Yes, a Harvard Business School Case Study

Bhanu Potta is a lifetime subscriber of Network Capital. His son Aarush goes to the Network Capital School and he is part of the 100 True Patrons subgroup which we will announce shortly. Bhanu also served as the fellowship director of the Product Management cohort-based course (CBC) on NC and invited Jennifer and David Risher to teach a class in the community building fellowship.

This is Utkarsh’s LinkedIn recommendation of Bhanu.

Network Capital’s mission is to democratize mentorship globally. Over 100,000+ high-potentials & multi-potentials worldwide benefit from our Career Intelligence initiatives. Content from Network Capital TV is distributed widely on Harvard Business School, TED and World Economic Forum channels.

I am happy to write this recommendation for Bhanu Potta for the foundational & cementing role he played as the Fellowship Director of Network Capital’s Product Management Fellowship. My recommendation is three-pronged:

First, are Bhanu’s contributions to the curriculum of the product management fellowship. Through his deep understanding and lived-experience of the product leadership journey, Bhanu provided direction to the entire fellowship cohort of over 100 participants from around the world. He ensured the learner experience was top-class and resonated with the wide range of backgrounds of the fellows - from practicing product managers wanting to transition to product leadership to engineers and even artists aspiring to break into product management.

Second, Bhanu’s content curation. He delivered masterclasses, workshops and office hours on Network Capital, drawing upon his extensive product building experience. His sessions had 0 dropouts and a learner satisfaction ratings of 4.95 out of 5.

Third, mentorship and community building! Helping others achieve more is a core value for Bhanu and something that the entire Network Capital community deeply appreciates. He created office hours in the product management fellowship to ensure that every learner has content, community support and 1:1 mentorship at all times. 90%+ fellow said their office hours with Bhanu had exceeded their expectations. Bhanu’s willingness to share his rich experience and knowledge is something I admire.

I set up Network Capital with a simple idea that everyone has something to learn and something to teach. All we need to do is to build a culture of giving at scale. Bhanu is a giver at heart, and I appreciate how he constantly looks for ways to add value to others. Bhanu has constantly strived to build a diverse and inclusive community of learners, committed to making room for all voices. In large communities, difficult conversations bubble up from time to time. Bhanu has been a mature guide who often nudges people to look past differences and focus on synergy areas and learnings one can draw from differing and even conflicting viewpoints. Network Capital’s Product Management Fellowship has become among the best product fellowships globally. Bhanu, as the Fellowship Director and all our faculty, deserve all credit.”

Bhanu’s deep engagement with Network Capital did not happen overnight. Like everything meaningful in life, compounding revealed its wonders over time. Let us take you back to 2017 when Bhanu first organized a Network Capital Delhi leadership dialogue with David Risher, the CEO of Worldreader.

Those were early days of Network Capital but you could tell from the energy in the room that participants had deep interest in two things - understanding the mission of Worldreader and connecting with those they wanted to learn from. About 35 people joined us that evening. We had done no media or publicity apart from sharing the event details on group.

Bhanu was the curator of the evening. Utkarsh had just gotten back from the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos where he had met David at a social entrepreneurship discussion hosted by Microsoft President Jean Philippe Courtois who has also delivered a masterclass on NC. 

Bhanu had the foresight to connect the dots and create something meaningful for Worldreader, NC and for many millennials curious to learn about building careers in something meaningful. From the time we started building Network Capital, we have been looking for people like Bhanu to become strong advocates and partners of our mission.

Scale is a byproduct of relationship design. The fundamental insight here is that networks and missions scale when 1:1 and group relationships scale.

The World Reader Story: Harvard Business School Case Study

To understand the Worldreader journey, you should start by watching David and Jen’s NC masterclass.

Now check out the HBS case study. Notice Bhanu’s contribution at various stages.

Concluding Thoughts

We love to see the Network Capital ecosystem succeed and empower others. Congratulations to David, Bhanu and the entire Worldreader team for this phenomenal achievement. We have decided to make the Worldreader HBS case study part of the curriculum of the next community building fellowship. Lots of surprises coming your way.

P.S. If you want to learn and connect with the best in the world, subscribe to Network Capital and build your category of one.

P.P.S. If you consider gifting something meaningful to someone you love, we hope Network Capital subscription will cross your mind.

✍🏼 Read our founder Utkarsh Amitabh’s Harvard Business Review articles here Building Your Category of One,Should You Choose Passion Over Paycheck, How to Make Envy Work for You?, andThe Right Way to Make a Big Career Transition

⚡️If you are new to Network Capital, start by reading How to Navigate the NC Ecosystem and going through our most popular - masterclass (Career Principles with Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller); newsletter (Writing Fast and Slow); and podcast (The art of writing with Dr. Shashi Tharoor). Also read how to enroll in NC fellowships.

💝 Signup for 1:1 office hours for discussing specific career questions here. Connect and network with other Network Capital members here. You can sign up for a networking session and our serendipity tool here.