Last week, I was in Mumbai to meet with and interview Radhika Gupta, the CEO of mutual-fund company Edelweiss Asset Management.

I met Radhika at the 10th floor offices of Edelweiss in Kalina, Mumbai. On a rainy morning filled with grey skies, the view towards the southeast side was filled with piles of concrete girders and colourful gantry cranes, mobile cranes, piling rigs, and excavators. Work on a section of the Mumbai Metro and the high-speed bullet train corridor were going on right next to each other. Behind all of the construction were rows of gleaming corporate buildings, all part of the Bandra Kurla Complex. I felt like I was observing a cross-section of a transforming city.

I’m fascinated by how entrepreneurs and business leaders “see” the world. Because inevitably, each one sees the markets, competitors, rules, and opportunities around them uniquely. Some see disruptive opportunities where their rivals see overcompetition. Others see undefined consumer needs that even consumers haven’t been able to verbalise. So I asked Radhika, what did she “see” first when looking at a business landscape. Did she first see the rules and the constraints? Or did she see the opportunities that exist? Which ones did her eyes naturally settle on? And which ones did she instinctively focus on before deciding what to do?

“This is an interesting question to ask someone in a highly-regulated industry (like mutual funds). I respect regulations a ton. I am the daughter of a bureaucrat, so I think I have a slightly different point of view on government than most people do. Because I believe it is an enabler. So I try to see opportunities and solutions, and then work with policy to make it work. And I’ve had enough examples in my career, where I believe that if you can put a compelling argument in front of someone, you can get policy changed to make it work, Bharat Bonds being the best example. So I always like to start with the free world, apply constraints, but also know that constraints can be changed and rationalised,” she replied. 

Radhika then went on to explain constraints-first thinking using the example of the mutual fund industry.

“But I must tell you, especially in the early years, it would drive me crazy when I would hear people say, ‘industry mein toh aise hi hota hain na, rule aise hain’ (in our industry that’s how it’s done, because the rules are like that).” 

What does that mean?