Tag Archives: AIMA

Smart India – Gen Bikram Singh at AIMA’s 60th Foundation Day

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AIMA celebrated its 60th Foundation Day & 10th National Management Day on 20th February 2016 at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi. The theme of the celebrations was “Smart India”. General Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retired), Former Chief of the Indian Army & Chairman, Chiefs of Staff was the Chief Guest. Below is an excerpt of his speech on ‘Smart India’.

General Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retired), Former Chief of the Indian Army & Chairman Chiefs of Staff addressing the Inaugural session.

General Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retired), Former Chief of the Indian Army & Chairman Chiefs of Staff addressing the Inaugural session.

I have been associated with  AIMA for a while now and this is the third time I am here. One of the reasons for accepting this opportunity to be here today is also the theme ‘Smart India’. To a soldier, anything that talks about enhancing the honor and prestige of India is something which is very appealing and the event theme  ‘smart India’ is indeed very appealing. I am sure, not only to a soldier but to all of us.

 As a soldier when I envision the Smart India dream, which has been annunciated by our honorable Prime Minister, the foundation of this dream hinges on technology. It hinges on the digital India. But I think we need to take up more holistic view of this entire dream.To convert it into reality, I feel there are three prongs of the strategy which have got to be borne in mind. The first one is creating the Ecosystem, the environment which is smart. Second, we have to ensure that we have to be able to monitor and manage this environment through E-governance and the last but not the least which we tend to forget is that, this entire dream has got to be transformed into reality by all of us, by the nation. We got to train our leaders, managers and skill the people to make sure that this dream comes true. Therefore, the transformation hinges on all of us.

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Making it Happen with Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, GoI

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The theme for the 42nd National Management Convention, the annual flagship event of AIMA, was “Making it Happen: Leadership in Times of High Expectations”, and speakers from different spheres of life shared their views with participants through interactive sessions.

Below is an excerpt from an inspiring speech by Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore (Retd.), AVSM, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Govt. of India at 42nd NMC

Rajyavardhan Rathore speaking at AIMA's 42nd NMC

Rajyavardhan Rathore, Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Govt of India, speaking at AIMA’s 42nd NMC

“Thank you so much! Today the theme is management, high expectations and I am certain that everybody here is an expert in management in various fields of life. You have overcome hurdles, problems, found solutions with out of the box ideas or building on foundations and that’s how you are here today, that’s how your company or students are doing well, that’s how your parents are proud of you and so it’s an honour for me to come and speak to you.

I remember when I was a very young cadet in the military academy and we were given very thin précis on tactics and one of our cadets asked in enthusiasm that if this is all about the tactics then what if enemy gets hold of this and our instructor said this is just a foundation, you need to build on this, these are just the basic principles and rest would be left to your imagination and your ingenuity. So today my talk is no way going to be like précis to you where it’s just words on the foundations and basic things that I in my bit of experience in the armed forces, sports and in politics, whatever I could hear, listen, experience, I am just going to share with you and I am sure you are going to build on it. It’s just the basic foundation that I will speak on.

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Building World Class Indian Brand – Rajiv Bajaj

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Below is an excerpt from the speech of Mr. Rajeev Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd on the theme ‘Building World Class Indian Brand’ at AIMA’s National Leadership Conclave.

Rajiv Bajaj at AIMA's NLC

Rajiv Bajaj at AIMA’s NLC

 “I would in the context of today’s discussion tell you a little story about my own self. This is about when I was in college in Pune. I passed out in 1988 and I must tell you I was the most popular student in college and let me tell you the reason why because in 1988 if you wanted to buy a scooter, you had to wait for one and half year. So every professor and student was my friend and whenever they wanted a pair of wheels they had to come to me and make a request. That was the glorious period of “Hamara Bajaj”. I joined Bajaj in 1990 and the financial year 2000 was thankfully the first and last year when the company didn’t make any money making two wheelers. That is how dramatically my world changed from  1990 to the year 2000.The scooter went from having a waiting period to being in a situation where nobody wanted to buy it anymore.

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‘Making Indian Cities Global Centers of Excellence’ with Vanitha Narayanan, Managing Director, IBM

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Excerpt from an insightful speech by Vanitha Narayanan, Managing Director, IBM India on “Making Indian Cities Global Centers of Excellence” at AIMA’s National Leadership Conclave 2015 held on 29th & 30th April 2015 at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi.

Vanitha Narayanan, Managing Director, IBM India addressing AIMA's NLC 2015

Vanitha Narayanan, Managing Director, IBM India addressing AIMA’s NLC 2015

“I feel honored and privileged to be on the same panel with Minister Naidu on a topic that has been close to my company’s beliefs and heart for a very long time. We coined the phrase smarter planet almost a decade ago and the smarter cities were a subset of the smarter planet and we didn’t at that point say it was going to be a smart planet, it was going to be a journey, it was going to be a continuous journey because a big part of a smarter planet or a smarter city is a sustainable model. A sustainable model that is ecological, financial, based on physical resources that can rejuvenate and also the human model. So we have talked about it a lot, we have heard about it a lot and I think the need for having a smart or smarter infrastructure is a given.

