Can Hospitals Infect You?

Imagine going to a hospital fully fit and fine for a regular checkup and returning home with a deadly infection. Seems highly impossible? Well, here’s some food for your thought.

 What are these Healthcare associated infections?

A healthcare associated infection or more commonly known as hospital acquired infection is an infection which a patient acquires from the hospital or healthcare facility. The risk of acquiring such infections increases with the duration of the stay in the hospital. These infections occur worldwide and affect both developed and developing countries. What may come as a surprise to many, infections acquired in health care settings are among the major causes of death and increased morbidity among hospitalized patients. They are a significant burden both for the patient and for public health.

What the Healthcare professionals can do?

A situation as grave as it appears, has ironically a contrasting and a very simple solution. A measure as simple as hand washing practiced by healthcare professionals can bring down the rate of hospital acquired infections by a staggering 96 percent. This means that instead of 10 out of every 100 patients, only 1 out of 100 will suffer from Healthcare associated infections.

What the healthcare organizations can do?

In order to provide good quality and safe care, the healthcare professionals must not only possess knowledge and skills but must also develop positive attitudes towards infection control guidelines. In the current scenario of health care field, very little is known about the provider’s Knowledge, Attitude and Practice regarding infection control. Hence, it becomes imperative for healthcare organizations to ensure measures to assess these parameters of healthcare workers in Hospitals.

Regular monitoring of the knowledge levels of staff and continuous training in form of Lectures, Workshops, CMEs, Seminars, Conferences etc. will not only help in improving the current levels of knowledge of the novice but will also ensure reinforcement of facts and practices for the already trained staff. It will further also help in inducing a positive attitude among the hospital workers and eventually lead to a patient safe environment.

So, I urge the healthcare Industry to move towards an approach where the hospitals are recognized as institutions where the unhealthy can recover, not weaken.

- Ms Ginny Kaushal
Faculty,INLEAD 

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 

Top 5 Management Lessons to learn from Narendra Modi

Source-www.archive.financialexpress.com

Crisp personality, clear vision, exceptional orator and enthusiastic nature, this is Narendra Modi, the 14th Prime Minister of the largest democracy on this planet, India, best described for you. And, 26th May, 2014 was the historic day that this charismatic leader took oath as the first Indian Prime Minister born after Independence, in a first of a kind oath taking ceremony attended by who’s who of Politics, Bollywood, Sports and the Indian Corporate Industry.

Winning a total of 282 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Narendra Modi proved that their win wasn’t just a fluke or anti-incumbency vote against the Congress.  So, what changed for BJP from the 2009 general elections to the one held in 2014? The answer is, Narendra Modi.

Here are the top 5 management lessons that one can learn from the “ultimate manager” as he is jokingly called by his opposition.  

1) Clarity of thoughts- This is the first and the foremost quality that a manager should possess. Until and unless you’re clear about why you’re in the race, you can’t win it. This is where Narendra Modi scored against his contemporaries.  From the very beginning, NaMo was very clear that his aim was to fix his place at 7, Race Course Road and this is what he confidently projected to others. Seeing his confidence in himself, gave the public the confidence that NaMo has it what it takes to run a country like India and they gave him a whole hearted mandate.

Source- www.deccanchronicle.com

2) Set smaller targets in order to achieve that big target- Mr. Modi’s journey to the top job was an amalgamation of small strategic steps taken one at a time. He very carefully set small, small targets for himself and achieved them at his own self-defined pace.  He started with Gujarat and then slowly, slowly penetrated to the heart of the nation (remember the famous 2013 SRCC speech?).  Hence, in order to achieve that one big target in mind, you need to first set several smaller targets and achieve them one by one.


3) Find the right team- "A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle."  Mr. Modi understood this well. He knew that in order to reach the top, he will have to make his foundation strong.  Starting from Amit Shah to BS Yeddyurappa, he made sure that the people whom he trusted and believed in were in and the people (Sanjay Joshi, Jaswant Singh) whom he didn’t were out.

