13 Jun 2020|Noida | Amity University, Noida
Leadership Lessons – Transition from a Student to a Leader
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A lecture on "Leadership Lessons – Transition from a Student to a Leader" was delivered by Mr. Rohit Pathak - CEO - Aditya Birla Power Composites Limited. He shared his life learnings in the corporate world and suggested students’ certain lessons to help them in their journey post their MBA. He averred how he grew up as an army kid and traced his journey though various educational institutions including BITS Pilani and IIM-A and corporate organizations like McKinsey and ABG. He shared that despite a glorious journey at McKinsey, he did not find work-life balance and decided to move out. He stated that his stint at Aditya Birla Group has given him a lot of success and exposure along with inculcating a number of values like being humane, loyalty, patience, hard work, respect and humility.
Talking about the transition from a student to a leader, the primary mindset is to compete and the desire to obtain proficiency in the chosen domain is the key skillset. He averred that post an MBA and getting into the corporate world, the key skillset is to have the ability to organize & influence and have the primary mindset to collaborate. Mr. Pathak said that it is in this transition that a number of managers falter. Further he stated that the next transition of becoming a leader from a manager, where the key is to inspire, number of people are unable to attain that. Talking about lessons on leadership, Mr. Pathak shared 7 thoughts including that at work, all are equal; leadership is about ‘enabling’ you people to succeed; seek opportunity in adversity; the fastest way to grow is to make yourself redundant in your role; learn every day; be suspicious of success and stay humane and humble.
A lecture by Chef Rajat Dixit, Executive Chef, Hotel Hilton Garden Inn, New Delhi was delivered on ‘Expectation of Industry from Hotel Management Graduates’. Chef Dixit stated that hospitality industry doesn't only mean hotel. It is a much wider term with many different branches of it. “It is always not important that what you study you use in hotel. The top management focus more on basic skills and whether they can trust you on work pressure. Hospitality is not only about smiling but also making them comfortable genuinely. People management skill is very important as 50% people in kitchen are not educated so you should learn how to react with them. People working under you can have better experience in kitchen than you but you should be good in people management,” said Chef Dixit. He further averred that influencing people is also very important area.
He suggested students that Industrial training should be taken seriously as there might be many things which you have not learnt in college. “Try to understand your work culture deeply give time to it, and if you are in right mind set you will learn a lot. Students should be flexible in doing night shifts,” said Chef Dixit. Students were also told that the industry wants decision making people and problem-solving employee. He suggested students to keep themselves busy, be an active observer and have passion for work.
A webinar on ‘Unlocking Future Prospects of Online Media and Entertainment’ was conducted by Mr. Rahul Ahuja - Assistant Professor - Amity University Patna where he elaborated on how the media has evolved and with the introduction of internet was introduced, it led to the birth of Online Media. The new medium quickly became an alternative to the media sources present including television, radio and newspapers. “Media and the ways we engage with it are constantly evolving including the way we discover new media; the way we consume, share media and the way we pay for it. It is safe to say that the media and entertainment industry is going through a huge transformation,” said Mr. Ahuja.
He quoted the FICCI-EY report 2020 that pointed out while television and print retained their positions as the two largest segments, digital media overtook filmed entertainment in 2019 to become the third largest segment of the M&E sector. Digital subscription revenues more than doubled from 2018 levels and digital advertising revenues grew to command 24% of total advertising spend. The sector continues to grow at a rate faster than the GDP, driven primarily by growth in subscription-based business models and India’s attractiveness as a content production and post production destination. The report further stated that the rapid proliferation of mobile access is enabling on-demand, anytime-anywhere content consumption nationwide. With a population of 1.3 billion, a tele-density approaching 89% of households, 688 million internet subscribers and nearly 400 million smartphone users, India’s telecom industry is poised to become the primary platform for content distribution and consumption. India ranks as one of the fastest-growing app markets globally, where entertainment apps are driving significant consumer engagement. Online gaming retained its position as the fastest growing segment on the back of transaction-based games mainly fantasy sports, increased in-app purchases and a 31% growth in the number of online gamers to reach around 365 million.