SPJIMR Hosts Leadership and Institution Building Seminar

SPJIMR Hosts Leadership and Institution Building Seminar

An eminent and distinguished panel of guests, spanning as diverse fields as the Indian Army, the NGO - CRY, to corporates like the NCDEX and Morgan Stanley, a powerhouse moderator from CNBC-TV18 and a captivating discussion on Leadership and Institution building. All of that and much more happened on January 5th, 2007, at the S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research during the first seminar conducted by the CLP (Contemporary Leadership Practices) Programme at SPJIMR.

The evening bore witness to Lt. Gen. Aditya Singh, AVSM, ADC, General Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Command, Indian Army speaking about the Southern Command of the Indian Army and the institution therein and also the concept of Naam, Namak and Emaan, which binds the Indian Army together. He also spoke on the national security needs, and values of secularism, unity and tolerance from the Indian Army which can be applied to every organization.

Mr. Ravikumar, Chairman and MD of NCDEX, spoke on creating value for farmers through an institution like NCDEX and adapting to already existing models in an innovative manner to suit your business needs. Simplicity with impact interspersed with huge doses of humour marked his speech, and was the highlight of the evening.

Representing the social sector, Mr. Irwin Fernandes, Director Western Region - CRY, spoke about the founder of CRY and his leadership role in building CRY as an institution. He said that organizations must grow beyond the leader and should not be dependant on personalities or individuals. He highlighted that the social transformation of organizations, the ability to adapt and overcome crests and troughs to build a brand, helps make great institutions.

Ms. Kimberly Blewett, VP and GM, Morgan Stanley Advantage Services, spoke strongly against luck. She said there is nothing called as luck, it is simply where opportunity and preparation meet. She spoke about cross-cultural adaptation and her experience on adapting to the Indian culture. She mentioned about the three cultures in operation, the individual cultures which people bring in, the geographic culture and the organizational or corporate culture. She said that bearing the cultural torch was very important.

Mr. Vivek Law, Consumer Affairs Editor from CNBC-TV18 took the programme forward into a panel discussion. With the stalwarts in different fields talking about leadership and institution building in their domains, it was a power-packed discussion conducted deftly and with great panache by a power-house moderator. The topics of discussion ranged from defining leadership to CSR responsibilities and cross cultural leadership. A friendly banter between the General and the NCDEX Chief was the highlight of the discussion and enthralled the audience. The discussion was both enriching and enlightening, understanding leadership from so many different perspectives.

Learning can never be complete without academic inputs, and Prof. Lata Dhir, the convener of the CLP Programme from SPJIMR provided the insights on leadership and the institution building from the academic perspective.

All in all it was an evening to remember! After all one doesn't get to see a General of the Indian Army, the MD and CEO of Commodity Exchange, the Director General-Western Region from an NGO, the VP and GM of a big Corporate House and the Consumer Affairs Editor from a big media house share the podium on a single dias and talk about leadership practices and institution building!

SPJIMR was proud to host this seminar and shall endeavour to host similar programs in future under their CLP Programme. Contemporary Leadership Practices Programme was born out of the need to focus on an effective and symbiotic relationship between the Industry and the Institute in the field of Leadership. As an initiative to gather first-hand inputs from thought leaders and institution builders across domains in the field of Leadership and Institution Building, the seminar was a step forward in that direction.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Meghana Kedar (Campus Associate),
PGDBM, 2006-08,
S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai.

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