Global crisis and resultant economic turbulence experienced in recent times, described as the worst since Great Depression, impels managers to take a hard look at the way we should manage our economy, industry and business of the future. While we fervently hope that difficult period is behind us, policy makers, economists and management pundits seem to suggest that time is ripe to assess the damage caused by the ‘unwelcome phenomenon’ as well as to put together a credible, affirmative action agenda in sync with expectations and aspirations of ‘aam aadmi’ across the country,

Leveraging human potential will continue to be central to every organized economic endeavor – with new stress on performance, productivity and, of course, ethical and values-driven behavior. Business is people and focusing on this crucial factor is sine-qua-non for economic progress and sustained human well-being.

SKIPS held its first Management Conference on “Adding Lasting Value in Uncertain Times … through Human Capital Leadership” on 19 December 2009. It was a grand success as judged by the quality of presentations and participation. 104 senior managers representing HR and line functions contributed to the deliberations at the Conference.

Primary objective of the Conference was to initiate a thought process and ‘experience sharing’ through which managerial community is enabled to envision the emerging scenario; and challenges and opportunities in store for us (no matter the nature of role or engagement in productive pursuit of organizational goals and wealth creation) in times to come. The Conference was designed to present an overview on linkages and to leverage HR in sync with organizational objectives followed by industry-specific implications of select HR dimensions in year 2010 and beyond.

The significant outcome and takeaways from the Conference included credible and tenable ideas and strategies to work on one’s own professional and organizational space