New Ventures

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai is all set to open a university in Orissa, besides another b-school in Delhi. This is after taking Mumbai Business School, Mumbai under its wings a few months ago. Disclosing this, Founder and Dean of Great Lakes, Dr Bala V. Balachandran told Pagalguy that the university in Bhubhaneshwar, Orissa will be modelled differently and not like other universities.

This university will cater to different subjects like engineering, law, schools of art, science, economics, math, said Dr Balachandran. This university may not be called Great Lakes but could be called the University of Corporate Excellence. When asked why, Dr Balachandran replied that Great Lakes already has an identity of a b-school. Would be confusing to name the university with the same name.

With regards to the b-school in Delhi, it would be called Great Lakes, like the one in Chennai. While the Great Lakes in Delhi is expected to come up in the next six months, the university is Bhubhaneshwar will come up in a years time. In a way, Great Lakes has taken over the Mumbai Business School. Whether to rename Mumbai Business School as Great Lakes is still a point of debate since Mumbai Business School is already two years old.

Bill Clinton an MBA?

Dr Balachandran was in Mumbai on Saturday to address prospective students. In his trademark style, he had the audience in splits most of the time, especially when he described former US president Bill Clinton as the one of the best MBA graduates ever. Pointing out that Clinton never did an MBA, Dr Balachandran said that he fit the tag Married But Available – which in short is MBA. Besides, Clinton is one guy who has learnt the art of disaster management like no one else. He not only survived the Monica Lewinsky crisis and saved his marriage but he was also the most sought after person at a global summit just days after the scandal broke. Now, that kind of disaster management is what MBAs are supposed to know, chuckled Dr Balachandran. Talking about the acronym MBA, he added that the degree should actually mean Master of Business Readiness because that is what MBAs should really be good at.

Dr Bala Balachandran

Good Morning

The Great Lakes Founder began his speech by wishing everybody a Good Morning. Hearing a lukewarm response from the audience, the Dean narrated a few of his global experiences with students when he began lectures with a Good Morning. While in a school in Asia, he had students copying down notes after he wished them Good Morning, thinking it to be some kind of instructions from the CEO, at Kellogg School, at the executive programme lecture, the response was stark different. This was in 2008 and post-recession and the students were 35 years old with many years of work experience. They told me that I was far from reality and that there was nothing good in the morning. They said the morning really sucked so it was not after all a good morning. Dr Balachandran went on to add that the audience response to his Good Morning wish, usually tells him the state of mind and mood of the audience.

Campus and Shivaji Ganesan

Speaking about the campus, the CEO informed that the idea to have a sprawling campus came about after seeing Tamil actor Shivaji Ganesans movies. There was this one movie, the script for which was written by Karunanidhi where Shivaji Ganesan acted like Socrates and there were these huge building sets and lots of space. I built the Great Lakes campus after seeing those sets. Talking on films, Dr Balachandran asked why and how the younger generation could like Rajanikant. Okay, may be because in his films, he controls technology and he can hit a six wherever you want him to.

Mahatama Gandhi

Recalling his inspiration to build Great Lakes, Dr Balachandran said that as a child of four, he once had an opportunity to meet Mahatama Gandhi near his village in Tamil Nadu. I sat on his lap and Gandhi asked me what I would like to become as an adult. As a child of four, I could not think of anything else, so I said I would die for the country. That made Mahatama Gandhi cry and I realised the importance of what I had said. Thats when I decided that I had to do something with my life. Considering that Dr Balachandran was the eldest of seven children and born to a poor family, and ate a single meal a day till that age of 15, he has indeed done something with his life.