Leadership Memories

I spent a few years leading some Indian business schools in the period between 2005 and 2013. The things I remember that I think made a difference, during those years, to various institutes I was in.

1. PESIT, Bangalore. My first and only stint in an institute that was not autonomous.

Creating a self-belief that faculty there could do anything that autonomous B schools could. Running a scholarly journal, interacting with industry, teaching through cases, publishing, teaching internationally. Most of these worked beyond belief, with some of the performance indicators exceeding the then norms at better ranked B schools.

2. IFIM Business School: Streamlining the admission process for MBA. We had spectacular success in reaching out, to roughly 30 cities in a year for admission. Bringing in research emphasis. Repositioning the International Business program as a desirable one.

3. IMT Nagpur. Encouraging both faculty and students to excel, all-round, in academics and extra-curriculars. Adding placement reps in metro cities to market effectively. Alumni relations were recognised for their importance, and channeled into chapter meets. And, of course, building a Golf course, even if it was only two holes. And using it. Running conferences successfully, also. Industry interaction with compulsory industry guest lectures. Wrote my first video case on Golftripz in the process, with the help of an alumna from KIAMS. Institutionalising an annual faculty outing for introspection and just building up a rapport among the team.

4. IMT Ghaziabad. It was a rather short stint, but getting faculty interested in research, case-writing and their own career development was a priority. Working towards accreditation was illuminating, too. Again, alumni relations were consciously improved.

In the current role, I am in charge of our training programs or MDPs and it is amazing to unlock the potential that my staff has, to increase the business significantly. Of course, backed by colleagues who do the hard work of delivering.

2 comments:

Harimohan said...

Good work Prof. A lot of good work goes unnoticed mainly because the results of such work are gradual and come over a long period of time. All the initiatives you mentioned have long term perspective and leave a quiet but large impact on all stakeholders. Keep up the good work - I know its thankless - so I am glad you put it up here. If there is one thing we need, its sorted out teachers - and you are doing a good job in guiding and mentoring them.

Rajendra said...

Thanks, Hari.

Comedians as Heads of State

 Seriously (!), it's not such a bad idea. We already have the Ukrainian Prez., the Punjab C.M. and in the past, Trump and Bush (OK, not ...

These Were Liked a Lot