Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

Introduction

Everyone was surprised when the ruling NDA Government nominated world famous scientist Dr. Abdul Kalam as their candidate for presidential elections. People wondered whether a scientist could shoulder the responsibility of the President of India. However Congress, SP, RJD, and AIADMK supported his candidature where as the communists erected their own candidate Captain Maxmi Saigal of Azad Hinda Fauz against Dr. Kalam only to be defeated by a large margin. Kalam won the battle securing over 90% vote and became the President of India on 25th July, 2002.

Family Background

He was born on 15th October, 1931 in Tikundi of Dhanuskodi in the district of Rameswaram, TamilNadu. His father was Jainaluddin, mother Ashiamma. His full name is Abdul Pakir Jainaluddin Abdul Kalam

Childhood Days

His father, Jainaluddin was a poor boatman, who earned very little and so they had to face utter hardship. Little Kalam loved the sea very much and spent hours on the sea beach watching the waves of the blue ocean. His parents were very simple and religious that influenced his lifestyle

Student Life

His education begins in a rural primary at Rameswaram. Later he gets admitted in a Ramnathpuram missionary school, Schoartz. To meet the expense of the school he starts hawking the newspaper. His struggle is appreciated by the teachers of his school when they come forward to help him noticing the spark of brilliance within him. In 1950 he gets admission in St. Joseph College, Trichi and graduated in science. Later he gets admitted in Madras Institute of Technology with a desire to be a pilot.

Job Profile

Passing out of MIT he joins the DRDO as the Senior Officer in 1958 in order to materialize his dream to construct an esteemed, powerful India. In his autobiography, “Wings of Fire” he writes ” The searching period of my life spans from 1931 to 1963. Then I have sought for the goal of my life and the very way to achieve it often I used to ask myself what should I do?”At last he joins ISRO in 1962 and next year engages himself in the research of launching the satellite, and comes in close contact with Dr. Vikram Sarabhai and Prof Satish Dhawan. Few months later he becomes the Project Director of SLV-3 satellite research programme; this marks the 2nd phase of his life.

APJ Abdul Kalam

Succes In Life-CSBOYZZZ

An uncompromising focus on the destination, a clear vision of where one wants to reach and an ability to communicate priorities form some of the key aspects of CSBOYZZZ  passionate views on being a CSBOYZZZ

Q: What is the one thing that you draw your strength to achieve your goals?
A: It's my inner motivation and strength to achieve your goal that I draw my strength.

Q: What is the one facet of leadership that has truly inspired you?
A: Having a clear vision and articulate one’s vision clearly is inspiring. Being able to motivate and execute that vision and the objectives is truly inspiring.

Q: What is the one thing that you would advise to upcoming and aspiring CIOs?
A: The clarity of vision and objectives takes time…doesn’t happen overnight. Taking the right decisions, getting the right people to enable this process and have a mature business understanding is critical to be successful.

Q: Who is the one leader that you have admired?
A: Our CMD, Sunil Bharati Mittal especially his journey in the last years and vision for the future is admirable.

Q: What is the one major challenge you face as a CIO?
A: Keeping up to date with technology and aligning it to business goals is important. This is one field where the learning is never ending and there is so much to learn and know.

Q: What is the one successful practice you deploy to motivate your teams?
A: Empowerment of people is very critical to motivate teams. Having trust in their ability to deliver is another important aspect of motivation.

Q: What is the one thing you do to manage stress?
A: Having a positive attitude and not mulling over the negative aspects aids in managing stress.

Q: What is the one thing that decision makers and leaders must avoid as a rule?
A: Procrastination and dilly –dallying in taking decisions is one thing that decision makers must avoid.

Q: Name one HR best practice that can aid in people retention?
A: The HR needs to keep track of the Self Development Programs and build channels to fulfill the needs communicated by employees. Appropriate training programs help in retaining employees.

