“Let Passionate Diligence Be Your Mantra To Success,” Mallika Srinivasan Tells ISB Graduates

The Indian School of Business (ISB) celebrated its 2018 Graduation Day on March 6 at its Hyderabad campus and on April 8 at the Mohali campus that saw a total of 877 students passing out across both the campuses.

While 275 PGP students received their graduation certificates in Mohali, 602 PGP and 39 graduates from the Management Programme in Family Business (PGP MFAB) received certificates in Hyderabad. With this, the ISB alumni network now expands to 9600 with a presence in different parts of the world.

Addressing the gathering after giving away the certificates, Mallika Srinivasan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE) as the chief guest, shared her professional experience.

“Let passionate diligence be your mantra to success. There is no substitute for hard work.  But when you love what you do it doesn’t feel like work and as your love grows you’ll find yourself doing better and better,” she said.

Referring to what she termed as the most common question the students asked after they stepped out with their degrees, “what does it take to win?” she said, “As you stand here, winners in your life’s journey, you have pole position with a strong sense of competition which is a springboard to success. Winning is all about life skills.”

A gold medallist in econometrics from University of Madras and alumna of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business,  Mallika advised the graduates to set a liberating goal, play to strengths and build a core team around that goal. “Play to your strengths and work upon them. You cannot expect Virat Kohli to become a perfect bowler. Some standards have to be met, but do not expect a Nadal to play the Federer game,” she added.

About her experience as a student at Wharton, she said she was able to build friendships that have lasted a lifetime, shared the excitement of being among the best and the high quality of teaching.

At a personal level, she faced the challenge of joining the MBA program while having to look after her nine-month-old baby girl. The baby was put in the crèche at Wharton.

About work-life balancing, she said, “I want to tell you all, women, in particular, there’s no trade-off as so many of you asked me over dinner last night. Loving your job doesn’t mean loving yourself or your family less.”

‘Mallika said students should realise that life was unfair and learn to accept it. “Our ideas of fairness are often the outlook of wishful thinking. If we wait for the perfect set of circumstances, opportunities will fly by.” Facing reality and seizing opportunities was the key to understanding the world and unlocking potential, she added. They should also not allow change and challenge to frighten them.

ISB Scholar of Excellence: Ankita Jain, Jyoti Goyal and Chandra Bagavan Chokkalingam were given the ISB Scholar of Excellence Award. The ISB Scholar of Excellence is awarded in recognition of outstanding academic performance throughout the year.

For the graduates of family business management, she had a piece of advice. “A special word to those of you in the family business. Earn your right to manage. A sense of entitlement often sets in for those of you who join the family business. My father, early on, told me that he doesn’t need a Wharton graduate to run the family business.”

Harish Manwani, the Chairman of ISB Executive Board, Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman, Mohali Campus Advisory Board, Dean Rajendra Srivastava, participated in the celebrations along with students, families, faculty, alumni, staff and other visiting dignitaries.

Addressing his first graduation as the Chairman of the Executive Board, Manwani said, “As a school we provide you with the best, be it the faculty, infrastructure or the exposure but taking this forward depends on your young shoulders; because you all are the ones who are living examples to the world what ISB stands for. On behalf of the Board, I am committed to supporting the school’s plans to expand and grow.”

Dean Rajendra Srivastava said, “It’s that time of the year again when we feel proud that the birds of ISB are going to spread their wings and fly across the globe just like our logo. At ISB we integrate discipline-based academic perspectives with insights from the industry and the government.

He said, “In today’s fast-evolving world, while we have tried our best to teach you how to balance theory and practice, you have to think beyond traditional boundaries and now is the time for you all to implement your learnings in the workplace. Wish you luck for the new beginnings in your life!”

As the Chief Guest at Graduation Day 2018 at the Hyderabad campus, former Director of ISRO, Dr K Radhakrishnan said the advent of disruptive technologies called for innovative management solutions for the future. Students should stay connected with developments in space discovery since “The humankind’s aspiration for habitat engagement beyond this globe could become a reality within next 40-50 years. That would be your larger world a few decades from now when you are in the prime of your professional life.”

He also highlighted the importance of keeping an open mind and learning from all, while dealing with the inherent differences.”

ISB Board Chairman Harish Manwani said, “The current age managers are required to have entrepreneurial capabilities, as a lot of space is created through disruption in technology and economy.”

On the occasion, awards were also given away to outstanding students for various achievements.

Awards (Mohali campus)

ISB Scholar of Excellence: Ankita Jain, Jyoti Goyal and Chandra Bagavan Chokkalingam were given the ISB Scholar of Excellence Award. The ISB Scholar of Excellence is awarded in recognition of outstanding academic performance throughout the year.

Chairman’s All Rounder Award PGP Co2018

The Chairman’s All Rounder award was given to Sneh Shah, PGP Co2018 who had demonstrated exceptional all-round leadership skills through the year. In addition, the ‘ISB Young Leaders’ and ‘ISB Torchbearer’ awards were given to students who have demonstrated leadership skills, and all-round excellence through the year.

Professor of the year

Students also voted for their favourite faculty for the year through the Professor of the Year awards. Professor Saravanan Kesavan was given “Professor of the Year Award for Core Courses” and Professor Piyush Kumar was awarded the “Professor of the Year for Elective Courses.” Professor Dishan Kamdar was given the “Professor of the Year for PGPMFAB Class of 2017.”

Dean’s List

The Dean’s List comprises students who make it to the top ten percentile of the Class for their academic accomplishments. This year a total of 92 students were announced combining both the campuses.

The Academic Associate of the year

These awards were given away by students to those who supported them in their learning throughout the year. Ajay Mittal (PGPMAX 2017) and Kanupriya Aggarwal (PGP MFAB Class of 2017) and John Bansal, Anjali Sharma, Mehak Jain received this award for the PGP Class of 2018 from the Mohali campus.

Awards (Hyderabad Campus):

ISB Scholar of Excellence

Bhawarth Sangwan, Chinmay Sahoo and Atul Shrimal from the PGP Class of 2018 were given the ISB Scholar of Excellence Award. Dimple Jacob Mathews was awarded the PGPMAX 2017 Scholar of Excellence. The ISB Scholar of Excellence is awarded in recognition of outstanding academic performance throughout the year.

Chairman’s All Rounder Award

The Chairman’s All Rounder award was given to Nikita Dawda from the PGP Class of 2018 who had demonstrated exceptional all-round leadership skills through the year. In addition, the ‘ISB Young Leaders’ and ‘ISB Torchbearer’ awards were given to students who have demonstrated leadership skills, and all-round excellence through the year.

ISB-Parmeshwar Godrej Award

Anumeha Srivastava from the PGP Class of 2018 was awarded the Exemplary Woman Student which has been announced from this year.

The Best Club awards were given to Business Technology Club and Manufacturing & Operations Club (Professional Club) and the Sports Club (Social Club).

Professor of the year

Students also voted for their favourite faculty for the year through the Professor of the Year awards. Professor Sarang Deo was given “Professor of the Year Award for Core Courses” and Professor Piyush Kumar was awarded the “Professor of the Year for Elective Courses for PGP Class of 2018.” Professor Prashant Kale was given the “Professor of the Year for PGPMAX Class of 2017.”

Academic Associate of the year for PGP and PGPMAX awards were also given by students through preferential nominations for supporting students in their learning throughout the year.