UTV-Bloomberg Promo of Inspired Leadership Conference 2010

Exciting times at SOIL - A student perspective

The entire SOIL family is working hard for Placements as well as the Conference on Inspired Leadership. The excitement of the Placement week is still on and the count-down to the conference has begun as well. These 10 days are completely action packed for all of us at SOIL since both events are of equal importance. Technology is an important enabler at this time and we see several mails going back and forth! Some herald news about the students who have got selected and are signing out of the placement process, others inform us about the companies scheduled to visit campus and yet others relate to the preparation required.

It is interesting to note that while just a few weeks ago all the students were busy preparing for the student dossiers to be shared with the companies and seeking advice on the relevant career paths, the discussions have now moved on to which companies one should apply to and what profile would be appropriate! Lots of excitement!

As the first batch at SOIL, it is exciting to be part of the development of the placement policy, choosing the profiles and the companies, organizing the pre-placement talks and the establishment of the various processes. It feels great to see that the Career Forward team has been successful in getting several of the top ranking firms to the campus for the placements that began on 18^th Jan.

Congratulations to our batchmates who have got great offers from Vodafone, Infosys, M&M, Johnson & Johnson, Kohler, TATA Steel, John Deere, Max India Corp and others. We are all looking forward to meeting with several other firms including Accenture, Taj, Metlife, Airtel, Avantha, Polaris, Murugappa and Dr. Reddy’s (to name a few)!

Now, with the conference coming up on 29^th and 30^th Jan, it is interesting to see how some students are working on the placement process and others have focused on organizing the conference! There are some who are even striking a balance between both…you sit for an interview, visit your NGO for the SIP project, come back to work for the conference and then prepare for classes the next day…this has really given us a chance to celebrate inspired leadership!

While the placement week has been of immense significance for all of us, we also realize that the Conference is also one of the most important events during our year at SOIL and I am confident that both events will be a resounding and memorable success.

Contributed by - Santosh Prabhakar, Student, Business Leadership Program

What to expect from SOIL

“What sort of a job will I get after I complete my course?” “What is the salary I can expect?” “What sort of companies will visit the campus?”

These are some of the many questions that race through a student’s mind when one considers pursuing a B School education.

The story at SOIL however, is different. The one year program has been designed in a manner that ensures maximum interaction with industry leaders in various formats. Due to this intense involvement with the industry, SOIL students are well prepared for moving towards the right career.

One of these formats is the mentorship program where students spend 3-4 hours every month with a senior leader from the industry. This helps the students chart out their career aspirations, identify the areas that they need to focus on and develop the skills needed in the industry that they aspire for. These meetings also enable conversations about career progression and who knows, the mentor may at times find the mentee a good fit into their own organization!

Another exciting way to engage with the industry is the Company Day. This provides the students with a platform to network with senior leaders from our Consortium Companies for an entire day. Besides sharing leadership stories from their respective companies, they also discuss real life case studies with the students. The students get an opportunity to present their recommendations to the senior management of the visiting companies who in turn can provide constructive feedback to add to the students’ learning experience at SOIL.

With the students half way through the program, the efforts of the Career Forward Team come into focus. This comprises a team of students guided by the SOIL faculty and management team. While the SOIL consortium companies lead the placement process and commit their participation, the Career Forward Team also reaches out to several other companies. A unique aspect is the Student Dossier that is shared with the Companies…this highlights each students’ experience, their learning at SOIL as well as their future aspirations. This brings out much more as compared to just a resume. (http://www.soilindia.net/student-profile.html)

We believe that every student at SOIL has unique gifts and the aim of the team is to best fit the students with the right company and brightest prospects.

Information Session and Campus Tour at SOIL

Facts, figures, and even the best websites, blogs, and virtual tours will never give you the 3-D, personal experience of knowing how a particular campus feels, how the students live their daily lives, or what the buzz of the classroom is like! To put it simply, you wouldn't buy a car without test driving it first!

On 16^th January 2010, prospective students and their families had the opportunity to learn more about SOIL and its programs through a 3 hour group information session led by our management team, faculty and industry consortium companies.

The session provided the students with a more natural, spontaneous and engaging experience; a taste of what it would be like to study and be a student of SOIL.

The information session was structured in a way that provided students a natural and spontaneous flavor of SOIL’s value proposition, reputed faculty, the strong partnership with 30 leading organizations and the unique learning experience.

The session began with the Founder and CEO Anil Sachdev talking to the participants about the vision of SOIL, the growth story of the past one year and the future plans.

The participants then had the opportunity to interact with Aadesh Goyal, Chairman and MD at People Strong. Aadesh is one of the mentors for the SOIL students and he shared this experience with the audience and they got a clear understanding of how the mentor-mentee program has not only helped students identify and forge their goals, but has also enabled them to develop the right kind of skills and attitude required to move their career forward.

There was also a session with senior representatives from the Industry Consortium. Mr. P Dwarkanath, Director, Group Human Capital, Max India, shared with the students the importance of matching the curriculum of a business school with the requirements of the industry. He spoke of how the industry needs more people with a deeper understanding of leadership principles along with business acumen. Mr. Prashant Shrivastava, Director HR, Kohler related his experiences of interacting with the first batch of students at SOIL during the Kohler Company Day. He also cited the HR curriculum and discussed its relevance to the real world HR best practices.

