The Edge

Editorial Developing Socially Responsible Managers

Editorial Board Mrs. Malvika Rai Ms. Sapna Popli Mr. George Skaria Ms. Shruti Jolly Ms. Shipra Jain

Published by IILM Institute for Higher Education 3, Lodhi Institutional Area, Lodhi Road New Delhi-110003 Phone: 011-40934365 Email: edge@iilm.edu Printed by Arnav Print Private Limited B 2/1, Okhla Industrial Area,Phase - 2, New Delhi - 110020, India

At a time and age when enterprises are increasingly seen as critical components of the social system, they are accountable not merely to their shareholders from a revenue and profitability perspective but also to the larger society which is also its stakeholder. Hence, adoption of responsible business practices in the interest of the social set-up and the environment are as vital as their financial and operational performance. This is all the more relevant for listed entities which, considering the fact that they have accessed funds from the public, have an element of public interest involved, and are obligated to make exhaustive continuous disclosures on a regular basis.

The faculty and management at IILM have made a concerted effort towards organizing lectures, seminars and events to plant and nurture the seeds of socially responsible management practices among the budding future managers. As a management institute we hope to be able to drive the agenda of responsible management in our students. Ethics or simple honesty is the building blocks upon which our whole society is based, and business is a part of our society, and it’s integral to the practice of being able to conduct business, that you have a set of honest standards. It is essential for managers to understand the impact of business decisions on the stakeholders-customers, investors, government, employees. For a corporate to be sustainable it is imperative to create value for all key stakeholders, responsible management practices are a key to achieve this goal.

As a part of our endeavor IILM hosted the First International Conference on Responsible Management Education and Practice at our campus. The event was highly acclaimed and attended by academics from leading business schools, senior corporate executives and social sector representatives. The conference was supported by PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education), a United Nations Global Compact initiative. The convergence of industry, management educationists and social sector development experts helped students get perspectives through different lenses. The issues highlighted during the Conference covered all aspects of Responsible Management Education and Practice, and its impact on competitive advantage, ethical practices, building sustainable business and training and sensitization for responsible management. The aim of this initiative was to highlight the areas where action can be initiated in education sector, social sector and corporate sector for effective orientation to Responsible Management Education and Practice. In order to nurture the spirit of responsible and ethical business practices, students are encouraged to organize and participate in events and to implement their learning’s.

Shruti Jolly Assistant Professor, Marketing

Edge

The

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Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture by G. Venkataraman

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Mani Shankar Aiyar Presides Over the Convocation of IILM

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Class of 2013: An Ode to Farewell

Confluence of Industry, Academia and Social Sector Leaders at IILM

Contents IN-HOUSE MAGAZINE FOR LIMITEd CIRCULATION

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IILM Founder’s Day Lecture by Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai

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Hope Behind the Hype

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Enhancing Workplace Learning: Role of Coaching and Mentoring

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Baltic Cruise: A Lesson in Management Practice

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What is Creativity and Who Gets It?

44 48 52 54 58 59 63

Higher FDI In Retail: To Be Or Not To Be?

Exclusive interview with Thomas Chandy Ifest 2013 Voices of Militant Debaters Campus Events Alumni Lunch Guest Lectures by Our Alumni Alumni Speak

Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture by G. Venkataraman

Prof. G. Venkataraman & Prof. Sapna Popli at the Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial lecture

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t the outset, I would like to offer my humble pranams at the lotus feet of Bhagwan Satya Sai Baba because of whose grace we all are here today. I am very grateful to the Director for the kind introduction and let me greet all of you starting with Mrs. . Kulwant Rai and the distinguished guests while not forgetting Anil Rai whose persuasion brought me here to Delhi.

I am really grateful to be here today. I will talk about growth, stability and order, and their role in shaping the future of humanity. Planners, by that I mean economic planners, have only one mantra these days which is the development that can only come through the growth

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of GDP. I am not too sure that this assumption is correct. I am entitled to my skepticism because I am not an economist and being a physicist I would like to examine this in relative propositions through the prism of nature and its loss. I do this because Swami always said that nature is the best teacher and when he says it I will take it very seriously.

I am going to talk about something all of you may not have bothered about much which is the height of the mountains. I don’t know how many you have wonder why there are no mountains higher than Everest. There are mountains higher than Everest in moon but not on earth. Why is that?

A very distinguish physicist name Witro Wisecoff whose name will come up again later.

I asked these questions to high school students many years ago when they came for a visit to SUN the laboratory in Switzerland, where the Higgs Bozone was discovered. I don’t know whether I will have the time to explain all of it, but the essence is very simple. You know the mountain will exert the weight on the ground that is below it.

The bigger the mountain and higher the mountain, the more weight will it exert. If the mountain is too tall, the pressure is so much that the ground beneath will get hot and it will melt. The moment it melts, the mountain will start sinking. So there is a sought of limit and there is a

tussle between growth and stability. f the mountain has to be stable, it cannot grow more than a point and that is the first lesson we get from the nature.

I want to now make slightly different point and this I will do by going to next slide, which shows a rainforest. There are many kinds of rainforests. Temperate rainforest is one of them and tropical rainforest is another.

Let us say that we take tropical rainforest. The slide shows a couple of trees growing in a tropical rainforest and a whole lot of physics is connected to how tall a tree can grow. It is connected with, what you call, how much sunlight it will get especially for lower leaves and lower level. But we do look at the growth of trees in forest and you cannot discuss it as isolated tree. The tree belongs to a forest, the height to which it grows is determined by everything in the forest. Believe it or not, it includes everything from bacteria Prof. G. Venkataraman, Former Vice to soil, to animals, birds, snakes Chancellor, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning and insects. The Darwin’s law of the fittest operates on species on a very large time scale of a hundreds and thousands of years. But if you take a shorter time scale, say ten thousand years or so, the forest grows in such a manner that there is a harmony in overall growth. The lion may eat the deer, but the nature maintains overall balance along with everyone to take but they must also give. In other words, there is generally no free lunch.

I stress this point because these days economies seem to suggest

Stability along with indefinite growth is not possible. That’s what we have learnt from the mountains.

You can’t have a mountain as high as you want.

a winner take all approach. Recently, there was an interview by a Goldman Sachs representative with Farid Zakaria talking about inequity in America and the Goldman Sachs chief said, “ Farid, these days, winner believes he is entirely to take all from the people suffer and we have to worry about them.” All that is crocodile shedding tears and the I think the crocodile will lose in this case.

Now to get back to the forest: it is an entire ecosystem and every single entity has to exist in harmony with the entire ecosystem. Stated differently, the growth of every constituent element in the ecosystem has to be consistent with the sustainability of the system as whole.

Incidentally, nature has taken care of this in the forest where there is a hardwearing of all the species that exists in the rain forest, but if you take planet earth as a whole, we occupy a lot of the landmass and nature has not hardwired us. Nature has given us a brain and a budhi and we are supposed to be in harmony with the rest of the eco system. But we are not and that is where all the problem comes. If we were in harmony then there will be no need for me to come here and give this lecture.

Now, let me talk about order in nature. So far I have been talking about this tussle between growth and sustainability and I would like to talk about order.

The word order is used in physics in a number of ways; but I will consider only the macro

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order and within that the positional order and magnetic order.

It turns out that I can discuss both constituently with the help of one example, but before that I want you to understand what I mean by potential order.

Let me look at the next slide.

This is supposed to be a cross section of the sun; I have taken the sun to show a physical system where there is potential order. Sun is a star and there are many kinds of stars. The simplest star which probably was a kind that existed about hundred thousand years after the universe was born, which was about 13.8 million years ago. At the beginning, there was no star, but the first star was formed hundred thousand years after the universe was born and they were born when there was enough hydrogen and gas. In these stars, there was helium burning stars. Hydrogen consists of a proton and an electron

but because of high temperature they break apart and all these protons are moving widely. The electrons were moving widely, so you have absolute randomness and that is because of very great heat which is caused by hydrogen burning.

When I say burning it is not like burning a flame, it is nuclear burning where hydrogen came together to form a helium. It is a very complex process but the heat released is 10,000 times what you get in a chemical reaction. The temperature of sun would be a million degrees very easily and that that time matter tear apart and there is disorder.

So the points to note are that temperature is very high and there is no positional order. The take home lesson is that at high speed that positional order is impossible.

Now let us look at the next three slides. This shows a slide of quartz. The beautiful thing

is that it has got faces and long ago, atoms were physically discovered under the microscope and all those atoms must be raised in lattices otherwise you will not get these faces. But now you can grow quartz in laboratory also and people can collect these kinds of quartz from nature. Let us now see the next slide. Here you have a crystal of silicon.

Now this doesn’t have faces because it was grown in a machine. The next slide will give you on to it. This shows a slide of silicon crystal. This would be roughly 20 centimeters across.

When the silicon structure is given to carbon it becomes diamond. Therefore this structure is called a diamond structure.

Germanium, silicon and carbon all have this structure but when the carbon adds it more valuable. By the way, carbon has another structure which is called graphite. So it can become very inexpensive or expensive depending on the mood and incidentally in nature.

Now I would like to discuss ion.

We started with molten ion and as we lower the temperature it freezes. This happens in a factory where they melt ion. The ion pours out and ultimately solidifies. That solidification takes place when temperature comes down below 1538 degree centigrade. Today, the outside temperature is something like 22 degrees. 1538 degree C is when ion freezes.

Mr. Anand Rai and Prof. G. Venkataraman

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The story does not stop here because every atom of ion is

like a time magnet that is connected with the internal electronic structure. Now the magnet as you know has got the North Pole and South Pole. So, now the question is, as soon as you melt the ion and ion freezes there are all these magnets and all the arrows are pointing in one way or they are pointing at random directions.

The answer is given in the next slide. Yes, so here are the arrows that represent the Ion atom.

These are at 777 degree centigrade at this temperature atoms are at lattice but the arrows that they carry are pointing in different directions. So there is no magnetic order. But if you cool it below that then the magnets, its like the period, you know when they say attention, everybody stand still till then at least this order shuffle here and there. So this are atoms at least they are in parade but they are relaxed.

Commander shouts attention.

This happens below certain temperature called curie temperature. So there is magnetic ordering. One interesting question can be asked & that has got fall out for a message for us that is given in the next slide. Supposing I take Ion at this temperature, no no, previous slide, hold it there. Supposing it keep it above the curie temperature about that means it is a solid but is disordered & now I bring a very strong magnetic field then they all are in order. Its like you know a country with the dictatorship, people can be chaotic but if emergency is imposed, it’s a bad word here, I know then people will become ordered.

Everybody will come to office at time & so on & so forth. So, very often we keep wishing for emergency, but nature say yes I also have but then there is a force required to keep people in ordered state much better than they become self-organized.

Now let me review quickly all the lessons we have learnt from nature. So let me go to the next slide.

This is the first lesson: stability along with indefinite growth is not possible. That’s what we have learnt from the mountains.

You can’t have mountain as high as you want. By the way, there is a star called neutron star, its size is only 20 km but the density is something like for one cubic centimeter of the neutron star, the material will be a million tons and Mount Everest on the neutron star will be about 270 metres high. That’s all. So when people say that indefinite growth is possible, I would say

it’s false dogma; it is bad as being superstitious. If they call a villager superstitious, I will call a free market economist equally superstitious.

The second lesson is that Spontaneous Ordering always occurs at the lower temperature. Order can be achieved at a higher temperature also but then it calls for an external force; military dictatorship emergency call it what you like, but then you know after well it’s difficult.

So, it’s not a good option.

The next lesson is that in an ecosystem, nature maintains overall balance i.e. all members of eco club receive, but they also give back each individual species in its own way. In other words, an eco-system is like a symphony orchestra. They all play their parts and create the whole music. So far the ecosystem has never been disturbed by any species of nature other

Members of the audience at the Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture

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Knowledge is combined with selflessness. You get love and care, shared prosperity and stability.

Selflessness promotes compassion.

Compassion on a large scale results in a win-win game.

than humans. We came last and we are the trouble makers. So this brings us on to human society. Not many people realise that we human are very recent, as recent as a hundred thousand years ago. It is said that humans went out from Africa and in this process, they mixed with other species and many races came into existence. But the most interesting fact is that progress of human started nearly about 10,000 years ago after animals were domesticated and agriculture was discovered. That was a turning point because till then the food had to be got from nature. But once agriculture was discovered humans could produce food under controlled conditions. That was the turning point along with the discovery of the wheel and the fire. So in 10,000 years we have progress very fast. But recently somewhere something seems to go wrong and we are in a mess This is a friend of mine while addressing the American Asso-

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ciation for the Advancement of Science many years ago made a very profound statement. He said that human existence is based upon two pillars: compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective and knowledge without compassion is inhumane. Now a villager has got a lot of compassion, I see a lot of them in villages. But what can they do in a complex society of today. On the other hand, knowledge without compassion is inhumane. The case of nuclear weapons is one example; cyber-crime is not so great in terms of global damage but again that is also not acceptable. Obviously, society must have both the pillars. Greed on a large scale results in a zerosum game. I will ask you read to read the book written by Robert Ryke, who was the Secretary for Labor in the Clinton administration; he is now a professor in the University of California.

The book is called Super Capitalism. Essentially he says that around the 1970s, the average

Americans became hyper individualistic and greedy. Greed on a large scale results in a winner takes all approach. For the word selfishness, Swami used the Telugu word Swartham.

There is disaster f you look at the entire climate change negotiation in the world. It is driven by self-interest and selfishness of countries or groups of countries. Meanwhile, the planet is sold, drained in the toilet, or whatever it is. What about the alternatives?

Knowledge is combined with selflessness. You get love and care, shared prosperity and stability. Selflessness promotes compassion. Compassion on a large scale results in a win-win game. In turn, this leads to utopia. Swami’s life is an example of combining knowledge with selflessness and self-interest.

If you look at these universities it is school of knowledge but it is value centric. At the end of the day, if students don’t have character this education has no meaning.

