At IIM Kashipur, industry leaders reimagine performance in a post-digital age | Mumbai News
MUMBAI: Leadership in today’s workplace, argued one speaker, is no longer about command and control but about balance. “The essence of leadership in this new era,” said a representative from Paisabazaar at Samanvaya 2025 Chapter 1, “is balance between freedom and discipline, technology and humanity, accountability and empathy. That balance will define the success of future workplaces.”The day-long conclave at IIM Kashipur was designed precisely to probe that balance. By bringing together business leaders, academics, and students, the institute sought to create a platform for candid conversation on how performance and leadership must be reimagined in a workplace where the boundaries between office and home, machine and human, task and outcome, are constantly blurring.Beyond the clockThe second panel of the conclave, aptly titled Beyond Hours: Redefining Performance Metrics for the Digital Age, set the tone for a generational shift. Gone is the obsession with clocking hours. What matters now, panellists insisted, is how employees convert skills into impact.“Performance in today’s era is measured less by presence and more by purpose,” said Pratyush Rahul, Head of Campus Hiring and Chief of Staff to Global Head HR at Tech Mahindra. “True efficiency lies in how individuals translate skills into impact, and how seamlessly they adapt to change.”For Rushal Chaudhari, Assistant Manager HR at USDC Projects India, the pivot is toward agility: “We are reimagining evaluation frameworks to recognise skills, innovation, and collaborative outcomes over traditional parameters.”Manoj Kumar Prasad, Vice President for Digital Transformation and Adoption at Reliance Industries, went further. “Corporate ecosystems thrive on integrity, not just discipline,” he said. “Performance metrics must reflect trust, accountability, and value creation, enabling employees to innovate while staying true to organisational values.”Moderating the discussion, Shivam Maheshwari, Senior Product Manager at ServiceNow, framed the conversation as urgent. “As organisations move towards new age performance models, conversations like these become crucial. We value such industry–academia dialogues that inspire fresh thinking and practical frameworks for the future of work.”Where classroom meets boardroomFor IIM Kashipur’s faculty, the conclave was also a reminder that classrooms cannot be insulated from boardrooms. “Platforms like Samanvaya allow our students to engage directly with industry leaders, gaining insights into how theory translates into practice,” said Prof. Utkarsh, Chairperson of Placements and Corporate Relations. “This continuous dialogue ensures that our graduates are not only academically strong but also industry ready.”His colleague, Prof. Deepak Verma, added that employer expectations themselves are shifting. “Today, organisations seek talent that can adapt quickly, think critically, and lead with empathy. Conclaves like these provide students the opportunity to understand what value creation means in the modern workplace, beyond traditional definitions of success.”The road aheadAs the discussions wound down, the message was clear: future leaders will not be judged by the hours they clock but by the value they create. The conclave, hosted under the Samanvaya banner, is only the first chapter in a continuing dialogue that will probe the intersections of people, technology, and performance.For IIM Kashipur, the ambition is as much about shaping students as it is about shaping discourse. “Samanvaya 2025 | Chapter 1” was not just an event, but a statement of intent—that the institute will continue to nurture conversations where industry experience and academic inquiry meet, and where tomorrow’s managers learn what it means to lead in times of change.
