Dr. Dipak C Jain, today Director [Dean] of Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration of Chulalongkorn, University in Bangkok, Thailand; Dean INSEAD, Dean Kellogg School of Management – a man with humble beginnings from a small town in Assam; a person who never attended English schools  and hence did not know how to spell his name in English; a man whose family could not afford to purchase text books; yet went on to do Bachelors and Masters from Guwahati University, doctorate degree from the University of Dallas, Texas, and rose to his present position, just because he was always willing to work towards his goal. 

Hard work and hard work alone can take you to your goal, he reiterated to the audience during his talk.

The key takeaways of this soft-spoken, down-to-earth gentleman to the audience at MYRA was full of simple lessons, and full of joy with various  anecdotes taken from his personal and professional life.  The audience was enthralled by the lessons they learnt from him- lessons that no workshop on management, no classrooms can ever teach them.  A true tribute to his leadership style, indeed.

He took the students through the evolution of management education since the 1900’s.  The impact has changed from strength in the 19th century to success in the 20th century and has now marked significance in the 21st century, he reflected.  Management education is moving beyond conventional boundaries of thinking-sustainability is good but not enough; the emerging market growth requires global management frameworks to have local relevance and impact; today’s  Facebook generation seeks significance in addition to success – this is the real differentiator-convert your success to significance- this is the metric of your generation, he emphasized.  Always receive feedback -it has a bitter taste, but has a better after-taste, he added. 

Entrepreneurial skills should entail an ability to anticipate, capacity to manage ambiguity and proficiency to embrace cultural diversity, he said.  He advised the students to think big and think beyond; have a mindset to change the age-driven experience to “new thinking”, and be open to change.  Harness the entrepreneurial opportunities in Consumer Wellness (Health and Wealth care); Consumer Engagement (Media and Entertainment) and Consumer Hospitality (Tourism and Hotels), he advised.  It is important to understand that humanizing business is to recognize that people add value and make a difference.  Indians enjoy a lot of support from their families, this is our greatest strength, he said.  No challenge is greater than the force behind you, and there can be no substitute for hard work, he added.

The next in-thing is “Reverse Mentoring” -the younger generation has new skills and expertise to provide fresh perspectives and ways of working to benefit their more established senior colleagues and the organization as a whole, he said.

Chairperson, Prof. Shalini R Urs, Executive Director, Dr. Shrijay Urs, Mr. Kantharaj Urs, Trustee, MYRA, faculty students, staff and special invitees from industries formed the audience.   Earlier, Dr. Sudhindra Seshadri, Senior Associate Dean (Academics) and a former colleague of Dr. Dipak Jain, introduced the ‘management guru’ to the audience.  Prof. Sumant Bakshi, Advisor, MYRA delivered the vote of thanks. 

Dr. Dipak Jain spent quality time with the students for the remaining part of the evening leaving an everlasting positive experience on the young minds.