4) Be the Change you want to see- With initiatives like Make in India, Swacch Bharat and Jan Dhan Yojana etc., Mr. Modi proved that he isn’t just words.  Being the Prime Minister of the country didn’t stop him from picking up a broom in his hands and cleaning the sides of a littered street. He showed the public and his contemporaries how it is done and also how cleaning your own country is not a matter of shame. One needs to give him credit for turning a thing like cleaning streets with a broom in your hand into a thing of social status. Another marvelous use of social media by the Social Media genius.

Source-www.economictimes.indiatimes.com

5) Know your weaknesses and never play to them – No human being is perfect and the person who understands this thing is the closest one can come to being perfect. Taking lesson from his 2013 India Today Conclave debacle where he lost his cool for a few seconds following questions regarding the 2002 Godhra Rights, Mr. Modi has made sure that he never repeats his this mistake ever gain. He knew that media being an essential tool to connect with the public, he can’t afford to neglect this medium completely. So, he turned to rallies, social media and conceptualized Mann ki Baat (a monthly All India Radio broadcast) to overcome his this weakness.  

A Wedding Planner's perspective of the much awaited Shahid Kapoor- Mira Rajput Wedding

One of the most eligible bachelors of Bollywood, Shahid Kapoor, broke millions of hearts yesterday as the ‘Vivah’ actor finally tied the knot with his real life Geet, city girl Mira Rajput, in an intimate yet grand affair at industrialists Shivinder Singh’s farmhouse in Delhi.  From the time Shahid’s wedding news broke out earlier this year, there were speculations all around regarding how, where and when were the impending nuptials going to take place and finally, at last, all these questions were answered yesterday.

The Newly Married- Mr. and Mrs. Shahid Kapoor 

Planning a wedding is no easy-peasy task. Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, similarly, a wedding cannot be planned in a single day. And, Shahid- Mira’s grand wedding was an example of just that. From getting designed the perfect Wedding cards by Delhi luxury invite designer Ravish Kapoor to arranging the lip-smacking Paans from Jaipur’s famous Annu Mobile Paan Bhandaar, this A-list Wedding, Wedding Planner (whose identity hasn’t been revealed yet) surely had his/her hands full.


A wedding is considered as one of the most important days in the lives of the two people who are gearing up to embark on the beautiful journey called marriage together. Making sure that the two souls get a perfect fairytale start to their fairytale is the Super Manager/ Planner called Wedding Planner. A Wedding Planner is like a director of the film called Wedding who makes sure that the actors (bride and groom) and the producers (read parents) don’t even get a single frown on their foreheads on the D-day of the release (Wedding day).  One just needs to be there with their ideas for their dream wedding and these wonder brains will weave their magic and get everything in line for you and turn your dream into a reality.

Wedding Planning as a field of profession has become a hot favorite nowadays. Though, the profession is slightly demanding, in terms of working hours and schedules, but the rewards towards the end just make up for everything.

So, if making people happy and touring the world for the perfect caterer or destination is something which excites you, then, Wedding Planning is the field for you. And, as for Shahid- Mira’s secret Wedding Planner we would just like to convey, that you lucky man/woman or whoever you are, you just lived the dream of every single Wedding Planner in India. Take a bow for arranging the most beautiful and the ‘The Wedding’ of 2015.

Images Courtesy- Instagram.com/bollywoodreport

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.

Niche Areas of Event Management- Event Industry Review (Part-2)

Niche Areas of Event Management  

Just like in the Medical field, where one decides to become a doctor, dentist, physiologist etc. Similarly, once you have zeroed in on event management as your career path, you can further narrow down your field of interest in the event management domain.

Event management is a big wide world in itself. There are weddings, sport events, award functions, family functions and corporate events like conferences, seminars etc. taking place throughout the year.  You can choose to stick with one niche and make your career out of it or you can choose to keep dabbling between different niches. The four main niches under the even management domain are as follows.

