Industry honchos like Analjit Singh, chairman Max India; Yogesh Andlay, founder, Nucleus Software; Anil Sachdev- former director, Eicher and KK Nohria, former chairman, Crompton Greaves, among others have come together to launch a new B-school, the School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL).
Vikram Lal, former chairman Eicher Group, Pradip Khandwalla, former director, IIM Ahmedabad and K Balasubramaniam, member, GMR Holding Board are some of the other industry experts associated with the project.
“This inspired leadership is based on the four pillars of sustainability, ethics, community service and self awareness. We will focus on innovation and entrepreneurship in the programmes offered,” said Anil Sachdev, founder and CEO, SOIL and director, Eicher. Sachdev is also the founder of ECS and Grow Talent.
The school, that is being set up by a consortium of companies, will start the first set of programmes from July this year at its Gurgaon campus. The school will offer two inaugural programmes, ‘HR leadership’ and ‘Business Leadership’. The student intake will be 60 each. Both the programmes are full-time one-year programmes and are targeted at graduates and experienced managers respectively. Admission to the courses will consider the results of existing management entrance tests to test student’s verbal, analytical and numerical abilities but also emphasise on creativity and emotional intelligence.
“Business enterprises have to transform from a transactional intelligence of demand and supply economics to emotional intelligence of building, nurturing and caring that allows the benefits of economic growth to sustain ecological and social environment. It is keeping these very aspects in mind that our leadership development programs include a special focus on ethics, values, community partnerships, inclusiveness, diversity and personal mastery, ” Nishchae Suri, president, SOIL, said.
The 25,00-square feet, Gurgaon-based city institute has been set up with an investment of Rs 25 crore. The consortium is mulling another 6-acre campus in Chandigarh with residential facility.
The faculty at the school will be mostly hired from foreign B-schools. Practising leaders from the industry will also be hired.
The curriculum has been designed with detailed inputs from industry leaders and emphasises skills in areas like systemic thinking, change and risk management, stakeholder engagement and problem solving.
It is not the first time that industry leaders have come together for such a venture. In November last year, Analjit Singh, chairman, Max India, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice-chairman and managing director, Bharti Enterprises; Sunil Kant Munjal, managing director and chief executive officer, Hero Corporate Service; Atul Punj, Chairman, Punj Lloyd Group came together to support the Indian School of Business(ISB) second campus in Mohali.
The 70-acre ISB campus site at Mohali has been allotted land by the Punjab government on a 99-year lease at Rs 1 per acre annually. The expenses for setting up the campus amounted to Rs 300 crore. Of these, Rs 200 crore was funded by the four founder supporters with each contributing Rs 50 crore. The ISB campus will be operational 2012.
