October 2019 Edition Apparel October 2019 issue | Page 27

CMAI IVY LEAGUE
instructed by Pavan, every Member had
to stay away from their mobile phones
for the entire duration of the workshop.
They had to put the phones face down
on the table and not pay attention to any
calls or messages (even though many
harped on the fact that most of their
work happens over calls and messages
and so cutting down on phone usage will
negatively impact their sales, Pavan insisted that
they all practised keeping their phones aside for at
least an hour or two on a daily basis.) Maintaining
discipline was the key criterion of the session;
Pavan later went on explain that observing certain
principles in life in a disciplined way is indeed one
of the keys to success. He wanted Members to
integrate a similar sense of discipline into their
respective companies too.
He instantly connected with the audience using
simple language and fluid thoughts. At one point,
in the beginning of the session, he showed to all a
page from a child’s textbook. In it, a teacher had
instructed the child to help the cat reach a bowl of
milk, both of which were a maze apart. The child
drew the line connecting the cat and the milk in a
way that instead of going into the maze, the cat
reached the bowl from the outside. The child was
then given a star for his out-of-the-box thinking.
“There is no right or wrong way as nowhere had
the teacher mentioned that the cat needed to go
through the maze to reach the milk. We often tend
to box our thoughts up. We need to think beyond
and bigger than that,” Pavan explained.
Initially, he played the paper-pattern game with
the Members, in which he asked them to fold and
tear paper according to his instructions with closed
eyes. This exercise was aimed at having Members
interpret instructions or set rules in a creative
way. He followed this up by asking all to connect
BREAKING THE MOULD
nine dots on the same, first with five lines and
Dr Soni had set the stage for an immersive and
then with four. Only two Members present at the
interactive session and the audience was extremely workshop could get it right. He later explained that
excited for all that he had in store for them. As
almost everyone viewed the dots through boxed-
Limited, Bosch, Wipro, and the likes, he
has also been a successful speaker at
TEDx multiple times.
The workshop started at 2:30 pm
and went on till around 9 pm. Although
it was prolonged, the session was
immensely gripping, and none of the
participants showed signs of impatience
or tiredness. On the contrary, their questions and
queries never stopped, and they only wanted to
learn more from the speaker; their enthusiasm was
much like that of a child’s.
Sanjay Vakharia, Chairman, IVY League Sub-
Committee, opened the event by briefing the
audience on the session. He said, “To manage
challenges in our businesses, we need to think and
re-think our approach to them. We need to adopt
creativity in problem-solving. Creativity should not
solely be there in our designs, but also in the way
we conduct business.”
Taking cues from this introduction, Pavan
took over to begin his talk. He set the tone of
the session by narrating myriad instances and
examples from his experience. He then mentioned
that in order to face challenges, every business-
owner and entrepreneur needs to carry out
design-thinking. He clarified that design-thinking
has nothing to do with design; it is all about
strategising and monitoring the way one thinks of
their overall business. In the next few hours of the
session, through various activities and examples,
he went on to demonstrate to the audience the
art of thinking differently. Quite lucidly, he stated
that stories and examples stay in our memories
so rather than training Members with hard-core
management techniques, he wishes to train them
through differing narratives, which they can use in
their own ways to solve problems coming their way.
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