National Conference on Managerial Excellence through Indian Ethos
Students and Faculty members of T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal, witnessed a conference on ‘Managerial Excellence through Indian Ethos’ at the Institute campus on Feb 8, 2013. The conference had eminent speakers from various fields spanning Management Education, Governance, Manufacturing Sector, etc. The conference began in an auspicious note with a prayer followed by an address by the Director of the institute, Dr. R. C. Natarajan. He shed light on the values of Indian ethos. Following him was Dr.H.Vinod Bhat, Pro Vice Chancellor of Manipal University who glorified the Indian heritage and gave his views on how we should implement the same in our day to day lives.
The next speaker was Mr. R. Seshasayee, Executive Vice Chairman of Ashok Leyland Ltd and also the Chairman of IndusInd Bank Limited. He spoke on how the Indian Values have evolved over generations and it is currently perceived by the Indian youth. He stressed the importance of imbibing the Indian ethos in our lives. Mr. Suresh, Director- Finance, AICTE delivered a special guest lecture on Indian Management.
His speech was followed by a book launching ceremony. The first one was a Compendium titled “Managerial Excellence through Indian Ethos”, which is a collection of 12 articles. The second book titled “Rewind Pause Start” penned by Dr. A.V. Rajagopalan, rewinds into the 5000 year old heritage texts of India to cull out pearls of wisdom for the current managers.
The speakers continued to enthral the audience after book launching ceremony. The next speaker was Dr. Radhakrishnan Pillai, author of the well known book ‘Corporate Chanakya’. He is the founder of Chanakya Institute of Public Leadership. He shared his extensive research on Chanakya’s Arthashastra to the audience. He stressed on the power of intellect by quoting Chanakya, “One arrow may not kill the enemy. But a man using his sharpened intellect can destroy the king along with his kingdom”. He also told that, “Continuous study ensures a trained intellect, from intellect comes practical application and from practical application results self-possession”.
The next speaker was Dr.Subhash Sharma. He has obtained his PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad and PhD from Uniiversity of Southern California, Los Angeles. He is the author of path breaking books like Western Windows Eastern Doors and Market’s Maya. Dr.Sharma shed light on the Indian National Emblem and how the four lions represent the four forces which shape a country. He gave insights on the basket of needs, modes of thinking and the model of deeds.
Following Dr. Sharma was Dr.N. Jayasankaran. He is currently Professor Emeritus at NMIMS, Mumbai and is the former Director of Bharatidasan Institute of Management Trichy. He spoke on the importance of controlling one’s mind through breath and stressed on the importance of meditation and Pranayama. He quoted, “The ability of a good manager is to develop the competencies of people who are along with the manager”. He emphasized on the fact that the Indian Ethos runs deep in every Indian’s blood and it cannot be replicated.
Reverend Father Dr. Allan Samuel Pallana, who teaches Social Ethics in United Theological College, Bangalore explained the linkage between Economics, ecology and ecumenism. Dr. Allan explained the fact that Colonialism has taken the resources from us and the foreign powers are now selling what they took from us at a premium price. He also underlined the fact that, “Any organization is a success because of its human resources and not because of technology”.
The final speaker of the day was Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon. Dr. Menon is Commissioner of Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax (Appeals) in Panjim, Goa. Dr. Menon took the concept of aeronautics and established the impact of the Indian scriptures on the Societal, Educational and Technical excellence in the field of aeronautics. He also gave examples how western civilizations still referred to ancient India as an “Abode of Heaven”. He stressed on the fact that we need not go anywhere to gain excellence. Everything is available in India’s glorious scriptures.
Following Dr. Menon, Dr. V. Vijaya proposed Vote of thanks and all the dignitaries were felicitated.