Look at the water projects by Swami; the Madras water project was originally done as the Krishna drinking water scheme.

It was launched in 1985 in Madras with Mrs. . Gandhi presiding and two chief ministers agreeing to the project. On his own Swami decided to redo the project and use technology and also introduced a new film imported from Austria so that there is no seepage from that canal. Unlike the Indira Gandhi Canal, a lot of water was seeping out.

Today, we think that if we grow rich we can get everything. Sadly this is not true and I am not saying this. Professor Michael Sandal of Harvard University has written a book, ‘What Money Can’t Buy’. It is about how the market is into all sorts of spaces, including spaces which used to be public. He says that the American stock of moral values is low.

Now I would like to conclude with the reference to Dr. Kulwant Rai and pay my own homage. When he came to Prashanti Nagar at Vrindavan, we used to sit on chairs and wait for Swami to come out. The building was transformed and the open space is now covered by a great amphitheatre hich is called Sai Kulwant Hall. It is the same Sai Kulwant Rai Hall where people come from all over the world. It is a reflection of the good work that Dr. Rai did.

described this as the mantra for success of the youth in various facets of life.

In this memorial lecture dedicated to the theme, “Empowering Youth”, Prof. Sandeep Sancheti (former Director, NIT, Delhi) cited the example of a dinosaur while pointing out that this species became extinct because they did not change with times. He further mentioned that “the youth today need to change their outlook as well as their way of functioning. At the same time, they should have confidence in their abilities and inculcate a habit for learning something new”. Emphasizing the significance of empowerment, Prof. Sancheti said the youth must listen to all views with a good degree of positive

thoughts, but they must take their decision with their own confidence. Leadership was also essential for empowerment, for which the youth must dream big and develop the ability to work as a team and take independent decisions with transparency.

Prof. Sancheti chose this theme as he noticed that Dr. Kulwant Rai’s abiding passion was education. This lecture was organized on the day of the Fourth National Education Day as this happens to be 125th Birth Anniversary of freedom fighter Maulana Azad.

The guest and other dignitaries paid homage to Dr. Kulwant Rai by offering garlands to his photograph.

(Edited Excerpts)

Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial lecture at IILM, Jaipur The 3rd Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture was organised at the IILM Campus on 11th November 2013 in a befitting manner in joint collaboration with Banyan Tree School, Jaipur.

Eminent educationist and President of Manipal University, Jaipur, Prof. (Dr.) Sandeep Sancheti called upon the youths to bring about a change in themselves with the changing times for improving their work etiquette and quality of life. He

Prof. (Dr.) Sandeep Sancheti at the Dr. Kulwant Rai Memorial Lecture held at IILM, Jaipur

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Mani Shankar Aiyar Presides Over the Convocation of IILM T he annual convocation ceremony of IILM Institute for Higher Education was held on July 31st 2013 at IILM, Lodhi Road. Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member of Parliament, presided over the convocation and awarded Certificates of Merit to the students.

More than 350 students graduated from IILM this year.

Mrs. Malvika Rai, Chairperson, IILM Institute for Higher Education, presented Dr. the Kulwant Rai Gold and Silver med-

als to the meritorious students as well as to the overall performers.

Dr. Kulwant Rai Silver Medal for securing overall performance in academic and Cocurricular activities in the Post Graduate Program 2013 was awarded to Aastha Gupta in Lodhi Road Campus, Urvashi Nandrajog in Gurgaon Campus, Aniket Chakraborty-College of Management Studies Campus. The Dr. Kulwant Rai Gold Medal for overall Academic

Ms. Urvashi Nandrajog receiving the Dr. Kulwant Rai Silver Medal

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Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar, Member Of Parliament

Excellence at the Post Graduate Diploma in Management of College of Management Studies was awarded to Pawan Kumar.

Recipient of the Dr. Kulwant Rai Gold Medal for overall Academic Excellence at the Post Graduate Programme in Management of IILM Institute for Higher Ed-

Mr. Aniket Chakraborty receiving the Dr. Kulwant Rai Silver Medal

ucation was awarded to Ojaswi Gupta.

Sapna Popli, Director & Executive Dean, IILM Institute for Higher Education said, “Our aim in the last two years has been to maximize the learning value-add in the time that the student spends with us, both in class and outside class through a strong student-faculty bonding. We have made efforts to engage industry more actively in the programme by means of visiting professors from industry, curriculum seminars and adding a number of our alumni and recruiters on our board.

The curriculum for the current batch has been developed on an integrated organizational perspective orienting students towards an organizational setup from day one.”

Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar found his calling in politics after 27 years of service to the nation

as one of its outstanding career Foreign Service Officers who carved a name for himself, especially when he worked closely with the late Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi from 1985-89. He has written several books, including Pakistan Papers in 1994 and Remembering Rajiv in 1992, and has edited a four-volume publication in 1997, Rajiv Gandhi’s India. His more recent publications include Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist and A Time of Transition: Rajiv Gandhi to the 21st Century. Today, Mr. Mani Shankar is a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, a prolific columnist and a popular television commentator. He is a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee.

Mr. Aiyar delivered the Convocation address and congratulated the outgoing students after they received their diplomas.

Ms. Ojaswi Gupta receiving the Dr. Kulwant Rai Gold Medal

Speech by Mani Shankar Aiyar I begin by extending my warmest congratulations to all those who did not get gold and silver medals and certificates on the stage. And special congratulations to those who won the certificates and medals today.

All of you have a very bright future. You have taken the first giant step in joining the elite.

The ladder of your success has started this evening and some of you may reach the top faster than others. Today, you have embarked on becoming some of the most successful citizens of this country. On this occasion, may I appeal that today’s unsuccessful India needs you.

If you concentrate excessively on yourselves, you do yourself a great deal good but I don’t know if you do good as a citizen.

I recommend that you consider yourself meritorious, but most meritorious students of our society who haven’t succeeded in

Mr. Pawan Kumar receiving the Dr. Kulwant Rai Gold Medal

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Graduating Students with IILM faculty members at the Convocation Ceremony

ensuring a decent level of living for most of the people lead a most successful life. While it is true that what you have is because of your ability, don’t forget that your ability itself is the consequence of the woman, from which you were born. If you are born to an average family in India, you’ll be suffering from malnutrition at the age of 5 years. There will not be enough iodine in your food, so your brain will not be developed the way it should have been; and given the rate of maternal mortality and infant mortality in our country, it is lucky that you are alive at all and even luckier if your mother is still with you.

In these circumstances, I think it is the moment when one gets everything that one want. And the silver spoon that was put in your mouth when you were born has to be turned to gold today and should be used not

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only to feed yourself but also to feed others. There is very little that an individual can do to feed others. And even if you can feed one lakh people, there will still be 1.2 billion unfed people.

So, it cannot be in the realm of personal charity that you make your best contribution. My only advice to the students who chose to go to the corporate world is that you forget about corporate social responsibilities; just ensure that you pay your taxes first.

The reason why we have to define poverty in India is because of the consumption and not in terms of the income is that the best estimates available show that as we have some idea as to what our GDP is. The poorest tend to hide their income in order to continue to be below the poverty line and those above the poverty line tend to

find heavens in islands of Kenya and Mauritius and so forth.

So, you are going to spend a great deal of your life trying to discover where the bottom line is because the bottom line is to be found in Switzerland and not in the accounts that your certify.

I really think that Rai family has made a huge mistake by inviting me to deliver this convocation. You should have invited my brother. I’m deeply concerned. My brother has invited all of us to applaud the fact that 138 million more Indians than ever before have been pulled out of poverty. That I think they have been pulled from the front of the durwan in front of the well known business houses and corporate offices at Nariman Point and taken to the 27th floor of their private residence.

It doesn’t matter whether you enjoyed Rs 1/- a meal with Fa-

rooq Abdullah or you enjoyed Rs 5/- a meal with Rasheed Masood or with Raj Babbar at Rs12/- a meal. The days when I used to have girlfriends, the favourite song that we had was, “a banana shake for my baby and a glass of water for me”.

It doesn’t matter at which point you draw this poverty line, there will always be people just below that line and there always be people just above that line.

So, poverty radiation consists of pulling those who are on the other side of the threshold on to this side of the threshold. And if you asked any one of those 138 million, their standard answer is, “Kya main garib nahin hoon?” If you give them a BPL card, there would be someone in the Planning Commission saying, “leakage, wastage”. This is what these politians are doing.

When we have the BPL card, I’m not sure if Mrs. Rai or my wife is trying to make a BPL card because we are so far above from wherever you wish to draw the poverty line that there is no question of wanting to get that card. But for those who were yesterday at the consumption of Rs 26/- and today as a result of being at the rate of consumption of Rs 28/-, are going to be denied all access to public services, why should we confess to some chap who is wandering with a bouquet in his hand.

There is a colleague of mine, who became a minister of statistics and suddenly under his charge, our poverty rate has reduced to 12% and when we inquired about how you have achieved this, he turned the 54th national survey round, where they asked people what did they eat last week? By the

simple technique of changing the question, to what did you eat last month, it succeeded in reducing the poverty rate by 12%.

So, his writing was absolutely right when he said, “lies, damn lies, and statistics.” You can wish to prove anything if you wish to remain in the abstract world of figures and my invitation is to you is to go beyond these figures to the people who are representatives of these figures.

At that point you will discover that perhaps the greatest infliction on the poor of India is the concept of a singular line, and I don’t care where you draw it, which is called the poverty line.

The fact of the matter is, you ask a chaprasi who failed to get into your course, and he”ll tell you that few people are very poor and few are poor and few are probably poor, and few were probably poor and always have the fear that they might again

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be poor if they lost their jobs or met an accident or any family member fell sick.

This is what my friend Dr Arjun Sengupta, in his remarkable paper that he prepared in 2007, did. He categorized the poor, if not the rich, into four categories.

He said that there are these extremely poor, bit poor, the marginally poor, and the vulnerable.

will immediately tumble back to fall below the poverty line.

He also came up with the percentage below the poverty line of 77% of Indians and the statisticians of the Planning Commission went wild with this and rubbished it. They said, this figure is actually 62%. But the reality on the ground is that these are the people who do not believe that they are on the trajec-

Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar delivering his speech at the convocation ceremony

The first three categories were below the then poverty line, which was one parity power dollar and then he doubled that one dollar to two dollars and all those between one and two dollars fall under the vulnerable category because these are the people who have serious illness in his family, or the bread winner has met an accident or the bread winner loses his job and

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From the 12th Plan document, the reference I get of Gujarat says that in the state of Gujarat where there is less than 2% of the tribal population, the share of tribals in the displaced population is 76%. These are the kind of people who are kicked off from the trajectory of the globe.

At least they got clean drinking water from the rivers that ran through their forest. They

Big smiles on the graduating students

tory of the globe. In fact many of them believe that they have been pushed out of the trajectory. For example, 8% of the Indian population is tribal. But if you look at the share of the tribals with the displaced persons nationwide, it comes to a staggering figure of 55%. In the name of development, dams or mines or SEZs are being built on the land of these 55% people.

managed to collect some twigs and leaves for cooking medium at home. They eat berries or red ants and survived and most of them tended to work on their own plots or on land that belong to their community, They lived among people who spoke the same language, danced the same way, and drank mohuya in the evening. They had a life of their own. It is now finished. It

is not only that you take away their homes, but you take away their lives, their livelihood, their culture, gods and all other things.

So, when I was your age, it was regarded as a truism that development is desirable; now we have large number of Indians who say development is not desirable. It is disruptive and they

have been supplied guns by the Naxalites. We spend more and more money on khaki shorts and send these poor devils to the forests where they get ambushed and killed and for two days Arnab Goswami can’t stop talking about Naxals and the third day there is some other scandal and we follow Arnab Goswami like a bumble bee from one flower to another to

another and never wait to find out what happened to the CWG. This is where we need to be serious about the issues being written. This higher growth has certainly generated higher revenues because this has been accompanied by lower taxes. And higher growth and lower taxes generate greater revenues because if you keep the taxes sufficiently low, the people who pay the taxes say, okay, we’ll give you some, but don’t take it away. This is blackmailing.

You have to keep the taxes as low as possible so that salary is paid simple. Then we have the system of distributing the revenues. What we do is, we have to give a stimulus to our economy. So, in the last five years, we have forgiven tax revenue of Rs 25 lakh crore. A stimulus to the economy, we have left this sum in the pockets of richest engines and strongly object to graceful social sector and poverty elimination programmes. They take up Rs 2 lakh crore. How will you keep the budget in place? It is the stimulus for the rich versus subsidy for the poor.

I’m giving this lecture to you because you are entering this new world where you’ll pass the glass doors opened by the darwans and you enter the AC offices and then the boardroom where you’ll make rich people richer. Do that because as Adam Smith say, if you make rich people richer, some invisible hand will make it better for everybody. And who am I to challenge Adam Smith? While you are making rich people richer,

If you make rich people richer, some invisible hand will make it better for everybody spare a thought that prevail for those who might as much like to make rich people richer have not been able to enter those glass doors because they are standing outside begging. That is what is meant by compassion.

This education that you have received here and in your schools, have fully equipped your mind to deal with issues that you wish to deal with. If you want to make your entire life dedicated to the bottom line of your bosses company, do so. But I do hope that the same talents that has brought you to this institution and which will crown your efforts with huge success, if you could use your same talent to atleast to think about those who are less lucky than you, will be the first practical step to compassion and will enable you to discover that corporate social responsibility consists not in making huts for the poor but paying your taxes.

Thank you and best wishes to all.

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CLASS OF 2013: AN ODE TO FAREWELL Don’t be dismayed at goodbyes, a farewell is necessary before you can meet again and meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends. – Richard Bach

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e bid goodbye to the fifteenth batch of the IILM family. Welcome to the fifteenth annual convocation ceremony of the IILM undergraduate business school. This ceremony is a cultural tradition that is considered a right to passage. The ceremony marks as a transition of a student’s life from one stage to the other. IILM Under Graduate School of Management is not just a business school, it looks beyond formal education. Since its inception, it has aimed at enhancing the lifetime employability of its students. Holistic development, in addition to development of mental, physical, and spiritual skills relevant for life- time career goals is its ultimate objective.

