Chapter 6

Surya was happy that the Management School has been well accepted. He knew this is something that can be built upon.  But he was not so amused with the limelight that Shravan was getting. So he did not want to leave the reins completely to Shravan.

Surya was a shrewd strategist. He went about working on both the issues slowly and steadily.

One day he walked across to Dr Vishveshvarayya’s room

“It is heartening to see that our management school is now well recognised. I am sure this name will help us attract their interest in our other courses too” He said.

“Good that you brought about the subject. I was planning have a chat with you on this” Dr Vishvesvarayya replied.

“Some days ago Shravan had s come up to me with an idea which I thought was worth considering” He continued

Surya stiffened.

“The old man appears to be enamoured by this young upstart. Agree that the idea of Management School clicked. But it happened only because of the support I gave. That does not mean that it should become the launching pad for Shravan” Surya mused.

But he did not show any reaction on his face. He listened attentively.

“Shravan suggested that we should establish management schools at other locations.”

“OK that is an idea. But it will need enormous resources to set up campuses and at this point we do not have the funds for it” He replied

“That is the beauty of his idea. He suggests that we select few well running institutions and have a tie up with them. The Government anyway is not giving permission to set up many management colleges. They are slow to recognize any new idea anyway. So in the meantime we could have the satellite campuses at select few colleges. We can have strong selection criteria for choosing our partners. We can persuade government against permitting other colleges for some more time. In the meantime we can establish our national presence with no investment. On the other hand we can have some nice cash flow as royalty and security deposit” Chairman gave a quick summary of the idea Shravan had put forward.

Surya realised that it made sense. He also knew that he it has the potential to leapfrog Shraven to a more commanding position within NUPS and out in the industry. He wanted to reap the fruits of Shraven’s idea; but not give an opportunity to Shravan to build on in it further.

“That is a good idea. I think it is worth taking it forward” Surya observed.

Dr Vishveshvarayya felt relieved. He was not sure how Surya would react.

“Ok let us ask Shravan to go into implementation mode” Dr suggested.

“Oh I would like to see it in a different perspective” Surya interjected.

“Now what” Dr mused. “Surya will come with a new twist in anything”

“Sir, Shravan is overloaded and we cannot ask him to take this also” Surya said

“But he has presented me an excellent implementation plan”

“OK we can definitely look at it and we can even make use of it if it is good”

“Shraven will be upset and this may dampen his motivations”

“May be he will be. We need to explain to him. He cannot expect exclusivity in any project”

“But it was he who conceived it and demonstrated the feasibility in spite of opposition from most of us”

 “Just because a man fathered his baby we can’t expect him to be the one guiding him in his Ph D program”

“But in this case the father is qualified to be his Ph D guide”

“We can definitely appreciate that. But we have to be prudent. We can’t have the success of the whole program pivoted on one individual” Surya started to spin his argument.  Once he developed an idea and conceived a strategy he could spin his argument with such force, logic and persuasion, it would be difficult for anybody to stop him.

“We need to develop our team and we need to be sure that all aspects of the implementation is adequately covered. My thoughts are as follows. We will make Somesh responsible for this expansion project” Surya continued.

“But he is our legal and corporate affairs person” Dr V raised his concern

“Yes Somesh had joined the team as a legal and corporate affairs person. However he has a keen interest in the business of NUPS.  He is an avid reader. In the recent past he has been reading books and journals relating to the field of education, has attended seminars and has been thinking extensively about issues and challenges in this area. He frequently comes to me with interesting ideas and often has sensible advice. Plus as he has a strong legal background he will be able to negotiate and conclude strong contracts with each of the potential partners. You see we are going the partnership rout. Any partnership has potential to sour. Therefore it is imperative to ensure that we have a contract that will protect our interest in case of such eventuality.” Surya built his case strongly.

“Further I suggest that Rani is made responsible for the curriculum and study material for these partnerships. We cannot use the same format as we use here at the institute. We need to develop suitable material for the students as well as total on boarding kit for the partner entities.” Surya was making sure that the other two was with him when he cut Shravan to size. 

Dr. V realised Surya’s game plan. But he did not have arguments to match Surya’s logic and even more his powerful articulation. He did not want to veto Surya. He wanted to see the institute succeeding and matching his dream before he retired.

 “Ok I leave it to you” Dr V conceded.

“I knew you would appreciate my strategy” He bowed with utmost grace which was more an act than an expression of his respect to Dr V