“Resilience guided by insight is recovery. Resilience without it is regret.” 

Bestselling author and “biography specialist” Priya Kumar shares the deep threads of resilience she discovered documenting India’s tycoons: they never saw setbacks as failure. In this exclusive interview, she explains that true resilience is guided by accurate, deep knowledge, not blind persistence. Kumar also defends the power of long-form narrative in the digital age, asserting that while short content entertains, only deeply emotional journeys can truly transform a life. 

As someone with experience penning multiple biographies for tycoons, what is the single most consistent lesson in resilience or failure you have uncovered while crafting the narratives of successful industry icons? 

I have written five published biographies and six more slated for release. I have lived the full journey of billionaires, industrialists, and sportsmen. I’ve had the privilege of putting into perspective the complete arcs of their lives — their mindset, purpose, and heart. 

A common thread I’ve understood is this: resilience, not surrender. 

They never gave up. They persisted because they were competent and confident. Their strength came from deep roots in their craft, their industries, and their understanding of the global economy and emerging trends. A setback was simply an obstacle to overcome, a mistake something to fix. It was never labeled as failure — because they knew better. Their strategy was deliberate, well-designed, never a casual gamble or an experiment. 

Even when things did not go as planned, they pivoted. Because their knowledge was so deep and anchored, they often repurposed existing assets — a choice that minimized losses. They saw assets for their potential, not their expiration date. 

Resilience is an attitude, yes — but without accurate and up-to-date knowledge, it becomes a painful and exhausting chase. 

Resilience guided by insight is recovery. Resilience without it is regret. 

Your work blends true events with motivational arcs. Where do you draw the line between authentic storytelling and the dramatic shaping of a life journey to serve a wider motivational purpose? 

Well, I write fiction, non-fiction, and biographies. My creative edge finds its release in the fiction I write. My stories are a compelling blend of adventure, inspiration, and suspense. 

Non-fiction is where I bring forward ideas, philosophies, and strategies that have served me, and that I’ve also seen serve others — to a point where I can confidently classify them as formulas for success. 

Biographies — my favorite genre of writing — are what I am most passionate about. Here, I don’t have the luxury of creative drama and twists that fiction allows. But where I do have freedom is in going a few layers deeper — into the mindset and personality of a person — to unveil their growth and success arcs and decode their path to genius. I break it down in a way that others can follow too, and achieve similar results. 

The context and data remain authentic. What can shift is the narration — dramatic or mellow, whichever the moment demands. Because while business carries on as usual, the drama or the calm lives in the mind of the person within it. And I can bring that out, as needed, to make a point about a situation. Biographies allow me that space. 

That is the purpose of the capture. 

The media may cover the events of a person’s business and life. But the real story — the emotions, decisions, choices, purpose, driving force, intention — when brought forward, becomes what I love most: a deeply emotional and inspirational journey that biographies uniquely allow me to narrate. 

How has the digital age, with its insatiable demand for instant, short content, changed the way you approach powerful, long-form narratives for both your books and your speeches? 

I have been a motivational speaker for 30 years now. I was also a teacher for nine years. I started working very early in life, at the age of 13. 

In my years as a teacher, I taught 1,900 students. And over the past three decades, I have spoken to more than 3 million people. I can tell you this — I have watched the world transform in leaps so vast they almost feel quantum. I have lived and experienced both — the internet era and the pre-internet world. 

While the pace of progress has become unimaginable, the one thing that hasn’t changed — and never will — is the human heart and spirit. If I pull out the problem statements I noted 30 years ago, they remain the same reality today. 

I have understood one thing: trends shift, but they don’t stay to define you. 

Long-form content is a way of life — the correct and most meaningful path for real transformation. Look at our epics, look at the Vedic teachings — they are rolled out into hundreds of pages, they were never short. One must go deep to experience change. 

Short-form content does not create a shift — it can entertain, it can steal time, but it cannot transform a life. I have not come across any success story or remarkable breakthrough driven by the short format alone. 

For my speeches and videos, I stay committed to long-form. The reels serve as cuts, leading into the full-length video. 

You can’t sleep in short format. You can’t meditate in short format. Nothing truly meaningful or magical was ever built with a fleeting attention span or an abbreviated pursuit. 

Beyond the individual journey, what specific insight about India’s evolving leadership culture have you gained from documenting the lives of its most powerful tycoons? 

Documenting the lives of India’s business titans has been like holding a diamond up to light — every angle reveals a different lesson, and yet the core stays constant. 

What has fascinated me the most is how India’s leadership culture has evolved from command-and-control to context-and-connect. The earlier generation of tycoons — those who built empires before the digital age — led with authority first. Power flowed top-down. Respect was earned through scale, balance sheets, and bold boardroom decisions. 

But the new era leaders I’ve documented, many influenced by global exposure yet deeply Indian in instinct, lead with empathy stitched into ambition. The voice may still be decisive, but the tone has softened — not weakened — softened, like steel tempered to endure more impact. 

Here’s the beautiful paradox: India’s leadership is becoming simultaneously more compassionate and more competitive. Purpose is the pulse in the organization. Leaders have shifted from simply building businesses to building belief — in teams, culture, and the future of the country itself. 

India’s leadership culture is evolving from power that directs to power that develops. From vision that predicts to vision that participates. From confidence that announces to confidence that uplifts. 

And that shift, more than anything else, has convinced me that India’s future leaders are rising because of the deep roots our values and culture that hold them steady.