On the 18th of November 2013 the whole passing batch gathered yet again dressed in finery and splendor of a tradition that stretches back over a thousand years, to receive their degree certificate. The chief guest for the ceremony was Professor Jon Reast.

Professor Shuchi Agarwal lit the ceremonial lamp after the academic procession was seated followed by Saraswati Vandana. After this the dean gave a speech welcoming all the students, parents, guest and the chief guest. Following that our chief guest, Professor Jon Reast gave an opening speech in which he declared the graduation ceremony open. Professor Reast is the Dean of Bradford University School of Manage-

ment. Prior to working at Bradford University Professor Reast was Head of Department and Director of the Centre for Marketing Innovations and Applications at Hull University Business School (UK), and Director of Marketing MSc Programmes at Leeds University Business School (UK).

Just after this Dr. Deborah Allcock addressed the audienced.

She is a BA (Hons) Business Studies graduate and holds a post graduate diploma in Research Methods for Business and Social Sciences and a Further and Adult Education Teachers’ Certificate. Dr. Allcock was awarded a scholarship to undertake her PhD in Corporate Governance and Executive Pay, which was awarded in 2007. She has also published in world-renowned academic journals and had been an invited to be an author for The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Governance. As part of her further contribution to the academic community, Dr. Deborah utilizes her expertise to regularly review academic journal articles and book proposals within her field.

Dr Allcock in her speech thanked everyone to give her the privilege to be part of the

Shreeja Kumar, recipient of Silver Medal

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IILM family and said that she was very honored to forward the degree to all the graduating students. She even addressed the students saying that they should feel proud that they are going to be awarded their degree in the presence of their loved ones, their teachers and all the fellow students with whom they spent three years of their life. Dr. Deborah stressed on the fact that this partnership Bradford University and IILM has, has provided all students, all the benefits of an international degree right in their hometown. She even focused on the fact that this college has taught them much more than academics. She even congratulated all the students a bright success.

The Dean of the Under Graduate Programme, then requested the chief guest to award certificates to students. Following this, Mrs. Malvika Rai, chairperson, awarded meritorious students with their medals and certificates of honor for overall

excellence in academic and cocurricular activities. The Dean, University of Bradford, also awarded students with a special prize for the best project from the graduating year. This concluded the award of degrees and medals and cleared the decks for Mr. Reast’s convocation address.

And with this we all bid farewell to the batch of 2013.

Speech by the UBS Director The Dean, University of Bradford, School of Management, Prof Jon Reast, Dr Allcock, Associate, Dean, Learning & Teaching, our Chairperson Mrs. Malvika Rai, distinguished Members of our Board of Governors, Faculty Members, proud parents and my dear students.

A very warm welcome to the Fifteenth Graduation Ceremony of the IILM Undergraduate Business School! Since the induction of our first batch in 1996, over 1500 students have

passed through our doors. Our partnership with the School of Management enters its 18th Year and we continue to value, learn and gain strength from this partnership. IILM UBS has made significant advancement in the last 5 years within the country accreditation and approval framework gearing acceptance from the Delhi University and the Indira Gandhi National Open University. IILM UBS graduates are now accepted for the purpose of admission to higher studies in the Department of Commerce, Financial Studies, Management and Law. Over time, IILM UBS has a very strong brand for our Undergraduate Program. Our focus has been to add value to all our students. Attracting only the best students to IILM has never been a challenge. From the very beginning we have attempted to ensure that every student gains by their learning experience here. We remain committed to delivering the best for each & every one of our students. It is

Mr. Gurinder Singh receiving his graduation degree from Prof. Jon Reast

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on planning & implementing the framework of responsible Management & Leadership education. The representatives of PRME champion institutions who convened at a special event of the global compact leaders in New York made commitments to work collaboratively to develop & promote activities that address sheer barriers to making responsible management education a reality.

Dr. Deborah Allcock, Associate Dean of the School of Management, University of Bradford

a matter of great satisfaction to us that each year merely 90% of the students who come to us have had a family member or a close friend who has been a IILM Pass out & has strongly recommended the IILM experience. The year 2013 which is our 20th year has given us two more reasons to celebrate.

In April we were accorded the prestigious SAQS Accreditation by the Association of Management Development Institution in South Asia. SAQS is the South Asian Quality Assurance System representing the highest standard of achievement for management schools in Asia.

AMDISA, works closely with EFMD, believes that Institutions that earn Quality Assurance confirm their commitment to quality & continuous improvement. The SAQS quality label is intended to provide recognition beyond the domestic environment to institutions that in addition to satisfying high quality standards in the National Mar-

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ket are also credible in the International arena. So far only 10 schools in India have been accredited by AMDISA. IILM Now is a member of the select league of elite business schools. IILM remains committed to quality and processes focusing on quality improvement.

In addition to SAQS, we are also working towards ACBSP and AACSP accreditations. Our Post Graduate Program in Management at our Greater Noida Campus is accredited by the National Board of Accreditation which is the highest body of accreditation for autonomous programs in Engineering & Management within the country’s educational framework. The second achievement for us this year has been our selection as one of 25 Business Schools from all over the world & the only one in India for the United Nations Principles Responsible Management Education-the PRME initiative. This new leadership group will work

IILM together with Tapson College USA and the Copenhagen Business School, Denmark is leading the faculty development initiative for PRME. This is indeed a very proud recognition for us. We have significantly strengthened our offerings in executive education with customized blended learning programmes for corporate. With IBM, our major customer, we have completed 6 batches since 2009.

More than 300 executives from IBM have graduated completing the foundation and management programme designed and offered by IILM for IBM. Last year, IILM has also been approved as a standard service provider for all IBM locations.

IILM is also well recognized for the training as it provides to the officers of the Indian Administrative Services and Indian Police Services.

Over the last 5 years, we have organized close to 30 shortterm in service training programs in various management areas. Nearly 300 IAS officers and over 200 IPS officers from

across the country have attended these programs. IILM’s campus in Greater Noida starts the Fellowship program in Management this year in line with the Doctoral program in Management. The program is meant to upgrade the research and teaching capabilities of teachers within the system and also to build capacity in this area.

The first batch of the program commenced last month.

It is time now for me to conclude and I want to talk something which is perhaps closest to my heart because it involves you, my dear students. As you move out of the comforts and cares of the institute that cocooned for the three sheltered years into the larger world to shape the destiny of your own, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about three aspects that will be relevant to both you and the institute.

2013 marks five years since the world face the 2008 global financial crisis and in the interim, the world and Indian economy adjusted to a new normal and learnt to live in a brave new world economic order.

But one of the lasting lessons that a managers learnt across the world was the importance of the value of the values. The 2008 global economic crisis wasn’t part fueled by the crisis of ethics and values in corporations. As you move towards higher echelons of corporates as professionals, startup entrepreneurs or back to your family businesses it is time to remind yourselves of the importance

of values and ethics. Global business schools like Harvard and Wharton introduced new courses that touched upon these issues. IILM, I am happy to say, has been proactive in this direction and has taken steps to incorporate some of these aspects early on. I am sure your learning and the foundation that you have earned for yourself here in this dimension will stand in a good state in your professional life.

2013 was also a year that 16 year old Pakistani educational activist Malala Yusuf came into her own and world recognition from the very quarters in the country including a nomination from the Nobel Peace Prize. Today she stands as an icon of the younger generation and their aspirations. There are many other youth icons that you may relate to. IILM has always encouraged its students to think beyond just classes and coursework and explore yourselves that you fulfill true potential in the years. This is what Malala exemplified and this will be the greatest reward that you can give back to the alma mater. It will be a true satisfaction.

The last aspect that I wanted to touch upon in this concluding part is that great academic institutions in India and overseas have been built on the edifice of love, contributions and connect with their alumni. As you move out of the portals of this institution, it is our deepest dream and the wish of the faculty and management alike that you will stay connected to the institute.

Do come back often and keep us posted on what you are doing and how you are faring. If there are any ways where we could be of any help, we would be delighted to do so. And if there are ways that you would like to share and contribute your talents with the institute we would be happy to be with you.

With these words I wish the graduates the very best glorious future for themselves, their families & their organizations.

My hearty congratulation to all the students, parents and faculty members on this occasion!

Prof Reast, may I know request you to please deliver your graduation address.

Prof Reast’s Speech IILM Senior Management, deans, staffs, honored guests, family friends and most importantly, graduates. Let me start by saying what a privilege it is for me to be here with you at IILM to celebrate your graduation. I am here representing Prof Brian Cantor, Vice Chancellor who sends his very best wishes and express his regret on not being able to attend this prestigious occasion.

I am sure you will agree that without support from staff success in your studies would have been much more difficult. So today is the happy day when you want great celebrations; you should feel very proud. You stand up to new opportunities, new horizons, new objectives and new dreams. Now have you agreed to aim high to reach for

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standards being applied to some British degrees, wherever they are studying in the world.

So with IILM and University of Bradford you can be confident to receive a high quality degree to help achieve your future ambition.

Mrs. Malvika Rai & Prof. Jon Reast with a caricature of Prof. Reast

the sky, to be ambitious and to strive to be the best you can be in the world.

Everyone here helps what you have learnt with Bradford or IILM would have to be realized there are some ambitions and you serve better back to society. You fall into the step where many successful students graduating from the IILM and Bradford School of Management over the last 15 years around the world including some who have becomie senior business CEOs, senior executives, politicians and senior academicians.

The University of Bradford pride ourselves in making innovative and challenging educational programs designed to

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develop students not only with the subject knowledge but also to provide an International perspective and confidence and determination to make a difference to whatever organization hey work in. A part of this process of learning is through the University and Staff as well as with partners like IILM engaging in high quality relevant research.

Part of your investing in with your studies here well is not only accredited by IILM but also the University of Bradford. Part of this is British education system which is respected around the world. This respect is borne out of the rigorous quality and standards expected form the Universities with the same

Doctor Allcock mentioned that IILM importantly is one of the future accredited by South East Asean Quality Improvement System as well as other prestigious accreditations which is absolutely excellent. You should also be aware that Bradford University School of Management is one of above 57 business schools worldwide that has near 30000 who have received Triple Crown of International Accreditations for MBA, ACRIS European Quality Mark for Business Schools & AACSP the American Accreditation Body for Business Schools. This makes you amongst the elite International Business Schools. But as important in getting the success in South Korea we would argue that the role & purpose of this University education is far widened. We at the University of Bradford and IILM believe that this is all about developing you as a better citizen and using your ethic education for the greater good or helping to create a better society and hopefully taking with you a set of clear values and ethics about how you are working in future within the business or other settings.

I know that through voluntary community area or the chari-

table work, we and our students around the world continue to make magical contribution to wealth and well being of the society they serve. 21st century success has to be based on the continued investment in human capital; without this, sustainable growth would be impossible.

to the world of business and commerce. Strong institutions should be generating new ideas of the wide cultural incubators and stimulators of economic regeneration. We need to able to enable staff and students to think and research critically and pass challenges.

Given the relative global economic situation, it is most important than ever that we continue to investing skills and personal development without which sustained growth would be much more difficult. Our talented staff and students need to be drawn for this to ensure that the very best graduates came out to give best contributions

I would like to thank each one of you for what you have given to IILM and the University of Bradford. Keep in touch as alumni. You are the best Ambassadors and we are confident that you will succeed in your respective fields. Wish you health, happiness, prosperity and a fulfilling future. Thank you.

The fifteenth IILM Undergraduate Business School Graduation Ceremony held at IILM, Lodhi Road

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Confluence of Industry, Academia and Social Sector Leaders at IILM

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ILM Institute for Higher Education hosted the First International Conference on Responsible Management Education and Practice on 10th and 11th January 2014 at its New Delhi campus. The event was highly acclaimed and attended by academics from leading business schools, senior corporate executives and social sector representatives. The conference was supported by PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education), a United Nations Global Compact initiative.

The mission of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative is to inspire and champion responsible management education, research and thought leadership globally.

The conference saw the convergence of industry, management educationists and social sector development experts. The issues highlighted during the Conference covered all aspects of Responsible Management Education and Practice, and its impact on competitive advantage, ethical practices, building sustainable business and train-

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First International Conference on Responsible Management and Practice Actively Supported by UN’s PRME

ing and sensitization for responsible management.

The aim of this initiative was to highlight the areas where action can be initiated in education sector, social sector and corporate sector for effective orientation to Responsible Management Education and Practice.

IILM is committed to the Principles of Responsible Management Education in letter, spirit, word and action. IILM’s Vision 2015 states “IILM will be a leader in values based management education and business focused research” and amongst its values the two that stand out for its commitment to Responsible Management Education and Practice are (a) A deep commitment to sustainable development and a green environment, (b) An appreciation of the cultural heritage and socio-economic diversity of India. These flow into the Programme Level Goals and are embedded in the curricula.

As an institute and as individuals we hope to be able to drive the agenda of responsible management in Business Schools in India. It was around October

2013 that we started active work on the Conference. Our vision to be a leader in VBME & and our efforts to embed ethics and sustainability into the mainstream at IILM prompted us to pick up the theme amongst sustainable development/ethics/ governance/CSR. The engagement with PRME over the last few years finally also helped us choose the ‘theme’ as ‘Responsible Management Education and Practice’ which is more encompassing and includes all of the above.

The conference format of combining research and practice was based on a strong belief that research as a standalone activity cannot add value unless it has blended with practice and flows into teaching and learning. The format of speakers from the industry and research papers from academics in a panel discussion was to encourage the synergy and collaboration between industry and academia.

