MindRush day 2: Wellness, leadership, negotiation and mythology

One of the highlights of the day two of Business Today's conclave of ideas, MindRush, was an energetic session on leadership ideas and what works by Vineet Nayar, founder, Sampark Foundation, and ex-CEO, HCL Technologies.

"We get trapped by reason and logic. It prevents us from creating," said Nayar.

The two-day session was held at The Oberoi, Gurgaon.

"Life was all about taking chances but they had to be structured chances. If you're not taking chances in life, how're you going to succeed?" he added.

Nayar summed up: "Leadership is a right you earn from employees and shareholders. It's not an ornament or halo you wear based on entitlement."

Nayar was followed by Madan Pillutla, Professor at London Business School (LBS). Pillutla set forth ten key principles of negotiations, the first and most vital of which was being well prepared before embarking on negotiation.

Among other points, he made was that one should be sure of one's bottom-line when starting to negotiate and that emotion, especially anger, upsets the negotiation process. "Prepare well, have some faith in those on the other side on the negotiation table and negotiate with the right person," he added.

Heavyweights of the new economy Sachin Bansal, CEO and Co-founder of Flipkart and Deep Kalra, Chairman and Group CEO of MakeMyTrip.com participated in a panel discussion on 'What Clicked and Transformed Me'. Kalra attributed MakeMyTrip's success to "being in the right place at the right time", while Bansal emphasized that "one is always on one's toes in this business".

Other participants were Riyaaz Amlani, CEO and MD of Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality; and angel investor Sasha Mirchandani, MD and Founder of KAE Capital. The discussion was moderated by Business Today Editor Josey Puliyenthuruthel.

The last session of the two-day event was on Mythology & Management where Devdutt Pattanaik, leading author on Indian mythology and Chief Belief Officer, Future Group, spoke.

Ashish Bagga, Group Chief Executive Officer, India Today Group, delivered the vote of thanks, and said next year Business Today's MindRush event will just get bigger.

MindRush, sponsored by Wave, saw participation from more than 100 CEOs and professionals from across the corporate houses.