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Mr.Balvinder Singh Kalsi, President & CEO DuPont India addresses ManDevIans |
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 Mr. Kalsi, President & CEO DuPont India
As a part of the very popular and unique course Leadership and Managerial Effectiveness (LME) conducted by Prof. Asha Bhandarker, Mr. Balvinder Singh Kalsi, President & CEO DuPont India addressed the MDI students.
The vision of MDI is to "Create global leaders who can create, manage
and lead effective change across diverse organisations" and who better
than Mr. Kalsi to enlighten ManDevIans on this as he himself has
been a change master in a diverse organisation like DuPont.
Mr. Kalsi began his talk by outlining the two things fundamental for a leader according to him:
- Leaders should have followers
- Leaders should be able to influence followers
He went on to add that leadership mainly entails influencing people, the basis of which can be all/any of the following reasons:
- Position (they have to)
- Relationship (they want to)
- Results (for what you have done for the organisation)
- Development (for what you have done for them)
- Personhood (for what you are and what you represent)
He then outlined his basic definition of "Leadership". According to him a "Leader":
- is one who leads by "inspiring others in a shared vision"
- has a clear vision
- can communicate the vision to his employees/sub ordinates
- fosters an environment that "encourages risk taking"
- believes in recognition and rewards
- "empowers" allowing other leaders to emerge
Mr. Kalsi then shared some of the operating traits of Great Leaders many of which were based on his personal experiences too:
- Dare to Dream (for the organisation, family and self)
- Have a broader social vision
- Relentless discomfort with status quo
- Capacity to anticipate and see around corners (anticipate challenges & competition)
- 70/30 rule - once the information is in the 70% range go with their "gut feel"
- Ability to take risk
- Accountability in action (not just for his/her own but on behalf of the team as well)
- Uncompromising straight talk
- Powerfully engage people
- Perpetual optimism
- Surround themselves with the best people (e.g. hire someone who you feel is better than you)
- Never compromise on their fundamental values
- Never lose zest and curiosity
- Persevere
- Work hard & Play hard (leader play to win)
- Never
let success go to their head (leadership is coincidental & the
success is your teams success and not your individual self)
He cited several personal examples to further elaborate on these
operating traits and how they have played an important role in his
leadership journey.
He ended his talk by stating that "leadership is a matter of continuous learning as no one will get it right under all circumstances".
Post this there was a question answer session during which Mr. Kalsi
cleared the doubts that students had in their minds regarding certain
aspects of leadership. Prof. Bhandarker too pitched in with her views
to supplement Mr. Kalsi and foster a better understanding among the
students.
In the end it proved to be a thoroughly engrossing and inspirational
session. A session which has "empowered" all ManDevIans who attended
the session with wisdom which will definitely hold them good in their
individual leadership journeys.
Ram Sharma delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the student community and Charuta presented a memento to Mr. Kalsi.
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