Highlights His Excellency Stewart Beck Canada’s High Commissioner in

India inaugurated the Conference highlighting the need for Responsible Management and briefed participants on initiatives of Canadian universities in area of Responsible Management. Mr. Jonas Haertle, Head - PRME Secretariat, United Nations Global Compact, New York gave an overview of PRME, emphasizing “ All countries should aim for higher sustainable development and lower ecological foot print for better future of coming generations”.

Mr. Sunil Jain Managing Editor, Financial Express brought up various issues of responsible management with focus on economic development, growth and governance.

Professor Sapna Popli, Director IILM, announced that IILM has initiated work on Annual Survey Report on Responsible Management Practices in Indian organizations. The First Report will be released at the Second IILM International Conference on Responsible Management Education and Practice, scheduled on 8th to 10th January 2015.

Dr S.Y Qureshi Chief Election Commissioner, Government of India (Retd), shared his experience of working in ministry of social welfare and challenges faced in social welfare projects due to constraints of prevailing social norms and cultural beliefs.

Some of the eminent speakers were Mr. Dilip Chenoy CEO and Managing Director Na-

Mr. Jonas Heartle, Head-PRME Secretariat

tional Skills Development Corporation, Mr. Thomas Chandy, CEO , Save the Children, Mr. Anurag Batra Chairman, Business World and many more. The closing Plenary address was given by His Excellency Pierre Vaesen, Ambassador of Belgium to India.

The two day conference also had active participation from big corporates like IBM, Genpact, Muthoot Group, Apollo Hospitals, Dalmia Bharat Group and the European Business Group -India. The Conference also had presentations by eminent professors from the leading business schools in the country like IIM-Bangalore, XLRI, Jamshedpur, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi and Goa Institute of Management.

Insights The world is changing -- fast.

Companies – as never before – are under pressure to not only perform financially, but to create sustainable social and environmental value. Indeed, stakeholders are less and less tolerant if companies continue to focus only on profit-maximisation while neglecting their expected contribution to society and the environment.

From a pedagogical perspective, knowledge skills and attitudes as well as the resulting behaviors for responsible leadership need to become the learning outcomes of RME. Developing a responsible mind set amongst business students and corporate executives is a long term

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practices?

Dr. T.L Raghuram, Mr. Thomas Chandy, Dr. A. Didar Singh, Mr. Deepak Malik, Ms. Rajkumari Mittal, Dr. Smitha Girija

venture which has to be carefully integrated into the mission of academic institutions and organizations alike.

ing supported by PRME only enhances its value. Among the crucial areas that the Conference focused on included:

It is useful to recall the late management guru Prof. C.K. Prahalad who in 2010 said, “For the past 33 years, I have ended all my MBA and executive education courses by sharing with participants my perspective on how they can become responsible managers. I acknowledge that they will be successful in terms of income, social status, and influence, but caution that managers must remember that they are the custodians of society’s most powerful institutions. They must therefore hold themselves to a higher standard. Managers must strive to achieve success with responsibility.”

• How does Responsible Management Practice give corporations a new competitive edge?

With all this, IILM’s First International Conference on Responsible Management Education and Practice is not a moment too late. That it is be-

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• How should business and business schools work together to create a framework for Responsible Management Education?

• What are the next practices to implement Corporate Social Responsibility?

• Does good ethics always lead to principled business?

• How can Responsible Management Practices create sustainable and lasting businesses?

• What are the training and sensitization needs for Responsible Management

The first day was really the PRME India Meet that IILM was privileged and pleased to host. Mr. Jonas Haertle came all the way from New York to be with us over these three days.

He said the conference in context by giving the mandate of PRME as a global call for new business challenges and opportunities that management educators must respond to in the three sessions on day 1, we got an insight on why and how PRME was initiated by the United Nations, its six principles and the challenges that business schools face. There is also the argument that was suggested that the achievement of higher human well-being is closely connected with community and corporate sustainability. It also delved on how students should inculcate ethical practices at the education level itself. It was concluded that educational institutions are the breeding grounds for future leaders, churning out progressive and sustainable management. Finally, it was also brought out that sustainability is an imperative for corporate survival. The three sessions on day 1 introduced PRME, its mission and framework; experience sharing and planned initiatives by PRME Signatory Business Schools and corporate engagement for PRME. Friday, the 10th of January was really the start to IILM’s International Conference on Responsible Management Education & Practice. Two keynote

plenary opening addresses on the Pressing Need for Responsible Management saw two divergent views by His Excellency Mr. Stewart Beck, The High Commissioner of Canada to India and Mr. Sunil Jain, The Managing Editor of Financial Express Newspaper. While His Excellency briefed the gathering about what the Canadian Government and educational institutions are doing towards responsible management worldwide, Mr. Jain argued that for companies to be socially responsible one needs to be economically viable.

The next session on ‘Responsible Management Practice as a New Imperative for a Competitive Edge’ had the panelists

bringing out the need for financial control and profitability towards sustainable practices and the need for value based management and leadership as epitomized in the case of the Dalmia Bharat Group.

Another session on ‘Framework for Responsible Management Education’ saw the global need for such a framework as initiated by PRME, a case study on the healthcare industry and its challenges for creating a framework for responsible education for its human resources comprising mainly of doctors and nurses, and the need for a spiritual input into management education and leadership.

The last session of the first

Mr. Dilip Chenoy, CEO and MD, National Skills Developement Corporation

day highlighted the theme of ‘CSR in Practice: Knowledge has more Value than Money’.

The four panelists brought out various perspectives on CSR from a policy and Government perspective: a case study of the Muthoot Group and how it is able to transcend CSR beyond financial investments; the big picture from a global perspective and the need for CSR as mandated by the Companies Act 2013 where 2 percent of corporate profits need to be ploughed back into the society by corporates.

After an early networking dinner on a cold winter night at the India International Centre Lounge, the last day of the conference started with the first

Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, Chief Election Commissioner, Govt. of India (Retd.)

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Prof. Sapna Popli, Mr. Stewart Beck, Mr. Sunil Jain and Mr. Jonas Heartle

session asking whether ethics is always principled business.

A strong point was made that many institutions disappear because of financial poor performance but more due to lack of ethics. It is also argued that ethics should not be a matter of choice but that they should be followed in all situations.

Another session dwelt into the topic as to whether sustainable businesses are keys to responsible management education practices. It highlighted that sustainability has brought about a paradigm shift in management practices and that the Government, NGOs and corporate should work together hand in hand to create sustainable corporations. If this collabora-

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Dr. P. Dwarkanath, Advisor-Group, Human Capital, Max India Ltd., New Delhi

Prof. Sapna Popli, Director, IILM, H.E. Pierre Vaesen, Ambassador of Belgium in India and Mr. Anurag Batra, Chairman, Business World

tion is not achieved, there is a danger that sustainability itself may not be sustained.

Way Forward This first International Conference on Responsible Management Education & Practice is set to be an important milestone in the journey and history of IILM. While we have demonstrated our ability to host a conference of high standards, we believe we should not rest on our laurels. Therefore, while we accept the limitations of this conference we have decided that this will be an annual feature in the IILM calendar.

The second conference will be

held on 8-10th January 2015 and at that time we will also bring out report on Responsible Management Practices of Indian corporations. IILM would be collaborating with the Financial Express to draw data from the FE500 list of companies which will be supplemented with self reporting survey. All of this it is hoped will add value to the debate, discussions and literature on Responsible Management Practices and we at IILM are proud to be associated with such an initiative. This is part of IILM’s continued commitment to Responsible Education and to mould responsible managers for the 21st Century especially keeping in mind the framework of PRME and UN Global Compact.

Mr. Thomas Chandy, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children - India

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IILM Founder’s Day Lecture by Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai

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adies and gentlemen, the last two years have been particularly difficult for the Indian economy. It is imperative that we get back to the 8 to 9 per cent mark. As the Finance Minister Mr. Chidambaram said in March when he announced the budget “Growth is a necessary condition and we must unhesitatingly embrace growth as the highest goal. It is growth that will lead to inclusive development; without growth there will be neither development nor inclusiveness.”

So what is the impetus for growth? What drives the Indian economy? Here, I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s state-

ment “the empires of the future will be the empires of the mind”.

His words resonate in the age of the knowledge economy.

All of us here are familiar with the way the IT and BPO sectors have grown in India. This industry has raised our profile at the global level. It has become among our best known strengths where IT and BPO are practically synonymous with India.

But how did this come to be?

The economist Thomas Friedman traces it to the 1990s, when a combination of India’s excess of highly skilled technology workers and an abundance of

fibre-optic cables converged to give India an edge in the technology market. He, in fact, cites this as one of those events that ‘flattened the world’, creating a more level global economic playing field.

So what is the next disruptive wave for us? Could it be in agriculture and food processing as we are already amongst the largest food producers in the world; the largest milk producers, second largest fruit and vegetable producers? After all, land and water are scarce resources and yet our productivity in agriculture as a huge user of these resources is sub-standard. Or, could it be in the ener-

Prof. Sapna Popli, Mrs. Naina Lal Kidwai and Mrs. Malvika Rai releasing the IILM Founder’s Day Commemorative Lecture series

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gy or in the water sector, as we need to devise innovative solutions to meet these twin shortages? Or, may be in the export sector as China vacates some of this space? We need to look into the future, identify the potential wave beforehand and build a supportive eco-system for the same.

Let me now turn to another important segment of our economy: the manufacturing sector.

The government has come out with an agenda for this sector, but we are far from progressing at the pace we should.

What we need essentially is an enabling environment that encourages more investments in the manufacturing sector. As Nelson Mandela said, “Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.”

These days, when we speak about investments and India, there is a general mood of despondency. We need to remind ourselves that our consumer market is growing and we are on course to become the fifth largest consumer market in the world by 2025. There is huge demand for automobiles, consumer durables, FMCG products, pharmaceuticals, textiles, housing, telecom equipment… the list can go on as the population gets more prosperous and seeks to fulfill its aspirations.

This explains why companies from across the world – GSK, Unilever, Pepsico, Coca Cola, Hitachi, Hyundai, Samsung, Toyota, just to name a few – remain committed to the Indian

market and see India’s attractiveness as a market and also as an investment destination. It is no surprise that the highest investments this year are from Unilever (USD 3.2 billion) and (GSK USD 1Bn), companies that know India well and therefore see the opportunity.

A recent global survey by Ernst & Young ranks India as the most attractive investment destination, followed by Brazil and China. In terms of investments, USA, France and Japan are the top three investors most likely to invest in India. The sectors which are likely to attract most deals include automotive, technology, life sciences and consumer products.

There are a number of other factors that impact India’s economic fortunes, including our relationship with other countries. The dynamics in Asia, for instance, are changing. Japan is actively investing in India and India has repeatedly come up as a preferred choice for Japanese multinationals. China and India too are finding more and more ways to collaborate as the recent visit of our Prime Minister to China highlighted. In fact I have just retured from Davos and no one denies the attractiveness of the Indian market.

However we do not make it easy to do business.

We are also deepening our connect with countries of the ASEAN region as well as the BRICS countries. The formation of India-ASEAN Business Council and the BRICS Business Coun-

Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Country Head, HSBC

The government has come out with an agenda for this sector, but we are far from progressing at the pace we should.

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We can see the effects of innovation on accessibility: the world’s lowest telecom costs resulted in increased cellular phone use.

The world’s cheapest car, Tata’s Nano, made headlines around the globe and is seen as a turning point in the global auto industry. The benefits of business innovation permeate all levels of Indian society, and much of it is helping to facilitate employment opportunities, either directly or indirectly.

Just in healthcare, look at the number of innovations we have seen in India:

Mrs. Malvika Rai and Mrs. Naina Lal Kidwai lighting the lamp

cil highlight the development of different groupings where India is key. And we have all seen how critical India was in the WTO deliberations in Bali, so ably led

by Minister Anand Sharma.

Another key driver for growth is innovation. And this does not only reside in the high end R&D labs of large corporates.

Take the case of the ‘Dabbawalas’. This simple service available in Mumbai is a model of efficiency and efficacy and of the Indian work ethos. One of the keys to the system’s success is its code of coloured symbols which has been learned and memorised by the largely illiterate ‘Dabbawalla’ workforce.

The system is astoundingly accurate. So accurate, in fact, that Forbes magazine awarded them

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a 6 sigma rating – accuracy of at least 99.999999. This translates into only one missing dabba per six million delivered. If this sounds a bit familiar as a business model, one ‘dabbawalla’ explained to a reporter, ‘there is a service called FedEx that is similar to ours – but they don’t deliver lunch’.

What I think this illustrates is how Indian business innovates and makes extraordinary use of available resources and commodities. This philosophy is best enshrined in the words of Tagore, India’s first Nobel Laureate in literature, “If I can’t make it through one door, I’ll go through another door, or I’ll make a door” - a little like the Delhi driver!

a) Jaipur Foot recognised by the Time magazine in 2009 as one of the world’s 50 best innovations – 99 per cent of the patients are below the poverty line. b) Or Aravind Eye Care which deliver cataract operations at 1/6th of the cost of an Indian hospital and 1/30th of the cost of a USA hospital. In 2003, they became the single largest single cataract surgery provider in the world. c Or Narayan Hrudalaya which has perfected a low cost approach to heart surgery at ½ the cost of an Indian hospital and 1/16th the cost in the US. Forbes has just listed India as 39th in Innovation among 145 countries.

We need more ‘Millennium Alliance’ type projects set up by FICCI with USAID and the Department of Science and Tech-

nology, Government of India.

This has been a great success and has helped bring to the fore solutions aimed at addressing India’s development challenges.

Let me now touch upon some of the key economic challenges that have been bothering us for a while now. We have had a problem with our twin deficits – current account deficit (CAD) and fiscal deficit. The CAD has fortunately come under control dropping from 4.8 per cent to 2.5 per cent because of effective actions over the last few months – viz gold imports being contained, exports increasing (including of ores), and enhanced NRI deposits of USD 34 billion.