This was followed by an introduction of our resident faculty – Prof. Adwaita Menon, Strategy, Prof. Shrikant Gupta, MIS, Dr. Sunita Chugh, HR and Dr. Vinita Sahay, Marketing. Who shared their background, experiences and the pedagogy followed at SOIL. And spoke of the unique grading system that allows each student to excel rather than pursuing a relative pattern. They also spoke of the interactive classroom features that encourage peer to peer networking and intense faculty interaction.

Our students are at the heart of SOIL, and as such are the best people to share experiences about life at SOIL. The session ended with a Campus Walk and an open session where the participants could know more about the admission process and the finance/loan options as well.

This was the first of many Info Sessions that SOIL plans to organize. This was a truly engaging and memorable experience for the audience involved.

SOIL's SIP Program with Adharshila (NGO)

Leadership Crisis

Leadership is almost certainly the most written about and discussed topic in organizational literature- even more so in today’s turbulent times.

What is beyond doubt is the fact that we have a global leadership crisis. Today, more than ever, in the uncertainty, and change we all face, organizations need more integrity and emotional intelligence, and our leaders have far too little of it. This may be the greatest limitation on our ability to navigate the turbid and unclear waters we all seem to be treading in. Certainly, we need more abundant and better qualified leadership to get us through the challenging times ahead. Yet, we are moving into a period where the leadership pool is getting smaller and younger. While this presents obvious challenges, this also perhaps presents us with a great opportunity.

The opportunity lies in the fact that we do know far more today about the importance of leadership continuity and the key leadership characteristics that contribute to the long-term success of institutions. Leadership undoubtedly makes a big difference. We have all, I am sure, at some stage worked with, for and alongside people some of whom are inspiring, some mediocre and some that don’t deserve to be leaders to begin with.

The growing crisis in leadership that we face today is observable from at least three different perspectives.

Firstly, with respect to demographic evidence, in the next decade, the percentage of 35 to 44 year olds will decline significantly in most countries and at the same time evidence suggests that competition between companies to attract and retain top talent will intensify. However, in the absence of any clear indication on the leadership qualities of those who are to enter the pool, nothing definite can be said about the shape of things that will emerge.

Secondly, with respect to the anecdotal evidence, we can clearly see a deteriorating confidence level in leadership in almost every principal field of endeavor whether it is business, education, Government or religion.

Finally, there is evidence that is emerging that presents serious concern about the need for quality in our leadership pool.

1. Companies are indeed at risk on many fronts – not just geopolitical or financial, but vulnerability to natural disaster, regulatory change, technology change, loss of market share, new competition, law suits, complexity of global markets and now corporate fraud!

2. Employees are constantly looking for newer and deeper meaning in their work. On average one out of every two employees the world over is disengaged at their workplace. They lack the enthusiasm, drive and passion for their work. Furthermore, the gloomy economic outlook, increasing job insecurity and layoffs have dampened levels of employee morale and made matters worse.

3. Environmental degradation is affecting all mankind on a global scale. Ozone layer depletion, global warming and loss of biodiversity are concerns of global significance that urgently require leadership intervention at the highest level.

4. The growing demand growth for energy especially from countries like India and China in the face of tight supply conditions continues to heighten the energy crisis.

5. There is a growing radicalization of religious beliefs inhibiting Governments’ from developing foreign policies that are acceptable and based on strong economic fundamentals.

6. Today, there is far more globalization and interdependence than we have witnessed in the past. We have all been victims in varying degrees to the financial meltdown on Wall Street. As the world becomes far more integrated, we will require a different kind of leadership.

Companies have to find solutions focused on sustainable development encompassing economic security and prosperity, social development and advancement and environmental sustainability. Business enterprise can no longer suck in the resources of society and environment beyond its self-sustaining capability. Today, society and environment are seriously questioning the existence of irresponsible and non-responsive business enterprise.

Industry has also realized that organizations with strong environmental and social credentials get the social sanctions to operate, carry less risk, achieve greater efficiencies and are better positioned to take advantage of opportunities in a global marketplace. Never before in human history has the need to create a true symbiotic relationship between business enterprise, society and environment been felt more than it is today. So much so that the sustainability of business enterprise as the engine of human development is completely dependent on this symbiotic relationship.

Business enterprises will have to transform from a transactional intelligence of demand and supply economics to emotional intelligence of building, nurturing and caring. It will have to allow the benefits of economic growth to sustain the ecological and social environment and spur the evolution of technologies that drive balanced growth.

This is a major change and requires leadership of a very different kind. Jim Collins discovered in his extensive research that the most powerfully transformed leaders share a paradoxical combination of personal humility and fierce resolve. Ensuring success of business will require transformational and sustainable leadership. Success going forward will be measured by a new understanding of integrating business, social and environmental issues, much like how economic thinkers are looking at integrating economic development with human development indices as a true measure of growth of any economy.

Contributed by - Nishchae Suri - President, SOIL