Lakshmi vs Kubera: India's wisely wealthy think beyond wealth creation

"The biggest problem with laissez-faire capitalism is that the leaders of this model of capitalism want to apportion for themselves an undeserving, unfair and unjustifiable quantum of wealth." - N.R. Narayana Murthy in 'Wise Wealth'

What do N.R. Narayana Murthy, Anand Mahindra, Meher Pudumjee, Uday Kotak, Harsh Mariwala, Ajay Piramal, and Sanjay Lalbhai have in common?

Besides their obvious business successes, Rajmohan Krishnan, author of Wise Wealth: How a new breed of India's super-wealthy is redefining the meaning of net worth, writes they have all created and shared wealth wisely, taking into account multiple stakeholders from the employees to the planet.

Early in the book, Krishnan draws on the Hindu pantheon to examine two divergent views on wealth in India: Kubera, the god of wealth, hordes treasures and is stodgy, almost ugly. Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, bestows prosperity on others and is radiant. The wisely wealthy, he explains, subscribe to goddess Lakshmi's ideal of inclusivity and growing by sharing forward.

Founder of Entrust family office in Bangalore, Krishnan interviewed 35 businesspeople, including Murthy, Lalbhai, Mahindra, Mariwala, Kotak, Pudumjee and Piramal, to understand what drives them. Throughout the book, he shares anecdotes from his interviewees' lives that reveal something of why they think and act the way they do.

Sample this: Anand Mahindra has in his office an old advert for Mahindra and Mohammed in which the founders spoke about the values of the company rather than its products.

When Deep Kalra insisted Sanjeev Bikhchandani accept some form of compensation for sitting on the board of MakeMyTrip, the latter accepted equity in the name of his group company InfoEdge. His rationale: he was taking time away from the parent company of Naukri.com to be on the board.

And when Sanjay Lalbhai set up The Flying Machine, early success and youthful exuberance led to multiple problems that ended up becoming lessons in humility and heeding the experience of the older generation in taking Arvind Mills forward.

In an email interview, Krishnan explained what he means by wise wealth and his understanding of how it manifests. Read on

If you were to give a quick explainer of what is 'wise wealth' to someone who hasn’t yet read the book, what would you tell them?

In a sentence, wise wealth can be defined as wealth which benefits everyone and harms no one. The individual, her family, her community, society at large and the planet we call home benefit by her approach to wealth. Each step she takes is geared to produce value for all these stakeholders.

And what is unwise wealth? Could you give an example?

Unwise wealth must, first and foremost, be examined at its source – it is created in a manner that erodes value for one or more of the stakeholders mentioned above. Businesses that destroy ecology, promote vices, or amplify greed are examples of unwise wealth. Corruption is a good example of unwise wealth because the corrupt person disproportionately favours his own family, with utter disregard to all other stakeholders.

What were some of the criteria for selecting the 35 people you interviewed for this book?

We were looking for people who realised that wealth in itself means nothing. And they saw their role as wealth creators as a small part of their vision regarding wealth. They would give equal importance to how wealth is leveraged to create maximum impact for everybody involved. You will also notice that some of the people featured are nowhere close to being billionaires, but they are sublime ambassadors of this idea.

Patagonia boss Yvon Chouinard recently gave his firm to a charitable trust. He also expressed irritation at being called a billionaire (clarifying that the company he started has billions, not him personally). Is this an unusual example of ‘Wise Wealth’?

Yvon Chouinard has taken the concept of Wise Wealth further than any human being I’m aware of. He has shown that a business, fuelled by capitalism, can choose purpose over profits, which is possible only if you make the beneficiary of the purpose the predominant shareholder. In this case, that beneficiary is Mother Earth herself. What a radical idea!

You will notice that the wisely wealthy people featured in my book subscribe to this school of thinking. They too have setup Trusts and set aside substantial corpuses to ensure sustainable and impactful philanthropy. And I believe that each of them – and many more Indian billionaires in general – are capable of replicating Chouinard’s kind of largesse. I would like to think that he has lit the path for generations of billionaires.

The book has a chapter on Employee Welfare. There’s renewed and more nuanced interest in this area, given the recent debates around moonlighting and 18-hour work days. Could you share some of your takeaways from talking with the wealthy on what comprises employee welfare and how to ensure it.

Wisely wealthy entrepreneurs are extremely mindful of being fair, transparent and respectful towards their employees at all times. On the one hand, they will demand excellence, and on the other, they will offer growth and dignity. They know that leadership isn’t something reserved for the boardroom. It is a mindset that can be brought to every sphere and relationship. Those are the kind of leaders the wisely wealthy groom.

I end the chapter you mention by talking about the mirror responsibilities that employees have towards the organisation. They, too, have to strive to emulate the organisation’s values.

The organisation expecting 18-hour workdays and the employee moonlighting on the side are both guilty of being unfair and myopic. The wisely wealthy leaders will condemn both equally.

Could you share your favourite anecdote from the book, and why it resonates with you?

Oh, that’s like asking a parent to choose one of their children as their favourite. If you are a fan of comeback stories, the anecdotes in the chapter titled Failure and Adversity will likely move you to tears. If social impact is what inspires you, you will be astonished at the thoughtfulness behind anecdotes featured in the Impact Investing and Philanthropy segments of the book. As a parent, I feel warm reading the anecdotes describing how the wisely wealthy have approached parenting. I really don’t know what to choose… the heroes featured in my book have made every anecdote memorable.

You mention Mahatma Gandhi’s views on trusteeship early on in the book. Was that the inspiration for ‘Wise Wealth’?

I was partially inspired by the Mahatma’s idea that we can only be custodians, not owners, of wealth. I was additionally inspired by many of my family office clients whose names I cannot mention for confidentiality reasons. Suffice to say that they are household names and embodiments of the Wise Wealth philosophy. Last, but not the least, I was inspired by my early life role models – family members and mentors who taught me to prioritise values over wealth.