XLers Unlimited

BP Rao asked the question on the Linkedin XLRI group:

In 2009, XLRI completes 60 glorious years.What have you gained from XL? .

My professional identity.

The desire to do good in the world was further cemented courtesy the selfless work by a lot of intellectuals at XLRI. I definitely learnt how to prioritise my time and work, a quality which I feel is critical to achieve material success. Remember that the monk first had to earn the Ferrari :-) .

The most important take-away I have had is that what we learn is most applied about 5 years into your work career. all those pieces of puzzle come together when you are problem solving and decision making. When your wrok content begins to have a diversity of challenges, that is when your investment in XL kicks in

This seems to be rhetoric question! I completely agree with Udayan - indeed my professional identity and a lot of friends! In addition to the list - I would lke to add humility, patience, optimism, crisis management, resource mobilization, 'jugaad', cost cutting, bon-homie, understanding (not from the classroom) of the tennets of credit, risk-management and financial planning, weight loss, gyan, tolerance, appreciation, achnowledgement, great times, culture, time-management, 'critical-minimum-effort' theory, 'manging' as opposed to 'management', compassion, sensitivity, community living, independence, fraternity feeling, street smartness - well the list is endless. And of course to all the professors and faculty who showed how to - and some who showed how not to!! 

Multitasking, preparing for deadlines, working with groups, peers, social responsibility, healthy lifestyle, with enough room for entertainment and letting one's hair down.

What I learnt at XL was probably not as useful anytime in the first two years of my career, as it has now started. It has helped me put my thoughts in the most organised format and has given a weight to my words while talking amongst equals. Piggy-backing on what my seniors had created as a brand name for the college is definitely a given. However, I have already started learning the art of managing people breaking all barriers of hierarchy.

Well BP we are the luckier ones who had both Fr Tome and Fr McGrath so I will not repeat what you said.

Awaaz's (hindi channel of CNBC TV18) news on XL's summer placements

XL is number 5.

Here's the story from MBAUniverse.com

While Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A) is the # 1 B-school, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM B) and Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM C) has been ranked as the # 2 & # 3 B-schools in India. Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM L) is ranked at #4. Jamshedpur based Xavier's Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) is pegged at #5 position.

For the 100th post on this site we have this great creative video on the XL Dream Run

Two Projects supported by XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust (*), Parichay andSwavalamban were judged 1st and 2nd respectively in the IIM Indore's Social Business Plan contest "Kalpavriksha" - a forum for self sustainable business plans with the potential to make a difference to society.

The two projects were selected from among 103 entries from across the B-Schools, and were judged by executives from Aavishkaar India Micro Venture Capital Fund, IndianNGO.com and India Development Gateway

Besides the prize money, along with other finalists they will also receive mentorship by executives from IndianNGO.com and India Development Gateway, a capital market place for social ventures in India. They will also be able to put up their ideas on India Development Gateway.

As the winner of the event, Parichay will get a direct semi-final entry into theGlobal Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) to be held at Foster School of Business in Seattle, USA (Feb 23-27, 2009)

The team of three — Abhilash Somen, Ankur Saboo and Anand Raghvendra — all business management students, has developed an animal powered prime mover (generator) where mechanical energy can be converted to electrical energy will the help of oxen.

The students today invited eight NGOs of Jamshedpur to present the idea before them.

The concept of the project was born when the students visited some villages last year as part of their curriculum.

"When we visited the villages last year, we thought of doing something constructive. We began our research that time. The technical specification is not completed as yet. The project would benefit the villagers as it is low on cost compared to solar energy," said Ankur.

The generator consists of a shaft, a bearing, a battery and CFL lamps. The shaft attached with the generator has to be rotated by an oxen to charge the battery connected to it, generating electricity.

A generator is connected to a battery of 44 lamps that can light up four houses. A single generator can also be connected to three generators or more. Electricity will be generated depending upon the power of the batteries.

The students have presented their project before Tata Motors and will be working in a village near Rakha Mines.

XLRI is all set to increase the PM&IR seats to 120 from the 2009 session:

The ever-increasing demand for its personnel management and industrial relations (PMIR) course has prompted the XLRI School of Business and Human Resource to double the number of seats.

