Rise of the Great Lakers

There cannot be any value associated with the learning that we gather in our life. But, certainly the rewards for the toils of the hardwork that one puts in is always welcome. It is a great news for all of us to know that at Chennai-based Great Lakes, Microsoft has offered Rs 28.5 lakh for an India-based profile.

All IIMs are not in the same ranking when it comes to quality, and for companies, hiring the top 10 percentile of management colleges lower in the order makes more sense than picking up from the bottom percentile of an IIM. Top Indian as well as international companies such as Goldman Sachs, Wipro, Accenture, Cognizant, Infosys, Microsoft, Deloitte, Crisil and RBS seem to subscribe to this thinking, making offers at Great Lakes Institute of Management.

It is important to understand that the purpose and reason for going for a professional course like MBA has not to be only about the monetary growth but a closer look at the professional upliftment brings the truth worth to the time and effort that one spends in one year at a reverend and premier institute.

With the experience that one comes in for a one year MBA at Great Lakes, it is needed to keep ourselves continuously updated with all that is happening around and at the same time, learn to apply what you are good at with the new things that you gain in through the discussions and lectures at campus. There is a great deal of involvement that is expected when inside so that we can make the most of the flying by time. Afterall, it is also going to be almost the last learning destination in our professional journey outside the office environment for most of us.

The beauty of the course is the way it is imparted to the pupils and that is the case-based learning. Pioneered by Harvard Business School, and one of the highlights of the HBS experience, the case method is a profound educational innovation that presents the greatest challenges confronting leading companies, nonprofits, and government organizations—complete with the constraints and incomplete information found in real business issues—and places the student in the role of the decision maker. This same approach is taken up at Great Lakes to empower the students’ business-readiness.

There are no fixed or right solutions to such cases. Therefore, it hones the skills of leadership in the students  in different perspectives countering and defending points, and building on each other’s ideas and becoming adept at analyzing issues, exercising judgment, and making difficult decisions.

With such able guidance and support, we rightfully qualify to lead the change in the dynamic business environments and seek the rewards of a successful career building the pathways for a better and brighter tomorrow.

Final Steps of the MBA journey…..

It is a great time of year. It seems the times passing by have given us more time to learn and know ourselves as much as others.

This year was the closest for many of us to have ever come across a chilling winter morning. An advantage of this time of year is the opportunity to reflect on the year that was and the year that will be.

The next three months will be filled with the final steps in our MBA journey – the campus selection process. I don’t think I would be alone in saying that this whole process has created a unique buzz.

Studying for an MBA means that everyone has some level of drive and enthusiasm to learn. Effectively what you are going to learn hinges on the subjects you select. After all, the subjects on offer, both the quantity and quality, are one of the core elements in choosing a particular MBA.

The life around business models, the need for companies to continually innovate their business model to maintain a competitive advantage and the ability to draw on the knowledge from past work experiences finding it so apt when analyzing real world scenarios, reassured us of the merit of what I have been learning. In general, we learnt about how company’s business models could interact – be interdependent.

Beyond the subjects we took, we have been involved with many of the course module projects within other subjects. It has been fascinating to work our ways around the various aspects of a project or research teaming up and meeting people and trying to come up with the numerous strategic issues and recommendations for the same .

In a sense, this ability to apply the lessons from the classroom to real life is what it is all about. Times are slowly closing in for a journey to end and a journey to begin..

-Nikhil

Class of 2013

 

 

Chairman’s Reconnect 7 – ‘Vital Paradigms of Professional Competence’

2 January, 2013

My dear young friends,

I have been invited to deliver a speech in Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi on 18-Jan-2013 on “Novel paradigms of Professional competence”. Giving it a thought; competence, I feel, is not just the knowledge and skills required for a profession but it comprises a host of other virtues such as talent, analytical ability, envisioning, conceptualization, creativity & innovation, team work, passion, fighting spirit, values, acumen, sensitivity, ethics / ethos, consciousness, mindset and spiritual wisdom.

