A trailblazer is the one who blazes a trail to usher and edify others. He/She is the one who is a pathfinder and explores untraversed regions of knowledge to help others to see the gleam of innovation.

IMT Hyderabad, in association with “More Than HR Global” organized the HR convention- Trailblazers: “Learning from the Best” on 24th of November 2018. The event is the profusion of acclaimed personages with unparalleled prescience. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for everyone to interact with people with glorious accomplishments and experience the realities of the world outside the walls of classrooms. The theme of the event was ‘Lessons In Leadership from Sports’, so all the eminent speakers had some mutuality with sports.

The promising event commenced with the lighting of lamp by Dr.Satish Ailawadi, Director of IMT Hyderabad and Mr Rajesh Kamath, co-founder of MTHR, followed by an oration by the Director in which he exuded light on the interconnection between leadership and sports, how the team is always more cardinal than individuals and the substance of empowerment in leadership.

The esteemed speakers for the event included the following:

• Rohini Rau- India’s top woman sailor, Medical Doctor and Senior Medical Officer, TED Fellow, and Facilitator – Human Centered Design
• Mr Dev Prasad, QA Head – Engineering Solutions at Robert Bosch and Author of Bestseller ‘Pitch It’
• Mr Harimohan Pavuru, former Ranji Trophy player, Author of ‘50 Not Out’, Coach, Motivational Speaker and Workshop Facilitator
• Meghana Gundlapally, Rhythmic Gymnast at Commonwealth Games for India
• Mr Yogesh Maurya, Technical and Sporting Director-Fateh Hyderabad A.F.C, Premier India Partner, and Former Corporate Leader.
• Mr Ramesh Nagapuri, Dronacharya awardee and coach to Indian champion athlete Dutee Chand

The first inciting trailblazer of the day was the eight time gold medallist in sailing, Dr. Rohini Rau. She began her keynote speech by broadcasting a video on selective attention test to highlight the fact that “while focussing on some things, we miss out on a lot of things”. She talked about the challenges she faced and iterated the line, “Expect the Unexpected- Be Prepared” to show how opportune preparation helped her in conquering each challenge. She also emphasized on the importance of imparting different skills to the children to make them protean. The inspirational address concluded with her quotation- “Jack of all trades, Master of your life”.

Next in line was an engrossing panel discussion involving Mr Dev Prasad and Harimohan Pavuru, and was coordinated by Mr Rajesh Kamath. They shared their views on the close liaison between cricket and the corporate world. Mr Prasad talked about how he used management stories to write articles. He also pinpointed on the role of humility in the success of a sportsperson and used the examples of Sachin Tendulkar and JRD Tata to justify this assertion. Mr Harimohan shared his story of how he lost his confidence on being dropped from the team and thus used writing to distance himself from cricket. The entire discussion revolved around the fundamentals of leadership and the role of passion and responsibilities in building the character of a champion.

Age is just a number, and our next speaker certainly proved this. Ms Meghana, an exuberant 19-year-old girl who has inspired the world to rethink about how we perceive difficulties and has defined her life as a series of ordeals that have made her the resilient woman that she is. She is an epitome of immense maturity, and accredited her success not only to her physical flexibility but also to her mental strength, which helped her in maintaining focus. She took the crowd to her journey of success that started from state level to the international level. She also enunciated her perception on topics like role of focus, sense of purpose, controlling the mind, and enjoying the process.

The day-long contemplations concluded with the Valedictory Session, which had Mr Yogesh Maurya, joined by Mr Ramesh Nagapuri, Dronacharya awardee and coach to Indian champion athlete Dutee Chand as the Guest of Honour. The panel discussion encapsulated various topics emphasizing on the importance of coaching and mentorship in success. Mr Maurya shed some light on the importance of coming out of the comfort zone and maintaining the work-life balance. Mr Ramesh stressed on recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of a person and leveraging them by self-monitoring to sway each individual differently. Mr Maurya also underlined the significance of practical feedback in sports and how it determines the ultimate upshot. “Don’t be obsessed with the players of the other teams. Focus on yourself. They were the champions of yesterday, but you are the champion of today”, remarked Mr Ramesh as he concluded the discussion with an overwhelming ovation in appreciation of both the panelists from the audience.

With such intriguing episodes of apprehension and experience, the end looked desolated. Even then, the fervour seemed to lift the environs to some other level. The event concluded with the felicitation of the esteemed guests with mementos as a token of acknowledgement on behalf of the entire IMT Hyderabad clan. The guests then proceeded for a casual interaction over High Tea Networking. The event turned out to be a huge success and triggered the cognitive skills for the better. Everyone left the event with an enlightened mind and an instigated dedication to become a leader in the field of their expertise.

About the author,

    Mohit Sharma

Batch of 2018-20