3rd CLO Chief Learning Officers Summit Inaugurated

• Cabinet Education Minister Shri. Rajendra Darda empahsised the need of Public Private Participation
• Leading professionals to deliberate and brainstorm on the role of learning & development function in an organization over two days

The third edition of the Chief Learning Officers (CLO) Summit India was inaugurated here in Mumbai on August 25th. Shri. Rajendra Darda, Cabinet Minister of Education, Govt. of Maharashtra inaugurated the summit and delivered the key note address. The two-day summit is organized by LeapVault, a premier Indian player in organization development consulting, executive coaching and creating high end knowledge platforms, and is supported by the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Govt of India. The mega highlight this year will be the ‘Unlearning Expo India’.

Shri Darda, during his key-note, emphasized the significance of the corporate involvement in the education system and importance of Public Private Participation. He said, “The theme of the summit- Organizational Learning: Impacting Business. Changing the Game - is apt as it truly reflects on the current scenario. Education system needs to be revamped and organizational learning should be the focus. It needs to be oriented towards skill development as India needs skilled labour in order to grow, sustain and develop. For this we need the support of corporates. They should come ahead and invest in curriculum and syllabus design. The syllabus needs to be more contemporary and should keep up with the industrial requirements. Focus should be more on interesting projects and extracurricular activities which will provide much needed confidence to the students to face the challenges of the corporate world. It will do wonders to their self esteem. Public Private Participation is the key word in education and also much needed for the paradigm shift.”

He further commended the work by LeapVault for initiating the summit and providing a common platform to the corporate and public representatives for deliberation and discussion on organizational learning.

Mr Bhaskar Chatterjee, Secretary - IAS, Government of India, Dept. of Public Enterprises, expressing his views earlier said, “The 'CLO Summit India' has indeed become the premier platform in the country for evangelizing the all important areas of organizational learning and development. It shall continue to bring to the fore, important aspects for people development in both private and public enterprises,”

Mr Kumaar Bagrodia, CEO, LeapVault and convener CLO Summit, said, “An organization’s capability to unlearn and learn will not only be a key differentiator but will also be a source of competitive advantage in terms of its ability to attract and retain talent, customers and investors. The position of the Chief Learning Officer whether designated or role based is extremely crucial in driving the next level of organizational learning, innovation, culture and the very DNA of the organization. The Chief Learning Officers Summit India is an initiative to bring focus on this important aspect of the corporate world.”

The theme for the CLO Summit 2011 is: Organizational Learning: Impacting Business. Changing the Game. As the theme suggests, the summit will deliberate on a plethora of questions pertaining to learning & development function and professionals and how it can make a meaningful contribution to the organization.

The summit will try to answer pertinent issues such as the need of effective and planned organizational learning interventions, learning strategy & framework for performance improvement and capacity building, challenges & opportunities in developing learning agility, skill requirements & development in India amongst others. Some of the leading industry champions will speak on importance of learning in corporates. Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor of IGNOU shall be making a special address at the summit. Mr. Amitabh Chaudhry, Managing Director & CEO, HDFC Standard Life Insurance Co. Ltd will share his thoughts and beliefs on why learning process is important for a CEO and Mr. Devdutt Pattanaik, Chief Belief Officer, Future Group will address on Leadership & Learning an Indian Paradigm.

The audience will also have an opportunity to listen to the best practices from the select Indian companies who are consistent winners of the ASTD Best awards (American Society of Training & Development, USA).

Some of the other key speakers for the summit include Dr. Rekha Shetty, Author, The Happiness Quotient, Ms. Lucia Del Moral Haworth, Learning & Development Lead, APAC Region, Pfizer, Mr. Mathew Jacob, Director, Organization Effectiveness, Boeing USA, Mr. Aparnesh Pal Singh, Head HR, Arcelor Mittal India & China amongst the 39 thought leaders who shall be speaking at the summit.

The CLO Summit is an initiative by LEAPVAULT supported by IGNOU, NIIT, IOC, NTPC, HPCL, Petronet LNG, Harvard Business Publishing, NSDC, Who Moved My Cheese, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, GIZ, AIESEC, AIAI, minglebox.com, Timesjobs.com, itsmyascent.com, IFTDO, Human Capital, People Matters, Management Next, Human Factor people and management and EU India Chambers.