MBAs advised to seize opportunities

Management graduates have to prepare themselves mentally once they step out of their institutes for, to become leaders, they need not luck but the mindset to seize opportunities that come their way.

"All depends on preparedness for seizing the opportunities," Tata Sons director Dr J J Irani told the 186 managers who graduated from the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) here.

The importance of ethics in business has gone up, Irani said. "The recent scams in the West raised an outcry for clean business and once again proved that there is no substitute for business ethics. The end never justifies the means," he said. Sadly, most business schools giving a go-by to business ethics in their curriculum, he added.

Dr Irani said while he was managing director of Tata Steel, Laloo Prasad Yadav was elected chief minister of the then undivided Bihar in 1989.

"At a one-to-one meeting, I told him that we will never embarrass him. In return, I requested him to let us follow our own principles. I give credit to him that he never made an inappropriate demand. This proves that we can work ethically," Irani said.

Credibility was the only requirement in a leader. "It takes a life time to build, but a simple act of faithlessness destroys it completely," he warned.

Chairman of the XLRI board of governors and Tata Steel managing director, B Muthuraman, advised the graduates, "Life is not a 100 metre race but a marathon. You have learnt concepts at the XLRI, now you will learn the context."

XLRI director Father P D Thomas, who retires April 30, spoke on future plans of the institute. XLRI was among the top B-schools in terms of average salaries in our campus recruitment.

"A decision on executive PGP programme in Muscat and Singapore on the lines of XLRI's Dubai venture is expected soon. The Xavier Admission Test (XAT) 2005 may go online too", he said.

The Superior General of Missionaries of Charity, Sister M Nirmala, received the prestigious Sir Jehangir Ghandy Gold Medal for Industrial and Social Peace on the occasion and dedicated it to the Blessed Mother Teresa and the downtrodden people she served.