The Call That Changed Everything!
Picture this:
You’ve just retired after building a multi-billion dollar enterprise. You’ve impacted over 300,000 families. Your bags are packed for a life of traveling, teaching, reading, and writing with your life partner. Four days into this new chapter, your phone rings. It’s the Chief Minister of your home state, asking you to lead a mission that will transform millions of young lives.
What would you do?
Most of us would politely decline. After all, we’ve earned our rest.
But Subroto Bagchi isn’t most people.
The Bagchi Rule
There’s something prophetic about Subroto’s decision to accept the leadership of Odisha Skill Development Authority. The Bagchi family has always worked for the state or nation, if not for themselves. After decades in the corporate world, Subroto finally returned to honor this unwritten code—to serve the land that gave him his first breath and first drop of water.
But he didn’t make this decision alone. He counseled with his confidants, especially his wife Susmita. He had promised her a life of togetherness after the long corporate stint. Her response? Instant agreement. More than that—she became his biggest supporter and cheerleader, urging him to seize this “amazing opportunity of a lifetime to serve the motherland.”
This is leadership lesson number one: Your family can make you, slow you down, or break you.
The Gandhian Beginning
Subroto’s approach to transformation began with humility, not hubris. Despite being accorded Cabinet Minister rank, he started with a 30-day, 3,000-kilometer tour of Odisha. He listened. He learned. He engaged with grassroots stakeholders.
But here’s the profound truth Subroto understood: As we listen, we forget that we have a head and a heart. The head gives us rational space, but it is the heart that listens with empathy and love. Unless leaders have empathy and love, they cannot create hope.
Everyone has a heart. Every heart speaks. But we need to connect to it before we can listen to its stories, ideas, and guidance. This wasn’t just philosophy for Subroto—it was his operating system.
Contrast this with today’s parachuted consultants and billion-dollar CEOs who arrive with hammers, seeing every problem as a nail.
At each ITI (Industrial Training Institute), Subroto simplified his ask into a memorable framework: 10/6/4/2
- Ten success stories students were proud of
- Six who succeeded outside the state
- Four women/girl success stories
- Two who became entrepreneurs
Great leaders simplify complexity. They make the abstract tangible. But equally important—they know what not to do.
Subroto understood this deeply: Instead of the relentless pursuit of everything, a leader must know what to give up, what to trade in, and how to go where the energy flows. You cannot be victorious on all fronts. This wisdom—of strategic surrender—is what separates transformational leaders from exhausted managers.
The Three-Word Strategy
With insights gathered, Subroto crafted his strategy around just three words:
FIX. SCALE. ACCELERATE.
That’s it. No 50-page PowerPoints. No jargon-laden roadmaps. Three words that anyone—from a bureaucrat in Bhubaneswar to a trainer in a remote ITI—could understand and rally behind.
But beneath this simplicity lay a profound question: Why are IITs institutions while ITIs are not? How do you create the physical, intellectual, and emotional architecture of an institution?
The challenge was monumental. While India proudly spoke of its demographic dividend, the country was lagging behind every developed country in creating opportunities for vocational training. The demand for skilled workers was rising fast, but the quality and quantity of supply was a crisis. India could not become a true economic superpower without addressing this demand-supply gap.
The stakes were even higher than most realized: A staggering 96% of India’s entire workforce was in the unorganized sector—undocumented workers earning subsistence wages, with inadequate training, wage disparity, and poor working conditions. This wasn’t just about skill development. This was about human dignity.
The Transformation Elements
What followed was nothing short of remarkable – lasting transformation achieved through:
- Creation of super star role models
- Appointing change agents who believed in the mission
- Visual makeovers of uniforms—because teenagers want to look good, eat good, and play contact sports
- Leveraging sports to build confidence and body language
- The Mission 123 for World Skills Championships
- Hundreds of teachers sent to Singapore for training (unheard of in ITIs!)
- Strategic tie-ups that brought global best practices home
- The iconic World Skill Centre in Bhubaneswar
Yes, there were failures—like ASTI. But Subroto reframed them beautifully: failures aren’t really failures; they’re invitations to realign things.
And through it all, millions of youth were trained. Lives were transformed. Futures were unlocked.
Oh, and his compensation? ₹1 per year. For eight years. From 2016 to 2024.
The Book: ‘The Day The Chariot Moved’
Subroto’s book is an honest, authentic, and humble account of this journey. It’s filled with insights you’d expect only from someone who leads with both head and heart:
- “A girl skilled is power delivered to the universe.”
- “At critical junctures of life, when stakes are high, data serves a limited purpose. One needs strong and solid opinions.”
- “Love precedes all acceptance.”
- “Skill development is truly about human development.”
The book weaves together wisdom from Peter Drucker, Otto Scharmer’s Theory U, Mother Teresa, and Vijay Govindrajan. But its soul lies in the human stories—of Muni Tigga, Basanti Pradhan, and countless others whose lives were touched by this transformation.
Three Playbooks in One
What makes this book essential reading is that it offers three distinct playbooks:
1. Creating an Exemplary Skill Development Program
The tactical, operational blueprint for transforming vocational education—relevant for anyone in development, NGOs, or government programs.
2. Crossing Over from Private to Public Sector
Few leaders have successfully made this transition. Nandan Nilekani is one. Subroto Bagchi is another. His principles are instructive:
- Get direct access to leader
- Work with existing teams and leaders
- Don’t import outsiders from your past life
- Respect grassroots wisdom
- Stay non-political (he even met the opposition leader early on)
- Secure total support from leadership (his CM backed him with speedy approvals and bigger budgets)
The new government continues his work—the ultimate validation.
3. Transformational Leadership
Subroto presents four defining strands that bind all transformation:
Pain → Purpose → Persistence → Possibilities
- Pain reveals purpose
- Purpose demands persistence
- Persistence unlocks possibilities
And through it all, the leader connects emotionally, acts selflessly, and sustains others with humor, hope, and heart.
The way to change people’s minds is to listen to people’s hearts.
The Ignite Connection
Reading this book allowed me to relive the Ignite Skill Development initiatives—the experiments at Ahaan BFSI Centres, Ahaan Beauty Parlour program, the Sabarmati Jail programs, and more. The principles Subroto articulated were the same ones we discovered through trial and error. Seeing them codified with such clarity and compassion was deeply affirming.
The Final Word
Subroto Bagchi could have chosen comfort. He chose contribution. He could have wielded power. He chose partnership. He could have taken credit. He chose to celebrate others.
In a world that often confuses leadership with authority, Subroto reminds us that true leadership is about service. It’s about leaving things—and people—better than you found them.
Throughout his career—from his Mindtree days to his work in Odisha—Subroto has consistently played the role of “Gardener.” Not the hero. Not the savior. The gardener who tends to soil, nurtures seeds, removes weeds, and trusts the process of growth. Gardeners understand that transformation takes time, that you cannot force a flower to bloom, and that the most important work happens beneath the surface, unseen.
As the book’s title suggests, transformation happens when the chariot moves. But chariots don’t move by themselves. They need someone willing to pull them forward—not from a throne, but from the ground, shoulder to shoulder with those doing the work.
Blessed are those who take a leap towards the future.
‘The Day The Chariot Moved’ by Subroto Bagchi is a testament to what’s possible when purpose meets persistence, when privilege meets responsibility, and when success turns toward service.
Note: I blessed to attend a TED-style talk by Subroto Bagchi himself at Ahmedabad University, where he brought the book’s insights to life with his characteristic warmth and wisdom.
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