Let us take example of medical profession. While knowledge is required in all its branches, in a few specializations like Orthodontics and Plastic Surgery, skill requirement is equally high. But, that is not all !  I recall a case where a plastic surgeon specializing in cleft palate& lip operations, continued his operation for hours together even after the child died on the operation table for reasons beyond his control, just to make a lasting impression on the parents’ mind that their child was so beautiful! I knew a pediatric surgeon in Bhopal who used to carry the patient to the prayer room with the lone purpose of praying for him before bringing him to the OT in his own arms. Such sensitivity, consciousness, mindset and spiritual wisdom is a part of every profession if one perceives it circumspectly.

Work can be worship for all though it can have different manifestations. In case of building industry, for instance, green buildings with minimum carbon footprints, zero net energy buildings, solar architecture etc. deserve a different level of sensitivity, vision, consciousness and conceptualization.

It is always a challenge to encompass all the above qualities into a learning system, though most of it can be encapsulated through 4-quadrants of 360-degree education/ training and 3-orbits of learning.

The 360-degree training starts with the 1^st quadrant addressing attitude since that decides the altitude and is fundamental to self growth. In the 2^nd quadrant, behavioral facets are polished like diamonds which determine the spread of your glow. In the 3^rd quadrant, the functional discipline of an individual is attended to upgrade him with the latest in his field enriching his core competence as an exclusive strength. In the 4^th quadrant, commercial orientation and acumen are developed which make all the difference in this commercial world.

Today we may be making all out efforts to impart 360-degree exposure in “techno-commercial-innovation-creative” aspects but all of it seems to be in the 1^st orbit of intellectual inputs (IQ); neither supporting it with emotional intelligence (EQ) in the 2^nd orbit nor reinforcing it further by social/spiritual consciousness (SQ) in the 3^rd orbit, in a systematic and designed manner. Holistic vision can come out of a combination of IQ/EQ/SQ. If IQ generates flower, its grandeur comes from EI and fragrance from SQ.

With a holistic approach only, one can add new facets to his professional endeavor. Wherever he is engaged, he will start approaching his jobs and assignments with a multifaceted wisdom. With the same effort, his results will be multifold with these new dimensions added to his thinking; leading him to become a ‘professional par excellence’.

Towards this aim, one will also have to activate his right brain, visualize roadmap of his life with a bifocal vision (having a long range view of ultimate objective of life and visualizing with equal clarity short range bits & details with total compatibility ), think “beyond the dots”, “out-of-the-box”  and re-inventing the box, wherever necessary. He will have to enhance his real ‘net’ competency and rediscover his “identity” which is hidden in the lowest part of the iceberg and apply emotional intelligence, which influences >66% of professional success.

In a nutshell, one will have to cross the conventional orbit of ‘knowledge and skills’ to capture the entire cosmos of professionalism.

Wish you a very happy and enlightening New Year 2013 and excellence in your professional arena.

Satyamev Jayate !!!

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)

Welcome 2013 – Year of Transformation

With one of the coldest winter mornings wrapped in the cloak of fog and mist, we welcomed the new year of 2013 in our lives. A year that will transform many things in many of our lives. A time when the nation is reeling under the waves of a massive change in the public arena putting up its sincere protest against corruption, women atrocities and several social issues, we at Great Lakes pray and extend our support in all ways so that the coldness in the hearts of a few should meet the warmth of the souls of millions others and through the fog of delusion and insecurities, we all see the light of rationale, respect and sensitivity for life in all forms around us.

The beauty of any transformation is that it reciprocates and creates a chain reaction, and what better than a chain reaction of goodness, of love, of care, of respect, of brotherhood, of success.

Our association with Great Lakes is therefore also going to be an opportunity for us to be a part and parcel of the processes of the nation in a few months writing the stories of transformation as business-ready managers. From being part of the Great Lakes family and all that we have imbibed in ourselves, we look forward to do our best in all spheres.

We pledge with ourselves to bring that small positive change in someone’s life this year and ahead and create that positive difference – a welcome for the huge sea of much needed change in dead decaying stagnant stances around. Come join us in the revolution of light and reason…Be a Crusader…

Jyot se jyot jalate chalo……..