The Role of Discipline in Personal & Private Victories

“Life is a series of problems. Discipline is the basic set of tools to solve life’s problems. With some discipline you can solve some problems and with absolute discipline you can solve all problems.”These lines from the book “The Road Less Travelled” by M.Scott Peck are more relevant today than ever.

In a world which is pacing fast towards nothingness, most people are living lives without any purpose. The need of the hour is to find ones center, have a goal and a vision and stick by ones commitments and promises.

Everyone respects a Man of his word. Honesty is still greatly valued. Authenticity is critical in creating lasting relationships.

Discipline involves Commitment, Rituals and Time Management.

1. Commitment

If you keep promises, you are bound to garner respect for yourself. People will start by trusting you with small things and soon they will start trusting you with bigger things. To keep ones word is a mark of a true gentleman or lady.

When you honor your word you are creating a Trustworthy Brand for yourself. People will approach you more and your reputation will soar sky high.

2. Rituals

Rituals are the basis of a disciplined and goal oriented life. Right from your morning exercise, yoga and meditation to having your lunch on time and networking 1 hour daily, if you have a well-defined daily routine, you will not waste time and will be able to make the most of each day.

3. Time Management

Time is Money. Time is everything. You have to realize that you have limited time on your hands and that is why you should concentrate on tasks which are Urgent and Important. The way you spend your time today will determine your destiny tomorrow.

Divide you day into 3 parts. Take breathers and Breaks. Make the most of the now. Prioritize.  Schedule. Keep Timelines. Be Punctual, in fact be before time. This will help you live a more fuller, more successful and a richer life.

With Commitment, Rituals and Time Management, you will be able to excel at your workplace and live a richer and more meaningful life.

By:

Siddharth Anand

Faculty, INLEAD

Success Mantra: Take Initiative & Be Proactive

Today good enough is not good enough. You have to be an expert- the best in your area of expertise and subject. To gain a competitive edge, you need to put in that extra effort.

There are certain traits Companies are looking in their candidates today:

1. Perseverance

It is a difficult world out there. In order to survive this world, you need to take initiative and seize the opportunities that come your way. You need to be tough and go through the struggles effortlessly. As the famous poet Rumi put it, “If you resist every rub, how will you get polished”. You will need to look at problems as challenges and give your best shot at constantly inventing solutions. 

2. Proactivity

Normal is passé. Taking Initiative is the new thing. Companies are looking for candidates who can go that extra mile, make that extra effort and deliver instantly and successfully. In this technology rich superfast business world, you are not only competing with humans, but  also competing with machines and computers so you need to be super quick and come up with progressive problem solving and creative solutions to complex problems.

3. Go-Getter Approach

Life is a race and you have to be in it to win it. Corporates are looking for candidates with passion, devotion and loyalty towards their workplace. In these dynamic times, opportunities are plenty but to seize and realize them one needs to be driven from within. One needs to keep ones spirits high and be an eternal optimist and always remember that behind every calamity lies tremendous opportunity.

4. Creativity

Today, knowledge is available at the click of a button. We are literally carrying the world in our pockets so the need of the hour demands that we think different, invent unique, improvise and customize. Creativity is a greatly valued skill and creative people are always in demand. Being creative involves original improvisation and intuitive imagination. Be creative and you will get the edge that is needed to shine in this world. 

5. Team Player

Companies are looking for team players and team assets. The need of the hour is to align personal values, vision and mission with that of the teams and to align the teams with the companies. Working in teams is a part of every profile and good team players are always in demand. 

By:

Siddharth Anand

Faculty, INLEAD

My Experience At INLEAD

Hi, I am Chandan. I hail from Andhra Pradesh’s port city, Visakhapatnam, where I completed my Bachelor’s in Hotel Management. Moving further I was in search for an opportunity which would be helpful for my personal as well as my professional growth. I was informed by my college about INLEAD in Gurugram. I got to know that INLEAD provides hoteliers with Global Management Development Program which is a short term course which offers international placement opportunities in hospitality sector. Earlier, I thought going abroad would be little tough as it requires some work experience and that would take much time and money as well. Later, with a positive approach I kept my efforts and faith towards having a better career by joining INLEAD.

I was convinced by the advanced infrastructure and quality maintained at the campus of INLEAD. In such a short duration, I was able to brush up my technical knowledge in Food & Beverage Operations as well as in Rooms Division Management. The entire program went on so well including other important modules required in the present market consisting of Retail Management, International Marketing and Global Culture & Ethnicity. The standard maintained by faculty to educate students is also much appreciated. They are the people who supported me throughout the course. They helped me to build up my personal strengths through attending workshops and assigning presentations frequently.