Starting with inflation, we have seen that this has been a perennial problem for the last three years. Food inflation particularly has been very high, driving up overall price levels. RBI has been proactive in ensuring that the situation does not go out of hand. However, the tight monetary policy stance has led to high interest rates and this has adversely impacted industrial growth and the investment cycle in the economy.

Additionally, our companies operate in an environment where considerable time and resources are spent on dealing with regulations. All of us know that in terms of Ease of Doing Business, India ranks 134 out of 189 countries that are evaluated by the World Bank on certain standard parameters. Proce-

dural reforms are as important for us today as policy reforms.

Our businesses are expanding but if we are supported by an enabling environment we could grow faster and better. Easing the process for setting up businesses will most certainly help. It will unleash the entrepreneurial spirit among professionals by encouraging people with ideas and visions to follow their dreams without having to run from pillar to post to turn their dreams into reality. It will also help generate employment, and possibly give birth to future mega corporations.

Then there is the problem of infrastructure. We have a huge deficit here and this impacts the performance of our industrial sector, our competitiveness, our exports and our agri-productivity. Presently, we are engaged in developing some very large and ambitious projects like

DMIC. Projects such as these will be the building blocks for our growth in the future and we need to ensure that these take off at the earliest with the necessary technical and financial resources.

I would like to flag a few priorities: First, dealing with food inflation calls for a quantum jump in food productivity, straightening kinks in agri-supply and distribution and warehousing and reducing wastage. Given the growing demand for protein and mineral rich food items in the country, we need to have a second green revolution that focuses on fruits and vegetables, meat, fish and eggs and milk and milk products.

We need an effective cold chain for foods and vaccines.

Second, for reducing the cost

Mr. Anil Rai with Shri Wajahat Habibullah at IILM Founder’s Day

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of doing business in India, we must usher in a comprehensive Goods and Services Tax. We need one common market in India.

Third, speedier implementation of large infrastructure projects calls for action on many fronts.

While the Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI) has done a commendable job by clearing several large projects, we need to now see these going into production.

Fourth, the administration of our taxation system of the country requires a mind-set change.

As long as actions are driven by a single point agenda of maximising revenues, we will always be drawn towards litigation. We also need to bridge the gap be-

tween interpretation and intent of laws. We need clearer laws.

Over 70 per cent of litigation cases in India involve the government as either petitioners or respondents. Interestingly, it is the Centre and the States that together account for 70 per cent of the three crore cases that are pending in various courts in India. This, in effect, makes the Government the largest litigant in this country. The question here is: When the Government makes for two-third of all court cases, then where is the time for the courts to attend to the common man’s grievance?” (17, Mar 2013 article in The Pioneer) Fifth, on the issue of energy security, we must follow through on our diversification strategy in terms of sources of energy,

Mrs. Naina Lal Kidwai with IILM students at IILM Founder’s Day

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renewable energy and geographies from where we will source these. We also need to accept the fact that coal will be the mainstay of our energy mix in the foreseeable future and we must therefore evolve policies that help us tap this resource in an environmentally friendly manner.

Sixth, land is essential for industrial expansion and our land related policies should ensure that this resource is available to industry on a long term basis and with certainty.

Seventh, allocation of natural resources has been a subject of intense discussion. The Supreme Court ruling is before us and it mentions that auction cannot be the only mechanism.

FICCI believes the process of allocation of natural resources should be transparent and predictable and that there should be a justifiable balance between revenue optimisation and socio-economic development objectives. The rules then need to be followed and action taken promptly when rules are broken. We need regulatory frameworks which look to the long term profitability of industry while protecting consumer interests.

Eighth, businesses require an environment of predictability that can only be ensured if there is sanctity of contract, stability in the tax regime and applicability of legislations prospectively. There have been developments in the past when one or more of these principles

Mrs. Malvika Rai presenting a caricature of Mrs. Naina Lal Kidwai

were violated. Government has taken corrective measures in some of the cases, but one must recognise that bringing confidence back can be a long drawn out process.

Our businesses have a long history of engagement with communities around them and many understand that what is good for the community is good for business. Entrepreneurs should therefore be treated fairly and with respect. They should be part of the collective effort involving both the government and civil society that is aimed at realising the true potential of India. We need to work together, find solutions through balance and compromise.

Finally, before I come to the

close of my address, I would like to point out that while it is necessary to address the structural and economic problems that we may face, it is also important to recognise that there are social issues that have to be dealt with as well. We must work to protect the pluralism that is India, to ensure an inclusive India in all we do. I would particularly like to highlight the role of women in society and in business.

We need to embrace the cause of the safety of women at the work place. Are daughters as eligible as sons to run businesses in India? May the best person succeed – man or woman!

We have moved the needle in MNCs, in banks, but owner-run companies have a long way to go.

For each of you who go out to conquer the world, there is no place better to be than India.

The experience, the contribution you will make and the satisfaction from that engagement will drive you to greater heights.

I never regretted returning from Harvard Business School in 1982 and I am sure neither will you.

MAHA STAVIRA SANGARAKSHITA – to know what we do not know is the beginning of wisdom. I do not know what the future holds for us, what the elections next year mean for us.

What I do know is the trajectory is ours to make.

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Faculty Article

Hope Behind the Hype Connecting the Dots through Social Media

Nidhi Piplani Lecturer - Economics & Strategy Area

“Treat students like alumni, and treat alumni like students.”

globe. The constant pressure to be in the “newsfeeds” has intensified.

--Dave Celone, Director of Annual Giving & Alumni Services, Tuck School of Business

The alumni seem to have a decisive presence on almost all platforms of social media, which includes Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. According to the U.S. 2012 Digital Marketer Benchmark & Trend Report, more than 90 per cent of online adults now use social media regularly. The young cohort prefers social media upmost for any communication rather than email or print. Social media has become sine qua non for the business schools also these days.

Early July last year, when Felix became the first person to break the sound barrier in a free-fall jump from the stratosphere, the alumni relations department at McGill University realised that the person who designed the outfit used for the jump was a McGill graduate. Within an hour, the breaking news had been posted at all the official Facebook pages and groups.

The opportunity to piggyback on news and evoke the interest of the alumni is one of the many ways in which social media is being used by various Alumni Relations Offices across the

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Here are few ways in which some universities and business schools of repute are harnessing the power of social media to engage alumni.

the significance in bridging the gap between existing students and alumni and social media is one crucial tool that comes to their rescue. Stanford University Law School took the initiative and created a network on Facebook for alumni and students that included legal wikis which they could collaborate on for specific practices. The wikis included key skill sets and overviews of different practices which students and alums could share together. One would witness a lot of alumni-to-alumni conversation on the network but the collaboration between students and alumni forms the key in positioning the students for their careers.

Catalyst to the “Right Job” Though a lot of schools offer their own network of jobs to the students, many of them are finding LinkedIn to be an effective tool to provide alumni with career resources. Just create a group or a discussion forum and allow the networking magic to take place! It then becomes a platform for the alumni to share job opportunities by posting information to the group and creating sub-groups that are focused to specific career opportunities.

calls, video conferences and share valuable ideas, tools and insights. For those who miss out on the information, the chats can be easily downloaded as podcast.

Act as link between the students and alumni Business schools have realised

Empowering alumni to use social media The old clan which forms a big chunk of the alumni database of any B-school is often not as tech savvy as the younger counterparts. To address this issue, some schools offer training to enable its alumni to learn to use the social media tools. One

For instance, Michigan State University uses both LinkedIn and Twitter to share job leads with alumni. Advice on job search is also provided to the students via You Tube. Universities like Emory host what it popularly calls a “ Coach Chat , where alumni can connect via

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“App” it!

The number of smartphone users has grown fundamentally and as a solution to save on printing costs and become environmentally friendly, Princeton University built a mobile application for its alumni to update them on news and events at the school. This helped them save a lot of money and paper for communicating any information.

such example is MSU’s Alumni Career Services office which gives free tutorials to its alumni on how to use social media for a plethora of purposes.

Creating private hubs Some B-schools are balancing the rope between using mainstream social sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) and building their own private networks. For instance, Texas A&M University has its own Facebook-like social site, My Aggie Network.

It provides exclusive services like curriculum guide and class sharing notes to those who register with it.

Alumni the “Content Creators” In addition, the content creation by the dedicated staff at B-schools, the Alumni also get an opportunity to produce their own content like the wikis at Stanford and photo sharing with the alumni network at other schools. The University of Texas built its own photo sharing site that allows alumni to

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share photos of themselves along with a brief bio. It is a kind of a Flickr for alumni, but hosted on the School’s website. The idea behind this is to reconnect long lost links to the school and their fellow classmates by sharing where they are now and what they are doing.

Making it viral! Promoting alumni network Many schools have multiple alumni groups or spammed presence on the same social site in addition to the official page primarily because some alumni started it themselves. So business schools try to promote their official network (Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn group) as the central hub for alumni to connect.

Most schools promote the social media groups and pages on their websites because often that is the landing point for many alumni. Schools like MIT have experimented this by using targeted Facebook ads to attract alumni to their social networks.

If we notice, social media has become the most “In thing” and is used as a platform by all good business schools. This has enabled them to create their own society with the alumni graduating decades earlier but remaining committed to their alma mater especially the young cohorts and helping them with lifetime opportunities like mentorships and recommendations.

Technological advances have stimulated a boom in online social networking websites which have evolved the way we network. Business schools seem to have been bitten by this storm.

But as they say, ‘Unless you’re willing to commit to the long haul, once you start, there’s no going back!”

References: • Renegade, LLC..

(2011).

Social Media Usage by Select Alumni Associations.

• Vadim Lavrusik. (2009). 10 Ways Universities Are Engaging Alumni Using Social Media

Faculty Article

Enhancing Workplace Learning: Role of Coaching and Mentoring

S

Dr Shuchi Agrawal Professor – OB/HR

wiss Re, a Zurich-based global re-insurance firm achieved an impressive turnaround moving from a loss of $ 663 million in 2008 to a net income of $4.2 billion in 2012.

By 2015 the company aims to generate 20-25 per cent revenues from high growth markets.

This requires talented people with right skills and languages as well as agility and passion to perform. In response to this, the company has embraced the 70-20-10 learning and development model to support the targeted business growth. In this model, 70 per cent is geared to learning on the job through rotations and stretch assignments, 20 per cent is focused

on learning from coaching and mentoring and 10 per cent is invested in formal training methods such as seminars and e-training. Thus the company is using a range of means to strengthen continuous learning and development with strategic investment and focus on workplace learning.

Today, organisations are working in an environment that is increasingly disrupted by consumers, technology and regulatory shifts. In such a scenario the traditional classroom model of learning is doomed. As a result, organisations are exploring new approaches for employee development that are not tied to

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the formal structured methods around the classes, courses and curricula model. In part this interest has been driven by economic consideration. Pressures to lower training costs and reduce budgets for travel have been a major factor. But this focus is also driven by the realisation that a majority of adult learning occurs not through formal learning but through experience, practice, conversations and reflection in the workplace. Added to this is the emerging appreciation of the important role the context plays in learning. Focus on workplace learning has not been confined to any particular business sector or to specific group of employees but is being adopted across wide range of industries, agencies and government departments.

Rationale for workplace learning The publication of research and survey data over the past decade indicates that workplace and informal learning offer an effective and efficient solutions to improved workplace performance. People learn 70 per cent of what they know about their jobs informally (Loewensteinn and Spletzer,1996).

This has been validated in the body of research in the ensuing years. Capital Works study reports that approximately 75 per cent of the skills employee use on the job were learned informally through discussions with co workers, self study, mentoring by managers and similar methods. Casebow and Fergu-

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son (2010) found that most frequent and effective approaches to learning used were informal chats with colleagues (80 per cent) and on the job instruction from managers and colleagues (45 per cent). Exact percentages may vary from study to study but it indicates the importance of workplace learning . Some of the most critical skills to workplace success, communication, collaboration, teamwork and even technical skills, are cultivated through invaluable and ongoing informal workplace learning: mentoring, coaching, peer reviews and job shadowing.

Coaching and mentoring Workplace coaching is a collaborative, solution-focused, result-oriented and systematic process in which the coach fa-

cilitates the enhancement of work performance and the selfdirected learning and personal growth of individual (Greene & Grant, 2003). Mentoring is an interactive process occurring between individuals of differing levels of experience and expertise which incorporates interpersonal or psycho-social development, career and/or

educational development, and socialisation functions into the relationship (Carmin, 1988).

Broadly speaking, coaching supports individuals and teams in building skills that increase performance while mentoring is primarily about developing capability and potential.

(CIPD,2009). Coaching has a short term focus vis-a- vis mentoring which focuses on long term development.

Most companies position coaching as an investment in high-performers.

Individual coaching often focuses on the top layers of the firm. Team coaching is offered using experiential learning such as business simulations and team exercises. Mentoring is offered to emerging talents as a relationship outside the regular reporting line that helps them develop and move successfully through times of change and transition. A more experienced person is matched with another less experienced one and acts as a listener and guide in questions of business and personal development. Interaction with senior managers helps develop a more sophisticated and strategic perspective on the firm and its direction, values and ways of working (Day 2001).

Coaching and mentoring help accelerate learning to create impact at the individual, group and business level as they are geared to people and teams with significant involvement in organisational change process (Vera&Crossan,2004).

UK’s Chartered Institute of Per-

sonnel Management reports that 51 per cent of companies (sample of 500) ‘consider coaching as a key part of learning development’ and ‘crucial to their strategy’, with 90 per cent reporting that they use coaching.

More recent research in 2011 by Qa Research found that 80 per cent of organisations surveyed had used or are now using coaching. According to Toyota’s philosophy, the responsibility to develop people falls squarely on the line manager, not on the HR department or the trainer in the classroom. The next generation is developed through coaching of daily work. Employees are given challenging assignments by managers. The development lies in the stretch between their current ability and the learning they need to go through to complete the assignment successfully. In addition to defining the right stretch to each member, the manager must also coach and support the member throughout the assignment to help him or her succeed, all the while leaving enough room to think, allowing mistakes and using each one as a stepping stone to development.

