Leaders are made...not born

Clarity of Intent, Context to act and perform- these according to Dr. T. T. Srinath, Managing Director of Pegasus Travels and Tours Ltd., were the three basic essentials of Leadership. Dr. Srinath enthralled us with his energy and positivity while illustrating the principles and qualities of a leader. He defined a leader as one who might not necessarily know all the answers but the one who always knows where he is going. He also added that leaders should have unconditional acceptance of themselves as well as others and that their attitude is extremely important. Motivating us to think beyond our limitations, he said there is no such thing as weakness but they are just the self limiting beliefs we are conditioned to.

Interspersed with interesting narrations of the one handed throw ball player, Leonardo Da Vinci and Michael Jordon, Dr. Srinath illustrated leadership principles in a simple yet powerful way. His thoughts on what a mirror answers one was indeed fascinating. The interactive session also had management exercises that demonstrated the concept of perception and the power of thoughts. He emphasised the importance of positive thinking stating that if the feeling is right we don’t need the best language to express it.

Citing examples from his own life, Dr Srinath said that one needs to always have the fighting spirit to face the challenges and come up in life. Three things close to his heart are respect, gratitude and humility. Count your blessings- that was his practical advice to us. He said that everyday he writes one full page of things he is grateful for and suggested the same to us.

A highly interesting session which left us inspired that we can all be leaders in our chosen areas and achieve greater heights.

Contributed by A. Manoj, CBS Batch 4 (2009-10)

Flavours, Fragrance and more...

Ice cream, biscuits, confectionery, snacks and carbonated drinks- apart from their lip smacking and finger licking taste, a vital aspect of these products is their smell or flavour. International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF) is the company behind a lot of these flavours and fragrances that we consume; and Mr. Sridhar Balakrishnan its Managing Director is the man behind its Indian operations. It was our privilege to hear from him about this unique company and its prudent adoption of the latest business practices.

Mr. Sridhar defined flavour as a consumption that leaves a lasting impact. With its presence across 31 countries in the globe and with annual sales of 2.4 billion USD the company invested heavily into its R&D, spending 9% of their sales on it. Through R&D, they tried to concoct innovative recipes that will enhance the flavour of a food product and ameliorate the fragrance of perfumes, skin care products and detergents. IFF has an impressive client list including Unilever, Pepsico, Amul, Nestle, Wrigley, P&G, Johnson & Johnson and Henkel, to name a few. They have created a significant presence in all major categories of flavours and fragrance. Highlighting the relevance of change management, Mr. Sridhar cited the example of his company. The business scenario for IFF a few decades back was that of a monopolistic player enjoying dominance. They were sales oriented and reactive in their approach. He highlighted the fact that they had no compulsion to change but they still did! IFF shifted gears from being reactive to proactive. They began anticipating changes in customer requirements and remodeled their approach to deliver based on specific customer needs.

Citing various other instances, he stressed the importance of constant change and the advantages of being proactive. Mr. Sridhar emphasized the need for timing change and also spoke explicitly about enhancing core competencies and business preparedness. The current business scenario spells expanding international exposure, increased number of players and high consumer awareness and therefore it is imperative that constant innovation should be imbibed as a part of the work process. He also suggested possible ways to handle constraints such as time and people issues, retention of customer focus, prioritization and customer conflicts. He felt the bottom-line was in prioritizing and making the right choices to avoid conflict of any sort.

Mr. Sridhar effectively enlaced fragrance and flavours with business concepts. He summarized stating that change is inevitable and goaded us to make the change happen before it pushes us. His talk was flavoured with valuable components and we are certain that it will definitely have a lasting effect on us!

Contributed by Meena Ganesh Ram, HR Varsity, CBS Batch 4, 2009-10.

Be the change you want to see…

A little child pestered her father who was back after a busy day at work to play with her. The father, not in a mood to accede to his daughter’s demand, kept putting her off. The little girl however was adamant. Hoping to buy more time, the father took a part of the newspaper, which had a world map on it, tore it into many pieces and asked the girl to put them in order and then come back to play with him. To the father’s surprise, the child returned in a few minutes saying, “Papa can you play with me now?” “How did you join these pieces so fast?” the father asked. The little girl replied “…papa, I don't know anything about the countries in the world, but the other-side of the paper had a man’s face and I knew where his eyes, nose and ears are ...and so when I got the man’s face right, the world was in place!”

