Coimbatore KrishnaRao Prahalad

A must read on the man behind the writings that changed western business thinking.

One of nine children of a well-known Madras judge and Sanskrit scholar who wrote and edited 40 books, Prahalad (that's his first name, actually; C.K. stands for Coimbatore Krishnarao, the names of his town and of his father, respectively) was born to study. But early in his career, he managed people. A brilliant student of physics, he was recruited by the manager of the local Union Carbide battery plant. He promised his father he'd try it for a year, then return to school to get his PhD.