Alumni Author: Bytes and Breaths – Anand Laxshmivarahan R, PGSEM 2008

In this edition, we are delighted to feature a conversation with Anand Laxmivarahan R, IIM Bangalore alumnus and senior business leader whose career has taken him across multiple industries and transformative roles. In his latest book, Bytes and Breaths, Anand reflects on what it takes to lead with clarity, empathy, and self-awareness in an increasingly digital world. Drawing from real experiences and personal learnings, he offers thoughtful perspectives on balancing technological ambition with the human connections that make leadership meaningful.

You’ve built a distinguished corporate career and now added the title of author to it. What inspired this transition from boardroom strategy to storytelling?

The shift didn’t start as an intentional transition as much as a deepening of an old realisation. After leading several transformation programs over the years, I increasingly saw that the softer side of change – leadership, emotions, human behaviour – is far tougher than the hard skills we often emphasise. Strategy, technology, operating models… these matter, but they succeed only when people feel understood, inspired, and included.

For years, this insight kept coming back to me in different forms, and somewhere I wanted to express it more honestly than powerpoints and ad hoc discussions allow. When a casual WhatsApp conversation with Neha (on a sleepy Sunday afternoon) turned into a discussion about writing, I found myself reflecting and revisiting the idea of authoring a book, a long-standing dream I had quietly shelved. That conversation unexpectedly became the starting point of something meaningful.

Looking back now, it feels like the book and storytelling has given me another identity – one that allows me to blend professional experience with personal reflection, and to speak about leadership in a way that feels more accessible, human, and real.

Bytes and Breaths brings together the worlds of technology and humanity. What does that intersection mean to you personally, as someone deeply involved in digital transformation?

For me, that intersection is the only place where meaningful transformation truly happens.

Technology is often given centre stage in conversations about change – AI models, data platforms, agentic automation, internet of things, and so on. But through years of navigating digital programs, I’ve realised that people are always at the centre of every successful initiative. The human aspects- trust, clarity, vulnerability, resistance, aspiration- are often overlooked simply because they can’t be quantified or plotted on a dashboard.

Bytes and Breaths reflect this truth: that “bytes” give us capability, but “breaths” give us direction. Leaders must embrace both. That’s why Aria, the AI-based emotional intelligence coach in our story, represents not just the future of leadership tools, but also the idea that technology can amplify humanity rather than substitute it.

The book explores leadership through an emotional and technological lens. How does your professional experience shape the insights shared in the story?

I’ve been fortunate to lead multiple large-scale transformations over the last 8–10 years – some tremendously successful, some humbling failures. When I reflect honestly, most failures didn’t come from strategic misalignment or flawed technology. They came from misreads of people: not listening early enough, not sensing the emotional undercurrents in teams, not understanding where people were coming from.

In the book, Zara’s struggles mirror what many of us experience: the pressure to deliver results while also navigating human complexity. Her journey is shaped from the trenches – from missed cues, tough decisions, organisational anxieties, and the emotional labour leaders often underestimate. Many insights in the narrative are drawn straight from lived experience: leadership is less about answers and more about awareness – awareness that uplifts people, creates emotional resilience, and binds teams together in meaningful ways.

As an IIM Bangalore alumnus, what aspects of your time at the Institute have influenced your approach to leadership, creativity, or self-reflection?

IIM Bangalore gave me defining gifts: quality of thinking and quality of people and conversations.

The faculty – world-class, rigorous, and deeply invested in pushing us beyond the obvious – taught me how to structure thought, question assumptions, and look at problems through multiple lenses. Equally important were the peers: curious, sharp, accomplished, and relentlessly inquisitive. I do believe that so many of our group projects and debates shaped not just academic learning but personal growth.

Exposure to accomplished leaders through guest lectures left a lasting imprint. Their candid stories about success, failure, resilience, and ethics formed early seeds of reflection that I return to even today. IIMB taught me that leadership is not merely a role, but a practice.

Balancing a demanding role in the corporate world, personal life, and creative writing requires focus. How do you make space for expression and balance amid those demands?

I think two practices really helped sustain: early mornings and movement.

I’m at my best in the early hours – the world is quieter, thought is clearer, and creativity flows more easily. Many of the foundational ideas for the book emerged during those calm morning routines. My regular morning runs played a surprisingly crucial role too. Running creates a different kind of mental space – open, meditative, and intuitive. Several creative connections and narrative insights came while on those runs – a still and clear mind was connecting dots that were otherwise difficult to see.

The second factor was the extensive work travel I went through for a couple years. Long flights and transit hours became unexpected reservoirs of uninterrupted thought. Those pockets of time allowed me to write, read, and reflect deeply.

Together, these rhythms made writing feel like a natural extension rather than an added burden.

You’ve co-authored the book with Neha Taneja. How did that collaboration come about, and what did you learn from working together on such an introspective theme?

The collaboration started almost casually but evolved into a deeply enriching partnership. Neha brings remarkable strengths – thoughtfulness, depth, sensitivity to nuance, and a natural ability to sit with ideas until they reveal their essence. She has a reflective orientation that grounded the narrative and kept pulling the story toward authenticity.

My strengths are complementary: speed, structure, the ability to connect the dots across ideas, and a bias for execution. Together, we found a rhythm where each of us strengthened the other. We wrote alternating chapters, debated character arcs, and challenged one another to sharpen both the message and the emotional truth behind it.

The biggest learning was that collaboration mirrors the best parts of leadership – trust, openness, constructive tension, and shared ownership. The book is far richer because it contains two different minds, but one coherent voice.

Many alumni speak about rediscovering curiosity beyond their professional boundaries. Has writing this book changed how you think about leadership and growth?

Absolutely. Researching the book, speaking with leaders, and reflecting on my own journey shifted something fundamental in how I view leadership.

I realised that compassion is a leadership capability – not a soft add-on. The more conversations I had, the more I understood how much people (me included) carry invisibly: fear, ambition, insecurities, dreams. Leaders often underestimate the emotional ecosystem in which decisions land.

Writing also renewed a sense of curiosity I didn’t realise I had suppressed – curiosity about human behaviour, about how leaders evolve, about how technology and inner life co-exist. It reinforced that leadership growth is not linear; it’s cyclical, reflective, and deeply personal.

Looking ahead, what’s next for you — more writing, or new projects that continue exploring the connection between technology, leadership, and humanity?

The journey doesn’t end with the book – it actually opened new doors.

Alongside writing, we’ve built a digital platform, BytesnBreaths.com, where we hope to create a space for ideas at the intersection of leadership, emotional intelligence, technology, and human growth. The vision is to bring together stories, reflections, conversations, interviews, and interactive formats that extend the themes of the book into a living ecosystem.

As for writing, we do feel the pull to explore the space further – possibly through another book at some point – but it’s still very early. What I know is that the intersection of technology and humanity will continue to shape my work, whether through writing, speaking, or transformation initiatives.

My aspiration is simple: to continue contributing to conversations that help me and everyone become more aware, more centred, and more human, even as we navigate an AI-powered future, and to play a small role in coaching the next generation of leaders who will shape that future.

Anand’s reflections remind us that even in a rapidly changing environment, leadership begins with understanding ourselves and the people around us. His work encourages leaders to slow down, stay present and act with intention. Through Bytes and Breaths and the ideas he continues to develop, Anand invites us to engage with both technology and humanity in a way that strengthens our sense of purpose.