Did Bieber live up to Belieber’s expectation?

After weeks of rigorous preparation from the organisers in Mumbai, the DY Patil Stadium finally played host to over 45,000 people who had come from all across the country to be a part of this memorable show. Bieber’s concert was a part of his Purpose World Tour. It was pitched as possibly the biggest live performance ever by an international artiste in India. Pop sensation; Justin Beiber ruled the hearts of his audience during his Purpose tour to India. The 23 year old singer performed at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai. Beliebers from all over the country ensembled on the grounds of DY Patil Stadium to witness their favourite singer's live performance.

So did Justin Bieber's concert at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on 10 May 2017, live up to the hype?

Let's talk a few best moments from his enthralling performance first.

·         Bieber greeted the crowd saying, "What a beautiful night for me as I am here in this beautiful country for the first time and you people are fav (favourite)"

·         Beiber's performance started with the acoustic versions of his recent hits, 'Col Water' and 'Lover Yourself'.
As beiber thought the beginning of 'Cold Water' sounded dull, he tuned his guitar again with an apology to the audience, explaining, his guitar was affected by the humidity. He started the song over.

·         Beiber managed to keep up the gig as high as possible. he reached out to his audience and one lucky female also got the chance to hold his scarf.

·         Beiber's crew managed to unfurl the Indian flag on stage without having an FIR filed against them. Of course, it's too soon to say this, as there's no telling when someone will get their heads to 'rectify' this oversight.

·         The 23-year old popstar surprised his fans by singing his massively popular single BABY. It made the audience go nostalgic when he took them back to his 12-year old self.

·         The singer welcomed the 100 underprivileged kids he gave free tickets to on to the stage. He hugged them and did some chat.

·         “No matter who you are, how old you are, you have a purpose. I just really love you guys,” Bieber tells his fans, winding down the show. The star walked off the stage, returned only at fans' insistence that he sing his hit 'Sorry'.

·         The popstar has promised to return to entertain Beliebers in India, yet again.

While the concert was fascinating there were also some Ugly moments of the Concert.

Let's talk about it, shall we?

·         The stage area at the DY Patil Stadium was packed with the frenzy beliebers, who had been waiting for their Beiber since pm that afternoon. Pop star was supposed to be on stage at 8 pm.

·         the melee reminded of nothing more than the crowded local trains of Mumbai. But at least the train offers the shelter from the sun; at the venue there was no respite from the scorching May heat of Mumbai.

·         The pop sensation lip-synced his way through most of his performance, that is, about 8 tracks out of 12, and didn;t ven show off his dance moved.

·         The bad organisation. Beliebers and non-beliebers looking for refreshments had to trek outside the stadium, queue at the stalls, and shell out a minimum of Rs. 100 for a liter-bottle of water, which was layer hiked to Rs. 200, then you had to finish it off in one go as you were not allowed to take the bottles inside the stadium, unlike the Coldplay concert in Mumbai which gave away water bottles for free of cost.

·         Really dirty bathrooms and no trash bins. This led to the floor littered with bottles.

·         The long trek home after the tiring concert night. Overpriced cabs, blocked roads were the fate of the crowd. The Uber booths promised by the organisers didn't function well. As for the cellphones, the network jammers ensured nobody could use them to call/book other cabs.

By:                      
Sameer Choudhary and Diksha Sharma

Students, INLEAD

Battle of the Brains May'17

In order to make learning fun and give students a momentary break from their hectic schedules, every quarter INLEAD organises an inter-program Corporate Quiz Competition called Battle of the Brains.

The intra-college Quiz competition was recently held for students from across all departments, EMPR, INBM, INHM and HEAD and saw an enthusiastic participation from all the teams. Though all the teams battle out for the top position, but the winner is actually every participant that has put in their best efforts while competing with each other.

At INLEAD, we always encourage students to read more newspapers and keep themselves well-versed with the happenings in their respective industries and about the economy in general. The quiz competition is an effort in the same direction and acts as a wakeup call for each student to read more and to make themselves more aware.

