Education is and will be the most powerful tool for individual and social change, and we must do all that it takes to facilitate it.
Any institutions' alumni are key to its growth. We are focused on giving a global experience to our students.
Like education, healthcare also needs to be given importance.
A founder can carry an institution only so far, and then others have to step in, even the alumni. That's how an institution becomes one.
Re-skilling has to be much wider with a strong foundation.
If you are calm about your ambitions, you become confident of achieving what you set out to do.
When you are running a business, there is a constant need to reinvent oneself. One should have the foresight to stay ahead in times of rapid change and rid ourselves of stickiness in any form in the business.
Adaptability and constant innovation is key to the survival of any company operating in a competitive market.
One time, the teacher was the storehouse of knowledge. That will no longer be so. So what would a teacher do? A very good teacher will play the role of augmenter. Also, the teacher will be located anywhere and helping students.
I believe good corporate governance is critical in enhancing competitiveness and creating industry - leading profitable growth and superior returns for every stakeholder of the institution.
To us, the definition of philanthropy is what we spend. A P&L account means expenditure, lines of revenue. There is a surplus; it goes to the balance sheet. A transparent foundation should disclose this.
I was with top CEOs in 2009, and they were clearly shaken. Top leaders of Wall Street and elsewhere, shaken. The ones at the top did get by because if they are seeing a decline somewhere, there is also growth elsewhere, like in emerging economies.
If you go to Wall Street, there is someone from Harvard, Stanford, etc, who relate to each other by the batch they studied in, the dorm they lived in, and so on.
If you get to think of sharing wealth with people who need it and the purposes that need it, it gives a very different sense of satisfaction. I think I can build an institution which is very unlike the Gates' foundation. Gates' foundation is totally project-driven, that will serve a specific purpose and then self-destruct.
I have talked about the 'fractal organization'. Those smaller pieces should innovate and lead the rest of the organization. There will be parts that will be thinking about technologies of the future, and you need to nourish them.
A 5-acre school each in Noida and Gurgaon is what we have; it costs Rs. 50 crore to buy the land and another Rs. 50 crore to build the property. That's the capital cost alone.
The SSN Institute will be expanded in areas such as liberal arts, social sciences, natural sciences, communications.
In philanthropy, you have to take the attitude of a mother... You have to be patient, and we have been very patient for a long time.
We didn't create an institution to increase land value or asset value.
A press statement may be given with a very good intention, but it says nothing beyond it. If it comes from corporations they run, then it is corporate social responsibility (CSR). That's different from philanthropy. CSR is a lot of shareholders, including me.
