Lakshya - Orchestrating Corporate Excellence

It was a misty evening in July 2009, when we, the newly entrants to PGDIE had gathered in the auditorium. Of course, Air Conditioners and PPTs do make a good sleep-inducing agent; but on the other hand the atmosphere was electric and charged up with enthusiasm, curiosity and inquisitiveness. It was the evening of Team Presentations, and the entire audience of around a hundred-odd people was eagerly expecting Team Lakshya seniors to deliver the presentation.

The seniors kept their word: the presentation was stupendous and engrossing. Though, by then we had already come to know much about the ‘pride of NITIE’, still the final impact was thrilling. Everybody wanted to be in Lakshya, and this was the time when I started to feel a li’l bit apprehensive.. Lakshya was my favorite team too, but here was stiff competition for only 11 slots!

The team selection results were out and I was in! Gosh! That was a dream come true.. As days passed, seniors gave us the freedom to express our points, and the backing to chase our goals. From day 1 itself, we were allotted suitable work (which suited everyone’s individual tastes) and we were off on a mission of holding Lakshya 2009!

I will briefly touch upon the time which passed since then. With new, interesting and challenging issues to deal like getting artwork prepared, to negotiating with countless vendors, to coordinating with the NITIE staff, to interacting with the big honchos of the corporate, to proposing deals to prospective sponsors, to inviting the corporate to participate in this event…….. Phew! The list could well go beyond to eternity!

And then came the end of our innocence, (well literally too) and we were handed over the reins of the event from our seniors for Lakshya 2010. With that, began a different kind of game, which typically included us juggling with our classes and attendance (hopefully we found some smart ways of taking care of that) in the mornings, to meeting the leaders of Corporate India in the afternoons, to holding CFTs in the evenings (Abhishek and Sanket – u guys rocked!) to holding heated and looooooong drawn out discussions within the team almost every night. Of course, this exercise usually culminated with us chilling out at the Maggi shop downstairs in the dead of the night, or heading towards the Maddu mess !

Wo bhi kya din the …. We had a lifetime opportunity to meet and interact with top level executives of at least thousand companies across the nook and corner of India. We had the whole time in the world to make our own plans, and execute them. The day when we had presence of Mr. Subrata Roy (Sahara Group) and Mr. Ashok Rao Chavan (Ex CM of Maharashtra) confirmed; it was a day of great rejoicing for all of us.

The D-Day was even more thrilling. With rain threatening to play spoilsport, it took the effort and willpower from the entire batch of PGDIE (seniors and juniors) to come up with viable alternatives at the last time. It was a perfect blend of Disaster preparedness and Risk management – ironically the subjects which are not taught at our alma mater: P

When I look back at the last 2 years spent in NITIE, Lakshya stands out shining like a noble knight in armor. It stands for the indomitable spirit of us PGDIEans, and for the enthusiasm to win; no matter how great the odds may be stacked against us. I would like to extend my deeply acknowledged thanks to my team mates and batch mates, reverence for our seniors and, heartfelt wishes to the succeeding batches of PGDIE and torchbearers of Team Lakshya.

Hope to be back to witness a breath-taking and astonishing Lakshya 2011

Good luck !

Dhawal Moghe

PGDIE 39

NITIE, Mumbai

Lakshya "On the job achiever's contest" poster released!!

Poster released on March 22nd,2011

"Lakshya On the Job Achievers' Contest" - A 'place to be' for the practicing managers all over the globe to present their innovative ideas and business solutions in front of eminent jury from the industry.

My Lakshya My Life

At the outset, when I got selected in the team, I thought it’s an event. I was wondering why I ceded myself to it, but when we gelled up, I realized that it is more than just an event and the commitment is paramount substance. The transition from an event to Lakshya is worth mentioning here as it has sopped a lot of orchestration up.

I am a computer engineer and hence was offered a job of IT related stuff, more precisely a job of designing a web portal for LakshWiz. It was a big challenge to organize the incongruous data into more organized way on website. It is true that I tried almost 90 templates and 40 instrumentals in a week to finalize, though it may seem ridiculous but I learned that there is no modus operandi of doing a task. Many times I was gnawed by the onerous tasks but I learned how to parry the complexities. I still remember late night discussions occurred just for selecting rough template for the website, selecting font color, size and content. I remember how we run risks and have resolved critical issues regarding sponsors and our website (Thanks to Rohit and Sanket).It’s a bit interesting and sometimes irritating to explain working of website. Summing it up, I must say that designing a web portal was a real fun and it planted a knack into me to do things in a better and efficient way and taught me to think rationally. Finally all these efforts paid off!

Apart from this work, I got an opportunity to interact with industry stalwarts. It was really fantastic and great learning experience for me to glean information and invite various corporate personalities as eminent jury panel during the days of Lakshya. Unfortunately my success rate was zero percent.:). I learned a skill of saying NO but at the same time the person on the other side should not get hurt ( Most of the juries applied this trick of witty banters with me :) .First time in my life I found it really difficult to convince a person and get your work done and because of that, first time in my life I felt of being oleaginous and ingratiating. While working with Team, I have been assigned responsibility to invite industry people and convince them to present their projects at the ‘On the Job Achievers’ Contest ‘. Again I would say I didn’t succeed, so I started with my next assignment. After all “Lakshya is a process not a product.”

That is my oeuvre and contribution to Lakshya. I kicked up my heels, basked in Lakshya and at the same time raised my game.

I heartily appreciate the help from my crew for infinite support and providing me a channel to commune and not incarcerating our abilities, skills and thoughts to a particular area.