The competition begins with a written prelim round, which is usually conducted about 3 days before the final event. Two top scorers from each program are selected to represent their program in the Quiz finals. The Prelims comprises a written quiz sheet which includes questions on abbreviations, taglines, etc. to sift out the top scorers and to create teams from amongst them.

This quarter, the finalists were the following:

Team 1: Afreen and Ruchika from EMPR, PCEM;

Team 2: Navneet and Rahul from INBM;

Team 3: Rishabh and Nishant (he backed out last moment); &

Team 4: Isha and Praveen

The Runners up was a very surprising Team 3 - Rishabh, who single handedly steered his team towards the finishing line. All alone, as his partner fell ill, he held the mantle very bravely.

The winners were Navneet and Rahul (Team 2) from INBM; who had luck in their favour, as all their guesses worked perfectly for them.

Work as Meditation

When we think of Meditation we visualize pictures of Himalayan yogis sitting on mountains with closed eyes. We associate terms like detachment and surrender to meditation. But the truth is meditation has nothing to do with a place or persona. Meditation has everything to do with you attitude and mindset. It is the way you look at things, the way you take things and how aware and alert you are.

Work can become meditation. When we deeply and totally engross ourselves in work, we lose our ego and embark on a journey of meditation.

Following are few tips on how to meditate in the workplace:

1. Detachment:

You need to detach yourself from your work. You need to do your work with totality without expectations. Detachment means you are not focused on the result and give your complete attention to the action .You don’t need to create an identity for yourself from your work instead you need to lose yourself in your work.

2. Egolessness:

If you are too involved in your self-image and ego you will not be able to give hundred percent to your work. You will be too bothered thinking about your physical and mental selves and will miss totality.

Egolessness means that you surrender to the vision of the organization and work for the common good of the organization

3. Contribution:

The more you give the more you receive. This is a universal law and it applies to the workplace as well. When you are deeply involved in your work you give your total self to the work and you are bound to succeed because with egolessness you will be able to do justice to yourself and your work.

4. Objectivity

You need to be an observer to yourself and your work. You need to detach yourself from your work and observe your thoughts and actions. This will give you an objective viewpoint of your work and you will become more effective and efficient.

By:

Siddharth Anand

Faculty, INLEAD

The Hospitality Industry

When asked to name the basic needs common to all human beings, those which immediately spring to mind are likely to be food and shelter. From ancestral nomads migrating out of need, the twenty-first century has evolved to integrate travel into everyday life as not only a need, but a norm as well.

The word “hospitality” has its roots in the Latin word hospes, meaning host. Without a guest, the host would cease to exist, and vice-versa. Building on this two-way relationship, a booming hospitality industry has developed into the second largest revenue generating sector in the world.

The basis of any popular industry is popular demand. With the guaranteed movement of people and the growing popularity of a dining experience, the hospitality industry has spread like quickfire into virtually every customer-service related business.  From Travel and Tourism, hotels, and airlines to restaurants, hospitals and retail, there are significant areas under the influence of the industry.

It is important to dissect the reasons as to why people travel, and to analyze what activities they engage in when they do. This helps to identify the areas in which revenue can be generated. On one hand, there are those with travel as part of their job description. Work takes them far and wide, and they naturally require accommodation and nourishment. On the other hand, travel has become synonymous with leisure, and abundant holiday makers and tourists are trotting the globe in search of novel destinations and experiences.

Both ends of the spectrum and all shades in between have developed an expectation of the services with which they will be provided, and the respective businesses have succeeded in matching it. The remarkable thing about the industry today however, is the sheer range of clientele it caters to. Those who desire a luxurious, high-end, and expensive experience can just as easily find a place for fulfilment as those looking for an affordable, efficient and simple one. Where the industry has the most scope, is in businesses which require a service experience.

