ISB Leadership Summit (ILS) 2004 was a tribute to the renowned management guru, the late Dr. Sumantra Ghoshal, one of the founding fathers of the ISB. In recognition of his philosophy and his vision, ILS 2004 focused on the theme of World Class in India. An eminent group of industry leaders and opinion makers made the Summit a stimulating  and thought provoking experience.

The keynote speaker was Dr Pramath Sinha, Principal with McKinsey & Company who spoke about Dr. Ghosal as a visionary thought leader with tremendous passion and energy.

The first panel discussion was on the topic “World Class in India”. Mr. R. C. Bhargava, ex-MD of Maruti Udyog Limited was the first speaker. He talked about the formation of Maruti, the joint venture with Suzuki, and the way Maruti reached world class status where it is today exporting cars to European countries. He also observed that the industry has to play a big role in dealing with the government to get world class infrastructure in place.

The second speaker was Mr. R. P. Sharma, President, Gas Division, Reliance Industries Limited. He spoke about Reliance’s success as a world class company, it’s entry into the Fortune 500 ranks and its journey so far. His mantra for world class was a quote by Dhirubhai Ambani –“Think Big, Think Fast, Think Ahead.”

Mr. Ramulu from HPCL was the final speaker. He defined a world class organization as one that embodies a high degree of professionalism in operations, adds value for stakeholders and continuously produces world class leaders among other things. He stressed the fact that the strength of India’s success story lies in human capital and said that focusing on their workers helped HPCL to be named the best managed company by A T Kearny/ Business Today.

The ISB Icon Award 2004 was awarded to Mr. Anil Ambani and Mr. K. Vaman Kamath in recognition of their invaluable contributions to the ISB. In realizing the dream of the ISB, numerous individuals have played key roles in enabling the institution to attain its current stature. The ISB Icon Award acknowledges the contributions of these exemplary individuals.