Guest Lecture – Dr. Julia Morgan and Mr. Sean Dodson
SIIB Auditorium | 28th November, 2024 | 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
MBA (IB/AB/E&E) Batch (2024-26) | Participants – 250+
Panelist: Dr. Julia Morgan, Head of Leadership Centre, Leeds Beckett University
Mr. Sean Dodson, Professor- Journalism, Leeds Beckett University
On 28th November 2024, two distinguished guests from the esteemed Leeds Beckett University (London) visited SIIB to deliver their insights on some elementary but important topics, which the students found quiet intriguing.
First, Mr. Sean Dodson spoke on “Navigating the Network Society”, emphasizing the role of networking, building connections in the corporate world. He demonstrated this via an interactive activity. He conducted two experiments: One was using the website Oracle of Bacon, to demonstrate the power of connection, where actors and actresses of different eras, genres and origins were somehow connected to one another! He referred to this as ‘degrees of separation’; citing Stanley Milgram’s book; ‘Six Degrees of Separation’. Mr. Dodson continued saying, “More the connections we have, higher the chances of associating oneself with people from diverse backgrounds and expertise. In each industry, people are interconnected to one another. For example, a study concludes that the average degree of separation in Microsoft is approximately 4.5.
The second experiment was to find the probability of an identical date from a bunch of birthdays. A sample of 50 students was randomly taken to show the increased probability of identical birth date i.e. the probability increases with increase in sample size. The probability is 0.01% for 1 person, 70.6% for 30 people, and 99.97% for 75 person and so on. He concluded by saying “Stretch out into the world, make connections” for a better future in your professional journey.
Taking the session forward, Dr. Julia Morgan briefly spoke on ‘Entrepreneurship & Innovation’. She defined innovation as ‘New idea for solving a problem creatively’ while entrepreneurship as “Transforming an innovation into a profitable venture.” Dr. Morgan quoted the rising entrepreneurship in India, with examples of brands like Ola, Swiggy, Byju’s and Zomato. She further emphasized the role of entrepreneurship in bridging infrastructural, financial and technological gaps.
The session was concluded with thoughtful advice to the future entrepreneurs to start small, think big, leverage technology while focusing on customers and building a strong network. Overall, the students gained a lot of wisdom from both the speakers and hoped to hear from them again!