Q: What is the one great opportunity you see in these tough times of global recession?
A: This is the time have the right kind of planning in a comprehensive manner and take any steps towards remodeling and re-engineering that may be required to help in achieving the company’s long term goals.

Amrita Gangotra-AiRtEl

Amrita Gangotra

Director for Information Technology at Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Amrita Gangotra is the Director for Information Technology at Bharti Airtel Ltd. and is a member of the airtel management board.

She has experience in Information Technology across FMCG, telecom and IT industries. She joined bharti as the Vice President of Solution Engagement for Mobile Business in 2002. Through the years, Amrita has taken on additional and varied IT roles & responsibilities. Prior to her current assignment, Amrita was the CIO mobile services, the largest business unit of airtel. Additionally she headed airtel’s IT operations, governance across all lines of businesses (ie. Mobile, Telemedia and Enterprise Business) and B2C application innovation groups. She was part of the core team that developed the strategic IT outsourcing deals with IBM, Nortel etc.

She has been awarded multiple prestigious awards for the work done by her like Gold CIO award by the CIOL (Cyber India Online, Leading IT portal) and Dataquest (Leading IT magazine) and the runner up for the best CIO by CSI-KPIT Cummins, the best CIO award by Network Computing magazine. She has been on global advisory boards like IBM, Intense Technologies, Intel, AIMA etc. As the President of The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), India Chapter, she launched the business intelligence forum in India. She featured in the “Stree Super Achiever - 2008” CNBC Awaaz programme.

Prior to joining bharti, Amrita was the CIO and General Manager-IT Service Management for HCL Comnet Ltd. She was providing consultation to large enterprises based in US, UK and South East Asia for effective management of technology infrastructure (networks (WAN and LAN), systems, databases, storage and IT security) and industry best practices like ITIL and ISO-9002.

She has experience in process optimization and re-engineering through automation across business areas. Amrita spent nine years with Nestle India Ltd and was involved in implementation of a comprehensive ERP application across business groups in India that was a standard across Nestle Asia Pacific zone. She lead the company wide Y2K project and international projects for the development and implementation of applications across core business processes that were deployed across multiple countries.

After completing post graduation in Operations Research with top marks from Delhi University in 1988, Amrita joined Allen Bradley as a research officer for developing/automating heuristic and statistical models on market surveys. She has completed executive management programs from CCL and INSEAD.

Sunil Bharti Mittal-AiRtEl

Sunil Bharti Mittal     

Chairman & Managing Director

Sunil Bharti Mittal is the founder, chairman and group CEO of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, financial services, retail, realty, manufacturing and agriculture.

Sunil started his career at 18 after graduating from Punjab university in India in 1976 and founded bharti. Today, at 52, he heads a successful enterprise which employs over 30,000 people. bharti airtel, the flagship group company, has a market capitalization of approximately US$ 25 billion.

Sunil has been recognized with the padma bhushan, one of India’s highest civilian awards. He has also received the Lal bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for 2009. He is a past president of the confederation of Indian Industry, the premier industry body in India (2007-08).

Sunil has been awarded numerous awards and recognitions including the Global Economy Prize 2009 by The Kiel Institute, Germany. The US-India business council has also honored him with the 'global vision' award 2008. He has received the GSM association chairman's award for 2008.

Sunil was Co-chairman of the World Economic Forum in 2007 at Davos and is a member of its international business council. He is a member of the leadership council of The Climate Group. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is a member of several premier international bodies – International Advisory Committee to the NYSE Euronext Board of Directors, the International Business Advisory Council of London and the Advisory Board of the Global Economic Symposium. Sunil is also on the Telecom Board of the International Telecommunication Union, the leading UN Agency for Information and Communication Technology. He is also a member of the Indo-US CEOs Forum.

He serves as a member of the Executive Board of the Indian School of Business. He is also a member of the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs, Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Sunil believes a responsible corporate has a duty to give back to the community in which it operates. This belief has resulted in Bharti Foundation, which is committed to providing education to under-privileged.