• Wedding Management- Weddings in India have now become an elaborate affair. It’s no longer just about the regular band, baaja and baaraat. The scene has now progressed to an A-list band, an A-list Bollywood celebrity performer and a designer wear cladded baaraat, and anything below that, is just not acceptable. In order to make these once in a lifetime weddings a reality, wedding planners have now become an indispensable part of the wedding scene in India and abroad. 

Courtesy- Google

As a wedding planner, you are the engine who is driving the shatabdi train called wedding.  You are the one who is responsible for keeping the various coaches of this train like decorations, accommodation, Food and beverages etc. in sync with each other and running at a decent pace in order to reach to the final destination called the D-Day. So, a wedding planner is actually the third most important person at a wedding, losing the first and second position only to the bride and the groom respectively.

The industry which is currently pegged at around Rs. 100,000 crore is growing exponentially with each passing day. So, if Glitz, glamour and communication are your things, then wedding management is the niche for you.

• Corporate Events- Events have now become the flavor of the corporate industry. You can witness events like trade fairs, auto expos, symposiums, conferences and seminars etc. taking place almost round the year. Such events allow people from the same industry to meet and remain updated about the various trends and happenings of the industry. They even offer a big inflow of business in some cases. 

• Sports Events- Imagine yourself in a stadium full of cricket crazy fans shouting KKR, KKR or any other IPL team of your choice at the top of your voice. Now imagine yourself doing this in almost every other IPL match. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, this could be your life if you decide to enter the big and adventurous world of sports events. 

Besides IPL, the recent much-hyped fight of the century between Mayweather and Pacquiao was another sports event that made it into the top sports events of the year till date. The mega sports event drew more than three million pay-per-views, making it the most watched sports event of all time. The figure holds testimony to the fact that the world of sport events and its market is growing like never before.  So, if sports and events are your two greatest loves, then sports event management is the field for you.

• Award Shows/ reality shows/fashion events -  In the last one decade, the number of award shows, fashion shows and reality shows have almost tripled in quantity. In the earlier days, there used to be just one major annual Bollywood award show “Filmfare” but now, we have a Star screen, IIFA, Big Screen Entertainment taking place almost every month of the year. Same is the case with the fashion shows and television reality shows. The increase in the number of such events has led to a direct increase in the number of event planners required to arrange these extravagant events.  So, if the world of fashion and Bollywood stars has always fascinated you, then this niche might be your perfect match. 

Event Management as a career is a hot favorite nowadays. A professional degree in this filed can escalate your career to new heights and give you the desired edge over others in the field.

The first part of the industry review series can be read here.

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.

Event Industry Review- An A to Z guide to the Event Industry (Part-1)

You have your entire week booked with the various events and gatherings that you have to attend. Your favorite singer Mohit Chauhan is in town, your slightly loud but lovely cousin is getting married and at the end of the week, you have the elusively arranged- practically begged, borrowed and at the end stolen IPL V.I.P passes from your friend. You are all excited and can’t wait for the week to begin.

Let’s for once peek behind the veil and experience these exquisite shows from the other side of the curtain. Enter the world of an Event Manager.

Every event, be it the cozy yet stupendously sun-drenched Goan beach wedding or the fun and adventure laden weekend trip to Mountaineering or even the grand anniversary celebrations your friend planned for her parents 25th anniversary bash or the exciting new episode of the latest talent hunt reality show, each and every event has an army of people working day and night planning, promoting and practicing every meticulous detail so that you can enjoy those few hours of the event to the fullest.  These behind the scene magicians are referred to as the Event professionals and the magic trick they perform is commonly called - Event Management.

Overview of the Industry 

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” - Gloria Steinem

The Event Industry has been thriving like never before.  What was just a small pea in the pod a few years ago, has now transformed into a fully grown tree, shooting out more and more branches every now and then.  The Indian event Industry is a multi-crore industry hosting mega events and shows every day.

