THE four are heavyweights in their chosen fields. So it was no wonder that the venue was packed with people wanting to hear them at a panel discussion. And they did not disappoint.
DBS Group Holdings chief executive Piyush Gupta, Olam International CEO SunnyVerghese, Unilever chief operating officerHarish Manwani and Standard Chartered Bank group executive director and regional CEO for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Americas V. Shankar shared insights during the discussion held on April 5 as part of their impact 2013: New Frontiers.
The two-day event brought together alumni from both the India-based and overseas chapters of the Indian Institutes of Manage-ment.
During the discussion, the topics touched on included CEO compensation, sustainability, and social responsibility. The four business heads also indulged in friendly banter with Mr. Verghese taking a dig at Mr. Gupta’s pay packet while the DBShead countered with a Muddy Waters comment.
During the discussion, Mr. Gupta said three key skills a leader should take note of in a constantly changing world are the ability to create a vision, create an organizational culture, and exercise moral courage.
Mr. Manwani told the audience that one of the mantras his executives are told to follow is to think local but act globally. Earlier, that evening, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean delivered the keynote address. In his speech, Mr. Teo said the era of globalization has brought about a change in the type of executives and leaders required to operate and helm businesses.
“Having a core set of business skills and knowledge is no longer sufficient. Instead, global companies today require people with a global orientation – individuals who appreciate and can successfully navigate the varied business cultures and ways of doing business in different regions,” he said.
Mr. Teo added that to be successful in this new world, “it is thus important that business leaders are equipped with the necessary skills to manage and integrate a diverse work-force, work well with customers, suppliers or partners while respecting their different cultures, as well as harness the strength of cross-border collaborations”.
He told the gathering that to succeed in the globalized world, “multinational companies not only need to hire local technical specialists and country managers but must also groom local manpower to take up higher corporate positions, including leadership positions.”
Later, taking questions from the audience, Mr. Teo said Singapore will say yes if a request comes from India to start an IIM institute here. The marquee speaker of IIMPact 2013was Dr. Raghuram Rajan, chief economic adviser to the Indian government. On the second and final day of the IIMgathering, former president S.R. Nathan presented a cheque for $10,000 to the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA), on behalf of the IIM alumni. Mr. Nathan was the patron of the two-day conference. Sinda will use the money to help fund educational programs, such as tuition classes and bursaries for low-income Indian children. Singapore has over 1,000 IIM alumni and the Pan IIM-Alumni Association here is probably the biggest outside of India. There are currently 13 IIMs in India.
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