At present, XLRI’s flagship course has room for 60 students, but from the next academic session, beginning June 2009, it will house as many as 120 business enthusiasts.

XLRI director Father E. Abraham said students and representatives of top-notch corporate houses were making a beeline for the PMIR course, which is the oldest and the most prestigious among the institute’s teaching programmes. Though business-oriented, it emphasises on understanding human values.

Abraham said the institute had sought a stamp of approval from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on seat increase last year, and it was cleared recently. “Admission was then in the last stage. So, we can only make room for more students from the next academic session,” he said.

Officials said the school was developing infrastructure to make room for 120 students. New faculty members would also be appointed soon.

Interestingly, the XLRI had increased the number of seats in the business management stream in 2005, but the demand for the course has gone up further. Even MNCs are making a beeline to rope in XLRI students. Last year’s recruitment record shows that each student in the PMIR stream had two offers to choose from.

“The demand has exceeded the supply. In fact, we have had to turn down offers from some of the elite recruiters because we had no students to give them,” Jeevan Kumar, secretary of XLRI’s placement committee, said, explaining the reason behind the decision to increase PMIR seats

Actually two honors according to this news report:

 XLRI has bagged the prestigious Dewang Mehta Business School Award 2008 for the “best academic input (syllabus) in human resource”.

Two XLers Aquil Busrai (of IBM), and Sajid Shamim get quoted on an article on how organizations are using social media in Mint,

“What were once thought to be Internet fads are now commanding the attention of people and businesses around the world,” says Aquil Busrai, executive director, HR, IBM India and South Asia.

There’s so much activity, it is all real data for any marketer

SAJID SHAMIM

Executive director, marketing, Reebok India Co

Photograph: Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint

How many hours do you spend on the Internet in a day/week?

I spend 13-14 hours a week on the Internet.

What social networking/social media sites do you visit?

I am a member of the Orkut, Facebook and LinkedIn communities, and spend a total of around 30 minutes on these sites a week.

Have you derived any insights from these websites?

The reason I signed up with these websites is for the marketing insights they provide. People are really into social networking—my friends are constantly updating their profiles, sending photos and sharing information. I see so much of activity and engagement happening, and this is all real data for any marketer.

Have you ever identified a trend by visiting social media sites and then included it in your company’s digital marketing strategy?

It was after I became active on these websites that we strengthened the presence of Reebok on social media sites. We have allocated much of our online budget to social media. We are currently planning an engagement tool in this space—it is currently a work-in-progress, so I can’t share too much on it yet.

Is it important for marketing heads, and marketing departments in general, to be active on digital platforms to keep track of current trends in this space?

Absolutely. Social networking is growing at double the rate of digital advertising, and the number of hours consumers spend on these websites is exceptionally high. These websites give brands a captive consumer base, so it is necessary for marketing departments to know what is happening here to target their communication better. If marketing personnel are not active on digital platforms, they will be left out in the long run.

(Priyanka Mehra)

Have just started the XLRI page on facebook. Go ahead, show your love for XL - become a fan! And encourage your friends to do the same !

XLer founded adventure and training firm Exper Education (co-founded by Gaurav Saklani and Tarun Chandna '92 batch) gets profiled in Business Today

And they have actor Jayant Kriplani also along as a faculty! How cool is that!

from Prof Shukla :

Hello Folks!

The 3rd Weekend of November is approaching - and so, time to start planning your trip back to XL for the 5th Annual XLRI Alumni Homecoming

This year we also plan to kick-off the XLRI's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations with the Homecoming

Am pasting the preliminary invite below so that you can start planning your trip for the Nov 15-16, 2008...

.... More details will be forthcoming

Popular blogger Rashmi Bansal who is consulting editor of career news show Cracking Careers on UTVi interviews Abhijit Bhaduri, PMIR '84, HR Head of Microsoft India, blogger and author on 14th June 2008 at 3.30 pm and at 6 pm.

