The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry conducted the CEO Forum’s – 2nd Breakfast Meeting on Friday, 1st February 2019 at Taj Gateway Hotel, Ernakulam. The Guest Speaker at the meeting was Prof. Abraham Koshy, Professor – Marketing, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Calling the meeting to order, Mr. V Venugopal, President of the Chamber delivered the Welcome Address and introduced the Speaker of the day.
Ms. Nisha Menon, Director - Tax, PwC India gave the "Quick Bytes" on Standard Operating Procedure Documentation.
Prof. Abraham Koshy’s talk was on the “Bonsai Management Syndrome.”
In his talk, Prof. Koshy spoke about thought leadership and administrative leadership and how the former is the new strategy for corporate growth. Corporations that embrace thought leadership as a strategy for growth represent the essence of market leadership and changing the rules of client management. He also explained the term ‘Bonsai Manager’ as one whose growth has not reached its potential due to his/her own acts of omission and commission.
Prof. Koshy explained in detail the growth requirements for a company namely data collection, innovation, exploration, and results. He spoke on how data collection is a fundamental aspect for the growth of an organization and also the importance of having actual facts supporting a product's success or failure rather than having mere opinions or expectations. He emphasized the importance of thinking ‘out of the box’ and also suggested that it is important not to be burdened by past successes since an organization needs to explore new opportunities in order to overcome the bonsai syndrome.
Prof. Koshy also spoke about the control management of an organization and how micromanagement can damage efficiency. Controls should be goal oriented, he said. He also specified the need for a shift from activity-based control to result-based control. He also explained the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 Rule and how 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
He also shed some light on how an organization could identify the bonsai syndrome by measuring its growth over the years, from people development index and whether there is a spark of innovation.
Mr. Venugopal C Govind, Past President of the Chamber, presented a memento to Prof. Koshy.
Mr. K Harikumar, Vice President of the Chamber proposed the Vote of Thanks.
The interactive session concluded by 10 a.m with breakfast.