The experience that I got here is indelible and surreal. Finally I would like to say that you would not find such an awesome platform to showcase your talent and that's why Lakshya is the best, in any way u slice it.

Poonam Chaudhari

PGDIE 40

NITIE, Mumbai

Lakshya – My experiences

Its 8.00 am and my 3 hr sleep is broken by the speaker at our hostel wing: “Good morning, the BVA ceremony is about to start. All the students are kindly requested to be on time at the NITIE lawns”. As I wake-up, I begin to recall the events leading to this day. Two months ago I was selected for a team called “Lakshya” which would be responsible for conducting NITIE’s flagship event Lakshya .This event would bring the corporate world to our campus and bring us face to face with some of the renowned personalities in the Indian industry. The corporates would share their experiences and projects with students (a goldmine for any management student!).I was elated on being selected as one of the members to make this happen.

For the next one month I was calling the HRs and the top management executives seeking their participation in the event, and I will cherish that experience for a long time indeed.(of course some calls were a disaster!!!!!).Soon, we were involved in the execution phase and I found myself running to and fro printer shops to get printouts (posters), finding and finalizing florists for the decoration and negotiating with the sound system guy ( surely improved my time management and negotiation skills!).

Coming to the day before the event, I vividly remember the campus buzzing with activity and every student running around, doing some work. The campus is looking cleaner than usual and the buildings brand new. The greenery within the campus was well trimmed and awe inspiring!

Its 8.20 am and the speaker again goes “The BVA ceremony……… NITIE lawns”. I wake up from my slumber, get ready and walk to the NITIE lawns. I suddenly realize the task I was about to do. I am about to receive the MD of a company!.Yesterday night I was fixing speakers and arguing with the electrician and now I would be face to face with an MD!.

If this is not a true management experience, then what it is?

Sayed Shakir Makandar

40th batch of PGDIE,

NITIE

Lakshya from my eyes

The corporate biggies getting Awards in an annual corporate fest, Management people competing to showcase their skills, NGOs getting platform to interact with industry......... all in a single stage, and that is Lakshya. I still remember a poster of Lakshya that said, "Our Lakshya, Our Pride”. And yes it is. For PGDIEans I can proudly say Lakshya is more than an event. We don’t organize it, we actually live it. Since the day I joined NITIE, I heard a lot about Lakshya from seniors. And I used to think, “U people r exaggerating”. And when I saw it, I thought, “They were subduing”. Seniors working day and night for the event, and when it came to juniors, it was like we have better dedication than u guys. It brought all of us together. And the motto was one, to take PGDIE to the peak of glory.

I still remember the line “Lakshya Prerit Baan hoon main”, rehearsing same lines again and again, and that also in front of Mr. Perfectionist :) needs a lot of patience. Working late in night and then work again with full of energy in next morning, that exemplifies the indomitable spirits of PGDIEans. Rehearsal for the D day, Decoration, Transportation, Managing Industry Stalwarts, Endless list of operational work....... and all these things happened so smoothly. Ultimately it showed a glimpse of managerial power of students. Lakshya 2010 made outstanding mark in the history of NITIE. We proved the saying “Where there is a will there is a way”. Kudos to all, who contributed to the success of the event in every possible manner. And I truly believe that flag of Lakshya will fly higher and higher each year.

Km. Monika

40th Batch of PGDIE

NITIE

My experience with Lakshya

When I heard about "Lakshya", truely speaking, it reminded me the tune of shankar mahadevan as " Lakshya to Lakshya hai tera , har haal me paana hai". But just in few months after coming to NITIE, the whole meaning of lakshya has changed in my life. In fact I doubt if there is any Lakshya in my life other than Lakshya. Quite confusing!! hmm..when I became the member of Team Lakshya, I got the job to call the corporates for participation.It was really a formidable job for me to talk to them who are at the revered positions like VP and country heads. I fouled-up some 8-10 calls but anyway carried it on (thanks for those motivations Shoeb!). For a shirker like me, it was really murky situation when we used to tolerate the lectures of our profs ,then the gyan sessions by seniors(I don't know why they are so much eager to do that...anyways it really helped us a lot ! ) and then comes the "Lakshya work". There is a uniqueness in Lakshya that you will get an opportunity to work with every one whether it be an appointment with the industrialist or negotiating with a printout waala to print posters in 15 rs instead of Rs18! Three days before the event, whole structure of NITIE campus got changed to a blooming aura.I really don't know how that one week passed switching between auditorium, Placement office, syndicate hall, main stage, sakinaka and many more places.I feel proud to be a part of the PGDIE legacy as it has inculcated a spirit of Team work within us which will be imprinted on us forever
"A unique endeavour of PGDIE" -This statement gets a soul during Lakshya and every PGDIEian takes pride to say "Lakshya to har haal me pana hai"

Avinash Vishwakarma
40th batch of PGDIE
NITIE

LakshWiz 2010

LakshWiz 2010 is approaching fast. Get ready to apply the concepts that you learn in classrooms, when the case study releases on midnight of 17th September 2010.

The contest is under three business verticals:
1. "D-Street" Finance
2. "Factory" Supply Chain & Operations
3. "Bazaar" Marketing

The case solutions need to be submitted on or before 23:59:59 of 24th September 2010.
We assure that the competition is gonna be a platform to show your skills at the same time an excellent learning experience.
Please check out LakshWiz website http://www.lakshwiz.nitie.in for upcoming updates.

Team Lakshya