The story sounds quite common, but reflected a deep inner meaning- most of the larger problems in life can be fixed if we get our personal life and attitudes right. This was just the beginning of Mr. S. Ramakrishnan’s (CEO, Real Estate of Marg Limited) motivational talk. Before joining Marg, Mr. Ramakrishnan who is a certified chartered accountant had a brief stint with IBM Daksh. Author of the book “You can become a complete manager” Mr. Ramakrishnan kept us enthralled with his thoughts on how to succeed in our career. From the beginning of his speech till the end, he gave us some of the best solutions to both personal and professional life that plague professionals of the corporate world today.

To the question “How do you become a successful leader?” the candid reply was, “Accepting the past, Changing the present and Aligning the future”. The purpose of the gerund "ing" in all the above processes is to denote continuity, he said. Drawing from his varied corporate experiences, he took us through the professional life cycle and enlightened us on how to stay motivated and effective in our careers. Explaining the work-life-social balance through the three sides of a triangle, he said that unless all three aspects augment, the area of the triangle would not increase. Replete with vivid illustrations and thought-provoking ideas, his entire speech was an illumination into the realm of higher management philosophy. We were truly enlightened by the session and took a step a forward in learning for the real world.

K Sarathy, IT Varsity, 4th Batch, CBS 2009-2010

Words of wisdom from Mr. George Zacharias

A career path is said to be a long, winding road that often gets turbulent on occasions and blocked by innumerous hurdles. Energy, education and experience- although are the key ingredients for any manager or a successful career, “there’s still so much more,” said Mr. George Zacharias, the former MD of Yahoo India, and our guest lecturer for the day.

Beginning with recollection of his student days at XLRI and the deft exposition on ‘reality’ by Father McGrath, Mr. George very tactfully sensitized us to the ‘real’ side of management. Illustrating from his career experiences and through three beautiful poems he expounded the different managerial skills and leadership qualities one should possess. Throughout the lecture he accentuated on the different virtues such as to remain humble, dare to dream but be realistic in every approach, the importance of perseverance and above all the power of self confidence. Rise above the rest and experience your own true path. He emphasized the importance of ‘knowledge power’, which was required to sieve us from the rest and challenged us to think ‘laterally’.

The lecture not only fired the spark of the knowledge quest but also helped us understand how to apply knowledge gained tactfully. He reminded each of us of our potential and also encouraged us to enjoy the joys of life at every opportunity.

“If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise……..

….Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! – Rudyard Kipling

These words of wisdom will surely ring in our ears long after.

Contributed by Vikram Mohan, HR Varsity, CBS Batch 4 (2009-10)

A rendezvous with the former NASSCOM chief!

A blend of factual comparisons coupled with witty one liners was the recipe for the day, as Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, ex-NASSCOM Chairman and current CEO, Zensar Technologies Ltd. took us through the advent of Information Technology trends in the past decade and the business models to be sought for the future. The session started with statistical information on the software sector in India- the US $60 billion industry with 23 lakh direct, 85 lakh support and 45% incremental employment year on year in the past decade. Heavily hit by the ongoing economic meltdown, Dr. Ganesh underlined the need for innovative technical and business skills to cope with the current market conditions. The phenomenal growth in the proportion of women in the IT workforce was also highlighted.

One of the critical factors discussed was that of the average working age of the population, which inarguably is a double edged sword. “India is reaping benefits out of a failed family planning policy”, he remarked. Though the numbers favor India, the challenge of employable resources remains a point of contention. Comparisons were drawn with US and Japan, the former with a major retiree population and the latter with falling average working age. On the contrary, the offshore IT base in India alone stands at 16 lakhs.

Possible erosion of core service lines viz. technology and business services were highlighted. With increase in automation of basic services such as testing and data entry by techniques such as optical character reading, such trends in the industry were imminent. The Information and Communication technologies (ICT) sector was touted to be a ray of hope that could transform the country by harnessing technological advancements to ensure inclusive growth. Areas including Healthcare, Financial services, Education and Public services could be potentially worked on for better results. In specific, the presentation illustrated that technology can provide primary health care at half its cost, enable access for 80% of unbanked Indian households, address 3-fold teacher shortage through remote solutions and also help overcome 40%-50% leakage in public food distribution, by ensuring transparency.