The placement opportunities were with famous brands offering attractive packages in different locations. The Training & Placement team continuously works together to facilitate every student with good job profiles across various sectors. I have got placed in Qatar with Al-Shaya Group which is one of the leading companies in the world. I was very much pleased and happy to get placed even before the completion of my course at INLEAD. I was completely satisfied with the entire program; the way it commenced, the modules covered and also the placements that took place.

I feel proud to say I am a student of INLEAD. I would like to thank entire INLEAD team for providing me with such a great platform to start my career. And, for candidates who are looking for an opportunity to work abroad, I suggest INLEAD will be the best place to go ahead with. The overall experience of mine at INLEAD was very amazing and I am always thankful to everyone behind me for what I am today.

By:

Chandan,

Student, INLEAD

INLEADers @25th CONVERGENCE INDIA 2017

Launched in 1992, the Convergence India series of expo is credited as South Asia’s largest ICT expo. The year saw the expo celebrating its 25th anniversary. The event was organized for 3 days in February 2017, covering a wide spectrum of topics from Make in India to Digital India, e-commerce and cyber security. INLEAD’s International Business Management students got an opportunity to attend the expo across all 3 days, visit stalls, sit in conferences and interact with other members of the audience. 

The expo was organised in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, where 635 companies  showcased ground–breaking technologies and services with new product launches. It was organised by the Exhibitions India Group, the Ministry of Electronics and Information and Broadcasting and the Digital India campaign. 

Under the theme of Digital India, the event gathered an influential audience, including governments, key ICT industry players, international organizations, pioneering thinkers, consultants, academia, media and emergent players. The key players were responsible for enabling digital transformation and bringing to life smart technologies, products, services and the latest Internet of Things innovations.

Convergence India expo, and the co-located IoT India expo, were spread over 18,000 sqm of area, bringing together the IoT ecosystem including hardware, services, software and governing bodies, covering development areas and the future of IoT in India including smart cities, wearable technologies, design applications, enablers, industrial IoT and data analytics. Further add-ons at the expo were the Start-up planet, the Techknow conference and the mobile devices and Accessories. Event was sponsored by various partners like skyline, TAIWAN EXCELLENCE, CORNING, CISCO, Aeris, GOSPELL, Mulifi, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

On the first day of “Convergence India”, conferences were featured in various halls having sections “Ganga, Krishna, Godavari”. For the convenience of delegates ‘SHOWDAILY2017’ time tables and respective conference topics were displayed all over Pragati Maidan, Conferences covered various smart topics like ‘Digital india, 5G-next big step in mobile communication technologies and how it will revolutionise the customer experience, Digitization challenges in India, new business models and revenue generating streams, policy requirement for IoT startup growth.’ Conferences, seminars were attended by founder and CEO of reputed international organization, ICT players, business consultant, and government bodies. Information and experience gathered on first day was exciting, refreshing, adding value to all over personality.

Ahead of second day, Mr. Narendra Bansal (Chairman and MD Intex, India) and other influential panelist showcased Mobile phone industry- as torch bearer of Make in India and Digital India initiative.

Digi wallets :A new trend for developing India was effectively delivered by Mr. Sunil Kulkarni (Deputy MD, Oxigen Services India Pvt.Ltd). Excitement was palpable till the last day as it covered “e-commerce in India, Impact of IoT on Lifestyle to take it forward and make smart home for everyone, cyber security, its challenges and solutions.’

One of the sessions talked extensively about Cyber security being a big issue for Indians as we have to pay a lot more attention on development of cyber security. The 3 Pillars of cyber security include PROCESS, PEOPLE and TECHNOLOGY. 

Cyber security research and development in the country, is critical both in public and private sector. Google only caters to 0.04% of 100% of the entire world. Demonetization for all its frailties, helped the Digital Network penetration and take on the challenging task of digitising financial India. Digital economy have to take focus on rural area and also urban area by providing lot of data. To keep the demonetization train from derailing, the standard of technology being used is vital.

A new trend of developing Digital India mainly focuses on 3’D combination. 

• Demographic

• Demand

• Democracy

The Exhibition focused on adaptation of Digital accommodation such that it works across mobile, internet and digital payment through success of mobile wallets. Its main focus will be on Inclusion, Innovation and Efficiency. Focus needs to move towards the villages or the small towns to make a digital wallet a success. Biggest challenges remains to make people aware of digital wallet .

The learning across the 3 days was huge for the students, who returned home every day with goody bags from some stall or the other. 

