Address by Siddharth Jayakumar - Power Talk

The second day of L'Attitude 13 05 got underway with Power talks by people who have lived life on their own terms and who, perhaps, for the same reason, are a source of inspiration for many of us.

Mr. Siddharth Jayakumar is a certified 'Documentary Credit Specialist' (CDCS) from Institute of Financial Services, UK & is India’s first CDCS with Cerebral Palsy. He is a recipient of National award in 2008 by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment - The “Best Employee with Cerebral Palsy”.

Highlights of his address (non verbatim) -

Siddharth's speech was one that every person would remember as the most inspirational speech of L'Attitude 13 05. Siddharth suffers from a neurological condition called Cerebral Palsy that affects the coordination between his mind and body.

Always defeat the problem. You cannot allow the problem to defeat you were some of his first words...

How many of you manage yourself? How do you make your presence felt? How do you make people accept you? That is where the challenge lies for me. I learnt to manage my limitations very well...How can I blame myself for something that is not in my control?

I used to talk very fast that even my parents could not understand me. I realized that and then I put in every effort to talk slow. That is a very painful process because it is not easy to beat your own mind...

I cannot write my own exam. I have to depend on somebody. Once, I had a person who did not even know English to write my history exam. I had to dictate the 3 hour paper letter by letter. I became very stubborn then. I decided to become mentally tough to be able to handle these situations...

It is easy to have a lot of thoughts, but how many can we really implement? Implementation was not very easy for me...I succeeded because I wanted to succeed.

A lot of insensitive people just happened to put me down without understanding my problem. The doctors could not diagnose my problem for 9 years. A school refused to admit me because I was different. If somebody else was in my situation, they would have just given up...

My parents are people who never expected something great out of me. I never passed on any responsibility to my parents. Accepting responsibilities for who you are and accepting whatever result you get for your action, that is what I did. It is very easy for me to blame the system, but blaming the the system will make me a loser. After 6 years of my career, I have met a lot of people who cannot come to terms with my ability no matter how much they know me...

I learnt that there is no second opportunity for me. Many people take their opportunities for granted. Every single opportunity I had, I had to grab it and deliver the best I can...

He ended the address with the words Everyday I think about how I can make myself better!

Siddharth's speech was about the story of his own personal triumph over his limitations. On the one hand, it is deeply personal, while, on the other, it is a lesson in exercise of will power, perseverance and a deep seated urge to succeed despite overwhelming odds. One that we would remember for a long time in our lives...!

Arthashastra final results

The finals of the one of the flagship events of L'Attitude 13 05 - Arthashastra - were conducted over SKYPE with participants taking part from international B Schools. In fact, this is the only event of L'Attitude that had exclusive participation from the international B schools alone. After a gruelling test of management consulting and strategy skills, the winning team was announced by former president Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam during the inauguration of L'attitude. The winning team also gets to walk away with a prestigious trophy.

Here are the winners –

First Prize – USD 2500 + Trophy
Team name – Spartan
School – Michigan State University
Students - Gaurav Arora,  Amit Kumar Ranjan and Amanjeet Singh

Second Prize – USD 1000
Team name – SingBiz
School – National University of Singapore
Students - Anukish Garg, Vishal Narain and Surya Dipta

Congratulations to the winners!

Address by Mr. K Raghavendra Rao – CEO conclave

Mr. K Raghavendra Rao is Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd. He demonstrated Orchid’s commitment to nurture entrepreneurship by providing a sum of 5 Crore rupees for the establishment of 'Orchid - Great Lakes centre for excellence in Technopreneurship' at the Great Lakes campus. The plaque for the launch was unveiled by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in the presence of Uncle Bala, Professor Sriram and Mr. Rao.

Highlights of his address (non verbatim) –

3BL – People

The order in which elements of 3BL have been sequenced is so true. It is not possible to have a sustainable business without a people orientation because the first challenge any organization faces is the challenge of people. At Orchid, the vision is to enrich people through innovation in health care. The value system encompasses corporate social responsibility (CSR), respect for individual, excellence in whatever one does and innovation.

As soon as the company went public, we issued shares to all our employees. We have scholarship programmes for higher education of our employees and free education schemes for their wards based on merit. We practise dignity of labour as a concept and to us, all jobs are equally important.

3BL – Planet

We should not be net beneficiaries, rather net contributors to our society. Our manufacturing processes involve the usage of a lot of solvents and effluents but we make sure that they are not released into the environment. We are in fact, the first company to achieve the tag ‘zero discharge of effluents’ in our very first year of operations. I was told in the beginning that “60% recovery of solvents is enough”. But, we radically set a target of 70-100%. Orchid is also the only company to have met all the environment norms stipulated by the World Bank in this part of the world. We adopt schools in the localities around our operations. At Thiruporur, near the Great Lakes campus, because of the assistance of our employees, the pass % improved from 45% to nearly 90% in the high school.

