Embrace change proactively: Nilekani

The ability to embrace change and to be the first mover were some of the most important qualities for students joining any profession, former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani said on Thursday.

"The first quality required is the ability to embrace change, not to resist it. In fact, being proactive with dealing with the rapid developments and disruption is a less risky option to resisting or stalling the change we need to do," Nilekani said in his address to the 41st batch of graduating students of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Bengaluru.

On first-mover advantage, he said speed matters. On scale, Nilekani said the days of low volume, high cost and high transaction value were over, leading to high volume, low cost and low transaction value in the ever changing complex world.

Using rich illustrations and deep insights ranging from a plethora of industries including e-commerce, oil and gas, digital technologies and automobile among others, Nilekani presented a picture of the future to the 597 graduating students.

"Organisations and their leaders need to gear up to handle the complexity of today's business and social environments," he said.

Talking specifically about India, Nilekani appreciated government initiatives like Jan Dhan bank accounts and Aadhaar and mobile penetration as unique strengths.