The Event Industry is a classic example of supply creating its own demand.  The coming up of various big event companies have brought in a unprecedented growth in the number of exhibitions, conferences, seminars and product launch events taking place. With these events now becoming a symbol of class and style, there’s no stopping this industry from growing further.

Event management basically deals with planning, organizing and finally executing an event. An event can be described as any planned public or social occasion or gathering. Everything from Wedding Planning, Product Launches, Concerts, seminars to birthday celebrations, anniversary celebrations comes under the domain of an Event.

Professions under Event Management 

There are a plethora of tasks that need to be taken care off while arranging an event.  Organizing an event is not a one man task. It requires a collaborative team effort where everyone dispenses their respective duties assigned to them.  A person interested in the field can choose from a number of options based on their skills and interests.

Career Avenues in the Event Industry can be broadly divided into three following categories:

1) Event Operations- This department has to carry out the task of coordinating and integrating all the operations within an event and its associated venues. They are the minds that know what will work and what wont. They try to keep their event management skills up-to-date by regularly adopting to new technologies and methodologies.

People into Event Operations are famously known as the backbone of any event.  Various profiles under event operations include Wedding planner, artists manager etc.

2) Event Marketing- Imagine the IPL without all the witty ads, promotional activities, the glamour and the innovative branded props and merchandize – You can’t because it won’t be too different from a Deodhar Trophy or Vijay Hazare Trophy, which were premier limited overs domestic cricket tournaments that hardly anyone knows  about.

You might have a fabulous, well planned event in place but all this hard work is of no use if you are unable to market your event well.  Event Marketing deals with devising a promotional strategy for an event in order to attract more and more attendees or customers. Currently, Event Marketing is in its guerrilla phase with the virtual and physical means of marketing crossing paths and working together.

In order to become an event marketer, one needs to be innovative, quick, smart and energetic enough to face any problem coming his way head on.  Various profiles under event marketing include Business Development Manager, Client Servicing Manager and Account Manager Etc.

3) Public Relations- The difference between a good event and a great event is a good PR strategy at work.  A good PR plan can help you generate more ticket sales, secure advertisers and sponsors for the event and create an excitement and buzz around the event. Besides performing all these functions, a PR manager is also representative of the event or the event company at the times of crisis. They are the ones who bear all the tough questions from the press and try to salvage the image of the company or the event at the times of crisis.  Various profiles under the public relation domain for event management include Public relation officer, corporate communication officer and brand managers etc. 


Stay tuned for Part 2. There’s a lot more left to share with you.

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.

Technology in Healthcare, the new member!

India’s healthcare professional and infrastructure shortage is one of the major reasons for its high mortality rate. According to statistics available from World Health, India ranks among the lowest in the number of hospital beds per 1,000 people. With just 0.9 beds per 1,000 people, the country is far below the global average of 2.9 beds.

In an effort to change this scenario and provide the healthcare industry with the best lot of Healthcare Administrators, INLEAD recently facilitated an Industry Visit to Columbia Asia Hospital, Gurgaon.  The visit to the 100 bedded multi-specialty hospital was a part of the institute’s continuous Corporate Training Initiative for its students.

The industry visit provided INLEADers with a great opportunity to closely observe the working of an International Hospital like Columbia. They also came face to face with various modern and international technologies being employed by different departments of the hospitals for various hospital processes.

Technology has now become an integral part of the modern day healthcare. A lot of healthcare of the present and the future have their foundation in Technology.

The visit began with the hospital’s HR Manager briefing the students about the hospital and then taking them for a facility tour. The hospital staff was more than welcoming towards the students and answered their each and every question with much enthusiasm.

Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd. is known in the industry for their clean, affordable, efficient and accessible Hospitals. It is one of the first healthcare companies to enter the Indian market through 100 % Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The hospital established in 2008 has been successful in becoming one of the prominent names in healthcare in Gurgaon in no time.

