Octara Leads to Inspire & Empower the Corporate Set - MERGING THE MANAGER WITH THE LEADER

To call it a high energy day would be in the nature of an understatement. When Supercoach Ramiz Allawala is conducting proceedings there’s never a dull moment. When he is joined by superfit Hassan Rizwan brimming with entrepreneurial zeal then the pace accelerates in quantum fashion that defies the gravitational force, much like the F-16 would. Adding further fuel to the already blinding fireworks was Kanwal Akhtar, a communication and personal development whizz who mellowed the discourse with her feminine touch and which also served to camouflage her reverse swings that she bowled with admirable ease. The 80 delegates representing 18 leading business houses of Pakistan had their mental g-suits on, and displayed remarkable mental agility in the face of some formidable gyrations that the trainers put them through as they celebrate with great gusto the 10^th anniversary of Octara.

Dr. S. A. Rab was missed. He was to be the fourth man on this mission to electrify Pakistan’s managerial resource onto redoubled effort, but the loss of a loved one kept him from joining forces to form a formidable foursome that would surely have left the attendees dazzled and dazed, and possibly numbed. There is no escaping this reality. Too many of us in cushy jobs are too fond of our comfort zones and jealously guard our turfs from external intrusion. But the external is hell bent on intruding, and unless we can raise our game manifold and regulate ourselves at a much higher plane, we shall surely be externally regulated, possibly exterminated, Allah forbid.

The panel discussion brought together four heavyweights from the worlds of trade, commerce and industry, who analyzed the disconnect and shed light on how this floundering ship that we find ourselves on can be rescued and made seaworthy once more. There was on the panel Syed Tariq Husain, presently Senior Group Advisor to the Elahi Group of Companies and formerly CEO of the Emirates Global Group; Leon Menezes, lecturing at the IBA and formerly Head of HR in Shell for the entire region; Ahmad Zafar, Chief Operating Officer at Alsons Industries and formerly Chairman Phillips; and Asma Shaikh, Head of HR at TCS Holdings; a lively high powered group with a great deal of experience under its belt that Ramiz moderated like a finely tuned quartet, delving deep into the minds of each to bring out the best that they had to offer.

The bottom line, if one could be identified from the plethora of learning that the full day yielded, concerned the dawn of realization that the aligning of one’s self-interest with that of the public interest would be in the best interest on one’s self-interest. The route to Utopia couldn’t be better signposted.