The show will be repeated again on 15th June at 12 noon and 5 pm

Kolkata: May 31st
Where: Royal Calcutta Golf Club, Tollygunge
Contacts:Sudipto Dey (9831138850)
Bharath S (9748268448)
Rohit Parmanandka (9830166951)

Bangalore: May 31st

Contacts:Sharath N (9234602781)
Sugandha Agnani (9886980013)
Kuruvilla Kurian 96BM (9845141464)

Mumbai: May 24th

Where: Hyatt Regency (Regency Ballroom), Sahar Road
Contacts:Akshay Sinha (9820404428)
Ritesh Agrawal (9833124316)

Chennai: May 24th
Where:The Accord Metropolitan, GN Chetty Road
Contacts:Mulpuri Raja Rajeswari (9246270935)
Abhiseg Elijah (9790755870)
Krishanu Bhattacharya (9790825739)

I stole these photographs from the PicasaWeb Album of Chintan Agarwal (09BMD), who had helped organise this Alumni Get-together - along with the anchors of the Singapore Chapter (Ramesh Ramakrishnan (85BMD), Rajesh Soundarajan (99BMD), Vinod Martin (90BMD), & Ramasubramanian (77BME).

Here are some Pics of the HK Alumni Get-together on May 16th, I got from Hemant Lodha (98BMD):

well... here are some of the pics that I could take (very difficult to take photos, when you are holding a glass in one hand ;0)...

It was a rocking time (even though I missed the pics of the dance-floor in action)... with the delhi weather providing "special effects" (*_^)...

The Photgraphs are uploaded here

or you can view them in a slideshow below:

New Delhi/NCR: May 17th

Where : Tivoli Gardens, Chhattarpur Road
Contacts:Devika Rajeev (9910611843)
Manish Bhagat (9999516976)

Ankit Goyal (9910671450/9955371152)

Singapore: May 16th
contacts:
Chintan Agarwal (65) 98405241 -
Rajesh Soundarajan 99BM (65) 91087901 -
Ramesh Ramakrishnan 85BM (65) 96176340 -

Had a great evening (also early morning;0) yesterday at Hyderabad. As GG wrote in a mail this morning:

"It was a great meet with more than 60-70 XLers across batches and programs turning up and total number of people easily edging past 100.

Awesome arrangement by the summer trainees and the venue at Taj Banjara was perfect for those interested in keeping their spirits up, shaking a leg, catching up with friends or in making new ones :-)"

GG has posted some pics of the meet at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gautam/sets/72157604989853270/

The pics of the slide show below can be accessed at:

Alumni Meet @ Hyderabad 10-MAY-08

If you're in Hyderabad on the evening of 10th May this is where you should be !

[Original Post here]

An espresso coffee machine which functions without electricity, a special bamboo which lasts longer and is more durable or medicine for asthma made out of traditional herbs may soon be a reality.

Innovations like these and many more would soon be patented in the innovators’ name if XLRI has its way.

Taking a step ahead in its endeavour to bring grassroots innovation to the mainstream, XLRI has recently selected about 25-odd grassroots-level innovations across eastern India to get a patent and be marketed as business ideas.

The move, to be implemented in association with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), comes in the wake of NIF setting up a research advisory council at the B-school recently.

Set up in association with the department of science and technology, NIF was established to provide institutional support to innovations across the rural pockets of India and grassroots-level workers in transforming their ideas into a profit venture.

“According to the agreement with NIF and XLRI, the regional research advisory council would assess the innovations made at the grassroots in Bihar, Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. The body would later provide marketing strategies for the launch of these innovative ideas in the market,” said T. Raghuram, the assistant professor in strategic management, XLRI.

The council would comprise B-school professors, NIF members and also senior authorities from institutes like IIT (Kharagpur) and IIT (Guwahati).

“We have so far received about 25 such interesting innovations from absolutely grassroots-level workers — farmers, mechanics and electricians. Right now we are in the process of studying their technical possibilities and validation,” said Raghuram.

Once finalised, the selected innovations would be funded by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) and also be protected under intellectual property rights.

“We are not revealing the innovations for we are in the process of patenting these innovations in the founders’ name so they can be saved from being copied,” added Raghuram.

For organizations that want to reach out and and approach the top HR professionals in Hyderabad, here is the opportunity.

On April 16th, the Dubai alumni met at Hotel Kempinski. The occasion was to bid farewell to Sanjay Chaturvedi (88batch) who is shifting to India/Gurgaon. It also coincided with my maiden visit to Dubai.

