ISTD Conference – Academic Connect Program 2018

The Corporate Interaction Cell of SIBM Hyderabad hosted an academic connect program with the Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD) – Hyderabad chapter on 30th June 2018, for the first time at the SIBM campus. The event witnessed the presence of Head HR’s and Learning & Development professionals who are stalwarts in their respective fields. The audience comprised of MBA 1st year students as well as students who have selected HR as their field of specialization from the 2nd year batch.

The conference began with an introduction of the ISTD to the audience, followed by the lighting of the lamp by our esteemed guests. The guests and audience were welcomed by SIBM Hyderabad Director, Dr. Ravi Kumar Jain who then felicitated the guests with saplings as a token of our appreciation and gratitude for making themselves available to address the students of SIMB Hyderabad.

The event proceeded with a keynote speech by Mr. Arun Rao (Head HR India, DXC Technologies) on Leadership in the 21^st century. He spoke about the way leaders emerge and how they stand out from the crowd. He also mentioned that motivation and leadership go hand in hand and the job of a leader is to motivate. His session concluded with a Q&A round with Mr. Arun Rao successfully and convincingly answering questions that were asked to him by the audience.

After a short tea break, the audience and the guests assembled back to proceed to the next leg of the conference, the panel discussion. The panelists included Ms. Parvathi Sriram (People Development Consultant, Asia Pacific, INVESCO Hyd.), Mr. Kishor Yadu (AGM, HR Corporate, Neuland Laboratories Ltd., Hyd.) and Ms. Pavithra (Executive Director, JP Morgan Chase). The discussion was conducted and moderated by Cdr. Santosh Nagarajan (Associate Director, Talent, Virtusa Hyd.). The panel discussion was driven on the topic Diversity in the workplace and Work- Life balance. The panelist each put forward their opinions, ideas and thought on the respective topics and shared experiences from their own lives when it came to juggling between career and their personal life. Ms. Parvathi Sriram mentioned the importance of having a passion and how one must work towards it. Ms. Pavithra told the audience the importance of choosing the right career irrespective of the frills that come along with it. The concept of ‘Work-Life Fusion’ is gaining momentum in today’s world where people cannot separate the two and hence a fusion of both makes for the best alternative. Diversity at workplace is of utmost importance and every organization has it as a priority on its to-do list. The panel discussion ended with a Q&A round with the audience where the guests cleared the air on many issues that students wanted a clarity about.