Companies like Smithkline Beecham, Cadbury, Hewlett Packard, Mckinsey & Co, Infosys to name a few are using mentoring to develop their employees from initial stage Mariott International and Bank of America have formal mentoring programmes. Here, more senior professionals and mangers team up with less experienced protegees with the aim of assisting the protegee to improve

their performance and career progress. The accounting firm KPMG made ‘online mentoring program’ part of its employer of choice initiative . Nestlé has launched several mentoring schemes at different levels in the organisation. Credit risk company Experian has since 2008 been running a global talent development forum and internal mentoring initiative the Experian Business Network for its high potential and diverse emerging talent.

Benefits of coaching and mentoring Coaching and mentoring help employees to •

To adjust to the culture in an organization: The Coach/ Mentor can provide the new worker with information on the corporate culture, organisational structure and procedures that will help the younger professional settle into his role in the business.

•

Help in employee growth and development: Coaching and mentoring programmes provide the mentee with real-world knowledge that bridges the gap between educational theory and actual business practices.

•

Those serving as coaches and mentors within an organisation gain personal and professional satisfaction by sharing their expertise with other employees.

•

A supportive atmosphere can improve employee morale and loyalty, thereby helping to reduce turnover and boost productivity.

•

Companies can align the goals of the business with a mentoring programme to gain a competitive edge.

Conclusion Coaching

and

mentor-

ing, whether formal or informal, and

provide

a

cost-effective

enhance

enterprise

simple

way

to

learning

and provide direct and specific learning and development to employees. They help employees

improve

their

essential

skills, reinforce strong relationships among employees, support a learning culture in the workplace, and increase productivity.

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Faculty Article

Baltic Cruise:

A Lesson in Management Practice

C Sujit Sengupta Professor & Area Chair - Marketing

ruises are fun. Cruises are de-stressing. One can literally let one’s hair loose while on board a cruise liner, as one can get to visit many new places without the hassles of packing, unpacking, and checking into new hotels during the course of travel.

Cruises are full of entertainment as also offer great learning experience as any kind of travel to any new place does.

One can go on and on about the virtues of cruises. But a lesson in management practice? Well, much to our delight we found out that our recent travel to the Baltic Sea would offer exactly that. No, it wasn’t that we met

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some kind of a management guru on our cruise liner. We had a different experience altogether.

Anybody who has ever taken a cruise would know that you have to leave your luggage at the checking in point at the port, much like one does at the airport check in counter, keeping only a small carry-on bag if one wants to. Your key to your cabin, a multi-purpose SeaPass card is handed over to you.

Your luggage is delivered outside your cabin, and since there can be more than a couple of thousands of tourists, depending on the size of the liner, de-

livering luggage can take quite a long time, sometimes stretching till the ship starts sailing in the evening.

This time round we were in for a shock. Our suitcase didn’t arrive within the stipulated time, and we panicked – our ship was already on its journey to the next port. It’s not an ideal situation where you are left with only your passport and credit card, and nothing else!

Upon enquiry we were told to contact the reception and then we were guided to the security section of the ship. We were surprised, and wondered what prohibited item we were carrying that even an international flight couldn’t stop. Anyway, sure enough we found our suitcase in a large room full of bags and suitcases and people scurrying around to locate their own stuff.

There was a sticker pasted on our suitcase that read, “Knife” in large letters! We were taken aback. International flights as well as our domestic ones allow knife in a checked-in luggage. Besides, we weren’t carrying any knife. Then, suddenly we remembered that there was a tiny Swiss-knife set in our suitcase and without saying much we rummaged through our belongings and took it out.

“You have to deposit the knife here,” said the very polite Security Officer to us, “and you get it back when you leave the ship at the end of the whole trip.” She sounded very matter of fact, even as the thought of losing our small yet very handy knife crossed our mind – there

was already a pile of many such items on her table, and there were many more suitcases still lying to be claimed by the owners. She asked for my Sea-Pass card and swiped it in the machine in front of her. The SeaPass card was actually a smart card with all the details of my identity. She signed on a piece of paper, put a stamp, and gave it to me. “You claim your knife with this at the time of checking out,” she said.

Sailing seven nights Ours was a seven night trip sailing on the Baltic, with stopovers in Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm, finally docking at Copenhagen.

The scenic beauty of European landscapes and seascapes, quaint old churches, the exotic market places, different people with their exotic food, and above all, the magnificence of the erstwhile Tsars’ life in St. Petersburg kept us overwhelmed all these days. The entertainment and shows on board our ship, and the lavish spread at mealtime took the centre stage of our lives. Our tiny old Swiss knife was the last thing on our mind.

Finally, on the eighth day, as we were ready to vacate our ship, we were as complacent as anybody would be after a happy time during a holiday. We were standing in two lines as one by one all of us were coming out of the ship after swiping our SeaPass card. When it was my turn, I handed over the card to the security officer at the gate to

swipe, and the machine sounded a loud blip, an alarm sounded and I was startled, and, panicked again. What went wrong?

I was using this card regularly during all my trips on-shore, then, what could indeed go wrong?

“Would you mind stepping this way Sir?” I heard a polite voice saying a little away from the gate. I was scared, but confident.

I hadn’t done anything wrong. I hadn’t picked up anything from the ship wrongfully and was carrying it with me. I followed the Security Officer to another desk. The officer swiped my card once more and said to me, “You have to pick up your knife Sir. Can I have the deposit slip?”

It was a brilliant example of what in management parlance is called Service Recovery Process that is a critical -- yet all too often missing - element in providing customer service that will attract and retain customers and have a positive impact on the bottom line of any business - no matter where it is located or what product or service it provides, The cruise liner must have experienced in the past that many tourists invariably forget to collect their items that are deposited at the time of checking in, and later ask for its return. The cruise liner not only have to spend time and resources handling these `unclaimed’ belongings, it has to later trace the item and courier it to an unhappy customer. So, the `smart card’ is made smarter, and the tourist feels secured.

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Faculty Article

What is Creativity and Who Gets It? This is the age of innovation and change. Organisations and individuals are trying their very best to be “creative” to outwit that intense competition from others. Yet, the question arises: what is creativity and who gets it?

I

Anomitra Bhattacharya Assistant Professor - Economics & Strategy

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once had the fortune to listen to a lecture on “100 years of creativity” by a Berkeley professor Donald Glaser who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1960 (at the age of 34) for his discovery of the “bubble chamber” used in subatomic particle physics. He later made very important contributions to biotechnology and neurobiology, fields very different from his primary area of interest, and was a consultant and advisor to many governmental organisations, industrial boards of directors, non-profit groups and member of the editorial boards of several scientific publications. Prof. Glazer was a teacher for almost 60 years. He come across some very bright

and some not so bright students during his career, and some who worked hard and some who did not. I reproduce here some part of that talk and the insights he had to offer to students, future researchers, managers and leaders.

“First, let us define creativity.

Creativity is the ability to produce something novel and valuable.

The emphasis here is on the word “produce”. How does one judge that something is novel and valuable? It is judged by experts in that particular field.

Sometimes it could be judged by the end users. This may seem a bit slippery because perception

changes with culture, it changes with time, and it changes with fields. Nevertheless, this seems to be the only definition that does not lead to much controversy. I discuss below ten traits that seem to be common among the most creative people amidst us.

The first trait is a strong ambition to produce something novel and valuable. One may call this the “fire in the belly”.

The second trait is the willingness to take risk. It is much easier to do something well known, because all that is required is competence, but to be innovative one needs to take risk. Innovation often involves many steps, and most of them require wild guesses.

The third trait is knowledge in the field of interest or the ability to acquire that knowledge.

Ignorant geniuses rarely succeed in life.

ability to generate crazy ideas fast, lots of them, uncritically but dependent on real knowledge is a very important criterion for innovation.

But one has to throw out the bad ideas quickly and the majority of those ideas generated will be bad. This ability to quickly reject the bad ideas in order to concentrate energy on the ones that look promising requires taste or intuition.

The next trait is perseverance. It is the ability to evaluate promising ideas in details, the ideas worth working, ideas that survive the craziness filter.

Another trait is the skill to exploit the best ideas. It requires real professional ability to actually produce something of value.

Our modern times often require us to work in large groups. The

ability to cooperate with others is an important trait to produce creative work. This is often required when we are doing experiments – natural or behavioral. Nevertheless, in theoretical work, brilliant solos are more common, although nowadays great ideas often come from teams of two or more.

The last important trait is to be lucky. This is required since the outcome of our endeavors is often uncertain. It requires attacking the right problem at the right time. Since we are making guesses all along the way, the character to admit failure when our luck runs out and start again afresh is a very important trait for creativity.”

So finally, we have our take home lesson. In short creativity requires ambition, risk taking, knowledge, independence, imagination, taste, perseverance, skill, cooperation and luck.

The next requirement for innovation is independence to challenge tradition. This requires judgment about which tradition to ignore and that is a gamble.

But nearly every major innovation has required ignoring the received wisdom of the time and the ability to break existing dogmas.

The next trait is imagination.

One can call this dreaming. It involves novel extensions of known ideas and facts or distortions and sometimes even thinking about crazy ideas. Is the idea crazy enough? The

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S

ave the Children is an international organisation working for children’s rights in 120 countries. In India, they are working across 12 states to ensure that every child has a happy and healthy childhood. They are determined to build a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation. They not only save children from the hardships of life, but also work towards abolishing these hardships.

Thomas Chandy CEO, Save the Children, India

“We would like as many young people

is currently the CEO of Save the Children, India. Prior to taking up that post, he was a senior executive with Coca Cola from 1995 to 2005. His career has also included positions at Satchi & Satchi and Parle International with increasing responsibility.

He holds a post graduate degree in Management (1990) from the International Management Institute, Delhi with a specialisation in business strategy and organisational behaviour and an MSc in Chemistry (1983) from Madras Christian College.

Mr. Thomas Chandy, a leader with his heart in the right place,

Excerpts from an exclusive interview

”

to work with us

Q. How did you come into the NGO world? Could you tell us about your journey? Why did you opt to work in a non-profit?

A. I had joined coca cola in 1995, in Pune and worked for about 12 years. I was in the initial team that launched coca cola into the country. There were basically two reasons why I chose to work here. One is the heart reason, the other being the career reason.

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First, let’s talk about the career reason.

After 22 years of working in the corpo-

rate sector, I realised that I had grown pretty fast in my corporate career and my next step in coke would have taken a longer time and so I started looking around. That is exactly where the heart reason comes in. It’s like a promise that you make to yourself that you want to do something different, something that would add more value, something that is more meaningful. So I was looking around, and I found this ad in a magazine, looking for a CEO for setting up an Indian entity of Save The Children, and I thought that could be challenging, because in the past in

my career, I had been in jobs where I was responsible for setting up entities from the start. I had done enough amount of change management and was fairly confident that I was competent. So that was exactly what I landed up doing here later on.

Q. Could you tell us about the genesis of the organisation and its key role now?

A. I would like to say it from two perspectives: global genesis, and the Indian perspective. Talking firstly about

the global genesis, Save The Children (STC) was founded in 1919 by Eglantyne.

She was very moved after the World War, because of the havoc that it created. There was a post war famine in Austria, Germany and Russia and so she set up “Save The Children Fund”. The money for the fund came from the public. She was in fact questioned by the British people as to how she could support children of their enemies, and her answer to that, was that children have no enemies. And that every war that is waged is against children. . In 1923, she wrote down a charter of children’s rights, when even human rights were not talked about. It was adopted by the League of Nations and Mahatma Gandhi representing India also signed it. This document later in 1989 became the basis for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). So it can be said that Save The Children has a very rich legacy in child rights framework.

In India, STC, in terms of its presence, goes back to the 1920s. When it comes to children, you don’t talk about borders. If you have the money, support children in need. If there is a need, we would support the British children as and when needed.

Whenever there has been a humanitarian disaster, STC has responded as

a global organisation. There are 29 country members in STC. India had a great potential for fund raising and a lot of issues regarding children were also prevalent. Today, this is the fourth year of our organisation, and we are a 150 crore organisation. And currently, we are talking about our strategy for the next 5 years, and our plan is to reach Rs 500 crores.

Q. How do you finance and sustain your initiatives?

A. We get our finances from four broad sources namely, the Indian middle class, the Indian Corporates and MNCs, Large Global Institutions and foundations and the Indian Government.

The Indian Middle Class has had a long history of giving maybe not always to charity, but mostly to religious offerings. While there was a culture of giving, there wasn’t a culture of proportionate giving. We saw this as an opportunity, and thought that if we could anyhow have a mechanism to reach this large number of people, that would prove to be a steady source of income. We have people who talk to others who are willing to offer some

money, try and convince them that the money will be for the benefit of the poor, in small amounts, regularly. The back end staff supports in maintaining a smooth functional flow in the organization by providing receipts to promote transparency. Today we have 130 thousand people who give us money regularly.

From the Indian corporate and MNC’s funds are received from Reckitt Benkiser, Proctor & Gamble, Pepsi, Coke, GSK etc. Large Global Institutions and Foundations like Bill and Linda Gates foundation is one of our biggest supporters. DFID (British Government Fund), EU (European Union), SIDA (Swedish Development Agency), USAID are various foundations that help us regularly.

The fourth source has not yet been started by us but we plan to very soon which is the Indian Goverment’s money. For Brand building, the most important thing for a charitable organisation is credibility. This is because in India, there are more than 3million NGOs. So there is a huge responsibility on our shoulders to build up proper systems, and costs like any other corporations and upfront investments. The message we are sending by our actions is, that you can trust us.

Q. There is a stereotype perception of NGO’s being a charity organization with low salaried jobs to offer. What is your take on this?

