Alankar Post Doc

AVENUES’ is the International Business festival of IIT Bombay organized by Shailesh

J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay. It consists of a potpourri of
management events targeted at the budding managers and combines learning with
fun. Management students across the globe part icipate in this extravaganza to
outdo and outlast the comp etition.
Alankar - The Global Leadership Summit, presents an opportunity to understand
the persistent efforts put in and tribulations endured by eminent leaders who
pursued their ambitions to reality .

Through the theme of “Discover the Difference”, the leadership lecture series, Alankar of Avenues
2016 was graced by the following eminent speakers.

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT

Sushant Singh Rajput is an Indian television and Bollywood actor. He started his career with television
serials, including an award-winning performance in the soap opera Pavitra Rishta (2009–2011) and as
a participant in two dance reality shows. He then entered films with a role as one of the three male
leads in the drama Kai Po Che! (2013), for which he received critical acclaim as well as three Best Male
Debut awards. His other notable films since then have been as male lead of the romantic comedy
Shuddh Desi Romance (2014) and as the titular detective in the thriller Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!
(2015). He had his biggest commercial success with the role of a Pakistani Muslim in the fantasy drama
PK (2014). With the release of M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, his popularity increased as the role was
critically acclaimed as well. He owned the Youth Icon Award this year at the Filmfare Glamour and
Style Awards 2016.

TISCA CHOPRA

Tisca Chopra is an Indian film and stage actress known for her works in Hindi cinema, and Television.
She made her film debut with Platform (1993), opposite Ajay Devgan.. In 2007, she appeared in Taare
Zameen Par with Aamir Khan where her performance was well received. She acted in Nandita Das's
directorial debut, Firaaq (2008). In 2011, she appeared in Madhur Bhandarkar's Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji.
Chopra has been on the Jury of the MAMI film festival. For 10ml Love, which is based on
Shakespearean play Mid Summer Night's Dream,Tisca was nominated for Best Actress at the 11th
Annual New York Indian Film Festival. Her other notable films are Anup Singh's Qissa with Irrfan Khan
released in 2013. has travelled to over 20 festivals, winning over almost all top awards and much
appreciation from audiences and critics and Rahasya by UVI Film Production Pvt. Ltd.
SAUGATA GUPTA

Mr Saugata has over 20 years of experience, primarily in the consumer goods industry. He has been
at the helm of Marico Limited since April 2013. He pursued his engineering from IIT Kharagpur with a
subsequent degree in Management from IIM Bangalore. He embarked upon his professional career
with Cadbury across a variety of roles in Sales and Marketing. Mr Gupta led as the Chief of Marketing
and Group Sales at ICICI Prudential where he started amongst core members of the start-up team.
He was on board the business of Marico Limited in January 2004 as head of Marketing and has
steered the India business as CEO since 2007.

SAMIR SHAH

Mr Samir Shah has over 20 years of experience, across several domains like Investment Banking, Sales
and Commodity Exchange. He pursued his Mechanical engineering from Pune University with a
subsequent degree in Management in Finance. He embarked upon his professional career as an
Investment Banker where he worked on various financial instruments and asset valuation. Mr Shah
then worked as the Head of Sales for almost 17 years before moving to the commodity exchange
business. He worked as CEO for 3 weeks in UCX which was a start-up before moving to the Dubai Gold
& Commodity Exchange. He then finally moved to NCDEX as the Chief Executive officer in 2013.

DEVDUTT PATTANAIK

Devdutt Pattanaik writes on relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of

management, governance and leadership. Trained in medicine, he worked for 15 years in the
healthcare and pharma industries before he focussed on his passion full time. He is author of 30
books and 600 columns, with bestsellers such as My Gita, Jaya, Sita, Business Sutra and the 7 Secret
Series. He was a speaker at TED India 2009 and spoke on Myths that Mystify, East versus West. His
TV shows include Business Sutra on CNBC-TV18 and Devlok on Epic TV. He consults organisations on
culture, diversity and leadership and also consults various television channels and filmmakers on
storytelling.

Guest: Sushant Singh Rajput

First speaker at the Alankar 2016, the annual global leadership summit was Sushant Singh Rajput.
The event was held at PC Saxena Auditorium on 21st October, 2016. As expected, the auditorium was
packed even before his arrival. After having a word HOD in his cabin, Sushant came on to the stage.
His entry was marked by huge cheers from his fan following.