The fact that an experience is intangible adds to its value and overall influence on peoples’ behavior. A good experience will nudge someone in the direction of reliving it, thereby generating a loyalty to one’s brand or business. On the contrary, a bad experience can just as easily sway someone in the opposite direction. Thus, the success industry heavily relies on customer satisfaction. This, in turn, has amped up the quality of customer service and has broadened the areas into which it is integrated.

The hospitality industry will be in existence so long as people move from one place to another. However, even though the industry is vast and seemingly fool-proof, its success inevitably hinges on the presence of a guest or customer, and their satisfaction with the experience with the service. Thus, ensuring a positive experience and building a strong host-guest relationship is the end goal of hospitality. 

To conclude, is a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt- “True hospitality is giving the best of yourself to your guests.”

By:

Isha Sahgal

Student, INLEAD

How Green Is Our OT?

The operating room is one of the largest procedures of waste. Studies have estimated that about 20-30 percent of the total waste generated by the hospitals comes from the OT. So, to reduce this hospital must identify a set of best practice, which can along with the reduction of waste also reduce the energy and worker and patient exposure to chemicals.

These days patient who seek medical treatment are mostly concerned with the quality and safety of treatment. They want healthcare providers to be preferably accredited by a recognized international organization. International accreditations create a kind of faith in the particular organization who is having them.

As a part of the process, Bureau Veritas conducted independent audits and assessments of the hospitals that focused on prevention of surgical site infections, safe anesthesia, safe surgical teams and equipment and a measurement and quality assurance mechanism.

We have heard about several incidents in our past, where patients have suffered due to lack of safety measures in OT. While surgical procedures are intended to save lives, unsafe surgical care can cause substantial harm.

Green OT Certification Project

The Green OT certification project is a first in the world certification and also the first “Make In India” certification protocol developed by Bureau Veritas in conjugation with multiple hospital stakeholders like clinicians, bio-medical, Green House Gas surveyors, administrators etc.

Green Operating Theater is a certification that will rate the facility as per its quality of safety and medical amenities. It is an initiative to promote sustainable healthcare delivery and creates a benchmark for performance in OT across India.

The idea is to make operation theatres eco-friendly and safe using green measures. The certification will establish uniformity in the safety standard in operation theatres and minimize the risk of infections in OTs.

Parameters Covered In Green OT Concept

• Airflow inside OTs
• Standardized OT set up
• Anesthesia Machine
• Types of volatile agents used
• Filling systems adopted
• Green connotes cleaner technique using modern technology and process with a sensitive approach to environment.
• It will also ensure that emission of carbon dioxide; infra-red rays and radiations are within permissible limits.

Benefits of Green OT

• Prevention of infection in OT
• Safe anesthesia protocols
• Safe surgical teams
• Quality assurance mechanisms

Some other key measures include controlling of temperature by measuring heat, coolness and humidity in operation theatre thereby addressing the issue of perspiration, which is one of the causes of infection in OT.

As we all know how global warming is destroying our beautiful planet earth. And, Green OT concept is a very good initiative by hospitals to do on their behalf to cut down their contribution towards global warming. To name a few hospitals like Max Super Specialty Hospital Shalimar Bagh, Artemis Hospital Gurgaon, Fortis Hospital are all Green OT certified hospitals.

Let’s join our hands together to save our planet. I believe, that every tiny bit counts and we can still make this planet a beautiful place to live .

By:

Dr. Rukmini Paul

Student, INLEAD

And Cash is Back to Being The King!

Well all that hullabaloo about Demonetization and Digitization seems to have faded and people seem to be going back to their cash friendly days. The famous words by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits “Money for Nothing..!” can be rephrased as all that “Drama for Nothing...!” There’s been hardly any accountability for black money and hardly any improvement in internet services to facilitate digital India. But what did happen was UP elections were won, nay, swept up like never before by the ruling central government.

All that hue and cry about PayTm and Bhim App has kind of fizzled out a bit, the sparks for mobile wallets seem to have faded. A recent report by Hindustan Times, dated 9th of March, 2017 states that Digital payments are on the decline. Restaurant and sweet shop vendors that operate out of smaller outlets and whose businesses had been greatly affected by Demonetization, claim that their customers hardly opt for digital payments any more. Even flea market shop owners in places like JanPath and Lajpat Nagar in Delhi have reported a significant shift towards cash payments by their customers.