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A. We do not make profits to support our people for salaries. Salaries are incidental. Our main objective is to reach, impact and save children. Having said that, we do need efficiency. And for any organisation to have efficiency, you need to have top class people. And when I say top class people, it doesn’t imply that only people from top institutes. What I mean to say is that people with a heart in the right place.

The salaries are not like they pay in the corporate and multinationals, but then it’s about trying to define what you want, and try to limit yourself accordingly. We basically try to follow a norm and aim at paying 75th percentile in the sector. What we don’t want is to unnecessarily lose personnel, and try and retain the best talent for as long as we can.r Q. In recent times, have you hired any management student for either summer or final placements?

A. Yes, we have students working for us as interns from not only India but from reputed institutes abroad, like Oxford, Standford, Harvard Business School and London School of Economics.

Q. Do you face a shortage of good talent at STC? If so, how do you overcome them?

A. Yes, that is a problem which persists all across India. People with competencies and a heart, there is a scarcity of resources like that to be very honest. So to overcome we need to position ourselves in such a way, so that the organisation attracts people. When people look at STC, they should come here to work simply because it is different from any XYZ organisation.

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Q. How do you attract and keep your employees motivated?

A. Passion has to come from within and should be driven by heart. So if that is present, the rest will fall in place. We have to make sure that we are able to pay what we should pay, keeping in mind the market and its standards. And also the culture of the organisation that we are building is very important.

We do have a lot a fun around here.

Our HR has been working on something called “fun at work”, where they try and bring in stuffs and every now and then organise interesting parties and so on. We stay connected with our employees who are no longer working with us. So I guess these things do motivate the employees.

Q. What are the challenges that you face in leading the organisation?

A. The roles keep on changing with time.

Sometimes you need to be a friend,

sometimes a mentor, a coach, sometimes even a bully. Also as a CEO, the examples that you need to set should be a priority. I’m extremely conscious of the fact that we are an organisation, who run solely and live on the money that is given to us by common people. And I need to be extremely conscious of this fact is my personal habits.

Q. Where do you see “Save The Children” five years from now?

A. Today, this is the fourth year of our organisation, and we are a Rs 150 crore organisation. And currently, we are talking about our strategy for the next 5 years, and our plan is to reach Rs 500 crores. Our strategic intent, for the next 5 yrs is that STC is always for the most marginalised children.

We want to reach the bottom 5% of India’s children and be their voice. For that we set up an organisation and differentiate ourselves from an NGO

and we call ourselves “an organisation for action”. India is now a full-fledged stronger member of the International Alliance, which is the world’s largest independent organisation, for children.

per cent of this country’s privileged ones, and are in one way, blessed.

Look at the other side. About 45-50 per cent of this country is below poverty.

Q. What are the key trends in the changing landscape of non-profits?

A. Lot of regulations are happening, which are a challenge for us as well as an opportunity. The direct tax code (DTC) is a huge challenge for us. But other than that some of the regulations are opportunities because we are more than compliant for that.

Q. What message would you like to give our readers?

A. My message would be that one should do the best according to their potentials, get great jobs, make lots of money, but have a heart as well. Know that there is another world. Know that you are an exception and belong to the 10

We would like as many young people to come and work with us, maybe not forever. Come and work with us for a year or two, go back, and when you get older come back or at least think about options like these.

Q. Lastly, do you think NGO will be the new wave gripping the entrepreneurs?

A. Though there has been a trend that many people from the corporate sector wanting to come and work with us, which is a good sign, I’m not too sure about it. It had started in the west and is quite prominent there, and it should start to catch up in India as well. People should come from institutes after they graduate, and maybe work with us for even a short period of time, and see how it works, and what NGO

management is all about. What makes a certain NGO or a corporate great is a certain set of disciplines.

Maria Ahsan, Student PGP 2011-13 Shaab Ansari, Student PGP 2011-13 Shipra Jain, Research Associate, IILM Dr. Surabhi Goyal, Prof. at Asia Pacific Institute of Management

About 45-50 per cent of this country is below poverty.

We would like as many young people to come and work with us, maybe not forever. Come and work with us for a year or two, go back, and when you get older come back or at least think about options like these.

Ms Shipra Jain, Ms. Maria Ahsan, Mr. Shadab Ansari and Dr. Surabhi Goyal

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ifest 2013

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”

Danny Kaye

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-fest, the annual management festival organized at IILM reiterates the same with additional magnitude and significance. Come December and the curtains rise again for the three-day spectacle of unparalleled excitement, nervewracking competitions and spot events, workshops, intellectual confluence and fun. Being the most awaited event of the year on IILM’s calendar, it injects a spirit of festivity in each one associated.

It’s a story of how future managers and CEOs unwind and let it lose on an endeavour to imbibe creativity and fun within the campus.

The I-fest organized by the

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faculty and students at IILM Institute of Higher Education, twirls you through heady euphoria, in the most memorable three days of a student’s life at IILM. It is the canvas that the college provides to the students to splash colour of their innovation, imagination and synergizes across the campus. It also invites a frenzy of participation and churning minds from other coveted B schools across Delhi and pan India.

It provides a perfect platform to showcase and exude organizing skills for the proud team, as well as becomes a catalyst in absorbing nuances of corporate milieu, management skills, inter personal skills and social skills.

Since its inception in 2007, the fest has been a constant source to adept the students with the much needed austerity and candour. The value added helps students to gather memories to reminisce in future, simultaneously providing them with mind stimulating activities.

The activities in the three day chaos are designed in a way keeping the dynamic environment in mind. The introduction of Business plan competition, Brand story presentation, Brain Train, Corporate walk are few additions made that intends to provide students with a holistic development. The events in Ifest 2013 included segments to interest each person witnessing the fest.

From a physically taxing cricket game ‘Howzzat’, to ‘Paintball’ and ‘Poster making’, there was not stopping of the venting creativity. The cultural quotient was kept high and beaming by scintillating performances in ‘Sargam’ (solo singing), and ‘Step Up’ (dance).

The churning minds were given an intellectually stimulating platform for a constructive escapade in ‘Brand story presentation’, ‘Finatix’ (business quiz) and ‘Brain Train’.

In this global world, where personality development is equally important, one of our main at-

tractions ‘Corporate Walk’ left no stone unturned to show how prim and proper one is supposed to be.

The gradual spreading of entrepreneurship cannot be over emphasized. To encourage young minds and their ideas, the Business Plan competition

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was introduced. The event was a huge success that attracted participants from various reputed B schools of India. The perceptive judges and some brilliant ideas of participants made it a captivating event.

The three day extravaganza received participation from many Delhi university colleges like Hansraj, Guru Gobind Singh, Keshav Mahavidyalya, Dayal Singh. Apart from these young enthusiasts, participants from Fore, Lal bahadur Shastri, Jamia etc. were received.

The IILM campus was full of students from various campuses vying for an opportunity to participate in various events.

The I-fest at IILM showcased a formidably high standard of excellence in organization, tackling challenges and immense motivated team to derive an impeccable result and participation with high quality.

The synergy effect of students and faculty made it an undefeatable attempt to make these three days enriching, knowledgeable and fun.

From lightning the lamp to the corporate walk, the event was a huge success where there was a lot to take for each one. Various kiosks and stalls made the essence of a fest conspicuous.

The success of I-fest could be gauged from the beaming faces of the cheering students as well as participants and winners whose eyes full of zeal was

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transformed from being young learners to leaders.

Come forth, revel, absorb pragmatism, have fun with friends, win and make an envelope of memories!

Shipra Gupta Student – PGP 2013-15 IILM Institute for Higher Education

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VMD 2013

Voices of Militant Debaters “We are what our thoughts have made us” - Swami Vivekananda.

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n this backdrop, IILM Lodhi Road organises the Vivekananda Memorial Debate (VMD) competition every year, inviting participation from prestigious colleges all over the country. It provides a great platform to the debaters to put forth their views and convince each other with their persuasive arguments.

The college organised the 13th Annual Vivekananda Memorial Debate competition last year from 19th to 21st December 2013. The event saw participation from eleven eminent colleges of the country such as IIT Roorkee and Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), New Delhi on the first day. The teams debated on the topic “AAP: A new dawn in Indian politics or a short term aberration?” in the preliminary round which was a knock out. Eight out of the eleven teams progressed into the semi-final round on the second day, when the teams debated on the topic, “Constituting the Lokpal is the panacea for corruption in India”. The final battle was then held among the top four teams on the final day, i.e.

21st December 2013. The top four teams were namely Hindu College, New Delhi, IILM Gurgaon, St. Stephen’s College and Faculty of Management Studies

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from New Delhi.

The panel of judges on the final day comprised three prominent personalities: Ms. Anjali Singh, who is currently Vice President of Genpact LLC and has a rich experience of nineteen years, Mr. Antony Cyriac who is a Director with the Indian Economic Service in the Government of India and an Additional Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Finance and last but not the least, Mr. Varghese George, who is the Chief of Political Bureau

at the Hindustan Times. During his distinguished career he has won a number of esteemed awards such as, “The Journalist of the Year - Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence” in Journalism in the year 2006 and the “Gold Award for fighting corruption” by Transparency International in 2007.

After an engaging battle among the participants on the topic “Trial by media is a social necessity”, the results were collated and a consensus was

The team of Vivekanand Memorial Debate

Mr. Jagat Sohail and Ms Piya Sharma, winners of Vivekanand Memorial Debate

reached by the judges. The judges were then invited to share their thoughts and views about the topic and the competition. After this, they were requested to announce the final results. Majority of the prizes were bagged by the participants from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, with Jagat Sohail from

the college winning the awards for the Best Speaker and Best Interjector. They also won the Best Team award and the First Runner-up was Faculty of Management Studies, followed by Hindu College, University of Delhi, New Delhi.

nail biting engrossing, powerful and successful episode of the Vivekananda Memorial Debate competition. We will try to make it even larger next year. Hope to see you all there!

With this ended yet another

Meher Khurana Student – PGP 2013-15 IILM Institute for Higher Education

Mr. Varghese George, Chief of Political Bureau, Hindustan Times

Mr. Antony Cyriac, Director, Indian Economic Service

Ms. Anjali Singh, Vice President, Genpact

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Campus Events

Glimpses of India Engagement of International Students at IILM

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ndia is a blend of culture; religion, uniqueness and its rich heritage is the locus of attraction for students from abroad coming to India to study.

Wandering through oodles of options available in India, IILM was primarily chosen for the reason of its location. The institute being situated in the heart of the capital- Delhi is a jewel in the crown of IILM. Mentoring is another aspect of IILM which makes these students well-versed with the system as it stands in complete contrast to their ways.

Moving forth to festivities, IILM had organized cultural events “Mata ki Chowki” and “Dandiya Night” in the campus during the auspicious days of Navratras. It displayed the Indian culture in a traditional light. All the international students danced onto the tunes of Indian folk playing Dandiya. The event closely knitted the foreign students and the Indians together showcasing the flavours of Gujarat and Kolkata. To understand each one’s business culture session titled “Doing Business” was organized. There were presentations about different countries describing how can one conduct business in their respective countries; focusing on their political, economic, social technological and legal factors.

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The trip to “Jaipur- pink city” was real fun and frolic. On 16th November a group of foreign students and members of Global Engagement club left from Delhi to explore the cultural heritage of India. The experience could not be described in words. Tasting the dhaaba food and roving through the local bazaars pondering over gems, marble art and craft, apparels showcase the ethnicity of the place. Chowki Dhani was a reflection of true Jaipur- a popular masterpiece of art spread over 15 acres speaking out loud the heritage of Rajasthan. It displayed the folk entertainment animal rides astrologists, the local food and every minute detail about the culture. The beautiful set up of a village leaves one awestruck. The traditional food of Rajasthan offered was delicious. The delicacies had

a vivid variety to choose from leaving one puzzled. It was followed by probing into the past of that place by visiting to the palaces like City palace, Jal mahal and Amer fort. City palace elaborates the Indian and Mughal architecture and the museums showcase the Darbar, the costumes and the Weapons .On the other hand Jal mahal was the summer abode of the Royal Family. The overall journey of Jaipur was beautiful and memorable one. The Global Engagement Club gave our International students an opportunity to view India in a different aspect.

Smridhi Sodhi, Student – PGP 13-15 Pranav, Student – UBS 2013-16 Simran Kaur, Student – UBS 2013-16

The Best Foot Forward

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he Sports Club of IILM Lodhi Road organised a cricket tournament for boys on 20th September that included three matches.

The matches took place in the campus itself; the students who participated in the match were from the PG1 and PG 2. The first qualifier match began at 3.30 pm and ended at 6.00pm.

There were four teams: two teams each from PG1and PG2.

The first qualifier match was between PG2 itself; out of these, two teams, one got eliminated and other one got qualified for the finals. Similarly on 23rd September, the second qualifier match was held between PG1, as one team qualified for the finals.

Cricket Tournament for Boys

On 24th September, the final match was held between PG1 and PG2. Both the teams got tremendous support from the audience. The students of the campus were seen fully enthusiastic during the match. The match began with PG2 winning the toss and elected to bat first. The highest scorer of the match was Varun lambha from PG2. The batting of PG2 ended with a total of 93/3 in 10 over’s.

On the other side PG1 replied with a score of only 25/8, and they got all out in 9 overs. The highest wicket taker of the match was Ankit kaushal from PG2 which led to the victory of PG2. During the match refreshments were provided to all the participants and faculty mem-

bers. Our Sports Club head Mrs. Sandhya Makkar honoured the winning team with a cash price of Rs 3000. On the other hand, the runner up got Rs 2000. The victory of the winning team and the spirit of other team were captured in various pictures.

Parul Kalra Student, PG 2012-14

Tribute, the IILM Way

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he one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.

--Aristotle Teacher’s Day is celebrated all across the world on October 5 each year, but in India 5th of September is celebrated as Teacher’s Day to honour the contributions made by teachers to the society. September 5 is also the birthday of a great teacher Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan , who was a staunch believer of education, besides being a well-known diplomat, scholar and the President of India.

ebrated to pay reverence and gratitude to teachers for their selfless effort in shaping our career and enriching the education system in the process.

