Stalwarts from e-comm, consulting and governance converge at EPGP Business Conclave 2024

The 15th edition of the business event was themed, ‘Developing Future Leaders: Skills Beyond Technology’ 

22 September, 2024, Bengaluru: “Companies that have enduring success do not depend on technology alone – other skills and knowledge are essential as well. During a review meet with external CEOs, the must-have elements of an MBA programme curriculum listed by them included digital, data and ESG, other than traditional components such as communication, leadership, problem solving, ethics and integrity. In that way, the essence of EPGP, a well-rounded programme, is similar to the theme of today’s conclave”, said Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore, during his welcome address at the ‘Business Conclave 2024’, hosted by the students of IIM Bangalore’s one-year fulltime MBA for experienced professionals, the Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management (EPGP), on 22 September 2024. This year’s conclave, the 15th edition of the event, was themed on, ‘Developing Future Leaders: Skills Beyond Technology’, and delved into the essential skills that transcend technology, exploring how leaders can harness the power of human potential to drive sustainable growth and innovation.   

The annual EPGP Business Conclave, a flagship event of EPGP, serves as a distinguished platform for profound discussions on contemporary topics and emerging trends. The event features CXOs, strategists, technology evangelists, thought leaders, entrepreneurs and professionals who come together to analyze real-world business scenarios, deliberate on their social impact and stimulate meaningful discussions.   

The inaugural session also included an address by Prof. Amar Sapra, Chairperson, Executive Post Graduate Programme in Management and faculty of the Production & Operations Management area of IIMB. Pointing out that India should leverage its geopolitical advantages and make best use of the opportunity to become the manufacturing hub of the world, he said, “The Indian government has taken up several initiatives so that the country can evolve into a manufacturing powerhouse, along with the promise in the areas of science and engineering. The priority of the Indian corporate sector should be to become a world-class global factory in the long run."

Open networks shaping future commerce   

The keynote address on, ‘The Role of Open Networks in Shaping Future Commerce and the Journey of ONDC’ was delivered by Harishankar Krishnan, Chief Transformation Officer, ONDC. He noted that India showcases promise with its trajectory of digital adoption across payments and content consumption. Digital commerce, however, still has considerable room to grow in the country. He listed the barriers to be information asymmetry, limited market access, entry barriers for new players, increasing cost of operation for existing players, ecommerce domain domination by few players in the world leading to market concentration, digital monopoly, economic information dissymmetry, etc.  

He also provided strategies to counter such challenges, including, unbundling of customer and seller acquisition to reduce go-to-market efforts and interoperability.  

Talking about the transition from platform centric to open network, he said, “UPI is a brilliant example of innovation and scalability on open network, which transformed Indian payments protocol. Similarly, ONDC is a pioneering solution for unbundled democratized commerce on open architecture. It is about creating complementary services. It is a rapidly scaling revolution and has become an important element in the digital public infrastructure, with many more milestones to achieve.”  

“The implications of the open network lie in democratization, digitizing the undigitized and innovation which will unleash opportunities for start-ups. For business and technology leaders, it can drive value leveraging the ecosystem, lower barriers to entry, lead to business model innovation and boost digital talent and leadership”, said Mr. Krishnan on the promising pathway of India’s digital future.

Panel Discussion 1 – The first panel discussion on, ‘Building Future-Ready Organizations: Developing Leadership Skills That Go Beyond Technology to Foster Sustainable Growth and Adaptability’, featuring Shweta Mohanty, Head of HR, SAP in India, Balachander Lakshminarayan, VP of Marketing, Datawrkz, and Sarika Pradhan, VP of Human Resources, Asia Pacific Global Delivery Centers of Excellence, CGI, was moderated by Prof. Debolina Dutta, Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area of IIMB.   

Balachander Lakshminarayan forecasted a sea of change in the traits of future leaders. “The new generation of leaders are all digital natives, aware of themselves and what they want. There is an awareness on personal mental health and wellbeing, that sometimes precedes organizational goals. They need to be heard, valued and need to thrive. My organization believes in a culture of mutual respect, authenticity and transparency.” To the future leaders seated in the room, he said, “Be open to feedback and use them as a learning opportunity.” Resilience, learning and kindness were highly sought-after qualities, he said, and suggested that rather than striving for a strict 'work/life balance,' they should incorporate a more holistic approach to managing their lives. 

Sarika Pradhan, sharing from her journey as a Partner at CGI, said, “At CGI, we have a healthy crop of leaders whom we address as members or partners, and not employees. We have devised individual development plans to take care of different strata of leadership, keeping in mind the diversity and equity factors. There is gender focus intervention for women leaders. Attrition is low because of the work culture. Mentoring, coaching, capacity building, job rotation, etc. go a long way in creating an ownership culture.” During the Q&A session which followed the panel discussion, she highlighted what she said were the “4 Ps essential for effective leadership” - perspective, passion for results, perseverance and power of positivity.  

Addressing the expectations of future leaders, Shweta Mohanty pointed out that career paths are no longer vertical or linear. “Careers take a zigzag path today. We need to all develop a holistic mindset to thrive. Role models also set expectations and can be an inspiration. The core element of leadership development is trust.” She added that a major focus area of her organization is mental health. “We also have a very convenient and warm exit policy.” Her message to the future leaders was, “Be resilient, be open to changes and have a growth mindset.” During the Q&A session, she said that building trust, authenticity and a solution mindset, as well as embracing failure to move ahead, can counter roadblocks to success.  

