Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World's Greatest Business Case for Compassion

When a crippling disease shattered his lifelong ambition, Dr. Venkataswamy (better known as Dr. V) chose an impossible new dream: to cure the world of blindness. The tiny clinic he founded in India defied conventional business logic and is now the largest provider of eye care on the planet. At Aravind, patients choose whether to pay or not. Millions are treated for free, yet the organization remains stunningly self-reliant. Serving everyone from penniless farmers to the president, it delivers world-class outcomes at a hundredth of what similar services cost providers in advanced nations. Its model is emulated by organizations everywhere from Rwanda to San Francisco.

Drawing inspiration from spirituality, and of all things, fast food franchises, Dr.V and his team (which now includes 21 ophthalmologists across three generations of his family) have created a global phenomenon. Infinite Vision is the first book to probe Aravind's history for the distinctive practices and values that unleashed its improbable success. It reveals the power of a model that integrates innovation with empathy, service with business principles, and inner change with outer transformation. It shows how choices that seem naïve or unworkable, can, when executed with wisdom and integrity, yield powerful results - results that light the eyes of millions.