ISB's genesis and the interesting twists behind it

An interesting story about the Genesis of ISB.

Here is an interesting interview by Pramath Sinha.
Interesting points:

>>How he became the unintended founder of ISB atthe last minute

>>How founding a B-School is also like an entrepreneurial activity?

>> Did you know that ISB was born in a McKinsey Lab?

>> How the campus of ISB shifted from Mumbai to Hyderabad ( which was not even in the scheme of things)?

>> What is the role of Bal Thackeray in the founding of ISB??

Here are some excerpts:

"At that time there was the Shiv Sena and BJP combined government, with the Shiv Sena being the power behind the scenes. And so our board member said, "Hey we all know Balasaheb [Shiv Sena, founder Balasaheb Thackeray]. We'll just go and talk to him and sort this out."

Unfortunately, they went to see him at a time when he was having a big gathering at his place. So there was an occasion to grandstand, and the press was there. So in front of all of these people he made a big deal about how the best business school in the world was going to get built in Bombay, and that they were involved in it and there would be 10% reservations for Maharashtrians by the way, and 50% for employees. And this came off the cuff, from the blue, and it was the next day published in Mid-Day, and it was all over.

This was clearly unacceptable to us. We had always said very clearly that this was going to be completely merit of credit. Can you then support the needy candidates? We will never allow any sort of reservation."


"So it was to put competitive pressure on Bombay, but never really to leave Bombay that we wrote a note to all chief ministers and chief secretaries around the country. Well, not all, but Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gurgaon, Haryana, and we said, "Listen, we are these guys, we have the partnership, we have the school, this is our vision, these are the people on our board," from Ratan Tata to Ambanis, to Bajajs, to Mahindras, to Parekhs and Kamath, and Lakshmi Mittal. By then the whole board was there. "And please see if you can give us appropriate land. We are looking for 100 acres of land."

And so one monsoon morning we flew from Bombay to Hyderabad, to Bangalore, to Chennai. But the first place we landed was in Hyderabad, and we were completely floored by the hospitality of Naidu [Andhra Pradesh's chief minister at the time, Chandrababu Naidu].

Now it is much more built up than then, and amazingly open, and he said, "Two hundred fifty acres is yours," and, "I will give you plus one of whatever anybody else offers. And we just knew that this was the right place and the right thing to do. And we came back from that trip. I remember we did a teleconference, and the board approved within a few months. We had possession of 250 acres of land which is prime land today for a business school."


Dude..!! Hats off to Naidu... he was a visionary. Can't comment on his political strategies, but he sowed the seeds for technology in Andhra Pradesh, for which Congress is reaping the rewards.

Anyway, read the entire interview here in Wharton's website: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/article.cfm?articleid=4399