Perspectives That Stay With You: Top 10 Thought Leaders and Books Shaping 2025 - 26

VMPL
New Delhi [India], December 30: As the world navigates rapid change, uncertainty, and reinvention, a new generation of ideas is rising to meet the moment. Perspectives That Stay With You: Top Ten Thought Leaders and Books Shaping 2025-26 brings together influential voices whose work goes beyond trends and headlines--offering clarity, depth, and lasting insight. These authors are not merely writing books; they are shaping conversations across culture, leadership, society, and the human experience.
Dr. Smruti Ranjan Nayak
The first in the list is Dr. Smruti Ranjan Nayak--an Oxford, Harvard, and MIT, IIM - educated thought leader--stands at the intersection of technology, consciousness, and leadership. He is the Pride of Orissa and India. With over 15 years of global experience in CRM and digital transformation, he has reimagined CRM as a living ecosystem where data, empathy, and intelligence co-evolve. His mission is to take the timeless wisdom and values of the Bhagavad Gita across geographical boundaries, awakening the leader within every individual. A proud son of Mrs. Santi Lata Nayak and Mr. Birabar Nayak, he hails from Fatepur, Khandasahi, Odisha, carrying forward the humility, perseverance, and wisdom instilled in him since childhood--making his state Odisha and India proud. His book CRM: From Mechanism to Manifestation redefines revenue as consciousness in action, while Battlefield to Boardroom bridges ancient Gita philosophy with modern corporate leadership. Together, his works inspire a future where technology, purpose, and inner mastery unite.
Dr. K. S. Saravanavasan
Dr. K. S. Saravanavasan is a transformational thought leader, leadership strategist, and author dedicated to unlocking human potential through consciousness-driven excellence. With over three decades of global leadership experience, he works at the intersection of neuroscience, behavioural science, happiness, and performance. He is the author of TAAL: Symphony of Mind, a powerful exploration of awareness, inner transformation, and leadership mastery. As the founder of Happy Leading, Dr. Saravanavasan champions human-centred leadership through his proprietary frameworks, including MetaMorShift® and the Excellence Continuum. Known for blending scientific insight with practical wisdom, he believes sustainable excellence emerges when happiness fuels performance, inspiring leaders to align purpose with impact.
Ritesh S. Nigam
Ritesh S. Nigam is an award-winning author and spiritual thinker, renowned for his innovative approach to sacred texts. His best-selling work, Srimad Bhagavad Svagita (SvaGita), transforms the Bhagavad Gita into an interactive journal, inviting readers to hand-write and reflect on each verse for personal insight and growth. Honoured as Author of the Year 2025 at the World Leaders Summit, University of Oxford, and recognised at the UK Parliament, Ritesh bridges ancient Indian wisdom with contemporary life, offering readers a meditative and accessible path to mindfulness, self-discovery, and inner peace.
Dr. Rajani Tewari
Dr. Rajani Tewari is a distinguished people leader, social impact advocate, and award-winning author with over two decades of experience shaping inclusive workforce ecosystems in India. As Chief People Officer at GreenCell Mobility, she leads people strategy for a leading electric mass-mobility platform supporting sustainable public transport. A doctorate holder and respected HR voice, her work spans people governance, diversity and inclusion, workforce skilling, ESG-aligned labour practices, and human-centred design. She is deeply committed to advancing gender equity, women's return-to-work pathways, youth employability, and dignity-driven inclusion for transgender communities. A five-time published author and Sahitya Puraskar awardee, her writing explores women's inner worlds, mental wellness, identity, and modern spirituality--blending humour and poetry to create deeply healing narratives at the intersection of leadership, empathy, and social change.
Dr. Ramesh Pattni
Dr Ramesh Pattni OBE is an author whose work moves fluidly between psychological fiction and reflective non-fiction. A psychologist and existential psychotherapist trained at the University of Oxford, he writes with a quiet attentiveness to inner lives, moral tension, and the passage of time. His novel Echoes of Time: A Jaipur Murder Mystery uses the city of Jaipur not merely as a setting but as a living presence, where memory, power, and silence converge. In Love, Authentically: The Existential Way, he turns to non-fiction to explore intimacy, freedom, and responsibility with philosophical clarity. Across genres, Pattni's writing is unified by a concern with how ordinary lives are shaped--and sometimes undone--by the truths people choose to face or avoid.
Shalini K Vardhan
Shalini K Vardhan is a bestselling author, marketing leader, and emerging voice in modern, human-centred leadership. Rising from a small village in Bihar to a leadership role at a German multinational, her journey reflects resilience, authenticity, and quiet courage. She gained wide recognition with her debut book The Judgement Trap, which became an Amazon Bestseller within three months of release, inspiring thousands to overcome fear, self-doubt, and judgment. Honoured with the Indian Literature Award 2025 and recognised among India's Emerging Authors - Voice of Tomorrow, Shalini leads with empathy, clarity, and purpose, championing psychological safety, growth, and the power of being real over being perfect.
Khushboo Singh
Khushboo Singh is the co-founder of Tiny Souls and co-author of the award-nominated children's book My First Yoga Book. An engineering and MBA graduate, she has several years of corporate experience in content design & development and project management. She began writing early, with publications on literary platforms during her school and college years. Through Tiny Souls, she creates thoughtfully crafted books and content that introduce yogic knowledge, Vedic ideas, and lesser-known narratives from Indian history. The essence of her writing lies in fostering greater consciousness and holistic well-being, while encouraging awareness and responsibility towards the planet and all forms of life.
Ananya Singh
Ananya Singh is a published author and global photographer, bringing together creativity and consciousness across mediums. She holds an MSc in Sustainable Sciences from the University of Strathclyde, UK, and began her spiritual journey at the age of eight. She co-founded Tiny Souls and is the co-author of My First Yoga Book. Her writing is shaped by a deep connection to nature, wildlife, and humanity's relationship with the divine. Through her work with one of the world's leading spiritual foundations, Ananya explores and shares yoga as a practical, living science of inner balance.
Vinita Agrawal
Vinita Agrawal is an award-winning poet based in Indore, India, known for her evocative engagement with nature, climate, and inner landscapes. She has authored six books of poetry and edited two anthologies on climate change, with her latest Sahitya Akademi-published collection dedicated to the Earth. Her work has earned major international recognition, including the Jayanta Mahapatra National Award for Literature (2024), Proverse Prize (Hong Kong), Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize, and multiple honours in 2025 from Brew Poetry, SFPA, and Manoa. Widely published, she is an influential voice in contemporary poetry.
Bhuban Patra
Bhuban Patra is an author by choice and a traveller by instinct. Born in Balasore and raised in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, his storytelling journey began not in classrooms but while exploring forgotten monuments, fading histories, and quiet landscapes rich with memory. What started as a travel blog on Odisha's overlooked heritage evolved into fiction where places speak and silence carries meaning. His debut works Lotus Land and Where is Ekamra were widely acclaimed--Lotus Land shortlisted for the Oxford Bookstore Cover Prize and Where is Ekamra named among the Top 100 Debut Novels of 2019. Through historical, mythological, and contemporary fiction, Bhuban explores identity, transformation, and belonging. By day, he works in senior management at a multinational company; by night, he crafts stories shaped by journeys and memory.
Together, these ten thought leaders and their defining works stand as a testament to the power of ideas that endure beyond the moment. In a time marked by noise and rapid consumption, their books invite readers to pause, reflect, and think more deeply about the choices shaping our collective future.
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