The ISB Leadership Summit 2006 (ILS) was held today at the Indian School of Business. The theme for this year was “India Next”. ILS provides a platform for evoking thought leadership in a global business environment. Eminent leaders and young achievers in the fields of business, politics, academics, literature, and sports, meet and share their vision that explores and discusses the agenda at length. The interaction with current leaders is meant to be instrumental in inspiring leaders of tomorrow from among the student community.

This year’s summit was a tribute to the achievements of young leaders of India, and had the following speakers:

Panel Discussion 1 – Youth Participation in Politics

Keynote – Tejendra Khanna (Chairman, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd)

· Rajendra S Pawar (Chairman, NIIT) – Moderator

· Sandeep Dikshit (Member of Parliament, East Delhi Constituency)

· Chandan Mitra (Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha)

· Jayaprakash Narayan (Social Activist)

· Mudit Kapoor (Assistant Professsor, Economic and Public Policy, ISB)

Panel Discussion 2 – The synergy between government and business in ‘India Next’

Keynote – Madhav Mehra (President, World Council for Corporate Governance)

· Govind Ethiraj (Ex-Chief Corporate Editor, CNBC TV1 – Moderator

· Satish Reddy (MD & COO, Dr.Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.)

· GK Sood (CEO, Louis Dreyfus India Pvt Ltd)

· Vijay Parthasarathy (Managing Director, Gemplus India Pvt Ltd)

The Opening keynote address had Tejendra Khanna setting the tone for the first panel discussion that followed. He spoke about the need for Indian youth to preserve “certain unique aspects of Indianness” which included our “tradition of intellectualism”, seeing the “goodness in all”, and our “global adaptability” that allowed us to be absorbed into other cultures. He said that “vision capability” and “architectural capability” to translate that vision into concrete realities, were the two requisite qualities for a true leader.

The first panel discussion was moderated by Rajendra Pawar who laid down the framework for the panellists to speak on the following points:

What does it mean to be in politics?

What would motivate young Indians to join politics?

What are the downsides of being in politics?

The panel had several interesting perspectives: Mudit Kapoor felt that one could make significant contributions to society by being politically aware and working to make the administration deliver. Chandan Mitra saw concern in the declining number of youth (aged between 25 and 40) who are MPs – from 162 in the 2nd Lok Sabha, to 60 in the current one. Jayaprakash Narayan said that politics, despite its disrepute, provided the only platform to the nation on which diverse and conflicting issues could be resolved. “The only antidote to politics is more politics, and better politics,” he said. He said that politicians were victims of a vicious circle, and saw optimism in India‘s future, as a “third wave” comprising of aware and active citizens, would work with like-minded politicians caught in the vicious circle, to bring about a revolutionary change because change was now inevitable. He exhorted students to be active participants in that change. Sandeep Dikshit gave a first-hand account of what it was like being an elected politician. He said that as a politician, he had little choice in deciding who his “foot soldiers” were – a reference to the party workers who were the “middlemen” forging and managing the relationship between the politician and his electorate.a

The second keynote delivered by Madhav Mehra stressed the need for synergies between the government and businesses. He said that corporate social responsibility (CSR) was currently a business objective, and that there was a need for “social good for market capitalisation.” Satish Reddy spoke about the changing attitudes in corporate think tanks with reference to collaborating with governments. Though these interactions were getting better, we still had miles to go. Ideally, business should be “putting its best foot forward, and the government giving the necessary thrust.” G K Sood felt that the government should create the social infrastructure to deliver social justice, while “removing the cobwebs in the legal system.” Vijay Parthasarathy voiced a need for a role reversal in the government dictating business practices.

The moderator for this panel, Govind Ethiraj, ensured enthusiastic audience participation by entertaining insights from them, and by quizzing them on what kind of companies would they work with, with regard to CSR values.