By:

Aniket Patil and Vishal Choubey

Students, INLEAD

How safe are our ATM services

Multiple blogs have been written on utility of tech in banking services. So much so, Citibank this year shut down 5% of its branches in India due to their under usage as a result of their customers’ access to home-bank ATMs and  Brown label ATMs and  usage of netbanking for making payments and fund transfers. ATMs serve as a huge support to all the working people who do not have time to visit their bank branches and withdraw money, so much so that an ATM machine and the hosting room are becoming the new payment gateways, which will further reduce the need to visit branches. We are in this day and age, witness to the phenomenon of machines taking over the work of humans. Yet we don’t mind it one bit, as it makes lives more convenient. More often than not we ignore the fallacies and risks associated with the same and choose not to mull over the safety of this phenomenon or how vulnerable it leaves us. Because that’s inconvenient! And soon enough a red flag has been raised with the recent Yes Bank ATMs’ software glitch which left 3.2 million card holders exposed to online fraud.

The scare spread like the bird flu and forced experts to analyse and ask the simple question: “How safe are our ATMs”? And as users, we realised the importance of the oft used business phrase ‘caveat emptor’. It’s the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods and service before the purchases are made.

Let’s understand as laymen what really happened with our ATM cards…

ATMs can be home-bank (managed by bank) or non Home-bank (or Brown label which is managed by third party). The software in the brown label ATMs are managed by service providers, which in this case was Hitachi Payment Services. The 90 affected ATMs in the present case connected to the infected server. So the hackers got information of all the people who used those ATMs, and cloned their cards. Since customers often use non home-bank ATMs the impact spread to 19 banks. The hack led to misuse of about Rs. 1.03 crores, where most of the cloned cards (about 641 in number) were used for transactions in China and USA, where OTP is not a mandate for card related transactions. (Hindustan Times, 24^th Oct 2016)

While Hitachi claims no breach in service, the matter is under investigation. In fact, there are no stringent regulations for ATMs, debit and credit card services in RBI guidelines.

Solution to the hack…

No one knows. It can only be prevented, till the next smart hacker cracks the new code. Banks need to take over control of ATMs, which they outsource to third party as it may be too expensive to run ATM counters all over the country, even in places where they do not even have a bank branch. The outsourcing partners in the meanwhile need to be a lot more vigilant and ensure security control measures and reduce operational risks. As users of these cards, we need to keep changing our pin numbers frequently.

My memory will in this case fail me most of the time. As if remembering my iPhone pin wasn’t enough!

-Ms. Monica Mor, Sr. Faculty, INLEAD

INLEADers @ Ambience Mall, Gurgaon

INLEAD recently facilitated an Industry Visit for the International Business Management students of Jul’16 batch to Ambience Mall, NH8, Gurgaon, in order to provide them a greater understanding Organised Retail, Mall Management and Zoning of stores in a Mall.

The mall is spread over 13 lakh square feet of space, and is often known as the 1 Km Mall. Ambience is a large real estate group with diverse realty interest like luxury residence, commercial towers and organized retail.

The visit to Ambience Mall, Gurgaon commenced around 3:30 pm, when the students where first asked to get a feel of the mall by just loitering around. Around 3:45 pm they were taken around the mall by the Mall Manager who started his tour from Gate No.1, also known as Zara atrium. He then took them for a guided tour across all floors, explaining to them in great detail the layout of the mall and the zoning of stores. They were made aware of the popularity of Mango store and therefore the naming of the frontage around the store as Mango atrium. Thereafter they were guided across different floors, and explained the unique aspect in each floor and the major anchor stores that help bring footfalls into the Mall.

Post the two hour guided tour, students then congregated at one of the Mall management office’s conference room for an interaction with the GM, Mall Operations. He handled all queries students had regarding every aspect of the mall from store location, to security management to parking requirements. Overall, students came out well versed with the detailing that goes in mall operations and store locations.

Block the Clock Season 2

In order to provide a glittering welcome to the new April ’16 batch and a breather from the daily routine to all the other currently functional batches, INLEAD recently organized LEAD Activity – Block the Clock. The activity promised a day full of unlimited fun and fevour.

The LEAD activity – Block the Clock was conducted as an Orientation activity for the New April ’16 batch, however, saw participation from students of all the programs of EMPR, HEAD, INHM,INBM  Jan. ’15, Apr. ’15, Jul. ’15, Oct. ’15 and Apr. ’16 Batches.

Inspired from the TV game show – “Minute to Win it”, the activity comprised 15 fun-filled and energetic games. The students enjoyed participating in the games like ‘Key to success’, ‘Nose Dive’, ‘Noodling Around’, ‘Blow ‘em away’ and ‘Popcorn Garland’ to name a few. The frolic and excitement with which the students participated in these games was worth a sight.

Though it was a competitive activity, the students showed great sense of sportsmanship.  The activity organizers worked tirelessly to make the event a success. There were 13 winners in total and they, along with the Organizers were awarded with prizes by Mr. Deepak Sharma - Dean, INLEAD, Ms. Bindu Menon – Sr. Faculty, INLEAD, Ms. Monica Mor – Sr. Faculty, INLEAD.

