On a sunny Tuesday in the first week of April, with a multitude of feelings gushing through my head, I entered the M&M headquarters at Worli. The name “Mahindra” needs no introduction and has an unparalleled philosophy of “RISE” – which stands for empowering all its stakeholders and bringing positive change into lives.
We were greeted with a with a host of goodies and welcome kit that was given to all the interns. While I had a put a face to the names of the fellow interns, we were yet to break the ice. The Group HR GMC team helped us break the ice by having a round of informal introductions where everyone gave an essence of their personalities, interests – likes and dislikes.
We got updates of the sessions lined up for the sessions through the Kampus Koversations app. We had an opportunity of interacting with various leaders of the M&M Group. It also helped me gain a better understanding of the varied businesses of the Mahindra Group. Apart from the great insights that were given to us one key takeaway for me was the word - “RISE” – How the philosophy RISE is applicable to all their businesses, belief systems and core values.
From having a discussion about the future of the automobile industry to knowing about how the company has diversified into being a federation of businesses we were able to pick brains of Dr. Pawan Goenka – CEO of the Mahindra and Mahindra group and Mr. Parthasarthy – CFO of Mahindra and Mahindra group amongst a host of other business leaders of the group. It was indeed an enriching experience to get to know the leaders and businesses of the group. In order to get a deeper understanding of the businesses, we visited the Kandivali office on the third day where we interacted with leaders from Automotive and Farm Division. Puzzling through the afternoon we had team bonding games conducted by the Board Game Company.
The spirit of Rise is based on three brand pillars – accepting no limits, alternative thinking and driving positive change. The final day of the induction program included a design thinking workshop which helped us gain knowledge about how design thinking can be used to think out of the box and wear different lenses while looking for a solution to a problem statement. It really challenged me to think out the box and gave me a new perspective. One thing that i heard from senior batches of the GMC profile was that the food served during the entire induction would be delicious and I was not disappointed J
And last but definitely not the least - during the induction programme I also had the opportunity to meet and interact with the visionary - Mr. Anand Mahindra – the chairman of the M&M group. The discussion revolved around the styles of leadership and the definition of purpose for today’s youth. His humility, humbleness and vision as a leader is something I aspire to have.
The GMC Group HR team also shared the details about our respective projects and the milestones. In the forthcoming week, I met my project mentor and guide who briefed me about the project which promises a great scope of learning and hands on implementation.
The entire induction program made me realise how Mahindra believes in investing in all of its people and how we can RISE together to make a positive difference.