Ahmedabad, 23 March 2013

Shri LN Mittal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Arcelor Mittal was Chief Guest of IIM Ahmedabad’s 48th Annual Convocation today. Here are some of the jewels from his convocation address:

-The world needs people who have the desire and motivation to buck the trend, think differently and potentially carve out a path which has not been followed before. If that is you, then be bold as we say at ArcelorMittal; because boldness has the potential to change everything.

-Don’t expect to realise your ambitions overnight. Start with small steps. Set yourself ambitious but realistic targets that will stretch you but that you can achieve within a reasonable time frame. You may want to create a mansion. But recognize that if you want it to be sustainable, there is no pre-fab option available to you. You need to build brick by brick and over time it will take shape.

-Reputation matters and anyone who tells you it doesn’t is wrong.But that doesn’t mean that you should take the wrong decisions because you are worried about what people will say about you. It is impossible to please everyone and it is impossible to be liked by everyone. You have to focus on taking the right decisions; even if they attract negativity in the short term. People are entitled to their opinion. Our job was to focus on the job in hand and prove them wrong over the longer term; which ultimately we did.

-Business- and indeed life- throws up many unexpected challenges and tough times. In order to successfully navigate through these tough times, it is important to be grounded and connected with reality. When I was about your age someone told me that I should reach for the stars, while keeping one foot firmly on the ground. It was excellent advice and I have always tried to follow it. It is important to have ambitions and it is important to believe that you can achieve those ambitions, step by step. But it is equally important to keep one foot firmly on the ground – in other words to remain grounded – no matter how successful one might become. Because when the inevitable tough times come, you will have a greater ability to deal with them. The peaks of success will not last forever and one needs to stay alert to the challenges that there will almost definitely be in the future. In this context governance is also vital. Establishing good governance in any business is crucial if you want to achieve long-term sustainable success. Strong governance will also help protect you from unexpected and unwelcomed challenges.