...and so about 30-35 of us met, thanks to the meticulous organisation by Johnshon Alexander (81PMIR) and Leya Joseph (93PMIR).... and of course, ANE :0). A very enjoyable evening. For me particularly, it was great to meet some after many many years... and to meet many whom I knew only through the mailids.

Here are some pics of the meet:

Wow!

Check here

Some Alumni Achievements (2007-08)

· PL Barua (70PMIR) assumed charge as the Executive Director of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil Division).

· RS Thakur (72BMD) took over as Executive Director of TACO, the Tata auto-component company.

· Jagdish Dore (73BMD) was appointed the CEO & Managing Director of Matrix Laboratories Ltd. (of Mylan Group).

· Madhukar Kamath (76BMD) Managing Director & CEO of the Mudra Group, was elected as the President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI).

· S Nandkumar (76BMD) was elected the President of Institute of Management Consultants of India (Hyderabad chapter)

· Bipin Lal (78BMD) was appointed as the Managing Director, Nitrex Chemicals India.

· Prakash Puram (78BMD), President & CEO, iXmatch Inc., was invited to join the Advisory Council on Small Business & Labour of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

· N Krishnakumar (80BMD) took over as the CEO & Managing Director of Mindtree Consulting.

· Prabhakar Jain (81BMD) joined as the Chairman and Managing Director, Goodyear India Ltd.

· Aneeta Madhok (81PMIR) joined as the Dean, Center for Human Resources (Dubai & Singapore), SP Jain Center of Management.

· NS Rajan (83BMD), Partner (Human Capital), Ernst & Young, was chosen as Global Leader-HR Advisory of Ernst & Young. He was also elected the President (Northern Region), National HRD Network.

· Jaspal Bindra (84BMD) took over as the Head-Asia Region, Standard Chartered Bank.

· K Pandiarajan (84PMIR), Founder-CEO of MaFoi Consulting, was inducted into the Board of Madras Stock Exchange Limited as one of its Directors.

· K Shankar (84PMIR) joined Airtel as the Director (HR).

· Radha Krishnan Nair (84PMIR) joined as the Chief HR Officer of Tata Steel. He was also inducted into the Board of Governors of XLRI.

· Vineet Nayar (85BMD) took over as the CEO, HCL Technologies Ltd from its founder, Shiv Nadar.

· Mahesh Nair (86BMD) published his book of photographs Let There Be Light: Exploring Nature Through Light (Roli Books).

· Sandra (Sequeira) Mahadwar (86PMIR), Sr Director (HR) with KLA-Tencor Corp., was selected to receive the 2008 YWCA’s Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award, for Executive Leadership.

· Arjun Trivedi (87BMD) was appointed the Head of Nokia Siemens Network, Indonesia.

· Srinivas Duvvari (87BM-Eve) took over as the Managing Director of Rolls-Royce India Ltd.

· Ernst Louise (87PMIR) was appointed as the Global Head (HR) for Essel Propack Ltd.

· Ronald Mark D’Souza (87PMIR) took over as the Vice President (HR), Alcatel-Lucent (India).

· Anurag Parashar (88BMD) took over as the Chief Officer, Customer Management Systems and Shared Infrastructure for all telecom businesses of Bharti Airtel Ltd.

· M Shankar Prasad (88BMD) joined Tata Communications Ltd (formerly VSNL) as President, Broadband.

· Amar Babu (89BMD) was appointed as the Managing Director of Lenova India.

· Satish Nambisan (89PMIR) published his book The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster & Smarter in a Networked World (Wharton School Publishing).

· Sutapa Banerjee (89PMIR), Head of Private Banking at ABN Amro Bank, was nominated among 20 most successful, rising wealth managers in the world by leading international business magazine, The Institutional Investor.

· Amitabh Jaipuria (89BMD) joined as the Managing Director of Monsanto India Ltd.

· Ajay Bagga (90BMD), CEO of Lotus India Asset Management Co Pvt. Ltd., was elected the Vice Chairman of Financial Planning Standards Board of India.

· Ashish Khera (90BMD) took over as the CFO of Microsoft India

· VS Sridhar (90BMD) was appointed the Chief Operating Officer of the VSNL Global Services.

