As the financial crisis of 2008 fades into the past, corporate executives are having to navigate an unbalanced global economic recovery, marked by supercharged growth in the developing world and painfully slow growth in the mature economies that suffered most during the downturn.

In a darkened hall at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre, Phil Bentley, managing director of British Gas, is standing before a crowd of 300 of his company’s managers at one of its “Make a difference” events.

Leading by example: Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies (left); Yahoo!'s former CEO, Terry Semel

Vijay Vancheswar

I want to work for Vineet Nayar!

I loved Nayar’s book “Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down.”  It is one of the best management/leadership books I’ve read recently.