IWSB – Seeking Leadership in a changing World – Satya Narayanan R (Chairman, Board of Governors – IWSB)

IWSB – Seeking Leadership in a changing world

The world is changing. Leadership in a changing world comes to those who are anchored in the tomorrow. Not the yesterday. On the business side, I am sure you are anchored in the future. Similarly, on the education side, IWSB is deeply and singularly anchored in the future –  the world of entrepreneurship which is where the world is moving, according to me.

To us at IWSB, entrepreneurship or entrepreneurial leadership is a fundamental behavioural model, not an activity!

A Testimony :

As I sit down to write this note, I receive a heartwarming news from Arindam Lahiri, Dean – IWSB that our PG-11 students, Ankita and Shobhit, who were at IIM Bangalore in the finals of the RMAI competition on the summer projects that were rural India centric, have actually been crowned the winners. So, the winners podium read as  – IWSB (First Prize), IIM-Lucknow (Second) and IIM-Indore (Third). Needless to say, the project was on rural transformation in India through entrepreneurship and innovation.

This is just an early testimony to the value IWSB would bring to the world of management education this decade. My conviction comes from an undeniable truth of the world – The Change!

How has the world changed ?Over the past two decades, the world has shifted from being an administered society to an entrepreneurial world!  The change is far more remarkable in the developing world than we care to take note of!

66% (13 out of 20) of the top-20 Fortune500 companies have changed over the past decade and a half. The MarketCap leaders or stars in India today  were unknown small and medium enterprises even a decade ago.

80% of the enterprise wealth represented by the BSE  is contributed by just about 200 stocks and half of these did not even exist on the stock market or were miniscule just a decade ago. Nine of the 25 wealthiest people / families of the world are Indians this year compared to none in 1996.

There is only one common theme to all these shifts in the world – Entrepreneurial Leadership.

What about the future ?

There is an observation that the richest man of 2030 is not born yet and the idea with which s/he will make that fortune is not known yet.  Even today, over 90 per cent of the business entities in India would be classified as ‘Small and Medium Entreprises’.  A visible percentage of these SME of today will emerge as the star companies or organizations of tomorrow.

Focus on the Emerging and gast growing Companies :

I believe that the top notch B-school of 2020 will get there by focusing and contributing to the world of entrepreneurship. These contributions would come in various forms – knowledge creation through active research,  entrepreneurial education, real world incubation, growth support to the CEOs, in-take of students linked to this goal,  reaching out to the ‘Bharat’ and so on.

IWSB already has a head-start in this space. Right from inception, IWSB has focused on this sweet spot singularly and the dividends are beginning to come our way!  The red carpet at IWSB rolls out to the CEOs of young and dynamic companies such as Nettpositive, Pinstorm, Netambit, Infoedge, SKS microfinance, Educomp, Career Launcher, Gaja Capital, Core Tree, and so on.

Half of these entities are still unknown to the readers of ‘The Economic Times’ or a CNBC TV-18 viewer.  However, IWSB students are already working in these stars of tomorrow.

At the same time, large entities who continue to focus on growth love recruiting entrepreneurial youngsters at any stage of their growth. Perhaps, Google’s success can be half-explained by their DNA that is closest to entrepreneurship even at this stage and size!

Any CEO or head of HR who is intent upon bringing in the talent that comes with the self-starting entrepreneurial attitude, values that works for the morrow and the work-ethic that is contagiously positive cannot afford to miss out on the youngsters from IWSB.

Of course, our students are our best ambassadors!  Now, We have a few CEOs too!

Sincerely

Satya Narayanan R