· R Chandrasekar (90PMIR) took over as the Group Head (HR) of the Noor Islamic Bank (Dubai Investment Group), Dubai.

· Sudip Mall (91BMD) joined as Country Manager (Philippines), Kraft Asia.

· V Chandramouli (91BMD) was appointed as the Director (HR) of Cadbury India

· Jayaram Philkana (91PMIR) took over as the Director (HR) of Cargill Inc.’s Health & Nutrition business at MN, USA.

· NT Arunkumar (91PMIR) took over as CEO of Dun & Bradstreet.

· Ramesh Soundarajan (91PMIR) joined as the Vice President (HR) of Trianz India.

· Ravi Parmeshwar (91PMIR) joined Cargill India as their Director (HR).

· Lokesh Jindal (92BMD) returned from USA to take over as Sr Vice President & General Manager of Computer Associate’s India Technology Center.

· Leena Nair (92PMIR) took over as the Executive Director (HR) of Hindustan Unilever Ltd., thus becoming the youngest and the first woman director in HUL’s Board. She was also featured in the Business Today’s “25 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business List”.

· Sabyasachi Nag (92PMIR) published his first book of poems Bloodlines with Writers' Workshop.

· Salil Raghavan (92PMIR) took over as the Head (HR) of Great Eastern Shipping.

· Sadashiv Nayak (93BDM) joined the Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, as the CEO, Food Bazaar.

· Sharat Dhall (93BMD) was appointed as the Managing Director (India) of the travel portal Expedia.com.

· NV Krishna (93BMD) joined EXL Holding Inc. (NY, USA), as the Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer

· Amitabh Hajela (93PMIR) joined as the Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources of the ExlService Holdings, Inc, USA.

· Uday Shankar Sinha (94BMD) took over as Executive Director of PepsiCo India.

· Biplob Banerjee (94PMIR) joined Nokia Siemens Networks as Director (HR – Global Services, India).

· Raj Ambekar (94PMIR) moved to the shipping & logistics company, Maersk, as the Head (HR) for South Asia.

· Naveen Kumar (94PMIR) took over as the Vice President (HR) of Lehman Brothers, India.

· V Satish (94PMIR) took over as Sr Vice President (Global HR & Recruiting) at AztecSoft.

· Ramki Sundaram (95BMD) was appointed the CEO of Air Deccan.

· Suman Bose (95BMD) joined Dassault Systemes (part of French Dassault Group) as the Country Head – India.

· Brajesh Bajpai (96BMD) moved into an enlarged role as the Head of Middle East and North Africa Region of Marico’s International Business.

· Ketan Awalegaonkar (98BMD) joined McKinsey & Co. as Associate Principle & Leader for North American Operations Practice, USA.

· Indraneel Roy (98PMIR) took over as the Global Head of Hewitt Leadership Consulting.

· Gaurav Lahiri (00PMIR) was elected as the Partner, Hay Group. He also co-authored the book The Indian CEO: Portrait of Excellence (Sage Books).

· Kulshaan Singh (01PMIR) took over as the Country Manager (Singapore), Hewitt Associates.

· Tanmay Prusty (06BMD), Sales Manager with ITC, won the south zone BusinessToday ACUMEN 2007, and was the runner-up in the national finals.

· Jishnu Dasgupta (06BMD), Sales Manager with ITC, and joined as bass guitarist and backing vocals with the Hindi Band “Swarathma”, which won the Best Band prize in All India City Radio Finals.

From the XLRI blog:

Faculty Exchange: AIM and XLRI will exchange at least 2 faculty members per academic year.
Joint Executive Development Programs: AIM and XLRI agree to jointly design, market, and conduct short-duration executive development programs in 3^rd countries—especially in the Asian region.
Joint Research: AIM and XLRI agree to identify research themes of international, particularly Asian, relevance
Case Development: AIM and XLRI agree to launch a concerted drive to develop Asia-based cases and, thereafter, publish jointly a compilation on an annual basis.
XAT: In order to attract Indian applicants for admission, AIM agrees to join the group of business schools that accept XAT
Joint Management Journal: AIM and XLRI agree to jointly launch a new, international-class management journal by January 2010.
Student Exchange: AIM and XLRI agree to continue student exchange as per the agreement signed between them earlier on December 13, 2004.