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driven organizations. On the other side of the coin, IPRs are the best chance for a
smaller organization to catapult itself to a much larger scale.
Dewang helped to squarely define piracy as a crime, thus introducing at least a
perceptual shift that treats the issue with the seriousness it deserves.
He promoted ideas of corporate governance and ethical norms, the cornerstones
of NASSCOM’s core philosophy. And he practiced what he preached. He politely
but firmly declined several offers of company directorships, because doing so
would dilute NASSCOM’s credibility as a non-partisan industry representative.
He could teach media professionals a few things about media management. On the
one hand, he gave the media highly quotable copy and sound bites. On the other,
he maintained personal contact and fed them with information and commentary.
He had the knack of feeding “exclusives” to multiple media persons at the same time.
He used the oldest trick of the trade—he helped them do a better job.
He could always be counted on to give a very quotable topical comment. Whether
it was the latest movement on the BSE or NASDAQ, a new technology
development, newly released statistics or even exchange rates, Dewang would find
something interesting to say about it. This gave him the ability to ride trends and extract
frequent exposure value.
Dewang had cultivated the mental ability to switch between creativity and fact-
based logic at will. This combination is why he could take outrageous risks, innovate
