Premji urges IIM graduates to keep dreaming

Young people must use experience to reshape dreams and adapt them to changing reality, because every single transformation or achievement, individual or social, begin with a dream, Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Corporation, said at the annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIMC) in Kolkata Saturday. He was speaking on the theme, "Continuous transformation".

He told IIMC students that people who succeeded were those who could constantly transform themselves and had a deep seated desire to change themselves and the environment using dreams as the most powerful internal motivator.

'Stay on course even if you stumble", Premji added, as the difference between great achievement and mediocrity was not extraordinary talent or intelligence, but perseverance.

Urging IIMC students not be enamoured by the legacy of success in their current roles and instead look further, Premji said the only way to keep learning was by contributing, even if it meant not being the leader every time.

Excellence should be an all consuming passion but at the same time leaders should laugh and find humour everyday. Being cheerful was a positive attitude which elevated people, he added.

Premji said a talent can be defined as that skill which we not only enjoy learning but which we can also learn rapidly. At the same time, leaders should always welcome feedback even if it came in the guise of criticism.

Criticism has to be taken constructively because it shows what more there was to be learnt. "Finally, always play to win", the Wipro chairman told the convocation audience.