The Nurturing Quotient: How to Grow Yourself and Others for Leadership Success | Practical Tools to Coach, Empower & Engage Teams with Purpose

In today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) world, leaders face more challenges than ever before. The old model of ‘Command and Control’ no longer resonates with the new generation of employees. The old archetype of the workaholic CEO is not tenable in a new-age world that celebrates
well-being as much as wealth. Leaders cannot rely only on their IQ and EQ. They also need to enhance their NQ (Nurturing Quotient). Nurturing Leadership, measured through NQ, is the ability to nurture both self and others to create impact at scale. If leaders cannot be nurturers, they risk an early burnout, personal irrelevance, as well as disengaged teams and stagnant organizations.

Drawing from their extensive experience and over 115 in-depth interviews with CEOs across sectors, from start-ups to multinational corporations, the authors—Rajesh Ramakrishnan and Nirupama Subramanian—make a compelling case for Nurturing Leadership. The Nurturing Quotient is packed with actionable insights that translate into everyday leadership habits. This playbook offers tools and techniques to nurture oneself along the four key dimensions—mind, body, heart and soul—and to nurture others through the MILE behaviours: mentoring and coaching, inspiring, listening, and empowering.

Nirupama Subramanian is a leading executive coach and leadership development expert with over twenty-five years of experience in this field. She has earlier worked with Citibank, AchieveGlobal and Genpact. She is the founder and CEO of Powerfulife Solutions. She has worked with more than 25,000 leaders across over sixty organizations to help them to live their potential. Nirupama is the author of two best-selling novels and her recent non-fiction book, Powerful: The Indian Woman’s Guide to Unlocking Her Full Potential, has become a go-to guide for women leaders. Nirupama is also a TEDx speaker and a board member. She loves yoga, travelling, reading all kinds of books and going for long walks amid nature.

Rajesh Ramakrishnan has worked in the corporate world for the last thirty years across organizations, such as Reckitt, Marico, PepsiCo, Hindustan Times and Perfetti. His last role was that of managing director for Perfetti Van Melle India from 2018 to 2023. He was awarded the Economic Times Inspiring CEO Award in 2022 and the ET Ascent CEO of the Year Award in 2023. Rajesh is a certified executive coach, focusing on CXO–CEO coaching and mentoring, advisory consultant and leadership development facilitator. He is also an award-winning photographer who has had many photography exhibitions. Rajesh has been on treks to Mt Kilimanjaro, Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp. He is a regular yoga practitioner, an avid foodie and traveller.

Rajesh and Nirupama have collaborated on various projects over the years—from when they were classmates at XLRI Jamshedpur to bringing up their daughter Kaavya. Together, they also run the family non-profit My Daughter Is Precious, which provides graduate-level scholarships and mentorship for girls from underserved families. The Nurturing Quotient is their first book together.