The event was drawn to culmination with the crowning of Mr. & Ms. Fresher April ’16 which went to Mr. Jeevan Lal Thakur (International Business Management) and Dr. Gowthami (Healthcare Administration) respectively.

Mr. Sumit Chakravarty, Faculty, INLEAD, described the event as a “high energy and action packed activity that focused on giving a pleasant break for the students from their regular routine and encourage them to participate in a competitive environment.”

A more equal currency

I borrowed this blog’s title from a newspaper story I read recently with the headline “A more equal dollar now”. So, what is a dollar equal to now? To rupee, pound or euro? Well none of these.

USA has made quite a few changes in their currency bills over the years to stay ahead of counterfeiters. This April 2016, after 10 months of heated debates, Treasury Secretary, Jacob J Lew announced the changes in $20 bill. There would be changes in $5 & $10 bills subsequently. The $20 bill will have the image of Harriet Tubman, an African American woman who was born a slave and eventually helped hundreds of slaves escape chains using the Underground Railroad. 

Equality here symbolizes women like Tubman as well as leaders of suffrage movement like Lucretia Mott & Sojouner Truth who are getting represented on currencies and replacing traditional faces of men like those of President Andrew Jackson, who has of late found disfavor amongst Americans due to his role in the 1830 Act on Removal of Indians (Native Americans).

Countries that have used images of women in their currency bills:

While USA has a brief history of women on its currency and India has none on a bill, (we do however have image of Indira Gandhi, our fourth Prime Minister on coins), there are quite a few nations across the globe that have been printing women’s faces on their currency bills.

The first country that comes into mind is interestingly Syria which as a nation has an image of being completely warn torn and struggling against a violent militant group, ISIS. They have Queen Zenobia, known for fighting against Roman colonisers in the 2^nd century AD, on their 500 pound note.

Philippines in 2009 added the image of their erstwhile first female president, Corazon Aquino, in their 500 peso note. In Turkey the 50-lira note features the image of women’s rights activist Fatima Aliye.  Mexico features the image of its prominent artist Frida Kahlo. The image is from her famous self-portrait made in 1940. Argentina, South Korea, New Zealand, Israel, Sweden, Australia, England are some other countries that have images of women on their currency bills.

So is there need for Gender Equality in currencies as well?

And why not? If we delve into our own country’s history we have many women who have played important roles in every sphere of life. Each of them deserves a stamp and an image on the currency bills. Since the currency denominations are very few, we could add some women in the list which technically has just Mahatma Gandhi as the only image of a person on our currency bills, since independence. It’s time we recognized Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant or even Rani Laxmibai and gave them their due spots in our currency.

- Ms. Monica Mor

  Sr. Faculty, INLEAD

INLEAD’s Got Talent 2015

INLEAD has been organizing its annual activity – INLEAD’s Got Talent every year, with a different flavor. This time too, continuing with the trend, IGT 2015 was organized in the form of a day excursion for the students at BEST WESTERN Resort Country Club, Manesar, Gurgaon.

The event commenced with a witty introduction from the show anchors – Mr. Joe Marshal (April ‘14 batch) and Mr. Sandeep Mohan(Jan ‘15 batch). IGT 2015 showcased the talent of the students in various forms of dances, singing, drama and fashion show. The screening of the participants was initially done by holding several rounds of auditions at the INLEAD Campus, which was followed by two weeks of rigorous rehearsals for the Grand Finale. The students also contested for various titles like - Mr. & Miss INLEAD, Mr. & Miss Confident, Mr. & Miss Best Smile titles.

Though it was a competition, the students showed great camaraderie and helped each other with their preparation.  The activity gave the students an opportunity to appreciate differences, giving them an insight into team building, creativity, leadership skills etc. The participants, along with the organizers and mentors had worked hard to present a variety of performances.

The winners were awarded by Ms. Khushboo Singh, Senior Vice President - INLEAD, Mr. Deepak Sharma, Dean - INLEAD and Ms. Nikita Sabherwal, Program Director (Healthcare) - INLEAD. The event was drawn to culmination with the crowning of Mr. and Miss INLEAD and the dance floor thrown open to the students for a DJ jam session. The students also rejoiced a lot of other activities like camel rides, swimming and rain dance.

Following is the list of winners:

1. Miss INLEAD: Saakshi Jain (EMPR July ‘15)

2. Mr. INLEAD: Sandeep Mohan (INBM Jan ‘15)

3. Miss Confident: Shubhangi Singh (EMPR July ’15)

4. Mr. Confident: Jaskaran Singh Lamba (EMPR April ’15)

5. Miss Best Smile: Shalini Rai (EMPR July ’14)

6. Mr. Best Smile: Ritheish R. (INBM July ’14)

- Mr. Sumit Chakravarty

  Faculty, INLEAD 

How to Ace the Behavioral Interview

“Congratulations! Your resume has been shortlisted for the interview."