3BL – Profit

Orchid’s net profit was 24 crores during Q2 FY’11. Because we have people who are well cared for and because we provide a lot of intangible benefits to our people, attrition rates are very low. The fact that we are not hierarchy driven also makes our people more committed.

I would like the takeaway of my address to be “Have an agenda and live for something. You can learn something from everyone. I learnt scale from the Ambanis, corporate governance from Narayana Murthy and innovation from Dr. Reddy’s.”

He ended his address with the hope that Orchid invented molecules will soon become drugs that will be consumed by everyone.

Address by Mr. Satish Pradhan – CEO Conclave

Mr. Satish Pradhan, Chief, Group HR, Tata Sons, was the first speaker of the CEO Conclave. He spoke on 3BL – People, Planet, Profit, the theme of L’Attitude 13 05, 2011.

Highlights of his address (not verbatim) –

3BL as imperatives

People, planet and profit are not options but imperatives of enterprises. This might be sounding overzealous to some and an understatement to others but nevertheless, it is a fundamental reality. The bottom line in 3BL has an accounting and Wall Street connotation; it is not a measure of inclusiveness because everything cannot be reduced to top line and bottom line.

Questions to ponder

What is the difference between wanting to look good and looking good? We should introspect on the difference. Are we diminishers or multipliers of inclusiveness? Are we diminishers or multipliers of environment? Are we diminishers or multipliers of profitability? These three are not options or tradeoffs. It is simply not about economic development at the cost of the environment anymore. We need leadership that can think beyond the ‘tomorrow’ and the ‘day after’.

Integration with a firm’s strategy

Jamsetji Tata, founder of the Tata group of companies, way back in the 1860s believed that “The community is not merely one of the stakeholders. It is the very purpose of our existence”.

While everyone can’t run a charitable institution dedicated to the cause of philanthropy, very few firms factor in considerations about people and planet when devising their strategy. The Tata group has developed a ‘human development index’ that measures the impact of a firm on human development in the environment. This will determine the degree to which intent is getting converted to impact.

The frameworks that CK Prahalad has offered us can be used for good 3BL practices. Examples of Tata group's products and services in this aspect abound – a one lakh car, an affordable water purifier and hotel infrastructure…

Mr. Pradhan thus left the audience with the thought that all the three imperatives can be achieved successfully and without conflict if 3BL is built into a firm’s strategy.

Address by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam – Chief Guest

L’Attitude 13 05, 2011 got underway in grand style today. Dr. Kalam, former president of India and one of our most distinguished scientists was the chief guest. His speech was on ‘21^st century Management Education’

Excerpts –

I would like to greet the experts and professionals in management, academicians, industrialists, corporate and all the guests present here. I was reading about the Great Lakes Institute of Management which has the motto “Global Mindset, Indian roots”. This amalgamation is indeed the need of the modern Indian Management Education in this new decade and beyond.

Economic development, competitiveness and creative leadership

Since I am in the midst of experts and professionals in management, let me discuss the linkage between national economic development and creative leadership.

1. A nation’s Economic development is powered by competitiveness.

2. Competitiveness is powered by knowledge power.

3. Knowledge power is powered by Technology and innovation.

4. Technology and innovation is powered by resource investment.

5. Resource investment is powered by return on Investment.

6. Return on investment is powered by revenue.

7. Revenue is powered by Volume and repeat sales.

8. Volume and repeat sales is powered by customer loyalty.

9. Customer loyalty is powered by Quality and value of products.

10. Quality and value of products is powered by Employee Productivity and innovation.

11. Employee Productivity is powered by Employee Loyalty.

12. Employee Loyalty is powered by employee satisfaction.

13. Employee satisfaction is powered by working environment.

14. Working Environment is powered by management innovation.

15. Management innovation is powered by Creative leadership.

For success in all the missions, it is essential to have creative leaders. Creative leadership means, exercising the vision to change the traditional role from the commander to the coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect.

The knowledge society in 21st century

The world in the 21st century will be a knowledge based society with multiple opportunities. I was studying a book, "Empires of the Mind" by Denis Waitley. This book gives what type of the new world which we are facing now? What was yesterday and what is today. I have modified certain points of the author to suit our conditions. I have also added a third line which is pertinent to the action required by the management institutions.