Energy transition   

The panel discussion was followed by a talk on ‘Strategic Leadership during Energy Transition’ by Subramanian Chidambaran, Chief Strategy Officer, Cummins India. “The core focus of countries today lies in its growth agenda along with green initiatives. But decarbonization or energy transition is not an easy story as there is an economic angle to it. Growth is an imperative for any country, at the same time ESG has become another key focus area. Conventional sources of energy are still the main drivers of growth. Hence, a balance is needed and companies need to strategize to improve green content of the output. Future managers and governments need to devise in-between solutions for all stakeholders, innovate constantly, drive energy efficiently, leverage technology, build effective partnerships and collaborative networks, and focus on innovative funding preferences as well as growth.” Answering a question from the audience, he suggested incentivizing the supply chain ecosystem as a sustainable solution to achieve the required balance.   

Founder’s mentality   

Shyam Unnikrishnan, Partner, Bain & Company, led a discussion on, ‘Founder’s Mentality and Disruptive Innovation’. He said, “Most successful companies share three cultural characteristics – insurgent mindset, frontline obsession and owner’s mindset. Insurgency should never take a backseat. The six building blocks to restore founder’s mentality are building learning systems to reconnect with customers and frontline, simplifying to fuel growth, refocusing the operating model on franchise players, creating a company of insurgents, rediscovering insurgency and capacity spikes, and challenging industry rules and boundaries.” During the Q&A session, he pointed out that the three cohorts consisting of disrupters, scalers and doers, need to coexist. 

Panel Discussion 2 – The discussion on, ‘Leadership in the Age of Disruption: Navigating Change with Data Analytics and AI’ was led by Sai Krishnan Mohan, VP – Data & Analytics, Bajaj Auto, Laxminarayanan G, Global Head – Automation & Transformation, Cyient, and Shriram Vasudevan, Technical Innovator, Intel. The panel was moderated by Prof. Shankar Venkatagiri, Chairperson and faculty of the Information Systems area of IIMB. The panel members discussed the disruptions and challenges brought about by emerging AI technologies and organizational strategies as well as a Management Consultants’ perspective around the same.  

Highlighting the need for a proper understanding of AI capabilities, Laxminarayanan G said, “Basic data infrastructure needs to utilize the technology, in an innovative way. It should be part of the tools and technique of enterprises in order to achieve strategic goals. AI should be used to boost people, process and technology, and fuel stronger organizational growth. Management should ask the right questions to come to right conclusions, and the skill has to be picked up by all without the fear of losing jobs.”  

Sai Krishnan Mohan also stressed on the importance of understanding AI. “In the current dynamic business scenario, the organizational strategy should be to anticipate, align, adapt and act. Affordable innovation should be part of a company’s policy, and we need to solve the right problems with AI. AI can also help identify where Consultants can do business, help in quantitative analysis and execution too. The human mind has to ensure that all this is done with the right intent. AI should not result in employment loss, in fact through domain understanding and creativity, it will be a value addition to the company.”  

Shriram Vasudevan, who joined the session online, listed the major challenges in driving transformation by AI to be change resistance, scalability, ethical concerns, talent scarcity, integrating AI with existing infrastructure, etc. “AI should be used for social good, without bias and in an ethical way; we need to pick good problem statements and ensure fairness, inclusion and diversity.”  

The panelists interacted with the audience during the Q&A session. The major takeaways from that interaction were, with regards to AI, Consultants needed to stay relevant, agile and flexible to drive innovation; the need for data privacy, need for scaling knowledge sharing and enhancing the service model. The panelists and moderator pointed out that by educating all employees, the expectation divide between top management and levels below that, may lessen. AI can supplement and complement existing business infrastructure. It is going to be part of our jobs, so it was the need of the hour to create a culture to embrace it. Companies have to create clear AI adoption goals and align them into broader organizational goals. 

To lead a Global Capability Center   

‘Understanding the GCC (Global Capability Centers) Juggernaut: What Does it Take to Lead One?’ was discussed by Dr. Anilesh Seth, Independent Captives Consultant and Cofounder, GigVistas. He explained that India today is a preferred location to set up GCCs, with talent availability, government incentives, GCC-driven vendor strategy, development of firm-specific assets/capabilities, enhanced connectivity and the cost factor. “This value bundle helps drive the competitive advantage. High-end services are offered by India-based GCCs. These GCCs are not a replacement for third-party vendors. According to A T Kearney’s 2019 Global Services Location Index, India ranks Number One in the world for services outsourcing”, he shared.

“To lead a GCC, one needs to have an ambidextrous mindset, be intrapreneurial, possess the ability to deal with ambiguity and manage multiple stakeholders from afar, be adept in managing or working with global IT vendors, and be comfortable with global cultures as well as working during different time zones. Moreover, you need to collaborate, yet not be a ‘yes’ person; be comfortable working with matrixed structures and leading without authority. The leader also has to be ambassadorial, a brand custodian and also be value driven, which inspires trust.”  

During the Q&A session, he discussed solutions to roadblocks that a leader faces. “Countering the derailers is never easy, especially when you are afar. Get people to take ownership and be part of the solution. Change management strategy is also crucial.”  

Placement Brochure, Contests  

The day also saw the unveiling of the EPGP Placement Brochure 2024. An online Supply Change Simulation game called ‘Disaster Response’ and the final round of a Sustainability challenge called ‘Green Horizons’ were also part of the event.  

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/live/gyaAz2XCnhQ?feature=share  

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