The Chief Guest on the day was Shri M. Damodaran: Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Underlining the value of intangibles in ones’ personality, he said, “Institutions are ranked on different empirical parameters but what is missing is ranking based on how confident men & women become after graduating from an institute. What really matters is how the confidence, courage and self -esteem and self- understanding go up; this is what sets apart the person in a group.” So true!
Elaborating on the central theme- Su-raaj, he elaborated that the freedom we got is Swaraaj and now we are duty bound to have Su- Raaj- a system of good governance by ensuring equality of status for every human. It is our duty as a citizen to be self governed and strive for the best for the Nation. He admired the questioning minds of the youth.
He stated that the management education should play a significant role in nation building. Though there are islands of excellence, there have been concerns in management of health sector and educational institutes. He also shared his concern over dearth of good managers in rural India to manage institutions and hospitals despite a growing number of professionals. As per him the end is not justified only by exotic salary and good location. It has a process to follow; one has to take the objective and goal.
He said EIA is a way to good governance, where ‘E’ stands for empowerment, ‘I’ is incentivise And ‘A’ is accountability, the moment every citizen starts following the ‘EIA’ good governance will automatically follow.
Responding on how the students can contribute to the nation, Damodaran had some precious nuggets of wisdom to share. To quote him, “when you pass out from the college in the convocation, you take a pledge to be true to thou self. Your deeds should match your thoughts; say what you believe. Don’t double speak. Be loud and clear about your thought. Second, remember your duties and right. And be responsible. Channelize your thought in right direction and recognize as a part of duty, which are less privilege.”Focus on your strengths to build the nation. Youth is our demographic dividend. They need to be trained in right skills, and motivated otherwise they remain potential dividend”.
Mr. Ajaya Kumar: Head HR, Videocon D2H
He highlighted the importance of context and appropriate orientation to survive and grow in life. It is very important that the individual orients himself as per the industry and understand context, people and customer. Underlining the importance of hands on experience, he said one should always be a keen learner.
He punctuated his session with relevant anecdotes and clippings. He shared a clip on Nelson Mandela supporting the assertion that wisdom and courage come with experience and generosity and perseverance.
His urged the students to foster a vision which will give their efforts proper orientation and will also help in nation building. He warned them against material orientation. He said that new batch should spend the next two years to gain knowledge and then the rest of life to gain respect across the globe.
Mr. R. Mukundan, Managing Director-Tata Chemicals Ltd. (TCL)
Mr. R. Mukundan speaking to the new batch pegged his thoughts on values though interspersed with other thoughts. He showed his faith in the power of youth. He said values and governance complement each other.
Mentioning of companies that have a well laid out code of conduct he mentioned Tata’s website. Values come to test based on your behaviour when you are in stress or no one is watching you.
An interesting acronym he shared with the young audience was SPICE. In Tata ecosystem it stood for. S- Safety, P- Passion, I- Integrity, C- care, E- Excellence. Passion as a value is very important. A team with high passion and minimum resource came up with TATA Swachh idea in 18 months, with just three people in team. One needs to be creatively destructive to achieve something new.
Also, he reiterated his faith in five principles of good governance – Satya, Ahimsa, Swaraj, Sarvodaya and Antayodhya as promulgated by Mahatma Gandhi.
What matters is not the size of the purse but the purpose, said Mukundan.
