Learning from 8th MMA Student's Convention

I have always been fond of MMA Student Conventions. In 2005, I was the National Finalist in Paper Presentation and in 2008, I was the national finalist in Debate competition. However, I lost the finals in both occasions :-( . No other competition has humbled me the way MMA student convention has.

This year I could not participate because I was in Bangalore for Industrial visit when the preliminary round took place. But I did not miss the opportunity to learn some great lessons as a student delegate in 8th MMA All India Management Student's Convention.

Following are a few of the learning which influenced me a great deal:

• Manish Sabharwal, Chairman & Co-founder, TeamLease Services made a very interesting point that the youth needs to proceed in the future with a softer heart, tougher mind and great ideas as we are blessed to have been educated in Urban India with loads of opportunities.
  
• Dr T V Somanathan, IAS, Secretary to the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu stressed on the need for being true to oneself. He sighted perfect examples for the same. Some of my favorite one's were 'it is perfectly fine to celebrate both Shiv Ratri as well as Valentines day', 'It's perfectly fine to apply Vibhuti on the forehead while attending a party'. He even told us to balance between our showing respect towards boss and being candid while suggesting ideas to the boss.
• Padmaja Alagaganandan, India Business Leader-Human capital Mercer while speaking on the topic 'challenges in the global village' encouraged students to not get threatened by any culture. She spoke on the importance of respecting other cultures and having a willingness to learn & appreciate. She stressed on the fact that we should show greater commitment towards team work and execution.
• Mr Binu Philip, Director-HR, Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt Ltd : The competencies for success for Gen Y are Business Acumen, Impact & Influence, Agility, Resilience, Change adaptability, Interpersonal awareness, System thinking, Understanding change dynamics. He said that during a career transition one should follow a three steps process of Match, Pace & Lead.
• Ms Nayantara Kothari, IFMR Ventures, Rural Drinking Water Network Enterprises delivered a very passionate speech on how she made her own transition from a student to a professional. She explained how in the corporate world one is tested every moment and how their individual performance impacts the entire company.
• Mr Murgavel Janakiraman, Founder & CEO, Consim Info Pvt Ltd spoke about the 4 Ps of entrepreneurship namely Purpose, Passion, Perseverance and Progress. He explained each of them with powerful examples.
• Mr Sarath Babu, Founder & CEO, FoodKing Catering Services Pvt Ltd delivered an inspiring speech on how he faced various challenges in his life from early days of poverty to this present day where he is able to empower so many lives as an entrepreneur. He encouraged budding entrepreneurs to never give up and and be ego-less. He said it's perfectly fine to start small but one should grow constantly.
  
• Mr Viren Rasquinha, COO, Olympic Gold Quest made a candid presentation on why India performs poorly in olympics. His views were frank and specific. It was great to know the kind of work Olympic Gold Quest is doing in order to improve Indian sports. Truly admirable!!!!
• Mr Vishnu Mohan, CEO Asia Pacific and Global Brand Managing Director, Havas Media in his very convincing presentation on how social media is impacting the new age society. The presentation was full of interesting facts. One clear inference drawn from the presentation was that the future of generating, spreading and leveraging ideas is not based on one way communication but on conversation and context.
• Mr Karti P Chidambaram, member, AICC encouraged the youth to be more aware of politics and participate in it more actively. He said in order to bring about real change in society, one has to become a part of politics.
• Ms Anuradha Oza, Senior Associate, Human Capital, Mercer speaking on the topic 'quest for happiness' told us that in order to choose a career one has to first find out what they truly love doing, then find out what they are good at and finally how one can make a living from it. I particularly loved a statement she made towards the end when she said that all of us have the potential to paint our own future and we need not buy anyone else's painting.
• Mr Abhijit Bhaduri, Chief Learning Officer, Wipro Ltd delivered a speech straight from his heart. He told us about his initial confusion in choosing a career to which I personally could relate . He told us how his book got rejected by publisher multiple times but he kept trying as his wife had once told him that 'you are not looking for multiple rejects. You are in search of a single 'Yes''. And indeed one publisher did say yes to him and I got my favorite author. It was inspiring to know how he manages his time inspite of being a passionate and high profile HR professional, author and also pursuing all his hobbies. He finally told us to never stop dreaming and never compromise on the little pleasures of life in meeting old friends or continuing the favorite hobbies.
• Mr Vinoo Titus, ED, SmartKapital Venture Associates provided two models of happiness namely the Drowning Man model & Love making model. The Drowning Man model is about deriving momentary pleasure after coming out from a tough trouble like in case of a drowning man. Love Making model is about having happiness in the beginning, middle and even the end of the process. He said in order sustain happiness in work one should persue meaningful goals in life. In order to sustain happiness one should find pleasure in work or a pleasurable work.

The convention was indeed a good experience with loads of learning.