Money Matters!

Revenue Management has for long been the cornerstone of every successful enterprise but with the emergence of ecommerce and various other such trends, this concept has seen some drastic changes over the years.

In order to keep our students abreast with the latest trends and techniques of Revenue management, INLEAD organized an Industry Expert session with Mr. Sandeep Joshi, General Manager of Fortune Select Excalibur, Gurgaon on 15th May, 2015. Mr. Joshi has over 24 years of rich experience in the Hotel Industry.

The session which lasted for over two and a half hours covered the A to Z of revenue management. From addressing the basic question of ‘What is Revenue Management to its latest techniques like SPARR (Special Potential Average Room Rate), Mr. Joshi made sure that INLEADers didn’t miss out on any important information.  He burst out the popular myth that revenue management only deals with money management and educated the students that the concept basically deals with making sure that the right product reaches the right customer at the right time and at the right price.

Talking about the concept’s origin, Mr. Joshi enlightened the students that the concept was first introduced in the 1970’s by the airline industry.  It was invented by major US Carriers after the airline deregulation act forced them to compete with new low cost carriers.

Mr. Joshi kept the entire session quite lively and interesting by incorporating his own professional experiences throughout the session.  Listening to Mr. Joshi’s journey from an assistant catering head to a General Manager in a world renowned Hotel instilled the students with gumption and excitement for a bright future.

In the end, the session concluded with Mr. Joshi encouraging the students to stay focused on their long term goals and keep working hard towards achieving them.

Dramazaa- Lots of Drama and lots of mazaa

Cinderella, Aladdin, Sanjay Dutt, Mirza, Sahiba, Madhuri Dixit, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and a deadly ghost, all under the same roof. Seems unbelievable, right? Well, the INLEAD campus achieved this unattainable feat yesterday when our newly christened INLEADers of the April 2015 Batch reprised these evergreen characters in their respective musical acts.

The LEAD Orientation activity - DRAMAZAA was conducted for all the programs of the new batch. The event was a grand hit and witnessed some amazing and breathtaking acts from the fresh batch.

‘Mujhe Pankh De Do’

Dramazaa as the name suggests had lots of drama and mazaa to offer.  It showcased five acts – ‘Tingfisher’s Bolly Fiesta’, ‘Sahiba-Mirza – An eternal Love Story’, ‘Aladdin in Love’, ‘Yeh Raat – A mystery’ and ‘Mujhe Pankh De Do “each depicting various genres of theatre like Comedy, Romance, Fantasy, Horror and Social respectively.  Each act was beautifully crafted and reflected the sincere hard work put in by the students.

In the end, ‘Mujhe Pankh De Do’-A musical act depicting the plight of modern Indian women won everyone’s heart including the judges and walked away with the best act prize.

Besides DRAMAZAA, the students also contested for the Miss and Mr. Fresher title the same day. Dr. Akanksha Yadav from Healthcare Administration, and Mr. Anil Kumar from Event Management and Public Relations, were awarded the Miss Fresher and Mr. Fresher title respectively. The fun-filled day ended with a DJ session for the students.

Management and Healthcare- the new best friends

For most of us hospitals have always been synonymous with Doctors and nurses as these are the people with whom we mostly interact with while in a Hospital.  But, there is more to a hospital than just them. Every hospital has an army of people managing the daily working of the hospital in order to make sure that each and every patient is treated at the right time and by the right specialist doctor.  They are the ones who foresee that each department works smoothly and the hospital is able to meet its healthcare objective.

In order to make our healthcare administration students acquaint with the basic functioning of a Hospital and its services, INLEAD recently organized a visit to Max Super Specialty Hospital, a 504 bedded super-specialty hospital located in the heart of South Delhi, Saket. The hospital divided into East and West Wings, is one of the premier names in the healthcare industry.

