Competence and compassion are key qualities to succeed in any field - A Talk by Jayant Sinha
On 30th May, 2020, the first virtual edition of the DAIS Leadership Series welcomed Mr. Jayant Sinha, the Chairperson of the Standing Committee for Finance, Parliament of India as well as a BJP Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. He has also formerly served as Minister of State for Finance as well as the Minister of State for Civil Aviation. Mr. Sinha won his Lok Sabha elections in 2014 and 2019 with record margins. As Chairperson of the Standing Committee for Finance, Mr. Sinha leads the Parliamentary panel that has oversight of the Ministries of Finance, Corporate Affairs, Statistics & Program Implementation, and the Niti Aayog (the government planning agency). In addition, the panel has Parliamentary responsibility for the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities & Exchange Board of India, the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Board, and the Insurance and Pension regulatory authorities. During his time as a Minister, Mr. Sinha gained wide recognition as an innovative and results-oriented policymaker with singular successes ranging from piloting the legislation that brought in India’s game-changing bankruptcy code to establishing India’s sovereign wealth fund (the National Infrastructure Investment Fund) to privatizing multiple airports under an entirely new regulatory framework. As Aviation Minister, Mr. Sinha was instrumental in upgrading safety and security across India’s fast-growing aviation system. He launched the UDAN Regional Connectivity Scheme which expanded the number of operational airports in India by 50% in just three years. Mr. Sinha also implemented several major digital initiatives such as the DigitalSky Drone policy and the DigiYatra digital traveler program.
Mr. Sinha has an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School, an MS in Energy Management & Policy from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Technology with Distinction from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumni award from IIT Delhi in 2015. He is a widely published author with articles in the Financial Times, Times of India, Economic Times, Indian Express, Business Standard, Harvard Business Review, and the McKinsey Quarterly. Mr. Sinha features regularly in the global and Indian press and TV channels.
Mr. Sinha gave an insightful talk into how to gain success in any field that one should pursue, with the advice of building important qualities such as competence and compassion. He shared many compelling anecdotes about his personal life at Harvard Business School, as well as the highs and lows that he experienced as a Member of the Lok Sabha and as a Minister of State. The engaging and inspiring made students motivated and reflected to apply these learnings to their own lives.
Fielding many questions from the enthusiastic students, Mr. Sinha also replied to students in an engaging manner. Covering a wide range of topics ranging from how to gain success in politics and finance, applying learnings from certain fields to others, India’s public sector and the consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown on the Indian economy, Mr. Sinha brought valuable information and fresh perspectives to a range of issues.
Hearing words of advice from such an accomplished person during the lockdown was an incredibly enriching experience for the students, making Mr. Sinha an amazing speaker for the first virtual experience of the Leadership Series at DAIS.
- Eesha Bodapati