Going for gold: (L-R) Nikhil Goyal, Pranav Kumar Mallick, Kushal Nitin Dalal, and Suresh Ganesan; (second row) Shishank Gupta, Udit Jalan, Dharmendra Hiranandani, and Vaibhav Gupta, at IIMB’s 42nd Convocation on Monday. more-in Character, conviction, commitment, creativity and capability are the attributes of a successful leader. This was the message imparted to the 598 students who graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), on Monday. As the students recollected their journey on campus with nostalgia, chief guest Uday Kotak, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Bank, urged them to take the plunge. He said that those who took a risk and invested ?1 lakh in his company in the 1980s now had shares worth ?14,000 crore. “As you emerge from your cocoon, you will need to find creative solutions, dare to be different, test yourself, be ready to encounter challenges and failure, learn from your mistakes, and know that committed execution is the key to capability,” he said. Speaking of the changing environment in the country and the world, he said that there was a need for the graduates to stand up for what they believed in. “India will be in the cross-currents of global trends. You need to be resilient, and stand up for what you believe in,” he told the graduating batch. Among the graduating students this year, eight students were awarded gold medals. Kshitiz Aneja who has been placed in one of the top food and beverage firms in this year’s placement, lost both his hands at the age of eight when he was trying to fly a kite. Fifteen years later, he does everything from eating with a chopstick to driving a car. He is a source of inspiration to his batchmates. In a YouTube video, he says that he aims to help people not lose hope. He was hugged by Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIMB, as he gave him his certificate. Shreya Garg bagged the city Women Leaders’ Award 2016. She beat 1,200 women across 13 top B-Schools in the country to secure the title. Ms. Garg wants to garner experience from different industries before she decides on what she wants to do. Having worked for two years in the healthcare industry before IIMB, she says, “Doing something in the development sector gives one more satisfaction than any material gain could bring.” Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson, Board of Governors, IIMB, commended the institute’s initiatives to enable a ‘start-up culture’ in the country and make entrepreneurship an integral part of the school’s academic agenda. ‘I hope to infuse fresh blood into govt. machinery’ For Pranav Kumar Mallick, a 1997 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, it was like going back to school after 20 years when he joined the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, to pursue the postgraduate programme in Public Policy and Management. He is optimistic that his experience at the B-School will help him in his future assignments. “The government is often criticised for its inefficiency and red-tapism. The B-School has an application-oriented approach. I hope to infuse fresh blood into the government machinery with my learning from IIMB,” Mr. Mallick says. Having worked in the Ministry of Railways from 2012 to 2016, his interests include economics and infrastructure. He was nominated by the government’s DOPT for his programme at IIMB. Besides academics, he also enjoyed the yoga classes that were offered on campus. Udit Jalan sets record Udit Jalan, 25, with a 3.9 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) on 4, not only secured the first position among his batchmates, but also managed to set a record. Mr. Jalan, who completed the postgraduate programme in Management, secured the highest ever CGPA at the institute since grade points were introduced about a decade ago. Ask him how he managed this and he says, “I am not going to spill the beans so easily.” He attributes his success to consistent hard work. Prior to the course, he had worked in a bank for two years. “At IIMB, I got the opportunity to work with people with a variety of experience. This helped me think differently,” he said. During his course, he worked with a 100-member team and managed placements for a batch of 210 students. He said that the pedagogy at the institute was designed in a manner that helped him discover his leadership potential. All-rounder focused on education, development If not in the classroom at IIMB, one could be sure to find Vaibhav Gupta busy playing table tennis (TT). His dedication to sports and academics helped him bag the gold medal for ‘Best All Round Performance’ in the postgraduate programme in Management. He also bagged four medals in TT at various fests. Time management, he says, was one of the biggest lessons he learnt at the institute. With an avid interest in education and development, Mr. Gupta says, “I want to work in the investment banking sector and promote skill development through education to improve employment prospects in India.” He hopes to set up an investment fund that caters to the education sector and creates social impact. “At IIMB, I experienced the true test of leadership. I learnt how to manage and understand people as part of the placement team,” he said. Balancing a job and classes While securing a gold medal from IIMB is an achievement in itself, success was sweeter for Shishank Gupta who did so while juggling his regular job and weekend classes. Mr. Gupta, who completed the postgraduate programme in Enterprise Management, is vice-president, Validation and Services, Infosys. He said that while the support of family and colleagues helped, it took a lot of self-discipline to get through the course. Having learnt on the job for close to two decades, he had expertise in areas such as project management and human resources. “At the institute, I got to learn about finance and marketing,” he says, adding that Friday evenings were the most memorable as he got to stay on campus and work on cases and projects. “It helped me forge deeper bonds with my classmates and led to memories that I will cherish for a long time,” he said.

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