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Alumni Speak: Expressing Thanks to SOIL

23 Mar 2022
- admin
It has been 6 years since I graduated from SOIL as part of their 1-year PGPM HR program and I give thanks to the role it’s played & continues to play in my holistic growth. Here’s how:

A. Designed to enable ‘Self-discovery’
- Self-Leadership: A bi-weekly dialogue led by the founder Sh. Anil Sachdev. We invest time to introspect and ask questions that provoke us to look within, to identify our triggers, question our doubts, fears, biases and assumptions. It taught us the need to lead ourselves before wanting to lead others. We all see the impact of having toxic managers or leaders in the workplace.
- Developing the ‘creative mind’: Workshops on “Discovering self through Theatre”, “Joy of dancing”, “Yoga & mindfulness”. I remember performing poetry, writing scripts, directing & acting. Not as a side hobby but by curriculum design. They observe us in all environments to understand our unique traits that can be leveraged in management.
- Focus on the unifying factors: We visited ‘All’ places of worship through the year. The intent? We know what divides each religion from the other but we were encouraged to have dialogue around the unifying factors. What unites us beyond all our apparent differences? It was thought provoking to say the least.
B. Social innovation:

By design, we were encouraged to use our non-monetary resources to create an impact in the social sector. We used ‘management’ principles to make improvements in the social sector. This included a wide range of opportunities for us to help like – setting up operations, creating org designs, policies, training and recruitment processes, branding to blood donation camps & fundraisers. I think it’s wonderful for a management institute to provoke young minds to use business principles to solve social issues. This taught us to use our knowledge to empower our communities as we gain personal success.

C. Mentorship and Industry insights
- An endless network of industry leaders – SOIL has an advisory board and a leadership council (mostly C level executives or founders) who are invested in the design of the program. It makes the program that much more practical and allows individuals to access this immense network of mentors.
- Every student is paired with one internal mentor (part of faculty) and one external mentor (currently working in the industry). I seek advice from this mentor network, to this day.
Education systems carry the responsibility to prepare holistic leaders and I’m happy to be part of one that’s a thought leader in this space. It reassures my belief when I see a kicking alumni network acing it across industries.

Priyanka Ramesh
PGPM – HR, Class of 2016