So much for the huge marketing strategy behind BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) App, which was launched by National Payments Corp. of India, even though it still has a huge subscriber base of more than 125 lakh Indians.

The drop in value and volume of transactions

The digital Transactions in December’16 in India were valued at Rs. 105.04 lakh crores, i.e approximately 9,575 lakh transactions, and this has apparently come down to 7,630 lakh transactions in February’17. With remonetization it’s become quite apparent that cash is the king and the most preferred source of transaction even now. Post remonetization, now the Govt. has withdrawn all restrictions on cash withdrawals from bank accounts as well as ATMs.

While UPIs show a robust usage, the number of credit/debit card, wallet and mobile transactions are showing a declining trend. Not only is availability of cash a reason, but also the taxes levied on card transactions are proving to be party poopers.  As also majority of outlets not having digital payment avenues.

The story revolving around ATM too continues to be that of a flip flop, where some ATMs are still running dry, especially during long weekends. 60% of money has only been replenished in the Indian economy, and that too in a country where 85% of transactions take place in cash. And, combined with the fact that Digital transactions are down, we are at a paradoxical threshold in our economy.

The recent RBI study throwing light on these facts, force us to mull about the fact that the entire effort to digitize the economy shouldn’t come to naught and the economy shouldn’t fall back into the limbo as before with a flourishing parallel economy that was proving to be a huge burden to national exchequer.

By:
Monica Mor
Sr. Faculty, INLEAD

Technology Is The Key Driver Today

Like anything else, event planning too needs proper planning and execution. And Bringing in their experts, event managers work day and night in order to deliver a successful event. An event manager has to get into the client’s shoes in order to understand the requirements -from budgeting, accommodation, planning food, selection of venues, acquiring permits, arranging entertainment as per the selection of theme, managing risk and developing a contingency plan.

Technology, in terms of event management, has become more important than ever. From ticketing systems, to tools to measure ROI, User friendly applications etc have streamlined and consolidated our meeting systems, making it this age in which we live is one of innovation through automation in all business fields.

Social media engagement has resulted in events playing a bigger brand extension role. Where previously, many events were observed as standalone activities, they now serve a greater purpose – as conversation starters on social media, lead generators for businesses, data mining tools for CRM, experience centers for brands and engagement hubs for sponsors.

The American Express Meetings & Events surveyed 366 meeting planners and 160 attendees in the first quarter of 2016. The survey shows that 67% of organizers and 55% of participants consider mobile applications in connection with the event as the important factor in crowd engagement and interactive engagement in the event.

There are the 5 most important event technology trends that have a significant effect on the event planning industry:

1.   Live Streaming:  the idea of live streaming is becoming more popular and mainstream by the day as access to the technology has become widely available to anyone. Organizers see free live streaming technology as an opportunity to build FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) that will help to build their overall audience and ultimately lead to growth and stronger ticket sales in the long term.

2.   RFID:  RFID technology continues to evolve and offer a wealth of opportunities to organisers. It is a technology that “offers advantages over manual systems or use of bar codes. The tag can be read if passed near a reader, even if it is covered by the object or not visible. The tag can be read inside a case, carton, box or other container, and unlike barcodes. With the reduction in cost of using RFID and increase in reliability, this is fast becoming a favourite way for organisers and exhibitors to interact with attendees and pass information.  

3.   Multi-Use Apps: Event apps have taken the industry by storm in the last few years. Gone are the days where bulky, paper event guides are thrust at attendees to explain different activities, break down the event schedule, and give speaker information. Instead, event apps have incorporated all these aspects, while simultaneously giving attendees access to a committed back channel where they can socialize with other participants, and expand their network, before, during and after an event.

