On March 28, 2023, Kaushik Ghosh was vacationing with his family in Kurseong. He had just finished a sumptuous breakfast and was enjoying a game of cricket, his favourite sport. Just then, disaster struck. Ghosh felt a searing pain take over his body, with his faculties starting to fade. On being rushed to a medical store and, eventually, to a hospital, Ghosh found that he had suffered a heart attack. For a seemingly fit globetrotter and business leader who had just entered middle age, this was both a shock and a turning point. During and after his recovery, Ghosh started thinking about the larger picture of life, about making the most of his time to “do something meaningful”. Out of that thought process emerged his latest book, The 8-H Principle: For Success at Work and Life (Om Books International), published in February 2024.
My Kolkata readers are already aware of Ghosh’s against the odds journey to become the COO of Globe All India Services. This is a man who knows what it takes to meet adversity head on and come out on top. But his heart attack taught Ghosh that resilience also involves reflection, that the moment had arrived for him to articulate what he really stood for. “The initial idea for the book was born during the pandemic, but it got fast-tracked after my health scare. I realised that I didn’t want to waste any more time in giving back, in contributing whatever I had learnt,” says Ghosh, 51, jaunty as ever.
‘We reprinted the book within one week of going live on Amazon’
In his book, Ghosh roots his insights in his personal experiences Kaushik Ghosh
For someone who started working while in middle school, Ghosh has seen the highs and lows of the professional world from a variety of positions and perspectives. In doing so, he has identified eight equalities — each starting with the letter H — that he feels are fundamental for a meaningful life. In no particular order, the 8Hs that define Ghosh and his book are — hard work, honesty, hobbies, holiday, health, humility, hope and humanity. The book dedicates a chapter to each of these qualities, diving deep into what Ghosh means by it and how it can be applied in daily life.
In a market flooded with self-help books, spanning from Jordan Peterson’s chastisements to Ankur Warikoo’s confessions, Ghosh is keenly aware of the need to not dole out cliches. What he writes is not what Google or ChatGPT would tell you, say, about honesty or humility. Rather, Ghosh roots his insights in his personal experiences and casts as wide a net as possible when it comes to elucidating each of the Hs. His tone is not instructive or overly informal, since Ghosh neither makes assertions nor falls for the lure of predictable punchlines.
In some places, such as when he is describing how honesty can help businesses grow, Ghosh does not mince his words. In others, such as when explaining how hobbies can help one cope with stress, he is more relaxed in his tone. The result is a book that feels like a conversation, one reason why the pre-orders on Amazon went through the roof. “The book has been doing exceedingly well. We had Amazon pre-orders of over 400, which is remarkable. In fact, given the enthusiasm of the readers, we reprinted the book within one week of going live on Amazon. All this in spite of the fact that the book is yet to have a formal launch,” says Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri, editor-in-chief, Om Books International.
‘Humility comes by having a shared dream’
Ghosh regards hope and humanity to be the most important of his 8Hs TT Archives
While Ghosh devotes adequate, if not equal, space to each of his Hs, are there one or two he regards to be more important than others? “Yes, hope and humanity,” replies Ghosh, who goes on to add: “For today’s generation, where instant gratification has compounded the issues of mental health, hope is very important. Youngsters are prone to getting too idealistic or too cynical, to not look at the bigger purpose involved in an endeavour. That’s where hope comes in, to tell them that it’s okay to fail and that failure isn’t the end of the world. On the other hand, humanity shapes everything. Far beyond the materialistic, I’ve always tried to locate the humanitarian element in people I’ve interacted with. That’s what appeals to me most.”
As a business leader himself, how does Ghosh approach humility? How does his ambition of making Globe the biggest travel company in India square with the need to keep himself grounded? “Humility comes by having a shared dream. No leader can do anything alone. Currently, I have 350 people in my company. To achieve my dream, I need to ensure that 350 have the same dream. That’s what fuels my ambition but also makes me accountable,” answers Ghosh, who would love to hand over a copy of his book to three of his heroes — Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and Elon Musk. While not all of his 8Hs apply to all three (Ghosh knows that Musk, for instance, is not the embodiment of humility), what impresses Ghosh is how each of these three changemakers has risen to the top without taking shortcuts. “It’s all good to preach and practise smart work. But there’s no substitute for sheer hard work. In fact, working smart is also about working hard,” believes Ghosh.
Speaking of hard work, besides running a multi-crore company, Ghosh is busy writing his next two books. One, tentatively titled Heroes and Sheroes, will focus on the extraordinary stories of so-called ordinary people, while the other is expected to be a sequel to 8-H. Observing Ghosh work at full throttle, with countless tabs open in his mind, it is clear that he has mastered the process of creating order out of chaos. He has also found the internal sweet spot where peace meets purpose to turbocharge productivity. In other words, he has discovered his ninth H — harmony.
