The National Management Programme (NMP) batch of Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon recently hosted its annual Leadership Conclave, Samvaad' 15 and the theme for the event was 'Emerging leaders of Innovative India'.
The event commenced with the welcome speech of Prof. JK Jain, Chairperson, NMP & Energy Management and Prof. CP Shrimali, Director, MDI.
Back-to-back panels were held during the conclave discussing topics such as transformational leadership, team building, building people-centric organisations, cultural challenges for global CXOs, power of start-ups and the promise they hold for B-school students.
The first panel included Ashwani Lohani, Chairman and Managing Director at Air India; DD Misra, Director (HR) at ONGC; and AVM Baladitya VSM, Air Vice Marshal, Indian Air Force.
“Transformational leadership is about commitment, integrity, non-interference & involvement of employees,” said Lohani of Air India highlighting the change catalysed by good leadership. Guiding the participants about developing leadership attributes, Misra of ONGC said “Never fear to ask for help, take responsibility and lead your team with passion.”
The second panel saw participation from Gyanesh Chaudhary, MD & CEO, Vikram Solar; Neena Goel, Executive Director and Market Head, Standard Chartered; Rajiv Arora, Human Resource Leader at Mercer; and V.P. Singh, Executive Director- HR & Chief Pupil at Devyani International.
Extracting formula for growth from ‘Physics of Business Growth’, Chaudhary emphasised on the combination of mindset, system, and process. He also spoke on how clean energy is not just desirable but need of the hour too.
Speaking about women as business leaders, Goel of Standard Chartered said “Work life balance, respecting value system & connecting with people are important for future leaders.”
The third start-up panel witnessed the presence of Vikas Banga, Vice President, Snapdeal & Angel Investor; Praneeth Tammiraju, AVP Operations, PepperTap; Sameer Grover, Founder & CEO, Crownit; and Prabhakar Tiwari, CMO of PayU India.
Highlighting the mushrooming era of start-ups, Banga said “startups offer B- school graduates an opportunity to learn and take risk; the worst that can happen is really not that bad”. Taking the session ahead Tammiraju of PepperTap said “MBA is something which teaches you how to do a business so why to look out for a job after completing it. Risk appetite is what start-ups have to offer to B-school graduates.”
Grover, Founder & CEO of Crownit said 'Startups offer opportunities to build muscles to take decisions' whereas, Tiwari, CMO of PayU India, was of the opinion: “Budding entrepreneurs should not spend too much time worrying that someone else will copy their ideas. They should own the consumer problem so well, that the enterprise keeps moving forward without relying on the crutches of a single idea”.