Nirmalya Kumar is the Lee Kong Chian Professor of Marketing at Singapore Management University and Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD. Prior to this, he headed strategy at Tata Sons and taught at Harvard Business School, IMD (Switzerland), London Business School, and Northwestern University.
As a consultant, Nirmalya has worked with over 50 Fortune 500 companies in 60 countries and served on twelve boards of directors. Author of nine books, he is considered one of the world’s leading thinkers on strategy and marketing - frequently appearing on lists like Thinkers50, 50 Best B-School professors in the world, and 50 most influential Business School professors.
Passionate about art, Nirmalya supports museum exhibitions through his Bengal School 1900-1950 art collection and served on the South Asian Acquisition Committee of Tate Modern. In recognition of his patronage of South Asian Art, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship by SOAS.
Questions:
Which place, or city or country do you most feel at home in?
I have lectured in 60 countries, lived in 5, and held 3 different passports. While you can visit many countries, have multiple nationalities, you can only be from one place - and I am from Calcutta. The art collection is an attempt to create a mini Calcutta in London.
What are your proudest achievements?
Ten papers, including three on the rise of Indian business, published in the Harvard Business Review. As far as one can tell, there are only two other non-Harvard Business School marketing professors (George Day & Philip Kotler) with greater than 10 HBR papers over their academic career.
What inspires you?
Continuously learning to be the best I can be - it’s the most anyone can expect of me and the least I should expect of myself.
What has been biggest obstacle in your career?
Cannot think of any. Perhaps being blessed with a relatively low IQ and EQ forced me to work harder (reaching work at 6:00 am) and be more clear in my strategy (so as to not waste that effort).
Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?
Professor Philip Kotler of Northwestern University, who has been the most famous marketing professors in the world for the past 50 years. His book, Marketing Management, which I read at the age of fifteen, first excited me about marketing. He, served on my dissertation committee and later became a co-author.
What is the best aspect about your current role?
Inspiring eager students.
And the worst?
Grading assignments:)
What are your long-term goals?
Using the art collection to inspire South Asians overseas to be proud of their cultural heritage. The British had convinced themselves that Indians were incapable of producing “fine art". Indian artists in early 20th century embarked on a quest for cultural independence that ran parallel to the Quit India political movement.
If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change?
Better systems to catch unaccounted wealth flowing into UK as well as unreported and inherited wealth within the tax framework. Redirect funds to education, especially primary schools, and arts.
If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why?
Oh, tough one. Muhammad Ali to keep me entertained and inspired. Jamini Roy so I could understand more deeply the thinking behind his art.
