Session Archive

10. Don't say 'YES' when you want to say 'NO' (October 28, 2010): Delivered by Mr. Deepak Bharwani, this was his 4th talk in the series of '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' focusing on the theme of 'collaboration'. The ice-breaker for the session was an arm-wrestling match between two volunteers from the audience. Mr. Bharwani started by quoting the General Sherman trees from the Sequia National Park, California, which by virtue of their height and width, dwarf the neighboring vegetation. This great expanse is attributed to their extensive, interconnected roots which support each other at the same time. This demonstrates the vital importance of ‘collaboration’ in achieving magnificent outcomes. To drive home this point, Mr. Bharwani asked the audience to list the uses of glass, first individually, then in smalls groups and finally collectively as a class. Not much to our surprise, the list grew significantly with the group size.

Moving ahead, he discussed the different ways to collaborate – an assertive approach being the best amongst the lot. He defined four types of behaviour as illustrated in the adjoining matrix and described them in short as follows:

  1. Agressive OR Win-Lose: I'm OK. You're not OK.
  2. Submissive OR Lose-Win: I'm not OK. You're OK.
  3. Assertive OR Win-Win: I'm OK. You're OK.

Causes of not being assertive may include one's social and cultural upbringing, lack of practice, fear of rejection, poor self-confidence, poor self-expression, etc. In order to be assertive despite these stumbling blocks, a five-step method was proposed by the speaker as follows.

  1. Acknowledge the other person’s point of view/feelings.
  2. Describe the situation as you see it (show examples/data) carefully avoiding judgements, arguments and inferences.
  3. Show the consequences.
  4. Express your feelings.
  5. Finally, state (describe specifically) what you want.

This being done will help one win the situation as well as the person’s goodwill. Several volunteers from the audience enacted many situations, which were then analyzed and classified by the audience into assertive, aggressive and submissive behaviours. Looking into the eyes of the other person, talking in a calm, modulated, firm and positive voice, showing empathy, being specific, avoiding blame were some of the suggestions given to be able to speak assertively. Questionnaires designed to test the assertive index of an individual were distributed amongst the audience. The session came to an end with Dhruv Gupta - the master of ceremony - proposing a vote of thanks to the speaker. The snaps from the session can be viewed here.

9. First Things First (October 2, 2010): The theme of this session was ‘Time Management’. To achieve what you want, you must plan. To plan, one must know where one is spending one’s time and whether one’s actions help one achieve one’s desired goal. To prioritize one’s work is essential if one wants to best utilize the time available to oneself. The activities of a person can be classified into four quadrants

  1. ‘Urgent and Important’ (Quadrant I) – assignment submission by 5'O clock, today; ‘important’ as one gets some credit for doing it and ‘urgent’ as the deadline is nearing
  2. ‘Urgent but Unimportant’ (Quadrant II) – chatting with a friend while studying for an examination
  3. Neither urgent nor Important (Quadrant III) – Watching a test match, it does you no good as its result will not affect you in anyway (assuming you haven't bet on its outcome :P).
  4. ‘Not urgent but Important’ (Quadrant IV) – switching off one's mobile when one is about to enter a meeting is not an urgent event, but important as others may get annoyed by a ringing mobile.

Mr. Bharwani mentioned that the world's best managers spend about 70% of their time available in Quadrants I and IV. The more one is occupied with the work in these two quadrants, the more one utilises one’s time fruitfully and hence more productive the person is.

8. Finding One’s Voice (August 24, 2010): Mr. Deepak Bharwani delivered this session focused on finding one's VOICE – that which eggs one on, despite one’s limitations. Irrespective of the society’s reaction, one’s voice will guide oneself find the appropriate path to succeed in life and be content with it. How does one find one's voice? Every human being is talented at one thing or the other; one must recognize it and nurture it. How to find one’s talent? It is something which you do with little or no tangible effort, while others struggle at it; something like a cheetah winning a running race, irrespective of the amount of preparation by the other animals. One might be good at academics, another at sports, another at arts and so on… each person has his/her own talents. Does only talent suffice? NO!! As Thomas Edison says - "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". Hard work is an essential part of success. How long can you work on a thing despite being unable to see light at the end of the tunnel? One must be passionate about what one is doing and have the right attitude. Passion makes all the difference even when one is not achieving the desired results. Attitude is defined as 'disposition, position, feeling, etc. with regard to a person/thing'. One's feeling for the work and different approach is necessary to make a difference in the field that one is keen on working in. One must also be able to accept the changes in the field and move on. Hence, to find one's voice, one must identify one’s talent, be passionate about it, must work hard on it, and last but not the least, must have the right attitude. The snaps from the session can be viewed here.

7. Orientation Session (July 27, 2010): The session registered an attendance over with over 250 freshies assembled in P.C.Saxema Auditorium. It started off with an overview of the club's inception and its activities by Sohinee Ganguly (Research Scholar, HSS). Mr. Bharwani's engaging talk on 'How to be an AttiDude?' followed next, and was well-received by one and all. Amongst other group activities, it also comprised of a spontaneous skit performed by enthusiastic freshies and an open challenge of 20 push-ups by the speaker, which was accepted by an energetic freshie from the audience. The session concluded with few announcements related to the club and the students' feedback on the same. The snaps from the session are accessible here.

6. AttiDude (March 13, 2010):

5. 6½ Traits of Proactive Leader (January 3, 2010): The snaps from the session can be viewed here.

4. Begin with End in Mind (November 8, 2009): The session began with Sohinee (PhD student, HSS) introducing our guest speaker – Mr. Deepak Bharwani, Founder, Origin Corp. He spoke on the theme ‘Begin with end in mind’. He began with a group activity involving a jigsaw puzzle. The audience was completely mesmerized by this talk. He also showed 2 video clips related to the theme – a coke advertisement and another one on how Charles Dickens got his inspiration to write ‘A Christmas Carol’. The session concluded with Tamal (PhD student, CSE) summarizing the activities of the club over the semester, introducing the winter school and inviting feedbacks from the audience over the club’s activities and what they expect from the club in future. The snaps from the session can be viewed here.

3. To Act or To Be Acted Upon - Aligning with Principles (September 28, 2009): Continuing from last session, this session elaborated on the aspect of ‘Principles’, as against ‘Paradigms’. Ankur (BTech student, EE) made an engaging presentation, connecting very well with his audience of over 35 freshers. His talk was interspersed with his funny anecdotes over his last 3 years in campus. He spoke about one’s freedom to choose, proactive v/s reactive behavior and circle or influence v/s circle of concern. The session concluded with group discussions on some daily life scenarios in campus life of students. The slides presented can be found here and the snaps can be viewed here.

2. Paradigms and Principles (August 29, 2009): The session was delivered by Parakram (DD student, EE) and Ved (student@MSc Chem) emphasizing on the role of one’s paradigms in life and how a paradigm shift can convert a threat into an opportunity and vice versa, by means of case studies, group activities, video clips, etc. An enthusiastic audience of over 40 freshers benefited from this discussion. The slides presented can be found here.

1. Orientation Session (August 11, 2009): The orientation program registered a participation of over 250 young, enthusiastic freshers, in addition to 4 eminent faculties from the institute which included Dean AP and Prof. Gadre. The session began with a keynote address delivered by Prof. Biswas (Dean AP), followed by a brief presentation by Parakram (DD student, CSE) and Sohinee (PhD student, HSS) on the aim and activities of the club. It also featured a short video clip on re-prioritizing one’s priorities by Steven Covey, and concluded with short address by Prof. Gadre and other faculties present. The slides presented can be found here.