India kicked off a 3 day National conference to tap into the minds of young professionals and thought leaders to brainstorm, debate and discuss challenges, opportunities in people development. The 15th National HRD (NHRD) Conference in Bangalore aims to further the discussion on how to harness talent across generations, the leadership gap and the massive challenge of developing human capital to prepare India for the future.
The conference brought forth several innovations and new ideas. A student conference tapped into the minds of Gen-Y, asked them what was important to them and included a student leadership contest was very well received.
It was wonderful to see a large number of companies that proudly showcased their best People Development practicies and brought their senior leaders to share their contribution to human development in society and in their companies. For me, the energy and the large number of people visiting these booths was a startling contrast to the lack of attendance in recent people development conferences in the West, where economies are struggling!
Sam Pitroda attended by video conference and talked about the importance of high self-esteem in each person to make their teams successful. He shared the importance of self-esteem to accept feedback both positive and otherwise, with the right lens.
Prof. Ed Lawler shared the challenges companies face in being agile. He correctly pointed out that sustainable advantage in today’s competitive world is fleeting.
R Gopalakrishnan of Tata Sons discussed a concept identified by a UC Davis professor that - all living beings have the same heartbeat, but the pace at which the heart beats determines the life of the species. The greater the pace at which the heart beats, the lower the life span. Gopalakrishnan used this analogy to discuss the “heartbeat” of an organization. He indicated that companies that find themselves as instruments of social change are likely to last longer.
One of the more interesting dimensions shared by Gopalakrishnan was the uniqueness of Indian Manager...”how to think English and act Indian”. More on this in my next blog.. some of it is really funny!
Putting together a conference of this magnitude requires a lot of expansive thinking in terms of the broad set topics for the conference agenda, a lot of energy and attention to detail with logistics. The conference is put together entirely by a team of volunteers who have generously given their time, intellect and energy over the past year.
I was stunned by the intellectual horsepower of the organizing committee and collective ability to harness synergies to make “1+1”. I was fortunate to make a small contribution to this team.
It’s a shame that this level of synergy and teamwork is not evident in society and in other organizations. I think I know why this is, but I will share in a future blog, more of the behind the scenes dynamics of the team that was involved in “making of a conference”.
