A first-hand brush with leadership

NEW BATCH

In a small auditorium packed to its capacity, Daljeet Singh, President, Fortis Healthcare Limited questioned, “Who is a leader?” A girl, sitting at the back replied, “a leader is one who has a vision and the audacity to make it a reality.” Within that second, another boy sitting in the front row stated, “a leader is someone who can make people work in coordination.” And, the room began to echo with voices commenting on leaders and ideas of leadership.

As the session got more interactive and excited, the enthusiasm was palpable in the first year students of Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon. As part of their orientation programme these students were made to interact with top management experts who came to give special lectures and to present a broader perspective of matters related to the corporate sector.

“These eminent speakers who have taken our sessions so far have really presented a world which we have never seen before,” said Prerna. The lecture delivered by Professor MM Pant, former pro-vice chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) was an eye opener, felt some. “Prof Pant talked about as to how we as managers can become a part of advancement in science. He told us how the younger generation can bring about a change in society by looking at things from a different perspective,” voiced Prerna.

For Amit Rathi too, who is an engineer and has worked with Infosys, the session was inexplicably a lifetime experience. “It was the session by P Elango, CEO, Cairn Energy India that pushed me to think out-of-the box. He guided us about how a leader has to take decisions keeping aside his personal beliefs to handle a particular problem.”

He added, “Lectures by experts have been so interesting because all of them introduced us to real-life case studies. It became easy for us to understand what lies ahead in the real corporate world.”

Another student, Divya Chhauchhari,  a graduate from Delhi College of Engineering, who has also worked as a consultant before joining MDI said, “What I understood from all these sessions was the importance of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). I liked the lecture by the Ambassador of Israel H.E. Alon Ushpiz. I was expecting some diplomatic talk but he talked about how a populous country like India can grow to be a developed economy.”