India is emerging as a global player in the socio-political, cultural and business world. In fact, it would be fair to say that a New Indian Renaissance (NIR) is upon us. Indian companies are becoming transnational in their operations. Many Fortune 500 companies are establishing their business on Indian soil. With the Indian mind-set being spiritual and knowledge-seeking, our business leaders have to constantly balance the conflicting demands of human values and modern management requirements. The need of the hour is a business-like and fully accountable management style based upon strong spiritual and ethical values. The purpose of this seminar is to develop a genuinely ‘Indian’ style of management that gives practising managers more options, so that they can perform and thrive in a world of constant change and fierce competition — what Indra Nooyi, Chairperson of PepsiCo, calls ‘Performance with Purpose’.
The Mahabharata, India’s greatest epic, is replete with stories of leaders facing challenging dilemmas, which require difficult and high-stake decisions from among a variety of choices. While many are successful, others are failures. Yet both represent a wonderful learning opportunity for us. Hence this effort to integrate modern management ideas with carefully selected case studies from the Mahabharata, to provide a wealth of insights and practical solutions to managers of the 21st century.
It is an interesting paradox that while managers themselves and their business audiences and consumers are acknowledged as being culture-specific, there is a tendency in modern management ‘theory’ to paint the whole world with the same broad (usually American) brush. This is understandable, given that modern management came into being with the Industrial Revolution and blossomed primarily under American thought-leadership during the 20th century. However, different culture-specific styles are beginning to emerge (Japanese, for example), which have proven their global effectiveness beyond doubt. We also find that in today’s globalised world, where cross-cultural work is the norm, a one-size-fits-all approach is limiting in its nature.
As tomorrow’s emerging world-influencing powers, it is time for India (and China) to come to the forefront and find a clear and credible voice of our own. This seminar will initiate a serious and provocative dialogue towards conceptualising an “Indian” style of management, preserving and including the appropriate ethical, environmental and spiritual values — in other words, to bring India’s unique, spiritually grounded wisdom and thought-leadership to meet the challenges of the modern corporate world.