Dr Pawan Kumar Singh, director of MDI, SY Siddiqui, chief mentor of Maruti Suzuki India, and Yan Han, founder of The Think Culture Foundation, unveil the TCF Logo. (Photo: Chinadaily)

The Think Culture Foundation (TCF), an organization dedicated to empowering business, youth and women, held its Annual Convention Think Culture Conclave 2019 at the Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, India on Wednesday.

Themed "Culturally Conscious Leadership", the eminent dignitaries comprising entrepreneurs and academicians deliberated on the immediate need to include cultural sensitivity in the business environment.

With this conclave, MDI Gurgaon and TCF embark on a journey of an enriching partnership dedicated to imparting knowledge to students and industry patrons.

With the theme for this year, "Culturally Conscious Leadership", TCF and MDI, Gurgaon have come together as key partners to embark upon the fact that cultural consciousness is imperative to global business efficiency.

The dignitaries who shared their focused insights were keynote speaker SY Siddiqui, chief mentor of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Dr Pawan Kumar Singh, director of MDI Gurgaon, and Yan Han, founder of the Think Culture Foundation.

"For me, culture is like the air. As time flows and the future wrinkles into the past, culture persists. It reflects the sense of what it means to be a human being. It is an affection for the beautiful and the graciousness around us," Yan Han said.

"At MDI, we are dedicated to nurturing the thought leaders of tomorrow by facilitating value-based, knowledge-centric, and action-oriented education to our students. Our partnership with TCF is aligned with our primary goal of enabling the continuous growth of organizations and society," said Dr Pawan Kumar Singh.

From left to right: Panelists Yan Han, founder of TCF, Dr Tanuja Sharma from MDI, Srabani Dubey from Great Place to Work, Divya Jain from Safeducate, Priyanaka Agarwal from Reckitt Benckiser and Wenjuan Zhang from OP Jindal University, share their insights from real-life anecdotes.

"It is very important for employees to feel that their diversities are a strength for the organization and therefore, all MNCs may want to explore strengthening Culturally Conscious Leadership for sustained success in future," said SY Siddiqui.

The eminent panelists comprised Priyanka Agrawal, regional talent manager of Reckitt Benckiser, Divya Jain, founder & CEO of Safeducate, Dr Tanuja Sharma, professor and area chair of HRM, Srabani Dubey, vice president of Great Place to Work and Prof Wenjuan Zhang, director of the Center for India-China Studies.

The Think Culture Conclave 2019 explored the critical role that cultural diversity and inclusion play in leadership and relationship building in the workplace.

Recent research from McKinsey found that the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace have over 40 percent greater employee engagement to increased business performance.

The speakers shared their experiences and fundamentals on how to implement companywide tools and initiatives that can help to prevent biases in the workplace. Among the resolutions, a common thought was to craft truly effective inclusivity and diversity strategy led by strong and sustained and inclusive leadership.

As a step to empower culture and youth, the Think Culture Foundation also collaborated with the College of Art, Delhi. Over 40 students came forward and contributed their creations to the Think Culture Conclave. The paintings were exhibited in the special corridor created at the MDI, which added significance and upgraded the cultural value of the event.