Six Dimensions of Leadership

“What distinguishes the students of SOIL from other B-Schools?” My answer to this question is “Leadership”. To explain my answer better, following are my experiences of Leadership, which I have encountered at SOIL.

My encounter with leadership started on the first day of a course conducted by Dr. Ramnath Narayanswamy. On the first day of our course we were given an assignment to make 12-slide presentation on “Who am I?” On the face of it, it looked simple, but it turned out to be the most challenging assignment. We struggled, but by the end of the course we knew ourselves better and had learnt that the journey of Leadership starts with self. That is where I learnt the first dimension, “Leadership of Self”.

The second learning came during our Theatre course. For the course, we had to put up a show for the entire school in two days, what followed was a powerful experience in teamwork. The entire class together wrote the script, dialogues, and together decided each scene. We discussed, we debated, and we decided. The end result was a flawless performance. What we achieved together in this class was no less than a miracle. I witnessed the power of working together towards a common objective. This was the second dimension, “Leadership by Togetherness”.

The third was learnt through Yoga. As part of the curriculum we were taught yoga by Susie Roy. We attended the first class with stiff bodies and reluctant minds. However, Susie, with her love for each student, created an environment of warmth and belongingness. Slowly we all started loving each moment that we spent with her. This is how I learnt the third dimension, “Leadership by Love”. The fourth learning has come from our NGO association, as part of our course. I am part of an NGO called SRF Foundation, which works in the field of rural education. We had a life changing experience when we made our first few visits to villages nearby. These villages just 50 KM from Gurgaon, seem 50 years away from Gurgaon in terms of development. Here we met real life heroes, who have done wonders with literally no means. They have had neither the resources, nor the support of people but have done wonder within their constraints. This is where I learnt the fourth dimension, “Leadership in Constraints”.

The fifth aspect was something that was told to us by one of our visiting faculty. Dr. Karl-Erik Sveiby, the father of Knowledge Management, during one of his lectures introduced us to the lives of the Nhunggabarra People of Australia. This unique tribe does not believe in having one single tribe leader! People here assume leadership in areas in which they are experts. For example, men who are experienced hunters, take lead during hunting expeditions, similarly women are in-charge of decisions pertaining to community and marriage. Their record keeping is better than any databases and spread-sheets of today. These people have led a sustainable, sophisticated and a happy life and even though they do not have a leader, they definitely have Leadership. This was the learning of the fifth dimension, “Situational Leadership”.

The final lesson in leadership is something which I saw from the founder of our institute, Mr. Anil Sachdev. This was when swine flu was at its peak. During that time we received news that one of our colleagues had been infected with H1N1. The moment the news came in Mr. Sachdev walked into our classroom and sat with us; rather than in the safe confines of his office. He exposed himself to the same risk which all students were exposed to. He also made arrangements for medicines for each student and their family. This type of leadership by the founder of SOIL left an indelible impression on most of us. And this was the sixth dimension, “Leadership by Example”.

In the time that I have spent at SOIL, these are some of the dimensions of Leadership that I have seen and learnt and am sure that by the time this course ends I would have experienced many many more.

Contributed by - Ankush Chopra - Student of Business Leadership Program, SOIL

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.

Message from Anil Sachdev, Founder & CEO SOIL

Ethics, diversity, mindfulness, compassion and sustainability are the five pillars of "Inspired Leadership". They truly create lasting value in the true sense of the word and build organizations of consequence. The School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) is being founded to develop leaders who live this vision.

We are creating a business school that is attempting to respond to some questions given below:

• Can business schools truly develop leaders who care for the planet?
• Is it possible to build "character" in higher education?
• Do we know the challenges we are likely to face tomorrow and can we build competence to face
• these ahead of time?
• How do we build enthusiasm in our hearts when there is so much "bad news" screaming at us from every form of media?
• Can a business school help students to know themselves, realize their "purpose", discover their gifts and learn how to leverage their strengths to create maximum value?

We are experimenting with many innovative approaches. Our Social Innovation Program (SIP) entails every student spending one day a week working with a NGO that is striving to improve the state of our world. Each student would be mentored by a Business leader. This would develop leaders with compassion who truly "care". We plan to teach ethics by leveraging the power of theatre and performing arts. We will simulate live "cases" in which students would attempt to play the roles of real life characters when they face ethical dilemmas. This will develop leaders who realize the consequences of the choices they make.

We are designing a "wellness" program covering physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well being. This will teach our students the virtues of a good living and a balanced healthy lifestyle.We are forming a Consortium of role model companies to participate in shaping SOIL at every stage- from selection of students based on multiple intelligences to design of relevant curriculum, review of quality, participating in the Social Innovation Program (SIP), teaching relevant & live case studies on their companies and the placement of students. This will make our school truly exceptional and impactful.

We are all excited about giving birth to SOIL. We feel "blessed" and have a deep sense of gratitude of being given this opportunity to build an Institution of consequence. Join us in this journey and help us to create the SOIL in which the right seeds are planted to grow talent that our world needs and deserves!