The pluralism of experience that... financiers bring to bear in their decisions gives a wide range of entrepreneurial ideas a chance of insightful evaluation,” says Edmund S. Phelps, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in economics. In an article published the day after the Nobel award was announced, Phelps observes, "Instituting a high level of dynamism, so that the economy is fired by the new ideas of entrepreneurs, serves to transform the workplace." He says: "The challenges that arise in developing a new idea and in gaining its acceptance in the marketplace, provide the workforce with high levels of mental stimulation, problem-solving, employee-engagement and, thus, personal growth."

If Phelps's point needed proof, one need look no further than Subroto Bagchi's first book, The High-Performance Entrepreneur (Penguin Portfolio, 244 pages, Rs. 395). Whether you are starting a company or struggling to invigorate one, Bagchi's book delivers exactly the high levels of mental stimulation that Phelps mentions. Bagchi covers everything from writing a business plan to going public, with insightful observations along the way about keeping your customers, managing your money and building your brand. His words exude experience. Since 1999, Bagchi has worked shoulder-to-shoulder with nine others (to whom he dedicates this, his first book). Their brainchild, MindTree Consulting, is flourishing, its team having grown from 10 in 2000 to 3,900 today and its revenues from zero to $103 million, increasing at an annual average of 78% over the last three years.

Entrepreneurs looking for guidance on a single topic - optimising spending on research and development or setting up ways to measure and manage talent - may prefer books that concentrate on particular aspects of entrepreneurship. Bagchi himself suggests 11 books and seven web sites for further reading. But those seeking a synoptic perspective on entrepreneurship would do well to start with Bagchi's survey.

There is something in this book for everyone. The author's generosity of spirit manifests itself especially in the effort he puts into helping those who wonder: am I an entrepreneur? Am I ready to start something new? To those toying with entrepreneurship as a cure for mid-career blues, he is candid about the perils that lie in wait: not merely trifles like squeezing into economy-class seats after years of the other sort, but also acts that may demand more gumption, such as soliciting business from someone who might well have reported to you in the world you've left behind. And, even if you decide you are not cut out to start a company, you may find ways to benefit from bringing an entrepreneurial outlook to the job you hold now.

To his credit, despite being steeped in the IT industry, Bagchi recognises that it is "just a proof of concept -- in the years ahead, it must be outdone in size and importance by many other enterprises, in many other fields. By playing it by the book." This emphasis on integrity simultaneously elevates Bagchi's endeavour and bestows upon it the stature of being something more than just another business book. What Bagchi does not say, but with which he would surely agree, is what Nobel Laureate Edmund S. Phelps observes about the challenges associated with entrepreneurship. "An individual working alone cannot easily create the continual arrival of new challenges," says Phelps. "It ‘takes a village,' preferably the whole society." The High-Performance Entrepreneur, and the experience in which it originates, is one of many signs that such a society may be taking shape in India today. If the Indian entrepreneurial community is still a village of sorts, in Subroto Bagchi we may have found the elder all villages need. - Shreedhar Kanetkar