The talk mainly focused on his background, struggle and his journey towards success. He belonged to
a middle-class family with a highly academic background. Being the youngest one in the family, the
pressure was always there on him to perform. After scoring well in the higher secondary, he got an
admission in prestigious Delhi College of Engineering(DCE). Even after joining the college, he could
not reason well with his decision. This was not the thing he enjoyed. While at DCE and even before
that, he was into theatre and dance. He soon realized that engineering was not his thing and
dropped out of college in third year. He came to Mumbai. Though next few years were difficult but
he enjoyed the work he did.
Sushant repeatedly emphasized on doing what you love. He said, success will follow, if not today
then tomorrow. There are only two things that matter to him now, one is excellence and the other is
success. If you strive for excellence, success will follow. There was only one message he wanted to
convey, do what you enjoy.

This was followed by an Q&A session. Sushant exuberantly answered many question given the
limited time he had. He did not leave his fans disappointed. He personally met and clicked pictures
with them. The session concluded with a loud applause from the audience.

Guest: Tisca Chopra

PROCEEDINGS IN BRIEF:
The leadership lecture series, Alankar was graced by Ms Tisca Chopra, an illustrious figure in the
motion picture industry. Ms Tisca spoke about the importance of patience, perseverance and
meticulousness in professional and personal life. She elaborated on her struggles on her path to
stardom and the lessons learnt along the way.

PROCEEDINGS IN DETAIL:
Through the theme of “Discover the Difference”, the leadership lecture series, Alankar was witness to
an interactive evening with Ms Tisca Chopra, an illustrious figure in the motion picture industry. Taare
Zameen Par, Qissa and Rahasya are some of the familiar movies starring the eminent actress.

Tisca graced the occasion with her subtle sense of humor while talking on the path to leadership. She
touched upon the significance of connecting with mentors in related arenas while citing instances
from her social network.

Citing the rule of 10000 hours of deliberate practice proposed by Malcom Gladwell, she emphasised
the importance of patience and persistence. Meticulousness and attention to detail, the traits that
helped her attain maintain a balance of professional and personal work-life balance, are two
important leadership sutras that she emphasised on. Subsequent minutes were focused on her
upcoming short film, Chatni featuring almost 20-25 people.

Responding to the audience’s questions, Tisca elaborated on the idea of perfection as a notion of
stretching that extra mile to do better. She said that doing the act before grabbing the limelight is her
method of managing her celebrity life. She also conveyed her reactions about the current state of
Indian film industry, with the scope for improvement in portraying women alongside men.

The session concluded as she talked about the myriad struggles she faced during her early days in
acting while staying as a paying guest. Finally, she emphasized the value of being hungry and
responding to stimuli to avoid facing her worst fear of getting emotionally flat. A session that brought
alive leadership spirit and glamour, Tisca enthralled the audience beyond anticipation of one and all.

Guest: Saugata Gupta

PROCEEDINGS IN BRIEF:
The leadership summit lecture, Alankar of Avenues 2016 was graced by a prominent figure in
industry, Mr Saugata Gupta, CEO of Marico Limited. Citing analogies from the evolution of game of
cricket, he elaborated the disruption of present day, undertaking entrepreneurial stints and leading
by example. He emphasized upon imbibing the traits of hard work, self-discipline, adaptability and
multiplicity of skillsets.

PROCEEDINGS IN DETAIL:
With the theme of “Discover the Difference”, the leadership lecture series, Alankar was witness to
an interactive morning with the presence of Mr Saugata Gupta, the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of
Marico Limited.

Mr Gupta cherry-picked the instance of leading from the front by the Indian captain, MS Dhoni in
2011 World Cup. He emphasized the essential qualities of never letting the hunger die as well as the
drive to take risks to emerge as a leader. Citing the limitations of a functional leader, he urged the
future professionals in the audience to take up entrepreneurial roles while learning the intricacies
of business simultaneously.

The leader of CEO touched upon the adaptability to tackle disruptions in business as well as
technology. He drew analogy to the evolution of the game of cricket since its inception, from test
cricket through fifty overs game to T20 game. The competition in the VUCA world can emerge from
anywhere. He highlighted the significance of raising the bar to keep abreast with the ever-changing
pace of business organizations of the present day.

A two-pronged combination of hard work and self-discipline form the basis to success in any phase
of life, elaborated Mr Gupta as he walked the audience through his tight schedule. He further laid
emphasis on developing multiple skillsets transcending one-dimensional functionality. While taking
on strategy of leaders, the eminent industry figure stressed upon execution as the key differentiator
between success and failure. A leader influences people within teams, departments and
organizations, cited Mr Gupta as he threw light upon individual brilliance.

As the stage was set open for questions, Mr Gupta addressed how Marico has sustained its journey
of innovation and success in the present day of neck-break competition. A blend of knowledge of
innovation and leadership, the session gave insights of the corporate world for the future budding
managers.

