As a certified CEO / CXO coach I am fully aware that no two leaders’ journeys are the same. I remember a CEO sharing an anecdote from his own life during a coaching seminar conducted by Coaching Foundation of India in Chennai six years ago.

This highly accomplished business leader was being elevated and being put on the board of this very successful NSE-listed company. As a SVP he used to attend board meetings, now he was on the Board. What should be the difference in his behaviour, he wondered?

He reached out to the veteran coach who had been more than a coach to him and asked him how he should behave, now that he was a member of the Board. His coach alerted him that he was now in a room of equals and his entire executive presence had to be different.

He should not be carrying three files to the Board meeting. He should enter bare-handed. A colleague can bring the files, if need be. He needs to address the members of the board as equals. That set him up on a new trajectory and he went on to serve as the MD of this company very successfully for many years.

 I was reminded of this anecdote as I was reading the book Leadership Beyond The Play Book by Roopa Kudva. The author is an alumnus of IIMA, a distinguished leader and early stage investor. She served as the CEO of Crisil with great distinction and then went on to head Omidyar Network India, investing in tech-led solutions for the lesser served populace of India.

She has also served as an Independent Director on the board of several companies (no not the company that I was referring to in the beginning of this review). She has been rated ‘Outstanding Woman Business Leader of the Year’ and more.

90 day action plan

Roopa is not attempting to give aspiring leaders a simple ‘Play Book’. Instead she has suggested a DIY leadership kit for a guided 90 day action plan.

The leadership kit comes after she has shared her insights on what makes a good leader. Presented in 12 chapters the book asks the aspiring leader to chart their own leadership path.

To do that you need to discover your ‘purpose’, the hidden engine that fuels career fulfilment. In order to succeed you need to think beyond the ‘now’.

As you grow and get to the board you need to figure out your new stakeholders and understand the dynamics. Future leaders will have to be ready to lead a team with multi-generational members, more diverse than it has been in the last three decades.

Not only are they diverse they often present irreconcilable differences. This calls for the leader to communicate with clarity, to one and all. Roopa recommends that leaders be ready to face setbacks and bounce back with confidence.

I wish the book had more examples of challenges and setbacks from Roopa’s own personal journey and how she weathered those. Roopa then presents leadership conundrums, a total 13 of them; each starts provocatively but ends with a nice ‘that’s okay’ (eg: You will always see someone doing better, and that’s okay).

The last two chapters look at two areas, women leadership and leading companies that have a strong social impact agenda. As one of the rare women business leaders to have been the CEO / MD of a large listed company, Roopa explains the issues behind the important ‘imposter syndrome’.

She has also been the head of ONI, a company investing in start-ups focused on impact investing in entrepreneurs and organisations dedicated on serving the underserved millions. She made the transition from a for-profit organisation to a company that dealt with social issues and presents the challenges involved in making the transition.

Reflection questions

The last part of the book is a 90 Day DIY Kit consisting of three parts. The first part is ‘Guided Reflections’; here Roopa asks the reader to look at 55 reflection questions, pick one or two and jot down the responses.

A sample question ‘What leadership style do I naturally default to?’. As you start filling out the answers, go back to the list and keep picking questions that interest you and jot down the answers.

After you have done your reflections, or simultaneously, work on your 30-60-90 day action plan. Start by selecting six actions from the menu of 70 action ideas presented. For example an action idea could be ‘Seek feedback on your current leadership style’. You can return to this as often as you want even after 90 days.

The third part of the DIY Kit is a summary of each chapter that you can read to refresh your leadership questions (you can also go back to the chapter and read the full version).

The book is full of observations from the leadership journey of people like Anu Aga (Thermax) and anecdotes from Roopa’s leadership journey. I particularly liked the incident Roopa has narrated about pitching for the CRO title. A few typos (page 80; Gen Alpha year of birth 2033) seem to have missed the publisher’s eagle eyes.  

If you are interested in reviewing your own leadership journey, then this book can give you some very useful insights. The DIY Kit is an added bonus that will nudge you into taking action and not just read and forget.  

Book details

You can find the book here.

 (The reviewer is a bestselling author and his latest book ‘Marketing Mixology’ presents four essential ingredients for marketing success)

Published on November 25, 2025