Date:04/04/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/04/04/stories/2005040401541300.htm

Back Key to effective management `is insightful leadership'

Our Bureau

Kolkata , April 3

THE Deputy Chief Executive Officer of HSBC, Ms Naina Lal Kidwai, has urged the management students to take risks and take lessons from experiences of failure that they might encounter in the course of their careers.

Delivering the convocation address at the 40th Annual Convocation of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) held here, Ms Kidwai said "things do go wrong and lessons must be learnt from mistakes because mistakes provide the biggest lessons for tomorrow".

Ms Kidwai stressed upon the importance of teamwork in today's corporate world and urged the students to draw on each other's collective strength. She said managers must be open to change and provide "insightful leadership" because "that is the quality that drives effective management".

In his address, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIMC, stressed upon the purchasing power of rural India and urged students to "upgrade the quality of social capital" across the country to facilitate sustainable growth. Marketing professionals need not fight for a small share of the market pie. Instead, "enlarge the size of the cake by increasing the purchasing power of rural India".

Mr Deveshwar complimented the students who have chosen "not to work for MNCs abroad". He urged such students to work for "India's economic freedom".