SOIL hosts the Dr. V. Kurien Memorial Inspired Leadership Conference

SOIL hosts the Dr. V. Kurien Memorial Inspired Leadership Conference

Top industry leaders congregate at SOIL to discuss ‘Is Goodness the key to disruptive innovation’
National, December 18th 2014: The School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) hosted the 6th edition Inspired Leadership Conference (ILC 2014) in Gurgaon on 12th-13th December. The conference was dedicated in the memory of Dr. V Kurien, the father of “White Revolution “in India who worked endlessly towards development in the agriculture sector. The theme for the conference was ’Is goodness the key to disruptive innovation’. Thinkers, business leaders and entrepreneurs such as Harsh Mariwala, Chairman -Marico Industries; RS Sodhi, MD, GCMMF (Amul) Ltd. Anand; Naveen Narayanan, Global Head Talent Acquisition- HCL Technologies; Rachna Mukherjee, Country Partner- VP HR, Schneider Electric , participated in the Conference. The two days saw enriching discussions and deliberations on the thought provoking idea of leveraging goodness to create disruptive innovation.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Harsh Mariwala, Chairman -Marico Industries, said, “I believe goodness works at two levels : one is corporate and the other is at personal level. On a personal level, if each person discovers a strong purpose of life, they give back something to the society. To me this is goodness. For corporates, if the stakeholders do something good for their employees, it will reflect in better motivation, better results and will help the corporate. Innovation, on the other hand, is on top of the agenda of all global CEOs and unless you innovate, you will fall behind.”

Students learn to appreciate the importance of Goodness in everyday life.

Soil organized activities that saw a participation by various students and professionals .It helped people understand the importance of imbibing & appreciating goodness in their day to day life.

Circle of Giving -The SOIL students did a social experiment, Karma Rasoi , to understand whether Goodness can help create an innovative experience . Can Inspired by the global Idea of Karma Kitchen ( karmakitchen.org ), students of SOIL went to a busy restaurant in Gurgaon during lunch hours see the results of the experiment unfold . The Students paid the bill of the lunch eaters. At the end of the meal the students greeted the unsuspecting guest with a” your meal is free” message and asked them whether they would keep the chain going by opting to ‘pay-it-forward’. Irrespective of the bill, the recipient could walk away paying nothing at all or pay whatever he felt was befitting. SOIL students footed a bill of INR 14,000 and received pay-it-forward gift money of INR 10,000

Chanakyan 2014- As part of the Inspired Leadership Conference , SOIL organized an online photography contest where students submitted an original piece of professional photography on the theme of “ goodness “ Th The contest received an overwhelming response with 105 enteries from across the country and overseas . The first & second positions were backed by budding photographers, Mr. Afroz Haider & Mr.Sourav Karmakar respectively.. A special award People’s choice was given to Mr. Simar Pal, alumni of SOIL, for the most appreciated photography by the audience.

Yuvah 2014 – The Inspired Leadership Conference also provided a platform for students to showcase their talent through a street play The event saw participation of teams from the NGO, Saksham and IMS Gurgaon

One of the most awaited and exciting section at the Inspired leadership conference was INQUIZIT, a QUIZ hosted by Mitesh Aggarwal. INQUIZIT drew participation from 36 teams.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Anil Sachdev, Founder of SOIL, said, “SOIL aims at creating value driven leaders who can restore the balance in the Indian corporate landscape. The Inspired Leadership Conference was an attempt to get diverse minds together to discuss critical areas of creating t leaders who can serve as social change agents. We truly believe that goodness is the pivot around which innovation can be driven”.


School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL), Gurgaon

SOIL, School of Inspired Leadership
SOIL is a business school that provides holistic education that builds inspired leaders by enabling people to know who they are, recognize their purpose and realize their full potential, to build organizations of consequence.

To accomplish this SOIL-

Nurtures Character through the practice of its values through rituals and symbols (Like Morning Circle, Himalayan Retreats, Appreciative Inquiry, working on Social Innovation, Yoga, Simulation through theatre etc.)Build Competence by focusing on whole systems thinking, a fresh and future ready curriculum, teaching methods and spaces that deploy multiple intelligences and one to one mentoring by seasoned leaders and live projects. SOIL believes in Generating Enthusiasm by enabling people to define their purpose, identify their gifts and learn to leverage their strengths towards their calling.