Motivational Speaker, Bestselling Author and Leadership Coach Mr. Prakash Iyer imparted lessons on leadership qualities to KIIT Students and Staff on the occasion of KIIT Fest 5.0 on 17th February, 2019 at the Auditorium, Campus 6.
Mr. Iyer cited various examples from day to day lives and explained to the students the nuances of taking decisions and how to become leaders in their respective chosen fields. He initiated the discussion by asking the students that how good leaders are they. He emphasized the point that the key principle of leadership is taking ownership.
He also starred the audience brains by asking them a fundamental question “Why do intelligent people do stupid things and get into problems and why one should stop his vehicle at the red signal in a traffic crossing”. He counseled the students that they should hold cold values their heart and discount them.
He said that it is easier to hold to life principles cent percent of the time. He emphasized that great ideas come out of the accidents. He brought home the fact that leaders are like tea bags. One should put them in hot water, but the tea bags need to be porous.
At the end of the day, it is all about how good is the tea is, not how good is the teabag is. He advised the students to develop the learning agility that is knowing what to do, when you don’t know what to do. He told that a genuine leader should not take credit away from his team in case of success in difficult situation.
On the other hand, he should take ownership for the failures. He cited the example of an Aero-plane which managed to land on the Hudson River in New York, USA with both the engines failed and all the passengers being saved. Mr. Iyer said that to emerge as a leader, one should put knowledge into action and should practice Ph.D in everyday life.
According to him, P stands for passion, H for hunger and D for discipline. In life one should aim high and a goal to succeed. He took examples from the cricketing world like Rickey Ponting, the iconic Australian Batsman who always found the gaps in the field. In life, one should always search for the solution and not worry about the problems.
He gave examplesfrom his own corporate career at Pepsico, where he always supported the delivery boy at the lowest rung giving service to the customer though he was rather the MD-cum-CEO. He told that the traditional Pyramid Structure of the organizations should be made upside down and people at the lowest rung should be kept at the top. He drew instances from ancient history, when a person asked the Greek Guru Socrates to impart him some wisdom. Socrates put the man’s head inside water and asked him how he felt. One should have that kind of desire to succeed in life.
Lastly, he gave the example of Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who in his first test match at Sialkot in Pakistan was hit by a Wasim Akram Bouncer, started bleeding in the nose, but didn’t leave the field retired hurt. Rather, when he was counseled to leave the field for medical aid, retorted “main kheloonga(I’ll play)”. This exemplified his determination to fight and succeed in extreme adverse situations and went on to score a half century.
Mr. Iyer ended his discourse in saying that all the human beings are born with leadership qualities and it is important to ignite it to succeed in life. At the end, Mr. Iyer was felicitated by the Mr. Sudhir Kumar Rath, Dy. Registrar(Boys Hostel) KIIT DU for his awe-inspiring talk and received thunderous applause from the delighted students.