MBAUniverse.com exclusive: Dr A P J Abdul Kalam kicks off his lecture series at FMS Delhi

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
July 28, 2016
The former President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam inspired the management graduates at Faculty of Management Studies (FMS),

University of Delhi with his inspirational thoughts on role of Creative Leaders in transforming India during his first lecture at FMS on December 22, 2007.Dr Kalam is now formally associated with FMS Delhi as an Adjunct Professor. The lecture was the first in a series of eight to ten lectures that shall be delivered as a part of the course "Economics, Technology and National Development". In his first lecture, Dr Kalam focused on Leadership Qualities and essentials requirements for a Creative Leader.  

The lecture was attended by the selected 90 bright students from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, a delegation from South Korea who are on a visit to FMS and the Lahore University of Management Studies (LUMS) who are here to attend the first international business school sports meet (Altius 2007) organized at FMS.  

During his lecture, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam said, "One of the very important ingredients to success of vision of transforming India into a developed nation by 2020 is the evolution of creative leaders."  

In his discourse, Dr. Kalam illustrated how Creative Leadership can help transform India into a developed economy. The creative leadership, according to Dr Kalam, is exercising the task to change the traditional role from commander to coach, manager to mentor, from director to delegator, and from one who demands respect to one who facilitates self-respect.  

The higher the proportion of the creative leaders in a nation, the higher the potential of success of visions like developed India. According to Dr. Kalam, "Leaders accept failure and manage it and when they succeed, they pass on the credit to the team." 

On the occasion Dr Kalam also spoke at length about his personal experiences with creative leaders like Prof. Vikram Sarabhai and Dr. Satish Dhawan.  

Clearly, the privileged few who attended the lecture were inspired with what they heard.  Says Abhishek Sipani, second year student at FMS, Delhi, "The entire lecture was full of real-life examples and showcased Dr. Kalam as a great scientist and an even better manager, and not just the dynamic President we all know."  

The lecture ended with an assignment to the students. Dr Kalam gave the assignment where students have to define a Leader, according to their perception and on the basis of the lecture. Other questions are on sharing experiences on managing failures and success, facilitating nobility in management and capabilities that needs to be built through the education system to create creative leaders. 

After the lecture, speaking to MBAUniverse.com, Prof J K Mitra, Dean, FMS Delhi, said: "This is Dr Kalam's first lecture on leadership. This series will continue. Dr Kalam will also take classes on the topic like 'Building a developed India: Leveraging science and technology', Knowledge management and Ethics." 

The students from Lahore University and South Korea find the session quite illuminating. Speaking to MBAUniverse.com Khurram Shahzed Sanad, MBA student from LUMS said, "It was a great learning session. We inspired by the way he linked developed India with creative leaders by relating his ideas with examples and I think we can also incorporate his ideas in our culture also."