These are the words   which give you butterflies in your stomach and put you right into motion.  After the initial mini celebration is over , the big thing dawns on you, that the real deal starts now and hence, you pack up your emotions and begin your preparation for the D-Day—the interview.

But wait! What sort of questions should you prepare for? Would you only be preparing the traditional questions or some behavioral questions as well?

Let’s find an answer to this question by first understanding the basic difference between these two types of interviews.

Traditional v/s Behavioral interview

In a traditional interview, the HR asks some basic set of questions in order to seek as much as information as they can in a given period of time. This includes open and closed ended questions like ‘tell me about yourself?’, ‘why should I hire you?’, and ‘what are your strengths?’, ‘are you open to relocate?’ Such questions help the HR in figuring out the fitment for the given profile. On the other hand, Behavioral interviews are comparatively more comprehensive and difficult to crack. In behavioral interviews, specific questions are asked in order to target and understand a specific behavior of the candidate.

It is a popular belief that  a person’s past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. On the basis of the person’s past performance and work record, an interviewer predicts the future on-the-job behavior of the candidate.

Nowadays, employers lay a lot of focus on the behavioral interviews as they use it as a perimeter   to check, whether you have the competencies needed for the job in question.

For the people who aren’t well aware about the concept of Competency, “Competencies are the set of skills required to perform a particular job.” In simple words, Competency = Job Behavior.

While designing the behavioral questions, the employer considers your resume; the desired competencies required for the job profile in question and then structure the interview questions around it. At the time of the interview, you will be further probed for more details to cross check and to measure your consistency with the answers.

Irrespective of whether you are an experienced professional or a fresh graduate, you should be prepared for the behavioral interviews as they play a very prominent role in helping you get the job.

Preparing for behavioral interviews

Behavioral interviews are quite structured and therefore, your answers should also be likewise, that is, not too long or too short. It’s a kind of ‘story telling’ because you are required to share past instances and experiences to justify your answer.

Therefore, while preparing for such an interview, you should make rigorous efforts to create stories with parlance to the relevant competencies.

• Creating stories from the past that show favorable behaviors or actions and creating a short description of the same, which covers the relevant information in brief.
•  All the answers should have proper opening, middle explanation and a conclusion.
• Be honest  as you can as there would be further probing based on  the answers you give.
•   Bring variety to the answers in terms of time or the area that you choose to give the example about, like school life, college life, last organization etc.
• Listen to the question very carefully, evaluate the most relevant example and narrate it carefully.

Remember that it’s just not all about having the right skills, but also about how well you are able to market your skills to the interviewer. And, with the right preparation and marketing behind you, who knows you might land up your dream job because as someone rightly said “Success is where preparation and opportunity meet”.   

- Ms. Priya Bali

  Faculty, INLEAD 

Images Courtesy- Google Images 

A Teacher's ode on Teachers’ Day

Teacher is not the one who “Teaches” but the one who helps you “Learn”

I strongly believe in learning from what I Teach! If I haven’t had one learning from each lecture I have delivered I have wasted the efforts I’ve put in to formulating those ideas together. It’s really important for any teacher to first understand himself what he is about to teach others or in other words, what he is helping others to understand. If you can’t understand what are the Poisson Process, Lambda and Mue and their significance in the queuing theory created by Agner Krarup Erlang, how you will ever explain a student that behind all these scary jargons is a simple concept of reducing the wait time for your customers standing in the Queue. It is essential for a teacher to imagine how difficult or easy it is to grasp a concept for a person who is coming across it for the first time. The “Mul Mantra” is to assume that your entire audience is hearing about the topic of your elaboration for the very first time and is a complete alien to each terminology mentioned. Then try explaining it with the simplest of details and following an exhaustive approach. This way you might sound repetitive to a certain scholarly set of your listeners but you surely would take care of minimizing all “OTHT-Over the head transmissions” and keeping your sleeping beauties awake and alert!


Over a period of time, I’ve developed this unsurpassed passion towards helping people learn and understand concepts that are new to them. I will be embarrassingly honest to admit that till a few years back, the significance of the birthdate of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan was limited to either having no classes when I was a student or to having no classes when I was a novice teacher. It was just like a regular fun day for me. It’s surely  the same now also but what has changed is the respect that I have now for all the teachers, for those trainers and for all those mentors who guide people, who direct people all across the world, the ones I know, my teachers, my guides, my colleagues, most importantly my students and the ones who aren’t a part of my awareness set. This is to extend my wishes and gratitude to all and wishing everyone a Very happy teachers' 
day. 

