A dream come true!

Having been an ardent admirer of Dr.Abdul Kalam, his books and his vision 2020, I always had the dream to hear his speech in person. This dream turned a reality at IIMB last evening. I got to experience how a good opening of a speech can make a powerful impact, a lesson I learnt from Toastmasters. He started off with the following verses:-
Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.
Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.
Just walk beside me, and be my friend.

Dr.Kalam painted a picture of his vision 2020 and highlighted different areas such as infrastructure, energy and agriculture where management graduates can play a vital role. He also urged on the importance of employablity and put forth key leadership traits such as vision, exploring the unexplored, courage and integrity. Creative leadership means being a coach rather than a commander and a mentor rather than a manager.

More than his talk, I admired the way he tackled the questions. When a guy listed down a series of problems that India is facing, he encouraged him to think about what he could do to solve some of these problems. Youth should enter developmental politics and not political politics.

As a fitting end to the evening, he made the audience take an oath that we would work with integrity and succeed with integrity. An experience I would cherish for a long time!