Guest: Samir Shah

PROCEEDINGS IN BRIEF:
The leadership summit lecture, Alankar of Avenues 2016 was graced by a prominent figure in industry,
Mr Samir Shah, CEO of NCDEX. Mr. Shah won the “CEO of the Year” award in Banking in 2015. He
elaborated on the importance of failures, setbacks in one’s life and quoted how “Reflection of
discipline and persistence has become part of his DNA”. He focused on the importance of fitness,
investing in people, being authentic and true to yourself for becoming long time successful leaders.
Finally, he stressed upon how powerful and useful social media has become in today’s world.

PROCEEDINGS IN DETAIL:
Avenues is the Annual Business festival of Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay.
Avenues 2016 is designed to provide members a comprehensive experience of management life.
Through the theme of “Discover the Difference”, the leadership lecture series, Alankar was witness to
an interactive morning with one of the prominent faces of leadership, Mr Samir Shah, the Chief
Executive Officer(CEO) of NCDEX.
Mr Shah elaborated on handling setbacks and failures in life and how one can learn from those
mistakes. He said that the way one handles is more important than the setback itself. He then focused
on the importance of discipline and persistence for a long-term high quality career and professional
growth. He also stated that time management helps him in investing optimum time in professional
life, personal life and his health.

He shared that his decision of shifting from investment banking to sales, an ego destroying job, was
one of the best decisions of his life. According to Mr Shah, people first buy from people, then from
company and lastly the product itself, which makes the role of sales very crucial. Reemphasising on
learning from failures, he is not risk averse in life as he looks at it as a collection of experiences. Citing
the example of his colleague, he highlighted on the importance of investing in people.

Lastly he accented the need to be authentic and true to oneself by focusing on deep crucible moments
of life. A two-pronged combination of hard work and self-discipline form the basis to success in any
phase of life elaborated by Mr Shah as he walked the audience through his tight schedule.

As the stage was set open for questions, Mr Shah addressed questions on how a war is different from
corporate life. A blend of discipline, dedication, learning, attitude, passion, risk taking abilities and
time management forms the pivot of success in building up of a great leader over a long period.

Guest: Devdutt Pattanaik

PROCEEDINGS IN BRIEF:
The leadership summit lecture, Alankar of Avenues 2016 was graced by the presence of Mr. Devdutt
Pattanaik, an influential mythology writer of our times. His talk revolved around his new book
‘Olympus’ in which he draws a parallel between Greek and Hindu mythology. He discussed about his
inspiration to pick up Greek mythology as his next subject of work, the similarities and differences that
he found between the mythology and culture of India and Greece. And then he discussed about how
these cultural differences shaped the East and the West differently and resulted the world being the
way it is today.

PROCEEDINGS IN DETAIL:
Through the theme of “Discover the Difference”, the leadership lecture series, Alankar was witness to
an interactive morning with one of the prominent faces of leadership, Mr. Devdutt Pattanaik, an
influential Indian mythology writer.

The lecture revolved around his new book ‘Olympus’, which tries to demystify the secrets of Greek
mythology and tries to draw parallels with Hindu Mythology. He started with the source of inspiration
for the book, which for him was the curiosity to understand different perspectives all over the world.
According to him, the way Indians have their own way to understand Chinese or Greek beliefs, he was
positive that Indian culture and religion is perceived very differently all across the world. Whenever,
someone reads a book about something as dynamic as mythology, it is not the original thought, but
rather the author’s perspective of the main idea. Thus, Indian ‘ideas’ like Ramayan and Mahabharata
are perceived very differently at different places as they go through different authors. He decided that
he wanted to share his view of the Greek mythology with the world.

In his description of the book, he first emphasized the importance of data. According to him, there is
no true, authentic data, but the only truth is the idea. But data does give valuable information and
credibility to a mythological work. He stated that it is imperative to be thorough and systematic in his
line of work. He then moved on to give examples from Greek mythology and shared the similarities
with Hindu mythology. He found elements of acceptance, heroism, adventure and the journey of a
soul post death similar in both the cultures. But he found very stark differences as well, like authority
to elders in Indian culture to defiance by youth in Greek culture, rebirth concept in Indian culture to
the concept of one life in the Greek culture and general structure of decision making.

He then shared his views on diversity in Indian culture and its contrast to equality in Western culture
and the roots of these differences in existence of primarily monotheistic and polytheistic religions. He
eventually concluded how beliefs have shaped the culture and society as a whole. And a good book is
one which has actually made an impact on a person’s belief system. Mr. Pattanaik then declared the
floor open for questions and shared his views on authenticity of mythological literature, secularism as
mythology, Indian mythological literature being similar to and dynamic as a river and the components
of mythology.