Anjuman – The Annual Leader’s Corporate Luncheon stands unique in its aim to bring together students and industry leaders for an informal interaction over a sumptuous Nawabi Lunch. Anjuman 2012, structured along the same lines as its predecessors, brought together renowned industry leaders as keynote speakers and provided an ideal platform for corporate heads, IIM Lucknow faculty and a select set of students to learn from each other.
Organized around the theme ‘ Innovate, Implement and Inspire: Build a Legacy’, Anjuman sought to celebrate the business houses, leaders and institutions who have through their continuous and consistent show of brilliance shaped the county.
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· Mr. S D Latkar (CFO, Computational Research Laboratories)
· Mr. Jayant Krishna (CSI Lucknow Chairman & Principal Consultant, TCS)
· Mr. Chaitanya Kalbag (Editor, Business Today)
· Mr. Sheshadri Rajaram (CEO, Erhardt + Leimer India Pvt. Ltd)
· Mr. Santosh Nair (Editor, moneycontrol.com)
The event was flagged off by a keynote address by Dr. Devi Singh (Director, IIM Lucknow) who set the theme of the discussion by expressing how legacy stemmed from the fact that some were brave enough to think beyond the obvious, employ successfully ideas which no one else would dare to employ and then persistently work on those ideas to make a substantial difference to the lives of all those it touched. He pointed out that most of us Indians believe that we are creative but it is our failure to take those ideas to conclusion that threatens our quest to establish India as a global power in the next two decades.
Mr. S D Latkar (CFO, Computational Research Laboratories) shared his long experience with the Tata Group, narrating to the audience not only various innovations he had seen but also the work done in developing Computational Research Laboratories
Mr. Jayant Krishna (CSI Lucknow Chairman & Principal Consultant, TCS) sought, through examples to explain how an enterprise builds its legacy. Narrating anecdotes highlighting the rise of the Tata Group, he illustrated how at times through innovation, how at times choosing to focus on strengths and how sometimes through the sheer desire to change the way you want the world to see you can inspire a company to rise from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected names of the world.
Mr. Chaitanya Kalbag (Editor, Business Today), the first Asian to rise to one of the most senior positions at Reuters, shared with the audience his views on how Indian culture and work ethics are different with in relation to innovation, from that of its western counterparts. He put before the house that perhaps we as Indians should detach ourselves from our culture in order to innovate and build India as an economic powerhouse. He did concede however that countries such as Japan and Korea have managed to embrace innovation as a part of their culture and grow economically while holding steadfast to their traditional values.
Mr. Sheshadri Rajaram (CEO, Erhardt + Leimer India Pvt. Ltd) stated that perhaps it is easier to innovate when you are in charge of a smaller organization than when you are involved in a large company and hindered by countless processes. He used his own experience as an example of how being hindered in a big company before his business education, he chose to work for a smaller firm post MBA and how the satisfaction of being able to innovate as he chooses stops him from even thinking of swapping organizations
Mr. Santosh Nair (Editor, moneycontrol.com) bought to the table his technical insights from moneycontrol.com, impressing upon the audience the need for innovation for a nascent idea to grow and eventually establish itself in the wider scheme of things.
Following the keynote addresses and an insightful Q&A session with the audience, the event concluded with a sumptuous lunch which presented the lighter side of the leaders, as they opened up to informal discussion with the attendees. Speaking about the event, Rishikesh Tripathy, a second year student of IIM Lucknow remarked, “Events such as Anjuman help the students in viewing the regular course work at IIM through the lens of Industry people. These interactions truly are an invaluable part of an IIM experience.”