-Ms. Ginny Kaushal
 Faculty, INLEAD 

Life is an experience - To be lived and learned

“There is not a human being from whom we cannot learn something if we are interested enough to dig deep.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Life is a full of experiences. Every day we experience something new either by chance or by choice, and it changes our perception about ourselves and others. To feel, live and learn from these experiences, we are blessed with diverse emotions like happiness, sadness, pain, love, relief and struggle etc. These emotions give a different meaning to these experiences and help us understand life in a better way.

Often we sit back and wonder -why is life so biased towards us? Or why do we only encounter all the problems at the same time?

We need to understand that sometimes these obstacles are actually a blessing in disguise, only we don’t realize it at that point of time. It’s not the people or situation but our reaction towards them which changes our perception. Life keeps moving on, situations keep changing; people keep on entering our lives. So, in a nutshell, we can’t go back and change our past. All the mistakes we make and experiences we gain, prepare us for the future and make us strong enough to face whatever may come in our path.

In this fast-paced life, a FAST guide is what you need to be successful in true sense. The following FAST guide will help you to live your life to the fullest and learn from the bittersweet experiences that life has to offer.

Fight with your fear:  All of us have some fears in life. Fight them rather than being a quitter. Facing our fears is the first step towards success. Further, the feeling of looking back and seeing how we overcame these fears on our own by just making an effort is an extraordinary feeling.

Appreciate nature: To be a nature lover doesn’t always mean taking a break from your regular life and spending a handsome amount of money to go to some exotic location. The next time you venture out of your house for work, take a minute break and look around. There’s nature everywhere, it just takes the right eye and vision to see it. You can even start with a simple nature walk early morning; explore gardens at your nearby places, or simply cherish the rain sitting in your balcony with a hot cup of coffee.

Solitude: Our body has a unique way to rejuvenate and replenish its energy. Make sure you give your body an off day once in a week.  Take time away from the hustle-bustle of life and look inside to understand yourself better.


Travel: “To move, to breathe, to fly, to float; to gain all while you give; to roam the roads of lands remote; to travel is to live.”  Every place on this earth, from a remote village in Rajasthan to an urban city like Mumbai, has something new to offer. Make sure to include travelling in your lifestyle as a person as “the world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

With this FAST guide in hand, you will not only survive but also live and enjoy this beautiful gift of life that god has bestowed upon us.  Always remember, “Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”


- Priya Bali
  Faculty, INLEAD



Images courtesy-Google Images  

The Greek Economic Fallout

Everyone who keeps abreast with current affairs would know or at least would have heard about the great Greek crisis and wondered, how did Greece manage to land itself in such a serious economic soup? Well, this situation didn’t occur overnight. Here, we give you a quick rundown of events that have led to one of the most beautiful nations on this earth, land in one of the worst economic slump of the century.

A Brief History 


In January, 1999, a currency named Euro was created, which economically tied together 19 European nations watched over by the European Central Bank, with each country having its own budgetary and taxation policies. Countries were benefiting from the common bond for a long time, but slowly the Euro zone bubble started to burst. Greek crisis started 6 years ago with its own fiscal profligacy. The country comes under the category of PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) within the European Union; and all these countries have solvency issues.

Andreas Papandreao

How it all started? 

It all began when Greece joined the European Union in 1981. The country then had an acceptable debt to GDP ratio of about 28% and a budget deficit of about 3% of GDP. However, over the next 30 years the situation deteriorated. Issues started with Prime Ministership of Andreas Papandreao in 1984, when he started doling out lavishly unrequited welfare measures. His party, the PASOK (Panhellenic Socialist Movement) had won over the electorate with promises of liberal welfare measures that were populist in nature.

The condition worsens…

The PASOK party alternated in power with another party called the New Democracy. Both parties continued to bestow benefits on the citizens that were tough on the government exchequer and ended up creating a bloated and protectionist economy. A Greek man with 35 years of public-sector service could retire at a ripe old age of 58, and a Greek woman could retire with a pension at an age as early as 50 under certain circumstances. Perhaps, the most infamous example of undue generosity was the prevalence of 13th and 14th-month payments to Greek workers. Soon, as a result of rampant tax evasion, low productivity and eroding competitiveness, Greece’s economy started to falter and it had to resort to massive borrowings to bolster its economy.