It especially says that “what worked yesterday won’t work today”

1. Yesterday – natural resources defined power

    Today - knowledge is power

     Institutions will be the powerhouse for knowledge.

2. Yesterday - Hierarchy was the model

     Today- synergy is the mandate

     Institutions will be enabler of intersection of multiple faculties towards mission goals.

3. Yesterday – leaders commanded and controlled

  Today – leaders empower and coach

   Potential Leaders will be empowered through exposure to the needs of sustainable       development.

4. Yesterday - shareholders came first

    Today – customers come first

    Education should inculcate sensitivity to "customer" needs.

5. Yesterday - employees took order

    Today – teams make decision

    Institutions can inject team spirit.

6. Yesterday - seniority signified status

    Today – creativity drive status

    Institutions are the breeding environment for creativity.

7. Yesterday – production determined availability

    Today – Competitiveness is the key

    Competitiveness is powered by research and university has to have the motto of "teaching-research-teaching".

8. Yesterday - value was extra

    Today – value is everything

    Value based education has to be introduced as a part of the curriculum, at least for one hour every week.

9.  Yesterday – everyone was a competitor

     Today – everyone is a customer

     During education industrial and entrepreneurship training is essential.

10. Yesterday - profits were earned through expediency

      Today – Work with integrity and succeed with integrity.

      Home, organizations and educational places should become learning places

Conclusion: 

We will have to find newer methods of cooperation so that core competence of even remote villages can be synergized for competitive products. So, everything global must have the tone; management for the 6 billion; water for 6 billion; energy for 6 billion; education for 6 billion; healthcare for 6 billion. Such empowerment will lead to a world which is prosperous, peaceful and grows on sustainable path of development. It is beyond doubt, that the enterprises and business models will play an increasing role in the evolution of the humankind and nations in the future. They would be recognized by the contribution which they make the lives of the people and the profits would be recognized only when they come with integrity.

Profit with integrity:

 Profit with integrity leads to sustained growth. How is it possible? We need to have National ethics for sustained growth and peace. Where from it starts?

* Nation has to have ethics in all its tasks, for sustained economic prosperity and peace.

* If nation is to have ethics; society has to promote ethics and value system.

* If society is to have ethics and value system, families should adhere to ethics and value system;

* If families have to get evolved with ethics and value system, parenthood should have inbuilt ethics.

* Parental ethics come from great learning, value based education and creation of clean environment that leads to righteousness in the heart.

Friends, for 21st century one of the very important business ethos will be the song "I will work with integrity and succeed with integrity". It is indeed a tough process, but only tough minded people, defeat the problem and succeed.

With these words, I inaugurate the L’Attitude 13 05’ being organized by the Great Lakes Institute of Management. My greetings and best wishes to all of you. May God Bless you.

To a question on how the rural urban inequality can be tackled, Dr. Kalam gave the example of project PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) This project provides urban amenities in rural areas by providing physical, electronic and knowledge connectivity. Once this in place, this can facilitate earning capacity leading to economic connectivity and upliftment of rural areas.

Dr. Kalam wanted the students present in the audience to send him a mail with 5 names consisting of a politician, a bureaucrat, a corpocrat, a social worker and a public personality who have practised integrity and have succeeded in their domains.

Talking about integrity, in his typical style, he made the audience repeat the following-

“Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character,

When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home,

When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation,

When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world.”

Dr. Kalam gave us ample food for thought when he said, “can you be you or do you want to be everyone else? The World around is doing its best, day and night to make you like everyone else”. As he ended his address, he left us with this single overpowering message – “Work with integrity and succeed with integrity”

Results

Prayatna – The will to do

The following teams have been shortlisted for Round 2

PY80271 TISS, Mumbai

PY34047 Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar

PY80178 Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar

PY80247 SIBM, Pune

PY58788 Goa Institute of Management

PY94656 CCSNIAM, Jaipur

MARKO’WIZ Results

The following teams have been shortlisted for Round 2:

1. IIM Bangalore – Anil /Abhinandan

2. IIM Calcutta – Sankaran / Sethunarayanan

3. IIM Lucknow – Aravind Babu / Ram Sundar

4. MDI Gurgaon – Ashwin / Shishir

5. XLRI Jamshedpur – Nischal / Rajni

Prakriti Results

The following teams have been shortlisted for Round 2:

1. Green apple, NITIE

2. RPG, Xavier Institute of Management (PK42259)

3. Smikipedians, SMOT school of business (PK49390)

4. WeCo, JBIMS (PK88313)

Ranniti Results

The following teams have been shortlisted for Round 2:

