Belief for the long haul: CIMA focuses on challenges in business leadership

The CIMA Business Leaders Summit 2011, set to kick off from 21 to 22 June at the Cinnamon Grand Colombo, brings to the forefront Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik, Chief Belief Officer, Future Group, India and Andrew Harding, Managing Director, CIMA – two of the most illustrious speakers to be featured in the two-day flagship CIMA event.

The theme this year, ‘Changing Challenge – Challenging Change’ will attract hundreds of diverse groups across the corporate, business and professional sector and draws focus on what business leaders are up against today, according to CIMA officials.

Dr. Pattanaik’s topic for the event, ‘Belief Matters,’ takes a look at modern management and behavioral changes that help business and is scheduled for 22 June.

A medical doctor by education, Dr. Pattanaik is a leadership consultant by profession, and is essentially a ‘mythologist’ by passion. He has written and lectured extensively on the nature of sacred stories, symbols and rituals and their relevance in modern times.

He has 14 years experience in the health care industry with organisations such as Sanofi Aventis and Apollo Health Care, and a brief stint as Business Advisor with Ernst & Young. He also consults as leadership coach, culture consultant and storytelling expert to corporations and NGOs such as Star TV and World Gold Council. His work reclaiming mythology for management led to the series Business Sutra telecast on CNBC-tv18.

Dr. Pattanaik is a firm believer that behind every behaviour is a belief, which escapes notice and it’s this belief that shape our behaviour. The discussion hopes to explore a topic often overlooked in how to connect with people, be it customers, consumers, fellow workers, vendors or suppliers.

Dr. Pattanaik’s session will be followed by Harding, whose topic revolves around the challenges and opportunities of building world-class businesses for the long term.

Andrew has been with CIMA since January 2009, is part of the Institute’s Senior Management Team and has been tasked with strategic oversight of CIMA’s key markets, including China, South Africa, Sri Lanka, India, Ireland, Eastern Europe Malaysia and the UK. His team work to drive international student growth and ensure CIMA is recogniSed as the first choice by businesses around the world.

Prior to joining CIMA, Andrew worked as Managing Director at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) where he built the Institute’s first business development team in the UK and led successful market strategies in Central and Eastern Europe, Vietnam, Southern Africa and China.

In his presentation, Harding, takes the long view of the challenges ahead and asks one of the most important questions of our time: how can we build world-class businesses that are equipped to deal with the long-term challenges and opportunities that lie ahead?

Andrew will be drawing on CIMA’s extensive research into the changing dynamics of the business world as we move into the second decade of the 21st century.

He outlines the change in both mindset and strategy required to ensure businesses protect themselves from the boom-and-bust cycle that has caused such turbulence in the international marketplace.

The strategic blend of these two speakers, promises to be one of the most inspiring sessions CIMA has had the privilege of hosting in recent times and one of the most crucial of the event, as it hopes to give business leaders a fresh look at belief and long-haul sustainability.