SCROLL OF HONOURAMOGH SATHYENarsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai

ANANT SABOOSymbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Pune

ANWESHA PALIndian Institute of Manage-ment, Calcutta

CHAITANYA KANSALIndian Institute of Manage-ment, Bangalore

GANESH S KIndian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi

GOURAV GARGIndian School of Business, Mohali

GOVIND HARIDASIndian Institute of Manage-ment, Kozhikode

NIGIB SHARMAIndian School of Business, Hyderabad

NIYATI SHARMAIndian School of Business, Mohali

PRATEEK CHAUDHARIInstitute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad

RAHUL KUMARIndian Institute of Manage-ment, Kozhikode

REEMA GHOSHSymbiosis Institute of Busi-ness Management, Pune

ROBIN GUPTAIndian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata

SAHIL KUKREJANarsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai

SHALINI SRIVASTAVAIndian School of Business, Hyderabad

SHRUTI RAVINDERSymbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development, Pune

TANUJ SHARMASymbiosis Institute of Busi-ness Management, Pune

TRISHA AGRAWALXavier Institute of Manage-ment, Bhubaneshwar

TRISHA ROYIndian School of Business, Mohali

TUSHAR SHARMANarsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai

TWIGA DUANarsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai

ETYOUNG LEADERS B-SCHOOL EDITION

The third edition of The Economic Times Young Leaders B-School programme was launched on August 22, 2016, with the Aditya Birla Group as the Presenting Sponsor. It assesses final year, full-time postgraduate students studying in any business school in India on their poten-tial to become future leaders.

We received over 12,000 entries from B-schools this year. Students cleared three rounds of assessments during the course of this programme before they met the CEO panel.

The first phase comprised an online personality test. The second phase was a combination of two online assessments – one was a test to assess logical, verbal and analytical skills and the second to assess managerial competencies.

In the third phase, students were asked to solve a case study based on an Aditya Birla Group business. A total of 49 candi-dates made it to the interview round.

A total of 21 young leaders qualified to find a place on the ET Young Leaders B-School edition list.

Methodology

B-School Edition ET Young Leaders

Brinda Dasgupta, Prachi Verma Dadhwal, Rica Bhattacharyya, Sreeradha D Basu and Varuni KhoslaPhotos: Bharat Chanda and Nitin Sonawane

Young leaders laud the panel

Dilip Gaur and Sumitro Ghosh present citation to a winner

Candidates capture the picture perfect moment

A candidate gets mentored by Sanjay Rishi

LEADING THE CHARGE FOR NEXT GENERATION

Candidate TakeThere’s always nervousness while talking to C-suite executives, but any tension I was feeling was quickly dispelled. It felt more like an honest conversation rather than a formal interview. Twenty minutes passed by really quickly and the words flowed fast and smoothly. It’s a great panel and I’m proud to have been part of this experience.ANANT SABOO, SYMBIOSIS CENTRE FOR MANAGEMENT & HR DEVELOPMENTHonestly speaking, I hadn’t expected such a friendly interaction. It was almost like having a conversation with someone Ihad just met at the airport. The interview helped me realise my direction of thought and vision for the future. Any initial nervousness Imay have felt was quickly gone. TRISHA ROY, ISB MOHALI.

Candidate TakeThe line of questioning of the judges was more on the lines of what we want to do in the future. For me, it was a very nice experience. I also got an opinion from them on how I planned my life and I really liked how they were invested in the entire conversation.NIYATI SHARMA, INDIAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESSI had a lot of feedback from my seniors as to how it would happen, but it went nothing like I had expected. I’m hoping since we discussed a case study I worked on, it would be a wild card to get me in.GOVIND HARIDAS, IIM-K

DIKSHIT: I am looking for clarity among the candidates. Do not expect them to be well researched but expect them to communicate their thoughts sharply. I am also looking for diversity of thinking. I’m not looking at someone with narrow thinking.

GUPTA: While selecting candidates, I am looking at four attributes. First is conviction of thoughts. Then to-the-point analytical reasoning. Other two attributes are multi-faceted experiences and a holistic, well-rounded personality.

Candidate Take“The panellists were very humble and friendly yet had a vibrant aura of intelligence. They made me feel very comfortable so that I could be at my best while interacting. It was a great experience talking face to face with leaders of this stature.” AKASDEEP BHADRA

Question SampleGUPTA asked a winning candidate, “Had Trump hired you for his election campaign, what would be your advice to him?” Thecandidate responded, “He needs to deploy an inclusive strategy and try to ‘tone down’.

Question SampleRISHI Looking back at your life after 15-20 years, how many jobs would it be necessary to move across before you can truly say that you’re ‘settled’?DUBE Whom do you consider a better leader in today’s news environment—Ratan Tata or Cyrus Mistry? And what would be your reasons for choosing one over the other?

Question SampleGAUR asked a candidate who had once set up a startup of fruit juices, what he would do differently now to increase his productivity. He also asked the candidate if ethical issues were a problem while working with vendors in his startup. GHOSH asked a candidate what his best internship experience was and what he took away from it. He also asked what an employer brand was and how a candidate would build it.

How they Pickedthe Young Leaders

Leaders are never presented with very clear choices. The onus often falls on them to make tough decisions, many of which sometimes border on the edge of ethical and unethical. It is a difficult tightrope to navigate. The workforce is changing.

The days of telling people what to do are gone, you have to make your ideas, their idea.

In a society where you have to work through people to get

anything done, a certain level of self-regulation is crucial.