In 2001, Greece joined the Eurozone and received support from other European nations once it adopted Euro as its currency. Soon after, the Greek economy boomed but, at the cost of rising deficits and a ballooning debt load. Moreover, the measures that had been taken by the Greek government had been exhausted well above the limit set by the EU’s Stability and growth pact. At the time, Greece’s debt to GDP ratio was 103%, way above the EU limit of 60%. Greece’s fiscal deficit was also 3.7%, higher than EU limit of 3%. By Jan, 2012, the Greek and German sovereign bonds widened by 3,300 points, which was a huge figure and eventually the debt to GDP ratio moved up to an astronomical 180%. The last straw was an announcement by the then PM of Greece that the fiscal deficit was actually 12.7% more than the originally announced figure.

This prompted the European Union to force the Greek government to announce austerity measures, which the current PM, Alexis Tsipras, put to a referendum. Austerity measure implies that citizens would have to reduce their expenditures for a long time to reduce the ballooning debt of the economy. These measures also include the official actions taken by a government during a period of adverse economic conditions, to reduce its budget deficit using a combination of spending cuts or taxes, or a mixture of both. At the referendum, 61% voted “No” & 38% “Yes”, for the austerity measures proposed by the government for the economic rejuvenation. There was the fear of Grexit, i.e Greece’s exit from European Union, and eventually the Government decided against the austerity measures as voted by its citizens.

The Current Scenario

The European Central Bank.
Courtesy- www.assets.bwbx.io/

Of late, there has been news that the European Central Bank has loaned 2 billion Euros for loan repayment and another 4.6 billion is on the way. The country now has a staggering loan amount of about 7 billion Euros that they have to repay to the International monetary Refund. Overtime, how the young Greek Prime Minister handles the solvency issue and infuses life into the economy, is a thing to watch out for.

-Ms Monika Mor,
 Senior Faculty, INLEAD 

The Mantra of Brand Positioning and Personal Branding

 Mr. Peeush Tomar, Head Strategic Alliances, PVR India Pvt. Ltd.

Apple, BMW, Starbucks, McDonalds are all class brands that first pop into our minds whenever we think of buying a phone, car, coffee or  a burger and French fires combo respectively. Such is the power of their branding that they remain on our lips and minds even without being physically or virtually present there. In order to get our International Business Management and International Hotel Management students acquainted with this power and perils of good and bad brand positioning respectively, we, at INLEAD yesterday organized an Industry Expert session on the same by Mr. Peeush Tomar, Head Strategic Alliances, PVR India Pvt. Ltd.

“It’s all in the mind. Out of sight, out of mind.” is how Mr. Tomar introduced the concept of Brand Positioning to the students. He further elaborated, that Brand Positioning helps a brand to distinguish themselves from the sea of companies operating in the same domain as theirs. Hence, the prime motive of Brand Positioning is for the brand to carve a unique identity for itself in the minds of the people.  Along with this, Mr. Tomar also introduced INLEADers to a variety of Marketing Jargons like PIS (Proposition, Intent and Support), USP (Unique Selling Point) and concepts like how a bad review reaches out to ten people, while a good one reaches out to only three.

Mr. Tomar held the students spellbound for two long hours (without the students even realizing it) by making the session extremely fun and thought-provoking. In order to impart a better understanding of the concept, he also included various current examples of good and bad brand positioning by big brands throughout his session.

The session ended with Mr. Peeush Tomar treating the students with the inspirational Steve Jobs “if today was the last day of my life speech” video and encouraging them to think something new and out-of-the-box in order to make themselves and their brand stand out from the crowd.

Venue Management and Operations in Event Management

The first thing that we inquire about whenever someone asks us to accompany him/her on a particular event is about the venue, the place where the event is scheduled to take place. Venue is of prime importance to the attendees for a lot of reasons. Firstly, they make their decision of attending or not attending a particular event based on the venue’s location and distance from their homes. Secondly, an event happening at a particular location speaks volumes about the scale of the event and the type of crowd that one can expect.

Venue of an event is not only important to attendees but it is equally if not more important to Event Managers. An event manager has to take into account a lot of factors before locking in a particular venue for an event as his duty does not end there. In order to get our students acquainted with this dimension of event management, INLEAD recently facilitated an industry expert workshop on Venue Management & Operations.

The workshop conducted by Mr. Ankush Roy Choudhury, Assistant Vice President - Twenty First Century Media Pvt. Ltd. offered great insights into the nitigrities involved in the process of Venue Management and Operations, right from the selection of the venue to the final culmination of the event.  The session which primarily focused on Sports Events Venue Management and operations, started with a brief introduction on Sports Management & Marketing. The extremely interactive session dwelled deep into the various elements of venue management like maintenance, housekeeping, filed of play, permissions, facilities, hospitality and many more.

The workshop proved to be a great learning experience for the Event Management and Public Relations students and added another feather in their knowledge cap.

Time Warp 2015!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 

'Bit Dicey'

Following this philosophy, INLEAD recently organized Time Warp, a fun activity for its students. The activity which had students from all the current batches in attendance proved to be a breather from their daily study routine and left them with memories to cherish for life.

