22nd and 23rd September, Bhubaneswar
Xavier Institute of Management celebrated 30 years of distinguished service in the field of academics and business, and society. This celebration was aimed at bringing together alumni from diversified realms of business in the hope of creating an insightful blend of ideas, to make the next leg of the journey even more fulfilling.
In this pursuit, the institute inaugurated the Business Excellence Summit on the 22nd of September at Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, in the presence of 26 distinguished alumni of the college, spanning across the 30 years, to initiate an opportunity to interact, celebrate, discuss, reflect and collaborate. The central theme of the event was ‘Building the vision for XIMB at 40 in accordance with the VUCA world’.
The summit commenced with Vice Chancellor and Director of Xavier University, Dr. Fr. Paul Fernandes, delivering an enlightening speech on excellence and universal education. He spoke of “wings of excellence” about which, he quoted, “We need to put on and make sure we are able to have conviction and commitment in the future.” He believed that there is a need to, “think, reflect, inspire, and empower” minds to achieve this excellence.
Day 2 of the summit comprised of panel discussions on topics that aimed to discuss the challenges XIMB would have to surmount in the next ten years. “Without compassion, you cannot become a good leader,” Mr. Sidharth Rath (Group Executive, Axis Bank) quoted as the panel discussed on how management education inculcated leadership capabilities. Moderated by Ms. Sunita Raut (Chief Inspiration Officer at her own consulting practice), the panel consisting of eminent guests like Mr. Sanjib K Ambasta (Senior VP, Aftermarket Business CV & Vespa 2W, Piaggio) and Mr. Prithwish Mukherjee (Marketing Head, Vodafone, Kolkata) put forward their constructive thoughts and views on leadership. “Leadership is not a part of education system. It is something we develop over time,” Mr. Ashish Pati (COO, Care Hospitals) added.
The summit also witnessed leadership talks by esteemed alumni like Mr. Shreeprakash Hota (Associate Director, HSBC), Mr. Subrat Sarangi (Associate Professor in Marketing, KIIT University) and Mr. Dipankar Das (Business Development Head & APAC Sales Leader, BridgeI2I).
“90 percent of what I learnt was from XIMB,” Mr. Simanta Mohanty (VP HR, Community Empowerment Lab) said in his insightful leadership talk. Mr. Nilanjan Roy (Business Head, Global Health & Group Benefits, Cigna TTK) gave a heartfelt talk about how having a mentor is very important. Ms. Mrinalini Khusape (Head Special Projects- Sales and After Sales, Skoda India), Mr. Krishna K V (Senior VP, Transactional Banking, Yes Bank), Mr. Sanjay Nayak (Strategic Business Practice Head-Industry Solutions, Infosys BPO) and others delivered motivational speeches during the session by insisting on using persuasive leadership to get people to contribute. “If you create values, money comes on its own,” said Mr. Chittaranjan Mohanty (Own Venture, Former Executive Director, JP Morgan Chase) while Mr. Ashok Dash (Director-Partner Development (Tier I System Integrators), Microsoft) ended the session with a brilliant sermon on Growth Mindset.
There were also panel discussions on certain industry relevant topics like that of VUCA, which saw leaders like Mr. Sidharth Rath (Group Executive, Axis Bank) highlighting the change that the next thirty years will witness, stating that, “India is at the cusp of a big change, the seeds of which are already sown.” The panel discussed strategies which XIMB needs to adopt to surmount these challenges and be an enabler in the VUCA world, with Mr. A.L. Jagannath (Senior Director, Dell-EMC Alliance, VMware) noting, “If we are not prepared to change, we will be VUCA-ed.”
On how management education could foster entrepreneurship, Mr. Chandra Sekhar Chitrala (Managing Director, Catalyst IT Solutions) stated that management education is giving a huge boost to the employment of our country. Mr. Om Prakash Agarwal (CEO, Plastend) believed that entrepreneurship can be taught but a calculative risk is needed while speakers like Mr. Susanta Mishra (CEO, PlacidivisionPvt Ltd) and more discussed the topic further, with Mr. Singha noting, “Being an entrepreneur, we consistently have to be innovative”.
“Be Industry fit and industry relevant,” Mr. Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra (Chief Safety Officer, (National President XIMB Alumni),East Coast Railway) said as the panel consisting of Mr. Chandra Sekhar Chitrala (Managing Director, Catalyst IT Solutions) and Ms. Sunita Raut (Chief Inspiration Officer at Own consulting practice) discussed on the Industry-Academy interface and how the industry’s linkage with XIMB would create excellent opportunities. “Use network to get data out of business,” Mr. P C Joseph (Head – Technology Operations, Wells Fargo) opined.
Mr.Rahul Patnaik, Student Representative of XIMB, thanked the management and the alumni along with the core team, the volunteers and the students of XIMB for making the Business Excellence Summit ’17 an event to cherish for years to come. Mr.Ipsit Bibhudarshi, Student Media & PR Coordinator of XIMB, credited the grand success of the Summit to the management and the esteemed alumni who graced the event with their presence. He thanked all the Media Partners for their support.
