The Conversation RONNIE SCREWVALA

Ronnie Screwvala, 64, serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author, has commissioned a telling new report titled ‘Non-linear Thinking’, 1 which he puts forward as an alternative line of thought to propel India to its true potential. Non-linear thinking assumes a higher level of risk than normal, where past experiences do not define future ones. Screwvala, who co-founded upGrad, South Asia’s largest higher edtech company, explains the report’s thesis in detail.

- SOURAV MAJUMDAR

A CHANGE IN MINDSET

First things first, Ronnie. What prompted you to commission this report on non-linear thinking? Was there a particular trigger?

I think, having written a book on entrepreneurship 2 —I’m writing one more which is more on upskilling and soft skills—and also what one actually is in direct touch with at upGrad, gave me a sense of what are the gaps we really have in many of the things we are thinking about. The Prime Minister, and everyone else, evangelises the fourth industrial revolution. But at the end of the day, I think we are going to have to make a mindset change. The nation, and everyone inside it—not just one or two people—have to change their mindsets.

This research was really to probe the mindsets. I am a firm believer that you need to know the baseline. You need to know what people are thinking. So while I’m very pleased with the outcome, to me it’s the starting point. Because it’s almost like a baseline survey that’s telling me more than what it’s solving for. But it was a very important element. Because there were a lot of hypotheses in my mind about what the younger generation is thinking. If you continue to look at what I would call the ‘arbitrage economy’ that India has been used to, then we’re not entering the fourth industrial revolution.