Indian Institute of Management Amritsar successfully conducted the 2nd edition of the Leadership Summit, Aarohan’22

Amritsar : Indian Institute of Management Amritsar successfully conducted the 2nd edition of the Leadership Summit, Aarohan’22, on the 29th of January 2022 in the offline mode at The Holiday Inn.
Aarohan’23 provided the student fraternity with a holistic view of how a manager can handle different situations to respond to a cohesive and competitive market with varying conditions. In line with the idea, the theme of the Summit was “Innovate, Integrate and Motivate”, focusing on how industries invent and re-invent and how they integrate these innovations in the right way, which would add value and motivate the workforce.
Prof Nagarajan Ramamoorthy, Director of IIM Amritsar, addressed the gathering and emphasized the importance of innovation in today’s competitive world. He insisted that while concepts pertaining to management are taught, it is essential to be cognizant and integrate into the marketplace and understand the pulse of the customer to be an absolute winner.
The esteemed speaker list consisted of Mr Venkitraman Anand, Chief Executive and Whole-time Director, Harrisons Malayalam Limited – RP Sanjeev Goenka Group; Mr Rejo Francis, National Sales Head, Zee Entertainment; Mr Sumit Mundra, Senior Director (HR), Gartner; Ms Vipin Luthra, Senior Director, PepsiCo.

The first speaker of the summit, Mr Venkitraman Anand, commenced his address with his life experiences and the transition the concept of innovation has been through over the years. He said for successful innovations, the various levels, such as people, the team and the organisation, are equally important and has to be kept motivated. He elaborated that even the most brilliant and radical ideas can only fade if they are not appropriately communicated. While encouraging creativity, creating a compatible environment that fosters collaborations and healthy dialogues is the essence of innovation today.
Building his address on fostering a culture of innovation, Mr Sumit Mundra highlighted that companies are currently known for innovational capabilities and engaging workforce. It is essential to go beyond product and process and focus on individuals and the environment where they are challenged. He said, “When organisations empower their frontline workers to come up with ideas, this is where the most innovative ideas come up”. Mr Mundra termed four archetypes that companies adopt to drive sustainable performances: deploying strong leaders, making market innovations, and continuously improving by adapting to best practices and gaining sufficient knowledge. Engaging in an interactive Q&A session, he emphasised on the concept of innovative parenting while creating and the three principles of knowing, doing and being, which focus on bringing accountability to the innovators.
Following Mr Mundra, Mr Rijo Francis initiated his speech on a lighter note by quoting on the famous movie 83’ and the disruption innovation in cricket has made the world intrighued with the sport. Highlighting the concept of ‘Job to be done’ concept he spoke about how understanding the consumer behavior and providing relevant value proposition can elevate a firm’s market share and position. Mr Francis added that “Market segmentation is one of the effective ways to enforce innovation in the right direction”. On being asked about the dealing with challenges, he answered that the biggest challenge is the fear of failure because if there are 10 things one does, 8 fail and it is the reality of the corporate culture.

Ms Vipin Luthra commenced the address by providing a backdrop of her life as a mother and a working professional. She highlighted that surrounding yourself with people who challenge you above and beyond helps you be a better leader in life. A great idea that is easily scalable, delivered in the right manner to the consumer not only helps integrate your innovation but also motivates the workforce to work better. Ms Luthra spoke about simplifying the problems and added “In the world of complexity, simplicity has its own essence to solve a problem”. Her concluding thoughts included 5 agendas such as customer centricity, design thinking and empathy to foster innovation, simplifying the problems and agility is the key to innovate, integrate and motivate.

The students of IIM Amritsar showed great enthusiasm post each address. The discourses were made highly interactive through a healthy Q&A session between the speakers and students.