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Women making it big in extreme sports

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Skydiving is known as an extreme sport and we enjoy it to the max. I remember one journalist who was literally dying to ask me: Are you normal? To him and all others who wanted me to comment on why women are getting into this bizarre phenomenon of adventurous extreme sport , I want to say “Take Wings my friends and fly and you will discover the magic called life.”

The lady who is No. 1 in competitive skydiving is almost 50 years old and there’s nobody to take away her number one spot in competitive skydiving. In skydiving, like is relevant in every other field, one has to take that first step, that first plunge into thin air, the first step to do something.  That’s when you find yourself sooner than later that you are really being reckoned in an elite group of path breakers like how I am standing out here in front of you. I have had a very short journey. I started skydiving in 2009. But October 8th 2011 was a big day for us because on the 79th anniversary of Indian Air Force we were launched as the first ever official women skydiving team of the Indian Air Force.

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Brand Leadership in Volatile Times – K. Ramakrishnan, President Marketing, Cafe Coffee Day

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“Someone once said, that coffee is a serious man’s drink.”

We, at Café Coffee Day believe that the café culture is inherent and so is the need for people to connect. We saw the opportunity to humanise the affair and that’s why we went ahead and added a smile to it. Talking about challenging conventional methods, we often hear people stating, “I have 25 years of experience”.

One needs to understand that what matters more is wisdom and not the number of years, unless things are done differently.

Talking about challenging conventional methods, Social Media has been a great revolution and we as a brand have adopted it in a big way. It has been the cause, catalyst and outcome of challenging convention. The core of this medium is that it catalyzes change and that’s the first step in challenging convention!

We believe that simplicity is of utmost importance and it is critical to ignore the noise around you. Further, it’s not necessary to re-invent the wheel all the time.

I would like to share some examples from our own experience back in 1996, when Café Coffee Day started its first CCD in Bangalore. People, at that time couldn’t imagine paying more than 3 rupees for a cup of coffee. When we launched, we started with a cup of coffee for 25 rupees and with the concept of providing cyber cafes where people can manage to carry on their work using free Internet while enjoying a cup of coffee.

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Future of Indian Management – Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Group

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Ratan N Tata is the Chairman of Tata Group

On an evening like this one tends to be overwhelmed when you, if you might rendered a bit naked in terms of your past and even more embarrassing when what one has to say is nice and flowery so as I set listening to this my mind went back to the late eighties where we had all come to believe that JRD Tata who I love and adore like a father was immortal, one didn’t think what the Tata group would be without him and then one day all of that changed and he called me & told that he would like to step down. He was 90 years old and I would take over. I had the same sense of being lost when I was 17 years old and started flying.  Continue reading →

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It’s the Age of Women – Sangeeta Talwar, Managing Director, NDDB Dairy services & Former Executive Director, Tata Tea India

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Sangeeta Talwar is the Managing Director at NDDB Dairy services & Former Executive Director at Tata Tea India – Tata Global Beverages

To move up the corporate ladder, you must be someone who’s “recognized and trusted”, than just being “the busy bee sitting in the corner room”.

According to popular study, it is believed that corporates with women have better profitability. But what is most important is how to recruit women talent, train them and most of all retain them!

Looking at how women are perceived in the corporate world today, we must first look at stereotypes. Pretty? Yes, also a mother. Proud? Don’t know, but should be perhaps. Accept some of the things about yourself. Yes, you do look pretty, presentable and value some of those good things that you bring to life. It’s even worse to try and do reverse on stereotypes, don’t try to be a super human being, you are not a super man or woman. However, there are certain irrational biases that exist about women. May be women are not good at reading maps and doing mechanical things, but they are wonderful team makers! They are better sniffers than men, that’s why they can prepare for the uncertainties of tomorrow. Continue reading →

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Technology leading to Good Governance – Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India

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Nandan Nilekani is Chairman of the new Unique Identification Authority of India

Before I start talking about technology and intrusive growth, we need to understand that the challenge is very clear. We need to address the need for aspiration as we are a high aspiration society and we must address the challenge of migration for social welfare.

It’s critical to understand why technology is so strategic in solving the problem! I would like to cite five key trends in technology that will pave the path for improved public governance.

1. Ubiquitous spread of communication – millions of people with mobile phones
2. Communication revolution will get newer and faster technologies like broadband, 3G, national fiber network
3. Everybody in some sense will be connected
4. More apps on the cloud

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New Age of Management – Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Urban Development

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Kamal Nath is Hon’ble Union Minister for Urban Development, Government of India

AIMA’s Foundation Day is also celebrated as the Management Day of the country. How much management has changed from the first foundation day and even from the 46th Management Day that happened 10 years ago?

The relevance of management education needs to be looked at. This is a question that is discussed in top B schools. Not only should management change, but management education should change. So here we have got to reappraise what should management be. Management doesn’t only effect balance sheet or the company but all stakeholders and the society at large. Continue reading →

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