From a futuristic viewpoint, importance of new business models was emphasized. There would be significant opportunity outside today’s core markets with varying kinds and needs of customers. The 2020 demand in terms of customers would be attuned with factors like global delivery in place of the current offshore/onshore style and shift toward public sector companies against the predominantly private owned ones at present. A deployable talent pool, global people supply chain with globalized recruitment and talent practices would help the industry to move forward and gain competitive advantage.

The lighter moments on “Applied electricity by Ancestors” and “Indo-US political leader’s bridge story” along with all the enlightening statistics were an ideal dose of food for thought. Ms. Prameela Kalive, Global Head HR, Zensar Technologies Ltd. who was also present on the occasion offered practical advice on career choices. Recalling from her career growth, she added that it was better to be a ‘big fish in a small pond’ rather than being a ‘small fish in a big pond’.

Thanks to the management, students and Dr. Ganesh for all the time spent in sharing and learning together!

Contributed by Balaji MS, HR Varsity, Batch 4, CBS

Adieu... Bonne Chance – CBS third convocation ceremony

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On the evening of the 1st of August 2009, the whole of CBS family gathered at Anugraha Hall to award and bid farewell to the CBS 3rd batch students (2008-2009). For most of them, it would have been a time of mixed feelings of joy at having finally completed a tough and demanding one-year course, relief at having successfully reached the next significant threshold in their lives and perhaps some trepidation about what the future holds for them. Seated on the left of the aisle, they exuded a quiet yet infectious sense of anticipation and excitement, causing us all to look forward to the proceedings.

Mr. Mohan Menon, member of the Governing Council, gave an introductory speech, in which he mentioned the recession and its effect on the employment market. He said that even the economists could not predict the downturn. The Queen of England who lost a bundle in the meltdown asked her advisors as to why no one saw it coming. Their answer "..it was a result of the combined failure of brilliant minds". However, he concluded that things were gradually turning around, economy is limping up and companies have started hiring, therefore, the students should see the brighter side of the current situation.

Then, Mr. Ram Shahaney, Chairman of Ashok-Leyland and Chairman, Board of Advisors of CBS gave a short speech advising all of us to have a burning desire to achieve our goals, yet not to let go of our core values.

Mr. C.R. Swaminathan,( Chairman- CII Southern Region and Chief Executive, PSG Institutions) the chief guest of the evening, gave an stirring speech saying that today’s professionals should effectively focus on the well-informed customers. It is essential for the managers to have a wide knowledge of the global market which has a significant impact on the national one. He ended his speech with a moving and stimulating short story about balancing work, family and relationships. Then came the most awaited moment, the distribution of degree certificates.

This was followed by an inspiring speech by the guest of honour, Mr. B. Santhanam, Managing Director, Saint Gobain Glasses India Pvt. Ltd. He stressed on the importance of emotional intelligence, a fundamental skill that all managers should develop, since that is a great differentiating factor. While being competitive, today’s world requires collaboration too, often between competitors. Therefore, he suggested the students to learn to be able to work as competitors as well as collaborators. According to Mr.Santhanam, social networking is another expertise that we must acquire, investing time in it, and training ourselves to make accurate insights, which would help us in the long run. Finally, he concluded by saying that in-depth domain knowledge is indispensable for a bright career.

Mr. Santhanam then gave away the special awards to the outstanding students and also released the maiden issue of “CBS Business Review”. The brilliant ceremony concluded with the national anthem.

As we made our way up to the food bar for the high-tea, I wondered, what we would feel at this time next year. So much of it would depend on our own all-round growth as professionals and of course on the economic situation then. Nevertheless we would, like them, be ready to face the new challenges awaiting us in the real world outside. So, from the part of CBS Batch 4, we wish them... Adieu... Bonne Chance!

By Ishita Deshmukh, Marketing & Communications Varsity, CBS Batch-4 (2009-10)