The Indian School of Hospitality hosted the “Conclave: Big Ideas – Reimagining Hospitality Arena for Tomorrow” wherein prominent academicians, experts, and industry professionals shared ideas on transforming education for the next decade and bridging the gap between hospitality industry and academics.
It was held to raise awareness about challenges and changes taking place in the Indian hospitality sector and bring together minds to discuss the need of the hour in hospitality education. For the conclave, the main panel included eminent personalities like Disruption Guru, Former CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts and author of Amazon Bestseller ‘The Disruptor’s Feast’ – Fritz van Paasschen, CEO of MakeMyTrip and online maverick – Deep Kalra, President of Asia Pacific Radisson Hotel Group – Katerina Giannouka, and CEO and Founder of Indian School of Hospitality – Dilip Puri.
A veteran and a hotelier by profession, Dilip Puri has spent 23 years in the industry and worked for eminent names like Taj, Oberoi and Starwood. An inspiration for millions around the country, PEAKLIFE rung in conversation with the visionary behind IHS:
Q: The Indian School of Hospitality is established as one of the most coveted names in educational institutes. What went behind the genesis of ISH?
My passion for education started when I began to see the lack of quality of young students coming into the hospitality industry and that’s what inspired me to set up an institution like this. I was always certain that an institution like ours could be succeeded if people with the right infrastructure brought in the right technology, have a strong connect in the industry, and that’s why we were able to produce graduates who were not just employable but have also developed skills that could last them their entire lifetime. We’re not educating you for your first job but for your entire career. The kind of skills we hope to equip our students with will not just be academic but a lot of other skills like soft skills and web skills.
Q: During the conclave you discussed about the “gap”. Could you elaborate on that?
What I mean is, today the kind of education we have in India still follows a very traditional path. The curriculums are not updated, the academia has not kept up with the changes in the industry, and I think we see students now coming out of colleges where they’re not equipped with the skills needed in today’s world. That’s where the gap started. Where we have institutions where students are able to constantly interact with the industry, constantly work out internships with the best companies, and have inspirational motivators and leaders is what narrows the gap between what the industry wants and what students are learning.
Q: The entire world is speaking about sustainability. How are you encouraging your students to grasp this concept?
I always believe that for me sustainability is not a subject to be taught. Sustainability is a mindset which we adapt, and there are no better people who adapt to it than while they’re still building up their personality, characters, mindsets and attitudes. That’s the most established sustainability that comes naturally to them.
Q: A lot of experts from around the country are invited for the students to continuously interact with. What is the scope?
You might have seen today we have the CEO of MakeMyTrip Deep Kalra; he’s an inspiration for so many entrepreneurs. And I think when the students interact with him and ask him a lot of questions, that’s diffusing entrepreneurship right in the young minds. When you see a women leader like Katerina, the President of Radisson Asia Pacific, imagine how inspiring she is for the other students. When she tells people “You need not be just like me but you could do way more like you”, those are the ways in which we find industry leaders to inspire our students. Besides that, we’ve been involving industry leaders as subject matter varies so if there are students in food and beverage, we’ll bring the best food and beverage experts from the industry to talk about it. Our culinary students are very lucky to have the prestige of meeting chefs like Chef Ritu Dalmia, Chef Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent, Chef Anahita Dhondy of SodaBottleWaterOpenerWala. The students take inspiration from them, learn from them, and I think this is what the Indian School of Hospitality is all about.
Q: How do you define a true leader?
The first difference I’d like to mention is that a leader’s role is not to manage businesses, but it is to inspire people throughout businesses. So when I talk about developing leadership, we’re developing this rule along with emotional intelligence. These two rules, these are all qualities of leadership we require today. These are not subjects to teach. These are things to try and then use to our school, to our college, to our own experiences. That is what brings in leadership qualities.