The Career Edge – The Unwritten Rules of Success

Kaushik Mitra’s The Career Edge blends stories and strategy, showing how trust, resilience, and collaboration shape lasting career success.

on Sep 09, 2025

The Career Edge – The Unwritten Rules of Success

Kaushik Mitra, Vice President & CFO of PepsiCo India, brings three decades of global corporate wisdom into his debut book The Career Edge: The Unwritten Rules of Success. Far from being another heavy management textbook, this work reads like a conversation with a mentor who has walked the walk, stumbled, learned, and then succeeded across industries and continents.

At its core, the book revolves around three interconnected themes—self-development, collaboration, and resilience—but Mitra threads them together with one powerful, recurring idea: trust. He coins the concept of a “trust account,” urging professionals to consciously invest in credibility during the first ninety days of any role. This, he argues, compounds over time into smoother execution, faster decisions, and stronger results.

What makes The Career Edge stand out is its balance between storytelling and strategy. Mitra draws on experiences from his early days in Kolkata, his years leading diverse teams in Asia, and his current role in India’s fast-moving consumer sector. He candidly shares lessons from missteps—like seeking acceptance at the cost of sound judgment—making the narrative authentic rather than prescriptive.

The book also weaves in compelling case studies and industry references. From Falguni Nayar’s transparent leadership at Nykaa to Arundhati Bhattacharya’s bold reforms at SBI, Mitra highlights how trust and clarity drive transformation. He backs these insights with research, showing how high-trust companies consistently outperform their peers on shareholder returns and operational efficiency.

The tone is pragmatic, almost conversational, and peppered with anecdotes that any professional can relate to—navigating demanding bosses, adapting communication across cultures, or handling the pressures of delivering results. Each chapter closes with takeaways that are less “theoretical models” and more actionable nudges, ready to be applied the very next day.

Why You Should Read It

For young professionals: A survival manual that decodes the unspoken rules of corporate life.
For mid-career leaders: Tools to sharpen collaboration and resilience in high-stakes environments.
For senior executives: A reminder that trust, not titles, drives sustainable impact.

Frontlist Take

At Frontlist, we see The Career Edge as more than just a career guide—it’s a mirror reflecting the evolving demands of the modern workplace. In an age where professionals juggle uncertainty, global competition, and digital disruption, Mitra’s call for building trust, resilience, and adaptability feels urgent and timely. His narrative proves that careers aren’t built only on ambition, but on credibility and relationships that stand the test of time. For our readers—authors, publishers, and professionals alike—this book is a reminder that the unwritten rules often matter more than the written ones.

Verdict: A must-read playbook for anyone serious about building a fulfilling and sustainable career.