Great Lessons @Great Lakes…

Life at Great Lakes is once in lifetime! I realized it after joining 1 year PGPM 2012-13 program at Great Lakes, Gurgaon. I was sceptic about joining Gurgaon campus of Great Lakes because I thought, being a new campus I would not be able to closely interact with faculties and have access to learning materials as good as it has been at its well established Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) campus at Chennai. Great Lakes proved me wrong and it has provided the best learning experience so far, exceeding my expectations. I feel privileged to be taught by some of the best faculties from India and abroad. By now Term-I is over and Term-II is about to complete.

The flagship, 1Year PGPM program of Great Lakes in a nutshell:

• 1 year PGPM course is divided into 7 terms with hardly any gap in between terms
• Each Term has a duration of 5-6 weeks
• 6 to 7 subjects are covered in each term
• An empirical research has to be done in tandem while pursuing 1 Year PGPM course
• In each subject, we usually have 5 to 6 case studies (mostly from Harvard Business Review), 2 Assignments, 2 midterm exams and 1 end term exam
•  A total of 100 marks is divided across all course items mentioned above. So end term exam is usually of 30-40 marks
• Grading is done on a 4 point scale

Beyond Academics – Guest lectures etc:

• Energy Efficiency – Mr. Bhaskar Natrajan
• Entrepreneurship – Mr. Mohan Lakhamraju
• Inside Job – Prof Sriram S

Common Management Jargons:

Tools for self evaluation:
The Big 5 indicator

Movies/Documentaries:

• I am the beholder
• Inside job
• Soft power – Sashi Tharoor
• Barefoot college – Bunker Roy

Books came across:

• Stay Hungry Stay Foolish – Rashmi Bansal
• Are you smart enough to work at Google – William Poundstone
• Undercover Economist – Tim Harford
• Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
• Fooled by randomness – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
• Poor Economics – Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo
• The alchemy of desire – Tarun J. Tejpal

– Satya

Crusader, 2013

Chairman’s Reconnect 1 – ‘No job is Small or Big…’

1 July, 2012

My dear young friends,

One of you from the foundation batch of PGPM (Energy) of Great Lakes, Gurgaon “Sandip Dalvi” inspired me last evening to reconnect with you all periodically. I thought it fit to include my earlier students from NPTI also.

Early this month, I and my wife returned from our memorable trip to US. My wife joined me to share the proud moments of my receiving the highest honour of the American Academy of Water Resources Engg. (AAWRE) during the Felicitation Ceremony held at “World Water & Environmental Resources Congress” in Albuquerque, New Mexico on 21st May’12 in the august assembly of America’s who’s who of Water Resources Engg. Profession, bringing me to the clan of 30-most eminent scientists in the world selected since the creation of the AAWRE.

Albuquerque is the home town of the great genius Bill Gates, where he had started his historic journey of unprecedented entrepreneurship. How I felt to be one of the 30 best, was a feeling similar to that engulfed me when my photograph was being fixed in the line of ex-DGs of CPRI back in 2002 in the queue starting with the great power engineer of our times “S. Swayambhu”. It was he who had encouraged me to pursue my career in Hydro sector. I started looking at water as an Energy synonym. Having addressed the issues of hundreds of Hydro plants, I feel Hydro holds the key to energy security of entire humanity.

This was second time in my life when America invited me to bestow upon me the honour which made me humble. Earlier in 1990, one of the universities in California invited me to confer their Doctor of Engineering based on my international publications, and I had received it along with Dr. Nelson Mandela, which made it memorable.

All my work I did in India and for India and America recognized it and I think that makes that country and its people truly great who have created a non-pariel, merit-based and meritorious society above geo-politics. The warmth with which they bestowed upon me the honour was evident from the fact that Mr.Michael A. Ports, one of the founders of AAWRE embracing me said “ I love you, not because I knew you personally, but because I know your work in Hydroelectric Engineering and let me tell you we refer to and use your research work in United States”. While introducing my profile to the audience, Prof.(Dr) Robert G.Traver, President-Elect said “It is impossible to find, what he has not done in his 43 years of service”.

I am happy to attach AAWRE’s report, though it is also posted on IEMR website. I do not know how much I have done, but whatever I have done is due to a single conviction that “No way in which you do, makes it small or big”. You don’t have to be in the field of Nuclear science, Climate Change or Politics to outshine, you can excel in any field of your choice, if you go by the above conviction.

Yesterday being Saturday, early morning I went to the temple of Hanuman-the God of infinite potential encased in humility, the God of speed and unprecedented feat and I felt rejuvenated. May lord Hanuman bestow upon all of you the great qualities he symbolizes for humanity.

Best of everything till my next communication. Some replies from you dear ones, even though brief, would inspire me to be in touch with you all. I am sure; you all must be excelling in your life. Please do share your achievements and sentiments as and when you feel like penning down.

God bless you!!

Best wishes and Regards,

Dr. B.S.K.Naidu

M.Tech., Ph.D., CBI Scholar, D.Engg., FNAE, Hon.D.WRE

Chairman, Great Lakes IEMR, Gurgaon, NCR, Delhi
Co-Chairman, Advisory Council, Great Lakes-Bauer Global Energy Executive MBA program, University of Houston
Former Director General (NPTI & CPRI / REL)

No job is small or big, the way in which you do, makes it small or big (c)