Madan Birla is a veteran of the “hard” side of business. In his 22 years at FedEx, he was Managing Director of Long-Range Operations and Facilities Planning, and Materials and Resource Planning before being appointed as the Managing Director of the company’s Leadership Institute. He served eight years as a key member of the Long Range Planning Committee, where he worked closely with Fred Smith (founder & CEO of FedEx), and the organization’s senior management in evaluating strategic ‘what-ifs’
Madan’s life experiences in the rich cultures of the east as well as the west, and his broad educational background prepared him well to creatively meld ideas from the worlds of engineering, business and psychology to develop a comprehensive model of ‘Leading for Innovation’
He received his Master of Science degree in industrial engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, Illinois. After graduating from IIT, he joined RCA Records in Indianapolis. During his time in Indianapolis, he did graduate work in business at Butler University. Later, when he moved to Memphis and joined FedEx, he received a Master of Science degree in counseling from the University of Memphis. Madan is a regular speaker at the executive education programs at Kellogg Management Institute, Northwestern; Tuck Business School, Dartmouth; American Management Association; The Conference Board; Indian School of Business; Singapore Institute of Management and other prestegious educational institutions.
Ever an active volunteer, Madan led a massive effort to establish the Indian Community Fund for Greater Memphis that has funded several permanent cultural exhibits, including the Gandhi exhibit at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
So far, Madan has authored three books which have been received with great enthusiasm by readers in the business community and other professional arenas:
Unleashing Creativity and Innovation: Nine Lessons from Nature for Enterprise Growth and Career Success
Wiley Publishing, October 2013
FedEx Delivers: How the World’s Leading Shipping Company Keeps Innovating and Outperforming the Competition
John Wiley and Sons, 2005; Translated into Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and other languages!
Balanced Life and Leadership Excellence: A Nurturing Relationship
Balance Group, July 1997