Summary of Session 1 – Raghav Palanikumar

Organized by the Rotary club of Coimbatore, the first session of “As I Evolve” was inspiring to say the least. Emphasizing on the importance of story-telling and the nurturing of creative thinking within ourselves, the session was carried out by three splendid speakers, Dr. J. Bala Venkat, MD R.S. Maruti and Mr. Pradeep Yuvaraj. The importance of listening to TED talks and speeches by prolific speakers such as Martin Luther King was talked about, and it was taught that leaders learn from listening, observing and absorbing ideas. Such leaders end up becoming role models to the whole world. “Begin with the end in mind” was a deep statement stated then.

We were instructed by Dr. J. Bala Venkat to look in the mirror every day, and question ourselves if we were evolving, as we should. “Crusade against mediocrity” was another valuable mantra stated by sir. We learnt that if we decide to make every minute of ours better than the previous, we have already attained success. We need to acquire enough knowledge, skill and the wisdom to use knowledge. Our professional lives require humility, interpersonal skills, and the positive growth needs to be constantly assessed and evaluated. The example of Stephen Ko was stated, who was from USA and served as the mentor for 34 American presidents.

MD R.S. Maruti stated the importance of making the best usage of gadgets for the growth of person and nation. We need to keep our minds open to listen, absorb, think and apply for the betterment of self. “Put in your fullest effort for the smallest thing you do”.

Mr. Pradeep proved himself to be a master of story-telling by providing artfully crafted stories and examples that ended up coming with a pinch of moral advice. Harvard university had concluded that the most important features of a prominent leader were story-telling and creative writing. The importance of attitude was stressed upon, and so was that of resilience, and this was explained through examples from the speaker’s own life and failures in his entrepreneurship. An intelligent example of a made-up story about a supposed friend of the speaker, who
had hilariously and to his misfortune, lost his kidney in Las Vegas was narrated, and was compared to the vague definition of the theory of relativity, thereby making us understand the importance of story-telling. Activities were done, to emphasize on the essential need of creative thinking.

The session was very eye-opening and inspiring and I am looking forward to the next session.