An air of fun and excitement engulfed the INLEAD campus for two long hours on Thursday as 15 super-fun games unwrapped one after another.  The games which were conceived and fully tried and tested by LEAD faculty, Ms. Priya Bali and Mr. Sumit Chakravarty, were an interesting mix that tested the participant’s concentration, response and intelligence quotient.

'Face the Cookie'

Games like Bit Dicey – which involved balancing three dices on a scale in your mouth and a race to the finish line, tested the participant’s concentration potential in a room full of hooting and cheering crowd. On the other hand, activities like Face the Cookie—which involved moving a cookie placed on your forehead to your mouth using nothing but your facial expressions was a great test of developing quick techniques for different tasks. Various other games like Gemstick- which involved sucking Cadbury gems from a bowl using a straw and then dropping it in a bowl kept on the other end had the audience in splits from start to end.

Time Warp was organized with a vision of adding a sense of competition and enthusiasm as a way of life in students.  The excitement and participation shown by INLEADers was worth a sight and took the momentum of the event to a whole new level. Though it was a competitive activity, INLEADers showed great sense of sportsmanship and encouraged each other to take part in the various games.

The event culminated with the joyful winners receiving their prizes and certificates from Mr. Deepak Sharma - Dean, INLEAD, Ms. Bindu Menon – Faculty, INLEAD, Ms. Parul Sardana – Faculty, INLEAD and Ms. Priya Bali – Faculty, INLEAD.

Overall, the energetic event recharged INLEADers mind and body and added precious memories to their student life album.

Healthcare Administration as a Career Choice

Chanakya once said, “A person who cannot decide his goal, simply cannot win.” Clarity of mind and a determined approach towards the goal is the reason for the success of all the Ambanis, Adanis and all the other successful people that we rave about. They became what they are today because they had a clear goal in mind and the courage and passion to diligently work towards it.

In order to provide our Healthcare Administration students with that clarity of mind, INLEAD recently facilitated an industry expert workshop by Dr. P.N. Kakar on the prospects of Healthcare Administration as a career choice.

Dr. P.N. Kakar, Director-Medical Services, Anesthesia & Critical Care (Surgical), Panacea New Rise Hospital, Gurgaon, is an eminent personality in the healthcare sector with over 32 years of experience in Critical Care & Anesthesia. He has an extraordinary track record of giving anesthesia to over 75,000 surgical cases.

The session, which lasted for two and a half hours, proved to be an extremely enchanting and mind-stimulating experience for the students.

Talking about the role of healthcare administrators, Dr. Kakar emphasized that Healthcare administrators are like the leaders of the pack as they work as an interface between the internal management and outside community. He further discussed about the various types of hospital administrators, their scope of employment, job profile, key responsibility areas and salary potential prevalent in the field.

 Dr. Kakar even shared experiences from his three decades long career in order to give the student’s an insider opinion about the working of the industry.


The lecture concluded with Dr. Kakar providing the students with a few expert tips on keeping abreast with new technologies, laws and regulations in order to become a successful and efficient hospital administrator. This was followed by an extremely enthusiastic and interactive question answer round.

INLEADers visited Vivanta By TAJ, Gurgaon on 22nd May, 2015

Entering a five star hotel with an empty stomach and exiting it with a fully stuffed stomach after a gastronomical delight is one thing but entering a five star hotel and exiting it with a stomach full of knowledge is something else entirely. Well, INLEADers recently had one such experience when Vivanta by Taj opened the door to its five star hotel and functioning secrets to them during an Industry Visit. Sharing its name with one of the eight wonders of the world, Taj Mahal, Taj Hotels is considered as an emblem of luxury hotel experience in India.


The Vivanta Industry Visit was organized as a part of INLEAD’s initiative to make its students acquaint with the relevant industry that they are going to enter in the near future. The visit educated the students with nuances of functioning of an upper upscale hotel like Vivanta and familiarized them with the various departments operating in a typical hotel. Mesmerized and spell bound with the exquisite international interiors and elegant marble and Oakwood flooring in place, the students had an enriching and mind stimulating experience.

Vivanta is one of the four brands under the Taj Hotels and was recently voted as the World’s third best brand for the year 2014. The Vivanta property at Gurgaon is the 100th hotel under the Taj brand and is famous for being the only hotel in the city that allows pets to stay.

Courtesy- http://www.vivantabytaj.com/

Mr. Tushar Abrol, training manager, Vivanta by Taj, also held an interactive session with the students towards the end and answered their each and every question related to the hotel’s functioning with much exuberance.

 Overall, the visit provided them with practical knowledge about the functioning of an upscale hotel like Vivanta and gave them a clear and firm grip of the MICE concept.