The celebration started by solo song of ‘Sarabjeet Singh’ (PG I), which was followed by the salsa dance by PG I students, Bhushan Malhotra and Shalini Kala. There was also a skit and then a solo song by ‘Sanket’ (PG II). Then an amazing group dance was also performed by our students. Musical chair was organised for teachers and the programme ended with the cake cutting ceremony.

In our college, this day was cel-

Arunima Shahi Student, PG 2013-15

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ngo fair

Starting Volunteerism Early “Buy Some Wishes”

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nriched with new activities as well as increased participation from NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) the ICHHA NGO FAIR “Buy Some Wishes”, took place on the front lawns of IILM Institute for Higher Education, Lodhi Road on Friday, 25th October 2013. The fair saw participation from Muskaan, Katha, Jan Sewa Ashram, Sneh Kunj, Tatsat and Aadi. It aimed at strengthening and promoting the NGOs at large in an attempt to advance the work they conduct as well as promote dialogue among students and various visitors.

The objective of the Fair was

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also to introduce the public to the NGOs operating in various parts of Delhi and contribute to the well being of people. Hundreds of people had an opportunity to discuss with representatives of various NGOs their work and contribution to society and were offered informational material and gifts. At the same time games, food and street theatre shows added a festive note to the educational side of the Fair. The visitors thoroughly enjoyed themselves with hairbraiding, nail-art and various types of games. The highlight of the day was the street play on

child labour that offered many visitors the opportunity to understand how children are being erxploited.

The event was a grand success as everyone praised the nongovernmental organisations for their important work, highlighted the value of volunteerism and said that the involvement in social matters, social solidarity and contribution are imperative. Apart from the faculty and students of IILM Institute for Higher Education, the NGO Fair 2013 also welcomed visits from teachers and students of The Banyan Tree School.

Diksha Saxena Student, PGP 2012-14

Annual Alumni Lunch

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lumni are the brand ambassadors for any educational institution and a strong alumni community is an irreplaceable asset for any organisation. IILM is proud to have an alumni base of 7000 plus alumni and we continuously endeavours to engage them.

Year 2013 has been a good year in taking a step forward to make our alumni a greater part of our various events and activities.

Alumni are invited for Guest Sessions, for participation in placements, Summer Internships, IILM’s internal events like Global Thinker Award, Conferences and Advanced Management Programs. They also aid in course delivery by reviewing modules and their content, participating in Panel

A Look Back at 2013 Discussions and empanelling the Comprehensive Viva, assist admissions.

The year began with a reconnect by way of a play named “Chekhov Ki Dunia” organised for alumni in collaboration with the National School of Drama.

It’s a play based on short stories written by Russian writer Anton Chekhov and dealt with human emotions in relationships. It was thoroughly enjoyed by our alumni.

In August 2013, we introduced the alumni mentorship program. The goal of the programme is to encourage longterm mentoring relationships that help current students envision a career path, develop strategies for success, and manage career transitions. As part

Proud IILM Alumni - Mr. Anuj Taneja, Mr. Parikshit Prabhakar of batch 1998-2000 and Mr Gagan Gurli of batch 2005-2007

of this, we invite our alumni to deliver a session which includes their experience sharing and knowledge about their industry, tips to students for placement interviews and then on the basis of their interaction with the students, a few students are allotted as mentees to the alumni to stay in touch with them for career guidance. We have successfully organised many sessions and will continue to do so for the benefit of our students.

On 21st December 2013, IILM hosted its annual alumni lunch which was attended by 115 alumni across different batches; some of them came with their family and made the event very memorable. This time, the alumni lunch was made more lively by a band performance

by Deep Routes, which was very

Mr. Amandeep Singh Chandoke, IILM Alumni 1995-97 and Shyamlal Agarwal IILM alumni 1994-96

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much appreciated by our alumni. There was a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy in the environment. This year’s alumni lunch was attended by many senior alumni from batches prior to 1999 and made the efforts of alumni cell fruitful. Some very senior alumni were excited to be back after years and appreciated the infrastructural changes and were nostalgic to be back at their alma mater.

The event started with registrations, and alumni were interacting and getting their pictures clicked with old friends and faculty. The alumni cell at IILM had organised some games which were played sportingly by some alumni and many of them shared their thoughts on our alumni speak board. The alumni were then addressed by our Director, Ms Sapna Popli and four alumni were felicitated

by Ms Aarti Rai, for their contri-

bution to IILM in mentoring our students, placing them and being part of our events and board meetings. A few lines of appreciation were spoken about them by our Director and then our alumni also shared their memories at their alma mater.

This was followed by networking over lunch.

Follow us on alumniforum@iilm on Facebook for latest updates on our alumni!

Mr. Satyaveer Rhythem Pal, IILM Alumni being felicitated by Ms. Aarti Rai

Mr. Manish Kumar, IILM Alumni sharing his thoughts on Annual Alumni meet at IILM Lodhi Road

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Mr. Munish Bhatia, IILM Alumni being felicitated by Ms. Aarti Rai

Guest Lectures by Our Alumni Session 1 19th August 2013 The session was for UBS 20132016 Batch. We had invited Ms Harpreet Kaur, 2003-2006 Batch. After graduating from IILM in Bsc ( Hons) Accounting & Finance, she did her masters in finance from University of Nottingham, and then she worked in Corporate Executive Board as a Research Associate.

The session was good, it was a informal interaction with students, she discussed about her experience at IILM with students, how to do course works, how to work in teams and encouraged them to attend classes to get good grades.

Session 2 23rd august 2013 The session was taken by Ms Isha Gupta, 2005-2007 Batch.

She is currently, Director, Strategy and Business Development at Halabol. After graduating from IILM she managed various business projects for a KPO across industries and has extensive experience in handling clients and teams.

After sharing her experience at IILM with students, she discussed about networking, social media, what her company Halabol is doing. She got two people from her company who shared their experience of working on social issues like women empowerment. Her session was very interactive with

students asking her in detail about how she co-founded Halabol, where she got the funds from and many questions on entrepreneurship. She offered a live Project and 8 students did a live project at her company.

Session 3 12th September 2013 The session was taken by Mr. Rameez Khan, 2008-2010 Batch.

He started his career as Corporate Sales Manager at NIIT and was the recipient of STAR Performance Award 2011, a unique distinction of being among the top 10 per cent of the NIITians.

Currently he works as a freelancer for e-commerce websites like Yebhi, Mantra, for online promotions and advertising.

The session was included as a guest lecture for Advertising & Sales Promotion Elective. It started with his experience of BTL ( Below the line) activities and was followed by concepts of advertising, BTL,TAM, CPC. He also did a 15 min group exercise wherein he divided the students into groups and give them situations to think on what BTL activities they can plan for.

Session 4 18th September 2013 The session was taken by Ms Ruchi Kalra, 2008-2010 Batch.

She is currently working as Client Recruitment Specialist at American Express. During her

post graduation at IILM, she did a semester at Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Germany. Before working with Amex, she was with Walmart as a Senior Executive, Talent Acquisition & Management. Owing to her penchant for teaching, she is also enrolled with a prominent soft skill imparting entity as a trainer.

The topic of her session was preparation for Placement Interviews. The session was interactive focusing on attitude and behavioral aspects during placements. She talked about her work on talent acquisition and did a mock interview with two students to make them understand how and what to answer during the HR round.

Session 5 20th September 2013 The session was taken by Ms Afshan Shafi, 2004-2006 batch.

She has eight years of work experience and is currently working as Branch Sales Manager at naukri.com. She started as Management Trainee with naukri and now deals with strategic decision making at the company.

Her session was an experience sharing session, wherein she discussed with students about her growth from Management Trainee to Branch Sales Manager. she explained to students how to make best use of portal to search jobs.

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She explained to students how sales in an exciting career opportunity with a data that 70 per cent of CEOs of top companies were sales people themselves.

Students asked a lot of questions about career at naukri and it was a very interactive session.

Session 6 25th September 2013 The session was taken by Mr. Sagar Gupta, 2011-2013 batch.

He is currently working as Manager, Sales & Marketing, Zomato. He did his PGP in marketing from IILM, and his graduation in Economics (Hons ) from Presidency College, Kolkata. Sagar is very fond music and is a drummer also.

His session was for PG second year students for “Preparatory Session for Zomato”. He gave in depth knowledge to students about the company, profile, expected questions in interviews, explained the working of the entire website, talked about competitors and sources of revenue.

Scholarship in memory of Late Miss Geeta Chopra for best 2nd year JMC student and Vimal Kohli Scholarship for Most Deserving Commerce student.

Her session was for PG second year students and the session was “Preparatory Workshop for Deloitte”. Those students who applied for placement process of Deloitte benefited from her session and later got placed with Deloitte. She discussed about the company, work environment, questions to prepare for interview and aptitude test.

Session 8 18th October 2013 The session was taken by Mr. Sushil Gupta, 2009-2011 batch.

He is currently working with JK Technosoft (A SAP service

partner company) as a Certified SAP- BO Techno-functional Consultant. He has three years of rich experience in banking, technology and IT consulting industries. He has worked with Axis Bank as Assistant Manager –Operations and with Tata McGraw Hill as Researcher in Science and Computing Technology domain.

His session was for PG Second year students studying the elective of Enterprise Resource Planning. He discussed in detail about his experience of working with JK Technosoft. Along with his practical experience, he shared some theoretical concepts and conducted some quiz questions on the topic and made the session very interactive. He also made the students aware about the market opportunities for SAP certified professionals.

Session 7 7th October 2013 The session was taken by Ms Monisha Batra , 2010-2012 Batch. She is currently working as Tax Consultant in Deloitte.

Monisha has been an academically bright student and has received All India Oriental Bank

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Ms. Afshan Shafi, IILM alumni during an interaction session at IILM Lodhi Road

Mr. Dhiraj Beri, IILM alumni of batch 1994-96 after his session on Innovation and Strategy with IILM students

Session 9 21st October 2013 The session was taken by Mr. Nishit Pandey, 2007-2009 Batch.

He is currently working as Lead Quality Analyst, Managed Assets -Investment Accounting at Ameriprise India Pvt Ltd. He has 6 years of work experience in financial sector.He is also Certified in Six Sigma Green Belt, Indian Statistical Institute, 2012.

After his experience of working with Sharekhan and Ameriprise ,he discussed about financial sector, jobs and skills required to get job in this sector, he discussed about six sigma and the concept of NAV. He shared his interview experiences and told the students how first year subjects play an important role in placement interviews.

Your schooling may be over, but remember that your education still continues He also told students that knowledge of Microsoft Excel is very essential to get a job these days.

Session 10 15th November 2013 The session was taken by Mr. Dhiraj Beri, 1994-1996 Batch.

He is currently the Channel Head, Intellisys Technologies & Research Ltd. He has over 17 years of work experience and

has worked in companies like Sify technologies, Aptech, Max New York LIfe Insurance, DSS Mobile Communications Ltd etc The topic of his session was “Innovation & Strategy, An Integral Part of Marketing & Sales�. He spoke on strategy and explained it by giving examples of Dettol vs Savlon, for innovation floppy versus cloud storage, shared a reading list with students which is a must read for management students. The session was very interactive with numerous examples from his experiences.

Session 11 18th November 2013 The session was taken by Ms Monika Gupta, 2000-2002 batch. She is currently work-

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ing in Alcatel Lucent, as Process & Six Sigma Professsional.

Ms Monika has over 11 years of work experience in companies like Evalueserve, Bharti Airtel, Datamonitor India, Aircel & Alcatel Lucent. She is a Certified Six Sigma Black Belt from the American Society of Quality.

The topic of her session was “Business Communication Skills”. She started by sharing her experience and then discussed with students about the do’s and dont’s of communication, types and channels of communication. She made the session interactive and quoted a lot of examples from her professional life.

Session 12 19th November 2013 The session was taken by Mr. Arijit Banerjea, 2004-2006 batch. He is the Founder & CEO of Freemind Business Solution.

He has over eight years of experience in the Financial Services and consulting industries. Arijit was formerly a Senior Analyst at Evalueserve. He is currently developing an innovation in the online space and is writing a book on innovation in India.

The topic of the session was “Entrepreneurship”, with discussion on issues like conflict management and effective teams. He discussed about his own venture and emphasized that one cannot do all the work alone and there should be a cofounder to any venture one starts. He has also planned for some live project for first year students.

Session 13 10th December 2013 The session was taken by Ms Shalini Kotiya, 2008-2010 Batch. She is currently working as a Research Officer at IC

Never turn down an opportunity in your chosen field because you never know what it will lead to or what contacts you will make.

Centre for Governance (An International Civil Society Organization). After doing her post graduation from IILM in Finance & IT, she joined Tax India Online and worked there for a year. She is a Certified Facilitator by International Institute for Facilitation (INIFAC).

The topic of discussion was “Ethical Leadership”. She started her session with her experience and then took a activity based session on Ethical Leadership, used caselets, videos and made the session very interactive. The key takeaway of the session was the emphasis on ethics, which has been somehow sidelined in today’s competitive world.

Ms. Monisha Batra, IILM Alumni got herself clicked with IILM students after her session

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Sonia Takkar Lecturer - Marketing IILM Institute for Higher Education

Alumni Speak I love my college and the best time of my life was spent at IILM. All the best for future years to my Alma Mater!

Ashish Dixit, 2005-2007, Manager, South Asia, Thieme Publishers.

Great coming back to my alma mater after years and happy to see such arrangements. Wish to stay connected.

Amandeep Singh Chandhoke, 1995-1997, Owner, Spatial Reforms Interiors.

Memories refreshed, awesome feeling, I found my life partner here and some lifelong friends, Great effort by alumni team to bring us back.

Garima & Rishabh Wadhwa, 2009-2011, Owner, Wadhwa Enterprises.

Institute for Higher Education

Anil Kulwant Raii Group