The Making of Hero traces the 'family' spirit that drives each employee of the Hero Group, to helping it grow into a world leader. We speak to the author, Sunil Kant Munjal.
A success story might as well look like that of Brijmohan Lall Munjal and his three brothers whose company Hero Group literally gave wheels to a generation of Indians. It is the story of the company’s employees, customers, partners, suppliers and local communities coming together over the past seven decades towards creating success and the well-being of millions.
Sunil Kant Munjal’s The Making of Hero: Four Brothers, Two Wheels and a Revolution that Shaped India is a tribute to his father, Brijmohan Lall Munjal, the founder of Hero Group, and his uncles —Dayanand, Satyanand and Om — who built the Hero Group through the 1930s to the turn of the millennium and beyond. The book, which released on January 13, traces the story of the four Munjal brothers, looking at their lives, struggles and lessons, as well as the eventual success of the enterprise they built.
From the book:
From the bylanes of Kamalia and the rugged landscapes of Quetta in India of the 1940s which later became Pakistan, they escaped to the Partition-ravaged cities of Amritsar, Agra, Delhi and finally settled in Ludhiana. The journey for the Hero Group began when Brijmohan Lall Munjal started as a bicycle maker along with his three brothers Om Prakash Munjal, Dayanand Munjal and Satyanand Munajal in the 1930s.
“This has been done to better appreciate and imagine the challenges and tribulations of building and growing a business from the 1950s right up to the 1980s. I have tried to stitch together multiple themes,” explains Sunil, the author.
The book, adds Sunil, articulates the business best practices the group followed and the relationships they built, even as India and the world were transforming.
Reliving the legends
The Making of Hero, the authentic “Make in India” story about overcoming many odds — labyrinthine red tape, tepid economic growth and later, global competition — follows the lives and times of the Munjal brothers who lived together and scripted a dramatic revolution on two wheels without any formal education or resources.
As members of the second generation of the Munjal family, Sunil Kant tells us that he was lucky to have inherited the right values of doing business from his elders.
“This certainly contributed to the success of the second generation. Personally, I believe an ability to build relationships and spot opportunities has only helped me over the years,” says Sunil, who is also the founder of Serendipity Arts Foundation, a social project that promotes and incubates fine and performing arts.
Sunil’s book is also the story of how an agrarian economy like India, with limited transportation, took wings on Hero Group’s two-wheel revolution.
The founders set up a cycle repair shop in Chandni Chowk even as young India dealt with one of the worst refugee crises in recorded history. The shop, given to the brothers as part of a programme to help refugees find their feet, would go on to become a tryst with two-wheelers for the Munjal brothers.
From repairing cycles, the brothers would go on to making parts for cycles.
Eventually after moving to Ludhiana, the brothers started manufacturing cycles and, despite intense competition, became leaders in the space. The Making of Hero delves deeply into the ‘family’ spirit that drives each employee, giving an insight into why that spirit made the Hero Group a world leader in many categories.
“Just like life, business can be very humbling. One should never take success for granted. At the same time, there will always be external factors beyond your control; therefore, on occasion, it is important to detach yourself from outcomes. There is no secret to success, just a lot of hard work. There is a common saying that the harder you work, the luckier you get. I was fortunate to have studied in a residential school that paid much attention to developing life skills. Confidence is always an important component in communication and in negotiations, and as we know, most business decisions are about one or the other,” elaborates Sunil.
