Leaders - The Inception of ISB

This is a post reproduced with permission from another blog called "Books,Science and Stories" by Archana Raghuram.Credits to Archana Raghuram and Karthik Agarwal(the Insider;-) who prev worked in ISB taking care of Marketing and Branding for the SAARC region).Though noone can vouch for the accuracy of the post(many things are hearsay),it still makes an interesting read.
The founders(Rajat Gupta, Rahul Bajaj, Adi Godrej and Anil Ambani) had initially short listed three cities for the college, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Hyderabad did not even figure in the list. Mumbai being their first choice,they met Bal Thackeray who was willing to give them a 25 acre plot in Navi Mumbai. But he insisted on a 25% reservation for people from Maharashtra. It was not for people living in Maharashtra but for people of Maratha origin. He wanted the reservation both for the students and the staff.
This was a big no-no for the founders. So they went to Bangalore where the then CM. S.M.Krishna made them wait for three hours and then spoke to them for 15 minutes before handing them over to his secretary. They were shown a land on a map which had no access from any major road.
They visited Chennai to meet the CM, J.Jayalalitha. She showed them a land near an industrial area which did not appeal to them. If you know Jayalalitha, it won’t be hard to guess the other things that would have been discussed.
Meanwhile, Chandrababu Naidu came to know that things were not working out with Bal Thackeray and requested the founders to consider Hyderabad. He invited them to visit the city. Anil Ambani then convinced the others to take a detour to Hyderabad, not with the intention of setting up the college there but only to appease Naidu. When the landed, they were met at the tarmac by the Chief Secretary and the Minister for Education. They asked them if they wished to first see the land or meet the CM. Now, this was very different from the experience with other CMs. They first went to the site (in a Mercedes Van). In was a 250 acre plot and there some 20 odd officials were waiting for them with maps and details about the development plan for the area (the roads that were going to be laid and the power lines that were to be laid).
Then they went to Naidu’s house and they were taken straight to his private quarters without any wait. He welcomed them with a smile and asked them if they were happy with the land. If they were satisfied, he had a draft agreement which they could sign right away. He took out a blank paper and gave it to them. All they had to do was lay down the terms and conditions and he would sign. He then gave them a small presentation about the state, its culture and heritage, industry and people.
The rest is history. It’s truly amazing, the things that can be achieved if the right political will is in place. It may also interest you to note, that the biggest campus of Infosys is not at Bangalore or Mysore but at Hyderabad.
This is what I call acting like a LEADER.Period.

Later Edit on August 05,2008 : Click here to read further on this in Indian Express Archives