“Giving is the true enjoyment of wealth. Make wealth as much you can, and hold on to it as a trustee. Give it away intelligently to patronize right causes” with these excerpts from Upanishads, Dr. R.P. Singh, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIT Guwahati and Former Chairman and Managing Director, Power Grid Corporation of India, enlightened the students of IIM Raipur on the core Indian philosophy and values at a guest lecture organized by the institute as a part of ‘The Leadership Series’.
Prof. B.S. Sahay, Director IIM Raipur, welcomed the guest and gave students a brief introduction about him. Dr. Singh began the lecture with a brief overview of the current scenario of the governance and bureaucracy. He said that despite India posturing as a global economic and military power, it’s a harsh reality that very little grassroots development had taken place.
He elaborated on the leadership traits and differentiated a leader from an executive. “The leaders are pole apart from executives, they take personal ownership and responsibility for the result, whereas executives wait to review work done by the juniors, unmindful of the consequences.”, he said. He also described the changed role of the corporate in the modern age, and emphasized the creation of wealth along with its judicious utilization. Citing various examples from Vedas and Upanishads, he stressed upon the need of sharing the wealth for the welfare of the society.
He asserted that the leader should model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act and encourage others. He also gave his insights on corporate culture and linked it with ‘Religion and Spirituality’. He defined culture as a set of knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs and other capabilities. He said that an organization’s culture played more important role in its success than the vision, strategy, marketing and financials and explained the organizational framework in the context of collective capacity of its people and value creation.
“Religion is remedy for self salvation or self betterment, whereas spirituality is the by-product of religious belief for the betterment of surroundings and its occupants. “, with these lines he drew a fine line between the religion and spirituality. He concluded the lecture by citing examples of true leaders and encouraged the budding managers of IIM Raipur to imbibe Indian values in their work. The session gave students a perspective to apply spirituality in a managerial context.
Stay informed, Stay ahead and stay inspired with MBA Rendezvous