4.   Virtual Reality (VR) :Virtual Reality is another relatively new form of technology that can change the future of events. Virtual information booths are a new trend at meetings and conferences. VR is a great way to disseminate specific booth information to attendees and engagement during events.

5.   Wearable Technology: Wearable tech is now, arguably, mainstream.  They are the smart electronic devices that can be worn on the body as implant or accessories which provide the user access to information in real time, such as biofeedback and tracking of physiological functions.

The levelling effect of technology will see more people experienced in managing events and, events becoming easier to manage .The audience are no longer observers. They are active participants shaping the success of the event – in real-time.

By:

Sakshi Vig

Faculty, INLEAD

The Power of Habit

"Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny."-Stephen R. Covey

A habit is a pattern which gets automated after numerous repetitions. Habits are critical in our success. Every thought that we have, every action that we do is important, because it is these thoughts which become actions and at it is these repeated actions that become habits.

Our habits define us. They make or break us. They are the foundation stones of our success. Thus, it becomes very important to make the right appropriate habits.

While creating habits the following three things need to be taken into consideration:

1. Discipline:

Without discipline nothing concrete can get achieved. Discipline is one of the most important foundation pillars of success. With some discipline you can solve some problems, and with absolute discipline you can solve almost all problems. Discipline means you think positive thoughts which lead to resourcefulness and success.

2. Regularity:

You got to do it not once not twice…but again and again and again. Only when right patterns of thoughts and actions are repeated do they create powerful habits. Regularity is a must. The more you do it the better it becomes. So, repeat the right patterns repeatedly so that you overcome your limitations and stride towards success.

3. Drive

You’ve got to be self-motivated, passionate and driven. No one else can motivate or push you towards making powerful habits. You yourself have to be your guide, your mentor and your coach through this journey called life. You have to teach and guide yourself. Do positive self-talk, read motivating literature and think powerful positive thoughts in order to succeed.

With discipline, regularity and drive, you can create powerful habitual patterns which will lead you to success and a lifetime of enriched existence.

By:

Siddharth Anand

Faculty, INLEAD

Orientation Week April 2017 Batch

Last week, INLEAD opened its doors to the new April 2017 Batch. Every quarter as INLEAD welcomes a new batch of students, it puts together an Orientation Week full of multiple activities and workshops so as to encourage the newly christened INLEADers to get to know the institute, the faculty members, and most importantly their batchmates. The Orientation week is very essential to encourage students to let go of their inhibitions, to get accustomed to a new institute and to get oriented with their daily activities at INLEAD. 

Here's a day to day breakdown of all the fun, sessions and workshops that took place last week during the Orientation week for the April 2017 Batch.

Day 1 to Day 2 was all about Registration, Orientation about Life at INLEAD, as well as Corporate Orientation. There were sessions conducted by the Dean, Mr. Deepak Sharma as well as by subject faculty members who introduced students to the various streams they had taken admission in. This was followed by two days of Ice Breaking sessions comprising activities in the domain of Team Dynamics and Mental Abilities. 

Day 4 was when students were required to get ahold of their teammates and compete intensively with other teams to win hampers. This session was a celebration- A beginning of a new journey for all the students present.

The session began with the INLEAD Cheer, where students participated fully with enthusiasm and energy. Mr. Siddharth initiated the session by addressing the students on team dynamics and team culture. Thereafter Ms.Monica initiated the first activity titled-Land Mine. One student from each team was blindfolded and had to, with instructions from his team members, collect as many plastic balls as possible. Students participated enthusiastically and the atmosphere became full of creativity and energy.

The next game was- Guess the Price. Articles such as scissors, sketch pens and staplers were shown to the teams and the team which guessed the correct price won the article. Students enjoyed the activity and actively participated with full gusto.

Next, the students engaged in a craft activity where with newspapers, scissors and a scale they had to create circles, squares and triangles, and the team with the most number of shapes won. Students united as teams and came out with innovative and intelligent ideas to maximize their team score.

Overall, the Orientation Week and the Team Dynamics session was a grand success and a great start for all the students paving their way towards the road less travelled and beyond.