Some of us at EAI had a great opportunity to attend L’Attitude 13’05 which was organized by the Great Lakes Institute of Management. Great opportunity because it was not a run-of-the-mill festivity but a 2 day jamboree (Jan 6-7 2011) centering on the theme of SUSTAINABILITY. All the events where centered on the theme TRIPLE BOTTOMLINE (3BL) – PEOPLE, PLANET, PROFIT.
Great Lakes Institute of Management, is one of the leading business schools in Chennai. The institution is a brain-child of the US-based management guru, Padmashri Dr Bala V. Balachandran. Uncle Bala as he is popularly known as is a professor at Kellogg School of Management, Chicago, USA. He is also the co-founder of two very reputed B-schools, ISB Hyderabad and MDI Gurgaon.
EAI has close relation with Great Lakes and we constantly share our entrepreneurial experiences with them. My colleague Mr. Madhavan was involved in the conceptualization of the case study for Ranniti (a strategy case study event). More on Ranniti is posted by Madhavan in a separate blog (Link)
The guest of honor for L’Attitude 13’05 was Hon’ble Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Other prominent guests included Mr. K.Raghavendra Rao, Founder and Chairman – Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Ltd; Mr. Satish Pradhan, Chief – Group HR, Tata Sons; Mr. Sampath Ramesh, President & Co founder of MesoAmerica Inc; Mr. Firdose A. Vandrevala, Chairman and MD of Hirco developments; Mr. Kamal P. Nanavati, Head of RILs polymer and cracker business.
The ‘Orchid – Great Lakes Center for Excellence in Technopreneurship’ was inaugurated by Dr.Kalam. Orichid’s contribution is INR 5 crores It is really essential to have such a center as technology and entrepreneurship skills are driving many economies to prosperity today.
Our specialty focus areas include 
The guest speakers highlighted the fact that people come first, planet next and profit comes last in the process of business making. There is more to life than simply profit and development cannot come at the cost of something. Therefore the 3BLs highlighted are not just options but real imperatives. We need to have an inclusive society to conserve and sustain our resources. So the kind of questions the top management asks today will create a much greater difference tomorrow. So we need to pledge to renew our commitments more in this area.
Mr. Ragavendra Rao of Orchid Chemicals gave the Presidential address and he highlighted the fact that push technology is past and we are in the age of pull technology wanting customer delight combining technology, industry perspective, student innovativeness and curiosity, and entrepreneurship. And since India is at the cusp of growth, more can be done in this area. More on http://bit.ly/igBnqS.
The inaugural address was given by Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam. His address was centered on 21st century management education. As usual, he gave a simple speech but was very thought provoking. He stressed that anyone can convert a challenge into an opportunity and for that we need to have leaders in specialized fields rather than just managers. Effective leaders can convert inconvenience of people into gateways for business.
He also stressed that fact that we need to be our own self and not try to be like anybody else. But the world all around us is making us to be like everybody else, including education! So he made us to iterate ‘I will work with integrity and succeed with integrity’. He quoted from the book ‘Empires of the mind’ by Denis Waitley, that what worked yesterday won’t work today.
All he wanted to say was obtain profit with integrity for sustained growth. Inculcate ethics and value system into the business model. A leader should have the vision and passion, have the ability to defeat the problem and succeed. More on http://bit.ly/dL8GQ4.
After the inaugural address was the CEO conclave. The CEOs who shared their ideas and success stories on sustainable businesses were Mr. Satish Pradhan, Chief, Group HR, Tata Sons; Mr. Ragavendra Rao of Orchid Chemicals; Mr. Firdose Vandrevala of Hirco systems; Mr. Kamal P. Nanavati, Head of RILs polymer and cracker business and Sampath Ramesh of Meso America Inc. More on their thoughts and ideas is given in the next post.
Update: L’Attitude 13’05 – Great Lakes annual B-School fest (Part 2)
