Premium subscribers of The Ken have full access to ALL our premium audio. They are available exclusively via The Ken’s subscriber apps. If you don’t have them, just download one and log in to unlock everything. Get your premium subscription using <a href="https://the-ken.com/pricing/">this link</a>.Not a Premium subscriber? You can subscribe to <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/in/channel/the-ken-premium/id6744577070">The Ken Premium</a> on Apple Podcasts for an easy monthly price (Rs 299 in India). The channel includes ALL our premium podcasts.-Manish Sabharwal isn’t an easy man to nail down. By that, I don’t just mean it was hard to nail down a time on his calendar to meet me for the podcast, which it was. Like with most founders and guests on First Principles, the gap between when I first invite them and when they finally appear is usually measured in months, sometimes years. I had first emailed Manish for First Principles in January 2023.But I’m saying Manish is hard to nail down also because he defies - resists - categorisation. Sure, he co-founded Teamlease, one of India’s largest recruitment and human resource providers. It employs over 400,000 people, is listed on the stock exchanges, and is a great barometer of broader employment trends in India. But Manish is no longer involved with the day-to-day operations of the company, while still being the largest individual shareholder.Instead, he leads a “portfolio life”, dividing his time serving on the boards of think tanks, regulatory bodies, universities, non-profits, and even private companies like Phonepe; advising companies and the government on a host of topics like labour markets, regulation, employment, education, economic policy and reforms; being a columnist; and reading books. Oh yeah, he says he’s read a book a week for the last - wait for this - 42 years!Thus, when I sat down with Manish last Thursday, I went in prepared, or as prepared as I could be, with my research and questions. But 10 minutes into the conversation, I decided to drop the conversation narrative I had in mind and instead let the conversation go where it needed to.Yes, we do cover entrepreneurship, ambition, and finding product-market fit by letting your customers guide your evolution, but we also go much further into topics that we normally don’t. For example, India’s macroeconomic and geopolitical chances, ‘regulatory cholesterol’, higher education and the jobs crisis. All peppered with pithy aphorisms, vivid analogies, and memorable quotes every few minutes, this is something I’ve remembered Manish doing since I first met him as a journalist in the early 2010s.Welcome to First Principles.-This episode was produced by Hari Krishna, and the mixing and mastering of the episode was done by Rajiv CN.Write to us at <a href="mailto:fp@the-ken.com">fp@the-ken.com</a> with your feedback, suggestions and guests you would want to see on First Principles.If you liked this episode, help us spread the word by sharing and gifting this episode with your friends and family.

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Manish Sabharwal of Teamlease on creating great ancestors, India’s development journey and ‘regulatory cholesterol’

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