Healthcare in India has grown at an unprecedented pace over the last ten years and has now become one of the largest sectors in India-- both in terms of employment and revenue. India with its well-trained pool of medical professionals is considered as a major player in the healthcare industry all around the world.

The budding Healthcare professionals of INLEAD had an awe inspiring and knowledgeable experience at the Industry visit. Meeting the hospital’s experienced management team gave them an extensive exposure of how to run and manage a large chain of hospital like Max. Accompanied by the Hospital’s HR representative, INLEADers were given a facility tour of the hospital and its various departments.

The visit gave the students great insights into the in-patient and support areas of a Hospital. It also gave them a broad overview of the industry that they are going to enter in the near future.
INLEAD believes in a perfect amalgamation of practical knowledge with theoretical knowledge and such Industry visits are a step towards just that.

Inside Asia’s Largest Oven

What’s better than being welcomed by the sweet aroma of freshly baked goodies? The students of INLEAD recently had one such experience when they got a chance to visit the Neemrana plant of Parle Biscuits Pvt. Ltd., the company behind the tastiest and the most famous biscuit in the world, Parle G. The visit was arranged by the institute as a part of a Corporate Training Initiative for its students. Till now what was just their favorite biscuit brand that they enjoyed with their daily cuppa morning tea, turned out to so much more towards the end.

INLEADers got an exciting opportunity to witness the daily functioning of a world renowned brand like Parle. The Parle Product Team was more than welcoming towards the students and even matched their enthusiasm levels.  The team treated the students with a video presentation about the various products, operational mechanism, manufacturing process, and quality control practices adopted at the Neemrana manufacturing plant. They also got a grasp of the latest packaging techniques, Supply Chain Management of Parle Products, Quality Control Mechanism, and the company’s Market Strategy at play.

Courtesy: www.slideshare.net

The highlight of the visit was the introduction to Asia’s largest Oven and its functioning. The 260 feet long oven is being used to manufacture various different types of products at the plant.


Overall, the industry visit provided the students with great insights into the working of an International brand like Parle and instilled in them hopes and aspirations to work in such a company in the near future.

What Corporates Want?

INLEAD campus has been abuzz with excitement and nervous energy with a fresh batch of future industry leaders joining the ranks. Their first expert session was undertaken by Mr. Jayant K. Sood, Head – Corporate & Company Secretary, Indorama Synthetics (India) Limited addressing the perennial question – What the employers are looking for in a candidate when appearing for interview. All students at INLEAD from diverse backgrounds and locations are bound by the common aspiration of professional success and they will be facing their first internship interviews in a few months’ time. The session titled “Corporate expectations and Industry Orientation” addressed the same issue and witnessed an enthusiastic participation by the students.

Mr. Sood began the session by asking the students’ one simple question, “What do you want to be in life?” The hands raised were many, while some said a successful ‘Businessman’, others said ‘CEO’ and some said a ‘Global HR’. This is when Mr. Sood pointed out the need to have a clear goal in life in order to become a successful professional.  Along with having a clear goal, there is also a need to have a passion and zeal to work towards that particular goal.

‘Self-Belief’ was the keyword most used during the session. Mr. Sood enlightened the students that a strong belief in oneself is the mantra to survive this concrete ‘corporate jungle’.  According to him, one should never under estimate oneself and always work towards acquiring the numero uno spot. He also encouraged the students to expand their horizons and look beyond the obvious as there is a huge world out there beyond our senses.

Addressing the basic question that was circling every student’s mind, Mr. Sood shared some useful insights from his own experience. According to him, the secret to excel in an interview is to be well-informed about the company and the job-profile you’re applying for. Further, a well-groomed personality with excellent communication skills will help an individual excel over his contemporaries.

All in all, the session was very successful and informative and gave the students a brief preview of what the corporate world holds for them in the future.

“It was a very informative and deliberative session. I have a much clearer vision about my goal now,” said Ankit Kumar Shaw, International Business Management, Batch : April’15 MBA  (1st Year).