Author Abhiraj Gupta is the Executive Director of IOL Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited, where he leads one of India’s largest API and specialty chemicals enterprises. With academic foundations from the University of Warwick and the Indian School of Business, he bridges the ancient strategic wisdom with the modern corporate practice. His leadership experience spans research and development, regulatory strategy and large-scale manufacturing.

The Literature Today: What inspired you to connect the ancient strategic teachings of Chanakya with the realities of modern entrepreneurship in your book, “The Chanakya Playbook”?

Abhiraj Gupta: The idea took shape during my time at the Indian School of Business, where I realised that while we study global management frameworks extensively, we often overlook the strategic brilliance rooted in our own intellectual heritage. What fascinated me about Chanakya was that his ideas were never limited to kings and kingdoms—they were fundamentally about human behaviour, power, systems, leadership, and sustainability. The more I reflected on modern business challenges, the more I saw parallels with the Arthashastra. The Chanakya Playbook became my attempt to reinterpret that timeless wisdom into practical frameworks for entrepreneurs, leaders, and institutions navigating today’s volatile world.

The Literature Today: As the Executive Director of one of India’s largest API and specialty chemicals enterprises, how have your real-world leadership experiences influenced the ideas explored in this book?

Abhiraj Gupta: I have spent most of my life around factories, boardrooms, regulations, supply chains, and operational crises. In many ways, business has been my natural environment since childhood. Those experiences taught me that leadership is rarely about grand speeches—it is about decision-making under uncertainty, balancing competing interests, and building systems that endure pressure. The book is deeply shaped by those lived realities. Whether it is resilience, strategic foresight, internal governance, or long-term institution building, many ideas in the book come not just from theory, but from observing how businesses survive, fail, evolve, and sustain themselves in the real world.

The Literature Today: Many people see Chanakya purely as a historical or political figure. What made you believe his wisdom still holds relevance in today’s corporate and startup ecosystem?

Abhiraj Gupta: Because human nature has not changed as much as technology has. Markets evolve, industries transform, and tools become more sophisticated, but ambition, fear, greed, loyalty, ego, and power remain timeless constants. Chanakya understood these human realities with extraordinary clarity. His principles around governance, incentives, alliances, risk management, talent, and strategy are incredibly relevant to modern corporations and startups. In fact, many businesses today struggle with the same internal weaknesses that kingdoms once did—poor leadership, short-term thinking, cultural decay, and lack of strategic discipline. That is what makes his wisdom timeless rather than historical.

The Literature Today: Your book emphasises resilience, ethical leadership, and long-term thinking over short-term success. Why do you think modern businesses often struggle to maintain that balance?

Abhiraj Gupta: Because modern business environments reward speed, visibility, and quarterly performance far more aggressively than patience, character, and sustainability. It becomes easy for organisations to optimise for immediate gains while quietly weakening their foundations. Chanakya repeatedly emphasised that true strength lies in durability, not just expansion. I believe many businesses today underestimate how culture, ethics, trust, and institutional resilience compound over time. Sustainable success is rarely built through shortcuts—it is built through disciplined decisions repeated consistently over years.

The Literature Today: The book transforms ancient philosophy into practical business lessons. How challenging was it to make centuries-old wisdom accessible and actionable for today’s entrepreneurs?

Abhiraj Gupta: That was probably the most challenging and also the most rewarding part of writing the book. Ancient texts can sometimes feel distant or overly philosophical to modern readers. My goal was to bridge that gap without diluting the depth of the original wisdom. Instead of treating Chanakya as a historical figure trapped in the past, I tried to place his ideas inside modern boardrooms, startups, institutions, and leadership dilemmas. The challenge was not merely translation of language—it was translation of context.

The Literature Today: In your opinion, which Chanakya principle is most overlooked by modern leaders despite being critically important in today’s competitive business world?

Abhiraj Gupta: The importance of mastering oneself before attempting to lead others. Modern leadership discussions often focus heavily on external skills—communication, influence, execution, visibility—but Chanakya believed that internal discipline is the true foundation of leadership. A leader who cannot control impulses, ego, fear, or greed eventually weakens the institution they lead. In today’s hyper-competitive environment, where distraction and short-term validation are everywhere, self-mastery has perhaps become more important than ever.

The Literature Today: You have experience across research and development, regulatory strategy, and large-scale manufacturing. How did these diverse professional experiences shape your understanding of leadership and decision-making?

Abhiraj Gupta: They taught me that leadership cannot operate in silos. Research teaches patience and curiosity, regulatory strategy teaches discipline and precision, while manufacturing teaches scale, systems, and execution under pressure. Together, they create a more holistic understanding of how organisations actually function. One of the biggest lessons I learnt is that strong institutions are rarely built on isolated brilliance—they are built on alignment between people, systems, culture, and long-term strategic intent.

The Literature Today: One of the strongest aspects of the book is its focus on protecting organisations from internal weaknesses. Do you believe that internal challenges are often more dangerous than external competition?

Abhiraj Gupta: Absolutely. Most organisations are not destroyed from the outside first—they weaken internally before external forces expose those weaknesses. Chanakya understood this deeply. Poor culture, ego-driven leadership, complacency, lack of alignment, weak governance, and internal politics can silently damage an institution long before competitors do. External threats are often visible; internal decay is usually subtle. That is why institutional discipline and self-awareness are so important for long-term survival.

The Literature Today: As someone educated at both the University of Warwick and the Indian School of Business, how do you personally balance global business perspectives with India’s ancient intellectual traditions?

Abhiraj Gupta: I do not see them as opposing forces. Global business education provides exposure to analytical frameworks, systems thinking, and contemporary management practices, while India’s intellectual traditions offer philosophical depth, ethical grounding, and a more civilisational understanding of leadership and governance. I believe the future belongs to leaders who can integrate both—combining modern execution with timeless wisdom. That balance is very central to both my professional life and this book.

The Literature Today: What do you think today’s young entrepreneurs misunderstand the most about leadership, power, and sustainable success?

Abhiraj Gupta: I think many people confuse visibility with substance. Social media and startup culture often glamorise rapid success, valuation, and scale, but leadership is ultimately about responsibility, consistency, and endurance. Real power is not about control—it is about building trust, systems, and institutions that outlast individuals. Sustainable success is usually quieter, slower, and far more disciplined than the world makes it appear.

The Literature Today: Well, if Chanakya were observing today’s fast-moving startup culture, AI-driven businesses, and global corporate competition, what do you think he would advise modern entrepreneurs to focus on the most?

Abhiraj Gupta: I think Chanakya would remind entrepreneurs that while technology changes rapidly, the fundamentals of strategy remain timeless. He would probably advise leaders to focus less on hype and more on building resilient institutions, disciplined cultures, strategic clarity, and long-term relevance. He would encourage innovation, but he would also warn against becoming so obsessed with speed that you lose direction, ethics, or institutional stability. In many ways, I think he would say: “Do not just build companies that grow fast. Build organisations that deserve to endure.”