“Barrack Obama was just an ordinary Senator 18 months ago but he achieved great success as he branded himself and his branding has been ‘Let us change’. You (too must) think of branding yourself,” said Rienzie T Wijetilleke, Chairman Hatton National Bank, when he addressed a group of Moratuwa University undergraduates at the opening sessions of the “The Final Step” a series of skills workshops for Moratuwa University undergraduates sponsored by the John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation (JKSRF) this week.
JKSRF, in collaboration with the Career Guidance Unit of the University of Moratuwa, conducted these workshops from March 2 - 6. The programme is designed to help final year undergraduates prepare themselves for employment in the corporate sector. It has been carried out twice earlier at the University of Kelaniya.
Mr Wijetilleke said that President Obama ended up with being a super brand and the most powerful person in the world. He said that the development of skills is important and they have to create leaders and not followers.
He said that some professionals are paid as much as half a million rupees as they are useful and comparatively their output is equivalent to the work of 10 people in the state sector. If people are prepared for hard work they are rewarded, Mr Wijetilleke said.
He said that while he did not want his officers to work under stress or tension, there would always be complex situations in which they need to been skilled to handle.
Deepal Sooriyarachchi, Managing Director, Eagle Insurance PLC said that skills are all about adding value to the product and the employment depended on the customers as they pay all the salaries and bonuses and above all, guarantee employment. So for all employees to get their employment protected they should protect the interests of the customers.
Mr Sooriyarachchi said that leave is a privilege and is the means to balance the personal life and work-life and this privilege should be used with responsibility. The panel discussion was moderated by Dr Uditha Liyanage, Director, Postgraduate Institute of Management. The other speakers at the panel discussion were Sharmini Ratwatte, Non-executive Director, John Keells PLC and Chairman, Environmental Foundation Ltd, Pulasthika Wirasinha, Head of Human Resources - Processes and Systems, John Keells Holdings PLC and Sriyan de S. Wijeyeratne, Country Manager, Microsoft Sri Lanka (Pvt) Ltd .
|
E-mail