Having a methodical approach to any situation will stand a

leader in good stead. The greatest predictor of the future of a person is knowing their

history. If you panic as a leader, the whole thing will be over.

CEO Take

CEO Take

It is always fascinating to be with young blood. This is my third year at ETYL and I really enjoy spending time with young minds outside my organisation.

This is my first time here. I am glad to see the young minds so

exposed to nuances of workplaces and culture. It was a

very good experience.

CEO Take

Fun MomentOne candidate was asked whose life coach he would rather be—Donald Trump’s or Rahul Gandhi’s—in a hypothetical situation. Neither option sounded particularly exciting to the candidate, but he admitted that both could do with quite a bit of coaching on life skills!

Fun MomentGaur joked with one candidate, who was talking a lot, about how CEOs may not have time to hear them out entirely on their business model if they bumped into you in a lift, and how he must sum up what he wanted to say, quickly. Judges were amused by a candidate who wanted to start his interview with a song.

RISHI: I thought their cognitive skills had been very thoroughly tested in the stages so far, so what I was looking for was emotional intel-ligence—their levels of empathy and their ability to socially engage with and motivate people. One of my focus points was to judge whether candidates had an ability to funda-mentally connect with others.

DUBE: Clarity of thought and strong communication skills were decid-ing factors, as were steadfastness in views. The candidates we picked demonstrated these qualities in ample measure. They came across as driven people out to make a difference, ones who could build a rapport with the person sitting on the other side of the table.

Clarity of thought, ability to work in a team and confidence is what they were looking for in the young leaders.

Gaur said some candidates had bold goals and great clarity of thought. “While clarity of thought is good, ex-ecution and strategy is as important.

Candidates must also be perseverant because when the hard times hit, choices become narrow and burnouts and dropouts happen.”

“I agree, the candidates here are very talented and I would hire some of them,” said Ghosh.

How they Picked the Young Leaders

How they Picked the Young Leaders

Fresh Line of Thought

Good Head on their Shoulders Gems of a New Generation

SAUGATA GUPTA

RAJIV DUBE

DILIPGAUR

ASHISH DIKSHIT

Candidate TakeI take part in a lot of competitions but what separates ETYL in B-schools from them all is the sheer comprehensiveness of the entire exercise. It’s a great experience. SAHIL KUKREJA, NMIMS, MUMBAI

The entire process really tested our resilience and was very educative. A lot of very relevant questions were asked during my interview and the panel discussion, too, was extremely insightful. I learnt a lot. TRISHA AGRAWAL, XIM BHUBANESWAR

Question SampleFast forward to when you are 80 years old. How would you look back on your life if you had done everything right?If you had as much capital as you wanted and as much talent as you wanted to acquire, what kind of business would you like to set up?

The level of talent is really good. Candidates are aware of and able to hold their own on a wide range of issues. They are ambitious and realistic at the same time, otherwise one tends to get blindsided. I asked them what they would do if a genie granted them three wishes and, for most, it wasn’t about themselves, but their parents, women at large and broader social issues.

CEO Take

Fun MomentSrinivasan asked a candidate to give a one-minute speech on the US election and its impact on India. “You don’t think Hillary will win? You spoke only about Trump,” he quizzed once the candidate had finished. “I don’t like either one of them. I wish Obama would continue,” was her reply. “Unfortunately, that’s not an option,” laughed Srinivasan.

Special MomentOne candidate, Chetan Palta, spoke about wanting to set up a library at the college he had passed out from, mentioning how he had asked friends and acquaintances to donate books for the same. Srinivasan handed him his business card and told him to get in touch - their company had a CSR budget, he said, and would be happy to fund the library!

Different candidates were picked on the basis of different attributes but overall, Srinivasan was looking for clarity of thought, communication skills and how well the candidates

recognised their own drawbacks and were willing to work on them. “Being clear on what they want to do and why is a key ingredient for suc-cess,” he said.

How they Picked the Young Leaders

Brave New World

AJAYSRINIVASAN

SANJAYRISHI

SUMITRO GHOSH

DARUWALA: For me, the passion or fire in the belly is number one. There are enough intellectuals in the world, it is the hunger and passion that distinguishes a future leader. I also looked for a ‘can-do attitude,’ logical thinking, clarity of what they want to do and one who has clarity of role model.

AGGARWAL: I look for people at whom I can throw my toughest problem and they can tell me the solution. Also, for me, leaders are those who can create a multiplier on everything. Third, I look for people who can be good team players and demonstrate potential for people management.

Candidate TakeI was really impressed about the level of homework the CEOs had done, as in that they had read up my CV and knew what they want to ask. The questions were very in-depth. The interaction was friendly and they put me at ease right at the outset.RAHUL KUMAR, SECOND YEAR PGDM, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT KOZHIKODE

Question SampleDARUWALA: If you were CEO of a company, how would you go about establishing a quality culture? AGGARWAL: What would give you passion and excitement 10 years down the line?

How they Picked the Young Leaders

We have to learn from some of these kids. I love engaging with youngsters because they are the target audience and unless you listen to their voice, you will not know the real customer proposition.

The belief that these young people have that they can make the world a better place

is really energising. They also have an ability to pick the good and target the bad.

It is great to see young people come through like this. It just made my day.

CEO Take

Fun MomentOne candidate had done a marketing term paper on Patanjali. On being asked if Deepika Padukone could be a good brand ambassador for Patanjali, he said, “Not really for a herbal product!”

Courage Under Fire

ZARIN DARUWALA

NEERAJ AGGARWAL

Ashish Dikshit, Saugata Gupta and Sanjay Rishi at the panel discussion

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