a best seller
 ABOUT THE BOOK
 “Connect the dots” is a non fiction book in which the author covers the life of 20 people
without an MBA background, from various parts of the country who were able to carve a
niche for themselves in different areas of business.
 The title of the book is inspired from the famous speech of Steve Jobs at Stanford University in
2005, which quotes

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust in something..- Your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has
never let me down and it has made all the difference in my life.”

 Written in conversational form , the book is divided into three sections- Jugaad, Junoon and
Zubaan.
 She has divided the story of 20 entrepreneurs in these three sections based upon their journey
Jugaad
 Jugaad covers the stories of those who used grit and determination
even as they observed and experimented to create a business on the
road less travelled.
 The nine stories covered in this section give us a glimpse of the steely
resolve of people who tried to do things differently from what others in
their chosen industry normally do.
 The section talks about people like Kunwer Sachdev(Su-Kam), Ganesh
Ram(Veta), Prem Ganapathy, Hanmant Gaikwad(BVG India), Suresh
Kamath(Laser Soft Infosystems) among others.
Junoon
 The second section Junoon details the growth of seven entrepreneurs
who were driven by a dream or a passion.
 They followed their interests, did not give up on their dreams and
succeeded in creating ventures that were not only unique but which
successfully tapped a market that nobody even knew existed.
 People included in this section include R Sriram(Crossword), Satyajit
Singh(Shakti Sudha Industries), Chetan Miani(Reva Electric Car Co.) and
others.
Zubaan
 Zubaan gives us an insight into the mindset that allowed four extremely
creative people who successfully channeled their immense talents to
create a business platform for themselves.
 By tapping their talent successfully, these creative people become
entrepreneurs in their own right.
 This section of the book includes people like Kalyan Varma(Wildlife
photographer), Paresh Mokashi (Harishchandrachi Factory), Abhijit
Bansod(Studio ABD) and Krishna Reddy(Prince Dance Group)
Critical Review

 The language used by the author is simple and easy to understand.

 As a matter of fact she has put many important and interesting Hindi
sentences directly in the book, which were used by various business
persons when she interviewed them.
 The book is divided in small chapters, each with a picture and a
small introduction of the entrepreneur and then the success story
written in a simple narrative, which is an interesting read.
 It is an engaging book which keeps the reader interested in it due to
the conversational writing style of the author.
 The author manages to cover many diverse business sectors in
which these entrepreneurs flourished.
Key Learnings

 Success can be achieved only through hard work and

perseverance.
 Positive thinking in the time of crisis and failures will help to solve the
problems in relatively easier way.
 Be the leader: It’s the simplest way to stay ahead.
 MBA degree may be important, but not necessary in order to start
and run a successful business.
 Successful entrepreneurs have certain common qualities like
leadership, analytical skills and decision making abilities which set
them apart.
Conclusion

 This book is a good motivational tool for all those who are looking for
something different and are not happy with what they are doing.
 It simply gives you 20 examples of people who did it, regardless of
their background, financial strengths and other factors.
 Different people share their ideas of business and tell us about the
things which made all the difference, whether it was costing,
marketing, value of visibility, dignity of labour or market need.