Our guest for this episode, Radhika Gupta, describes Edelweiss AMC—or any mutual fund company, for that matter—as a company that solves financial problems for customers. Simple. Going into anything else, she says, is way too complicated.

Edelweiss operates in a crowded market with nearly 50 players. And it's surrounded by giants, rivals much larger than itself.

But that also gives it the space to take risks and bets that larger companies might not.

That’s how Edelweiss pulled Bharat Bonds into their armour, which shot up their assets massively. It went from number 30 in the mutual fund rankings to number 13 in just a few years.

As a CEO, Radhika is a big fan of keeping things simple and effective.

She has a straightforward way of dealing with workplace politics. A one-step way to shut down mansplaining. A very simple approach to trying to understand her consumers. And even an easy but brilliant way of organising her favourite poetry, excerpts and stories!

In this episode, we talk about:

1. What is the problem that Edelweiss is trying to solve?

2. How does Radihka define success?

3. How Radhika uses an inner scorecard to evaluate herself

4. How does she deal with criticism and separate constructive criticism from targeted bias?

5. Why Radhika doesn’t believe in work-life balance

6. Why Radhika has a third category of priorities after personal and professional

7. Radhika’s advice for young, professional women

This is Episode 26 of First Principles, with Radhika Gupta — The Ken’s fortnightly leadership podcast.

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