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Born Creative: Srikumar Rao, 54 Academic
JANUARY 30, 2006 - INDIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL 15
Seasoned academic Srikumar Rao teaches Creativity and Personal Mastery at Columbia University's Business School.
The course was an experiment that almost failed. In 1999, under the professor's guidance, the school decided to introduce a course that would help students focus on what they could contribute to life as opposed to merely chasing material goals and milestones.
The management scholar and Columbia Business School alumnus recalls how the course evoked a tepid response initially. Just when they were planning to drop it, a clutch of applications came in and the quorum was realised. The elite course is now part of the regular curriculum at the university-with the London Business School too joining the ranks.
Drawing upon his personal experience and his Indian origins, Rao has collated philosophical concepts underlying inner happiness and presented
them in a context that can be grasped easily by a Western-trained mind. Not surprising, therefore, that the course has by now generated an alumni of its own, independent of the business school fraternity.
At a time when work hours have gone up across the board, grasping the Rao mantra is an imperative and not a choice any longer. Putting it simply, if you have to spend such long hours at the workplace, then you had better enjoy it too. "If you are not in a position where you are not passionate about your job, then you are wasting your time. I teach students how to realise this objective," he explains.
Rao is a contributing editor for Forbes and writes on the impact of technology on business processes. His other big passions are creative writing, Eastern philosophy and meditation. Although his favourite author is P.G. Wodehouse, Rao also relishes science fiction. To unwind, he plays tennis, squash, table tennis and chess.
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