Dear Friends,
Good morning, Congratulations and a warm welcome to Indira Group. You have embarked on an important stage of your career.
When I was invited as a Chief Guest, I had another meeting planned at Guwahati today, but I cancelled it and came here. I recollected a discussion with one of the senior most professors of Welingkar institute a few months ago.
I was looking for a good management institute for admission of one of our family friends. So I talked about this to Indira School, D.Y.Patil and Welingkar. While I was chatting with my Professor friend , he told me , Indira Group had won the maximum awards from the industry, and if I could get a seat there , nothing like it ! So friends, let me tell you that you are luckily in the management institute that is highly regarded by the industry
Now that you have a wonderful platform of ISCS, you will have the confidence of having graduated from this well known institute. Now you have to make the best out of this institute by your hard work.
I thought it would be helpful if I shared a few important points with you which will help you , based on my experience & learning right from being a research officer to being the Vice President , COO, CEO , Executive Director & Vice Chairman in different companies and across different sectors
First and foremost, what I must share, is the value of time:
Just think , at 99 degrees water is hot and at 100 degrees water is boiling, 1 degree makes the difference. In 800 m 2004 Olympic games , the margin of victory for a gold medal was .71 seconds . In Formula one racing, in last ten years, the average difference between the first and second position has been 1.54 seconds. The first prize is 1.27 (1278813) Million USD and the second prize is .621 Million (621321 USD). A difference is 657492 USD for just 1.54 Seconds, So friends, never forget that time is the most valuable asset that you have. You cannot afford to delay your decisions when you are studying or working
Time Management : What is the common thing that people like Henry Ford , Albert Einstein and Wright Brothers and all of you - 24 hours of time, and what is the difference ? How they managed their time Also, the most important thing every day is not anything else but how you handle the most important task of the day – Time Management. . I suggest that you pick the most difficult or the most time consuming task first and time management will be quite easy. Time management will help you achieve your goals much easily. If you mess up on time management, you will end up frustrating yourself. These four lines are very relevant for you to remember
He slept beneath the moon
He basked beneath the sun
He lived a life of about going to do, and
Died with having nothing done.
Knowledge Managment :Let me ask you a question: How many of you brush your teeth every day? Almost every one! How many of you brush your knowledge every day? Remember both are equally important. I would strongly recommend that you not just study your course, but also regularly update yourself on the economy & all the sectors of the economy on a regular basis and spend at least two hours a day on updating your knowledge. You must read three newspapers a day
How many of you can buy 50 management books or magazines in a year? How many of you can buy one magazine & book per year. Imagine, if you did so, you have access to 200 books & magazines to read. When you leave this institute, you can donate the same to the institute library with your name and batch on the cover page. Not only that this will enrich your batch but also the subsequent batches who join this institute. They might be thankful to you for your contribution when they read your name on the book. If this continues for the next ten years, this institute will have the best library due to an individual’s effort! On the choice of books, I must advice, you pick a wide range of topics from self management to management and beyond.
Working and networking: Networking is equally important as working. In a world connected by internet and VOIP, networking is boundary-less and free. Please keep enhancing your network and maintaining your old network of friends. It will eventually become a big asset
World Economy: Having talked to you about the values of time , knowledge management & networking , now let me update you a bit on the world economy & the industry: We are hearing on the state of the world economy that we are into a deep recession. I believe that, the world has been put on a reset button. Every recession has shifted the global supremacy of economies. The first recession shifted the power from Britain to U.S.S.R. & U.S.A. if I were right, the current recession will shift the powers to multiple economies like China, India etc. So it is a natural progression from a uni-polar world to a bi-polar world and now towards a multi polar world. So ,you will have an important role to ensure that Indian corporate world makes the best use of this God send opportunity and that, can only happen when you are prepared to make the best use of this opportunity . You all have an important role to play
Indian Economy: Two sectors have to be changed if the economy has to grow at 9 or 10 %. These are agriculture and SME sector. About 65 % of the population is engaged in agriculture & 40 % farmers are willing to give up this profession. We will have a serious economic crisis if things don’t change. For agriculture, this also presents two great opportunities – organic farming and food processing. You must consider these opportunities once you pass out from this institute. These two opportunities can add real value to the economy both in terms of domestic revival and foreign trade. SME sector contributed to about 39 % of the economic output in India, but in the developed world SME sector account for more than 90 % of the economic output. In India, SME’s are not that competitive, as we lack good managers in the SME Sector. You can contribute a lot to the SME sector to raise the GDP of the nation and contribute to the economy of this nation
Overall economic environment is very dynamic. As students of management, you must keep a watch on the sectors. SME , Agriculture, Retail, Healthcare, Real estate , Tourism, Education & travel will remain the hot sectors for the next few decades. You must add value to these sectors when you join the corporate world.
Having updated you on all these opportunities , I must also let you know two most important realities.
One, that things never come to you without efforts and you will have to work restlessly to achieve them. Most of the time you will be discouraged and turned away but never mind. Keep chasing your passion. In the end, you are bound to succeed...
Chester Carlson was turned down by all the 20 companies he approached, including GE & IBM. But Chester gave us Xerox.
Jeff Hawkins & Donna Dubinsky invented the palm pilot, they were turned away by the VC’s who believed it was a sure fire way to poor house. In 1995, Jeff and Dona settled for USD 44 Million from U.S. Robotics
Same was with John Grisham; he was turned down by about 80 publishers only to become the best- selling author
Marconi was taken to a psychiatrist when he talked about his invention - Telephone
Let me give you examples of a few Indian’s.
Thyrocare – largest path lab in the country. The owner of this lab slept on CST, Mumbai station from August 18-22 in 1982. He went on to do PhD from BAARC. One day he realised what will happen when he retires from BAARC. He quit and started a one room lab at Byculla with three employees, one who would collect samples; other would do tests in the night and the third who would deliver the reports. All three were Dr.A.Velumani. Today, he runs a 500 cr Business
Suman Jha- He went to Russia to study M.B.B.S. Today at the age of 36, he runs a 700 million USD business that he started when he had 100 USD in his pocket. Shreya entertainment and Shreya Life Sciences are his company
So, may be that most of the time you will be discouraged or turned away. Does not mean that you give up. Remember, a setback can let you down or get you more determined. Choice will be totally yours. Second and most important thing, contended people never bring any changes, they happily adapt to the world. It is the dissatisfied, discontented & the restless people who bring about the change. You all must try to be a change agent. India is a land of billion plus people but we only have about 6 major corporate groups. There is another big question. Can we not create more?
Last question :How many of you think that you will settle down in your life in the next 10, 15 or 20 years? You can never settle down in life at any point in time. If you were ever to do that, It will be after death! Being settled is against the rule of life. Check with any doctor. What does it convey from an ECG when it is a straight line? It means the person is dead. So if the ECG is not a straight line , that is a good news . So friends living and being successful cannot be like a straight line . I was talking to my friend who is from the corporate world and known as the biggest business guru and motivational speaker of his time. He was about to venture in a new field. And I asked him, are you willing to give up your earlier venture for the sake of a new venture. He immediately said; No, I am still to settle down .......................So live with the reality. We are never settled in life, we have to keep working & we are never settled and will never be. As you reach the horizons, the horizons will expand. Keep moving . Always remember that life is a moving target
Please work hard, support the right , don’t compromise on the values & be assertive and the world is yours. Try to make it a little better place
Rajendra Pratap Gupta
So friends, it was real pleasure being with you all this morning & i wish you all the very best
Rajendra
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