Industry Interaction @ IBS Bangalore

“When America sneezes the world catches cold”, is a famous saying which speaks volumes of the American supremacy on world economy.

It was 11^th June 2008, I was invited to be one of the industry representations for an Industry Interaction session, organized by IBS Bangalore. It was a pleasure being there, as it gives me an opportunity to network and also an opportunity to learn from such eminent discussions.

What we were there were to hear and discuss about three topics which challenges India today? Our very own and global “Inflation and US recession – Advantage India”, the “Gen Y sectors of tomorrow” and “Opportunities in Management Education”

There were a panel of one industry representation and one faculty each to present this topic and then have some interaction with other industry person and students. The panel was of eminent industry people from director of a global MNC, an entrepreneur and ex Managing Director of an Indian consumer durable, a VP of an education society.

I was looking forward to a power packed evening which started with opening speech by our dean IBS Bangalore, by setting the tone with some tough facts and figures on the giant screen. Figures talking about inflation at 8.24 on that day (today 11.05%), crude oil at $139 per barrel, other economic conditions, recession in US etc.

To follow it up was an eminent economic faculty from IBS, who started with fact throwing presentation, neither making the presentation interesting nor bringing out any inference from the submissions made through the presentation.

With some heavy weight presentation, I was looking for some breather, and it was turn for an industry speaker to make his point on Advantage India, and as an eminent speaker, he started with a bang, created a curiosity of a ticker which was going on while he presented.

Packaged well with facts and substance and his submission that India is bound to grow and be one of the economic superpower in the years to come. Other speakers came and went, submitting their thoughts that even with inflation and oil prices going up, still India is well poised in the global market and development in India shall sustain and grow.

The seminar went by as it should be, and with some question and answer and hurrying up at the end with lack of time, as usual we closed the evening on a high note and conclusion that, “When America sneezes atleast India will not catch cold”,

The evening was followed by cocktail and dinner. I quickly had a light dinner and spent some time networking. With the clock ticking towards an important fixture at the Euro cup, I excused myself and headed home.

While driving back I though to my self, amongst all the presentation, the best presentation came from the industry people. The first presenter with the ticker used all the tools and techniques of a good presenter should use in a forum like this. He had jazzy presentation, packaged well with images and facts, kept the audience guessing on few opening statements & tickers he showed at the start of the presentation. He was able to capture eyeballs and connect with the audience at the very beginning and presented things which people could understand, relate and feel proud on his submission that India is well poised.

On the contrary, the faculties with due respect; put up things which we could have read on Economic times.

It had content but no color. It had gyan but no gain!!

It was idealistic but not practical. It was monotonous and not spontaneous.

To this I felt, is this the reason for “Packaging” in 7 P’s of marketing?

Today industry wants good packaging. Whether it’s a Job or a Marriage proposal, people are looking at good packaging. They are in search for smart workers, with go getter attitude, knowledge and above all great communication skills. I guess the corporate world is also moving towards T20, work hard party hard and keep the run rates going.

This is the reason, why we have so many finishing schools coming up, where people learn to present themselves, conduct themselves in a forum and carry them well which makes them more saleable in the job market. Communication is the key, what is the use of knowledge if it cannot be communicated well.

And this belief was reinforced, with my meeting with Mr. Angshik Chaudhuri – Executive Director Globalization Operations at Cisco Systems India, the first industry presenter; an eminent speaker and visionary, who had a modest start to his career being a facility manager at Oberoi, attain such great heights of excellence today in such short span.

His ticker keeps me reminding even today that in his 20 minutes presentation, India has moved few steps toward urbanization, and I guess with every such minute ticking, India takes a bigger step in being one of the economic superpower of tomorrow!!!