Bringing the best to the table

The MindMine Summit has evolved with the changing Indian political and economic scenario

Chuckles broke the silence in the quiet gathering when Mr Sunil Kant Munjal said, “I’m glad we didn’t have a seven-year itch and moved into the eighth year.” Munjal, joint managing director, Hero Motocorp Limited and Chairman, Hero Corporate Service Limited, was talking about The MindMine Summit, the eighth in the series, which recently concluded in New Delhi.

As in earlier years, the annual flagship event of Hero Corporate Service, a Hero Group company, featured eminent speakers from various fields. The summit seeks to generate intellectual discussions and build thought leadership on subjects of importance to Indian industry and to Indians as a whole.

Every year the summit sees policy makers, government and corporate leaders, artists, politicians and academics come together to discuss and debate key issues of national interest. A whole host of luminaries and distinguished leaders from every field of human endeavour have been a part of this iconic event since the first edition in 2006.

What sets the summit apart from the others, besides its prominent speakers, is its format. The summit opts for an interactive format for its plenary sessions and panel discussions. Instead of fixed delivery formats, panel speakers and session chairpersons, they have dialogue partners and interlocutors. To make discussions livelier, the summit has two ‘must attend’ sessions -- the MindMine Exchange and MindMine Debate about topics of business and national importance.

It was in its seventh edition last year that the group opted for a more interactive format for plenary sessions and panel discussions. This change went down very well with the audience, and the feedback was promptly acted upon.

The summit has also evolved with the rapidly changing face of the Indian economy. So, if the second summit focused on ‘The Global Indian Manager’, the 2009 summit focussed on ‘Challenges of Troubled Times: Opportunities and Threats’, and on how India was going to turn the recession into an opportunity for growth. In 2011, the focus was on ‘Thriving in Uncertainty: Is this the Real India?’

Cut to 2013. Thanks to the interplay of political and economic forces, this year the Summit’s focus was, ‘Today’s India: Economics or Politics?’ A diverse set of eminent speakers brainstormed on economic and political realities of today’s times and what they could mean for the country, through an eclectic mix of interactive plenary sessions, ‘exchanges’ and debates.

On the sidelines of the summit, the BML Munjal Awards for Excellence in Learning and Development were presented. The awards look at companies that have consistently leveraged training and learning for building competitive advantage. The winners were selected by an independent jury consisting of some of India's most respected corporate executives. The award is named after Hero Group Chairman and Padma Bhushan Awardee Brijmohan Lall Munjal -- a leader who has built the Hero Group from scratch.