1. GIM Dream Team – GIM, Goa

2. Infinity – GIM, Goa

3. Team Ice – IIM Kolkata

4. Team Strategists –IIM Kozhikode

5. Team Strados – IIM Kozhikode

6. Unnamed – IIM Lucknow

Occam’s Razor Results

The following teams have been shortlisted for Round 2:

1. Nineth Direction – Thiagarajar School Of Management

2. Salt n Pepper – Welingkar

3. Rated X – XIMB

4. Zion–Welingkar

Samridhi Results

The following teams have been shortlisted for Round 2:

1. Trojan Horse – XIMB, Bhubaneswar

2. Invincible – IIM Indore

3. Altitude - IBS, Ahmedabad

4. Black Swan – GIM, Goa

5. Profit Prophets – Welingkar Institute of Management

6. Allah Ke Bandey - XIMB, Bhubaneswar

BoardRoom-13˚05’ – Round 1 Results

The following teams have been shortlisted for Round 2:

 1NITIE, Mumbai     ONE POINT MORE

 2MDI, Gurgaon      Bhandu &Bhindi

 3IIM Calcutta          Nemo

 4SIBM, Pune           SYMBLIFIERS

 5IFMR, Chennai      Random Variables

L'Attitude 13 05 - Guest Speakers

If you went through the post on the Guest of Honour and the CEO Conclave and were impressed by the profiles of speakers, well, this list is going to impress you more...as guest speakers for the event, we have –

Mr. Arvind Talekar representing the ‘Nutan Mumbai Dabbawalas Association’ will be speaking on ‘The Magic of Dabbawalas Unfolded’. Even though 85% of them are illiterate, the Dabbawalas have Six Sigma, ISO & several other certifications to their credit. . The Dabbawala Association which was started in late 1890 by Late Shri. Mahadu Havji Bachhe now has 5000 employees and they deliver as many as 200000 boxes a day with a very high degree of accuracy. 

Mr. Siddharth Jayakumar is a certified 'Documentary Credit Specialist' (CDCS) from Institute of Financial Services, UK & is India’s first CDCS with Cerebral Palsy. He is a recipient of National award in 2008 by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment - The “Best Employee with Cerebral Palsy”. Being a person with cerebral palsy, life was not easy for Siddharth. He had to encounter a number of hurdles. A turn around moment for him was when he got a call from Dr. Kalam’s office when the latter was serving as president. Thereafter Dr. Kalam went on to mention Siddharth's name on many occasions & forums including the ‘World Disability Day’.

Mr. Peter Van Geit, born and raised in Belgium, is living in Chennai for the last 12 years, working as a Project Manager in CISCO Systems India. An explorer by nature, Peter has driven over 50,000 kms across India on his bullet and has conquered the Himalayas thrice. A few years ago, he founded the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC), a non-profit volunteer based group of trekking enthusiasts who explore mountains and jungles across South India nearly all weekends of the year. This Chennai based group has currently close to 8000 members and is rapidly growing with 500 new members joining each month. It is the largest and the most active trekking community in India.

Mr. T Chendil Kumar or CK as he prefers to be called is a corporate trainer and a guest faculty at IIM Bangalore. With over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing and entrepreneurship, CK took a decision to switch over to training and speaking at the age of 45. He doesn’t regret it one bit because he now does what he enjoys best – connecting with people and enabling confidence in them. CK is an avid Toastmaster and a much sought after speaker. He has sponsored more than 10 Toastmasters Clubs in India. A redeeming feature of CK’s talks has been his sprinkling of relevant humour in his talks and programs.

Mr. Firdose Vandrevala is Chairman and Managing Director of Hirco Developments. Prior to joining Hirco, he was Chairman of Motorola in India. Mr. Vandrevala has had a long, successful and distinguished career with Tatas from 1972 -2005. He has been on the Boards of several companies. Currently besides Hirco, he is on the Board of Powergrid Corporation of India Ltd., Power Systems Operations Company and also on the Board of RICS (Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors) India and UK.  Mr. Vandrevala’s interests have led him to be actively involved with many organizations like Rotary, CII, and Multiple Sclerosis of India (MSSI).

Mr. Kamal P Nanavaty heads RIL’s Polymer and Cracker Business. He played a key role in capacity expansion through acquisition of IPCL in 2002 which enhanced the polymers market share from 40% to 70%. He has also been with Reliance Infocom, Reliance Retail and IPCL. He has presented numerous papers and key note addresses in conferences of international repute like APIC, NPRA, SPI, CMAI, Chemical week, ICIS, Tecnon, Plast India and others

Are you looking forward to listening to these speakers? Then, do join us on the 6^th and 7^th Jan, 2011 as we usher in the new year in our own style!