Who do you report to?

I wondered if Rashmi Bansal's much promoted book might be full of her own advice. Then a review in BusinessWorld informed me that it chronicles the entrepreneurial success stories of twenty five IIM-A grads. And it is attractively priced Rs.125. And the publisher isn't a regular commercial house, it is a division of IIM-A. I was sold. But I had a couple more pleasant surprises in store. Generally, such low-priced books are printed on may-decompose-any-minute kind of paper. This one had surprisingly decent quality (relative to the price, mind you) paper. The back cover says "...This book seeks to inspire young graduates to look beyond placements and salaries..." Worthy enough.

While waiting in the check-out queue, I automagically turned to a section called 'Small is beautiful'. It talks about a guy who started his own brand consultancy called chlorophyll (what a great name!). This guy believes 'small is beautiful' because in the quest for size and scale you lose out on the joy of creation. How true. At the end of this section was a sentence that alone paid for the whole book:

"Reporting to your own conscience is the highest and most rewarding form of servitude."

Granted it basically means 'follow your heart' but the next time someone asks me who I report to, I have a killer reply coming. :-) I haven't read the rest of the book yet, but I sure am looking forward to it.