PRISM–FIMC 2025 highlights the need for adaptive and resilient leadership in a disruptive world

The Dr Pritam Singh Memorial & FORE International Management Conference 2025 showcased strategies for navigating leadership amidst global upheaval, emphasising agility, cultural reset, and digital integration.

The Dr Pritam Singh Memorial & FORE International Management Conference (PRISM–FIMC) 2025 convened from November 19th to 21st at the Holiday Inn Aerocity, New Delhi, marking a significant gathering of global industry leaders, academics, policymakers, and...

management experts. Organised by the FORE School of Management, the conference set an ambitious agenda to explore leadership dynamics amid global disruption, with a clear focus on culture, cost management, capability building, and resilience.

Opening the event, Dr Subir Verma, director of FORE School of Management, paid tribute to the enduring legacy of Dr Pritam Singh, an integral figure who shaped Indian management education. Dr Verma emphasised that the leadership qualities most essential today are adaptability, empathy, and global awareness, aligning with Dr Singh’s teachings. This framing set the tone for a conference that sought to grapple with the multifaceted challenges of leadership in a rapidly changing world.

P Dwarakanath, president of PRISM and former chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, reflected on the foundation’s evolution since Dr Singh’s passing during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting how the initiative has grown into a vibrant platform recognising educators, contributors, and emerging leaders. The conference’s keynote address was delivered by Krishnan Ramachandran, managing director and CEO of Niva Bupa, who spotlighted the scale and speed of global transformations reshaping industries. Ramachandran cited Niva Bupa’s rise from the seventh-largest insurer to ranking third as a testament to the sweeping nature of change confronting organisations today.

One of the standout sessions featured a panel of chief human resources officers and HR leaders, including Dimple Kaloya of HSBC, Sandeep Girotra of DCM Shriram, Uttam Lal of NHPC, Amit Relan of Axis Bank, and Dr Vipul Singh of Lloyds Banking Group, who moderated the discussion. Their dialogue centred on constructing robust people strategies amidst a climate of economic, social, political, and technological upheaval.

Cost pressures, particularly in Global Capability Centres where personnel expenses dominate, were tackled head-on by HSBC’s Kaloya. She advocated for a cultural reset rooted in simplicity and clarity around organisational values, highlighting HSBC’s “How Simple Becomes Culture” initiative. Her argument was clear: cost efficiency emerges not through micromanagement but empowerment. HSBC’s “How We Lead” programme equips managers with a deep understanding of commercial realities and regulatory frameworks to foster decision-making aligned with the bank’s core principles. This approach reduces bureaucratic delays and cost friction by enabling swift, value-driven choices.

Echoing this, Dr Vipul Singh detailed Lloyds Banking Group’s experience navigating the demands of operating within a highly regulated UK environment. He emphasised that excessive layers of approval stifle agility and increase inertia. Effective simplification, Singh argued, demands courage and clarity and sometimes requires deliberately slowing down to accelerate progress in the long term.

As artificial intelligence increasingly permeates workflows, Amit Relan painted a realistic picture of its integration into banking operations. He argued that the future belongs to “workflow ecosystems” where humans and bots collaborate. For HR, the challenge is not about job displacement but empowering employees to stay relevant through continuous upskilling and enabling career choice. Axis Bank’s internal mobility platform, “Thrive,” exemplifies this by providing transparent access to opportunities alongside a robust skills taxonomy and learning platforms that scale capability-building systematically rather than through sporadic training.

Uttam Lal offered a contrasting perspective from NHPC, a public-sector organisation operating in remote, high-altitude hydroelectric projects. His presentation highlighted the unique challenges of managing talent in harsh and geopolitically sensitive terrains, where local employment demands often clash with technical requirements. NHPC responds through transparent policies, workforce rotation, health safeguards, and community engagement aimed at alternative livelihood creation.

Turning to financial realities, Sandeep Girotra underscored that organisational financial health is indispensable, especially in downturns. Drawing from his global experience, including at GE Capital in Tokyo, he recounted a poignant lesson about tough workforce decisions made to preserve the larger organisational whole. Girotra stressed that for HR to remain credible, commercial literacy is a must, enabling HR leaders to navigate economic cycles and contribute strategically rather than relying solely on goodwill.

Across these diverse sectors, a consistent message emerged: organisations must anchor themselves in strong, authentic cultures that transcend slogans; simplify decision-making to accelerate execution; embed financial and strategic acumen at all leadership levels; and empower employees through reskilling initiatives focused on capability. Investing in leadership development and succession planning remains critical for resilience amid the uncertainties posed by economic volatility, regulatory shifts, and geopolitical tensions.

The broader conference theme, “Responsible Leadership in a Disruptive World: Geo-Politics, Technology & Circularity,” further reinforced by speakers like T G Sitharam, Chairman of AICTE, highlighted the imperative for future leaders to be adaptive, globally aware, technologically fluent, and sustainability-oriented. Sitharam noted that modern leadership hinges on harmony, collaboration, and adaptability rather than traditional hierarchical authority.

PRISM–FIMC 2025 thus served as a timely forum, demonstrating that leadership today is shaped and tested in disruption. Organisations that confront challenges with clarity, courage, and a commitment to continuous transformation will emerge stronger, equipped to drive sustainable change in an unpredictable world. The conference encapsulated this ethos by honouring Dr Pritam Singh’s legacy of enlightened leadership and nurturing future-ready leaders capable of navigating complexity with resilience and vision.

Source: Noah Wire Services