It is known that effective leadership requires emotional and creative intelligence more than reasoning and verbal abilities. Every individual has unique capabilities and strengths and possess multiple intelligences which needs to be measured. A leader should not only have good analytical capabilities but also have high
Influencing Skills backed by traits such as Assertivness, Resilience, Risk Taking etc., have qualities such as Gregariousness, Empathy, Accommodation etc. which are important for
Managing Relationships and should have high
Problem Solving/Decision Making Traits such as Idea Orientation, Abstract Reasoning, Thoroughness etc.
This implies that the modern day selection process should not only focus on IQ but also on measuring EQ (Emotional Quotient), SQ (Spiritual Quotient), AQ (Adversity Quotient) and CQ (Character Quotient) as well. Most of the popular exams today do not measure these dimensions. Schools should therefore adopt tools that measure empathy and creativity besides many other leadership aspects.
SOIL has identified this gap and developed a rolling admission process which is unique and measures the qualities which are required to become a leader. The remarkable thing in this process is that it gives the applicant a deeper understanding of self.
Following are the steps of selection process (called as Talent Appreciation Process) for SOIL:
- Online Application
- Caliper Profile Assessment
- Shortlisted Candidates submit answer to 5 Essay Questions and 2 Recommendations
- Talent Appreciation Interview
Online Application
As part of the online application form we also ask for your video resume. This gives you an opportunity to explore your creative best in describing your achievements and how you would contribute to the SOIL community.
Caliper Profile Assessment
We use a unique tool developed by Caliper which looks at multiple intelligences. Caliper is a global Human Resource Consulting company, founded in 1961, headquartered in Princeton, USA, with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. The Caliper Profile has been validated by more than forty years of Research and has been successfully employed in more than 28000 companies worldwide, with over 2 million assessments completed. Caliper has worked with some of the world’s largest and most influential companies - BASF, Microsoft, SAP, Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar and many others - to help them identify and develop potential leaders. The Caliper Profile is the instrument chosen by SOIL to provide us with insights into an individual’s characteristics, potential and motivation, and to develop an objective perspective on an applicant’s strengths and areas for development. The effectiveness of the Caliper Profile stems from the validity and accuracy of the instrument, as well as Caliper’s unequalled database of information about top performers in leadership roles in every part of the world.
Submission of Essays & Recommendations
Prior to the Talent Appreciation Interview you need to submit answers to 5 essay questions and submit 2 recommendations. You will be asked to answer very thoughtful questions. For Eg - If you had all the time and resources in the world, and were to build an organization of your own, what would you like to create? Recall a time when you have been at your best and did your best work. What does this teach you about your own strengths and gifts? etc. Such questions helps us to understand what you dream about, your thought process, idea orientation, comprehension etc. and gives you an opportunity to think deeper about your own self.
Talent Appreciation Interview
The last but the most important part is the talent appreciation interview. This is done by a team comprising of a senior leader from one of our consortium companies (
co-creators of SOIL) and a faculty member. They spend time with you in trying to find out what you are good at, your goals and priorities and why you want to study further.
The entire focus is on identifying your strengths and positives. SOIL conducts the interviews across the cities of Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi (NCR).
All of these steps help us understand you better and form the basis of your opening week in school where we again do an in depth exercise to find out the kind of careers you may be interested in, and form your individual learning plan (ILP) and that forms the basis of your mentoring throughout the year.
In totality this process is the first step towards the journey of self discovery at SOIL.
By Professor
A.N. Bhattacharya, Program Chair,
Marketing Leadership Program (MLP),
School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL)
Atindra is a full-time Professor of Marketing and Chair of the Marketing Leadership Programme at School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL). Prior to SOIL, he was associated with Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (IILM), Greater Noida for six years, as an Associate Professor of Marketing. He was also the Dean (Academics) at IILM Graduate School of Management, Greater Noida handling their AICTE approved PGDM programme.
In addition to his academic experience, Atindra has 18 years of experience in the industry and has worked with brands like Amul, Dhara, Vadilal, Ravi Fans, Lovett etc. at the national level. His expertise lies is in areas of Channel Management, Sales Force Management, Retail Management, Consumer Behaviour and Entrepreneurship. He is also an honorary faculty with the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) of the Wadhwani Foundation and is on the Mentor Advisory Panel of Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST), an NGO working for micro-enterprise financing and mentoring.
Atindra is also a Board Member of Academy of International Business (India Chapter) and has organised two international conferences at IILM, the last one being in 2009 in association with UNCTAD India. He has also presented a joint paper at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) conference at Beijing on the emerging area of public-private partnership in entrepreneurship.
After his graduation, Atindra went for his Masters in Management Studies with specialization in Marketing from Banaras Hindu University. He also has a Diploma in German Language.