News Releases

Lok Jack GSB welcomes new students

For Release Upon Receipt - January 22, 2010

St. Augustine


Director Carrillo tells new students: “Without failure, we cannot innovate”

 

“There is no possibility of innovating without failing. Without failure we cannot innovate,” said Professor Miguel Carrillo, Executive Director of the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, in his welcoming speech to new students. The orientation took place on Tuesday 5th January 2010, in the School’s Yara Auditorium.

Defining knowledge as an “evolution of beliefs with perseverance of values,” he emphasised the need to reinforce these values to create fresh knowledge, pointing out that through experimentation and failure, one can be innovative.

Carrillo later delved into explaining strategic leadership, its possible definitions and the differences between being a leader and exercising leadership, and the need for leadership to be challenged constantly. Defining a problem as “a gap between aspirations and reality,” he identified two types: Technical, where a solution already exists, and Adaptive, where the solution demands learning, and pointed out that a classic mistake was to treat adaptive problems as technical ones. He concluded by suggesting that conflict in teams brings about innovation.

Urging students to use the talent of the arts to create and infuse innovation, Dr. Gwendoline Williams, Lecturer of Organisational Behaviour and Organisational Development at the School, introduced a strategic plan she called STRIDE—an acronym for Strategic Transformation for Relevance, Developmental Impact, Distinctiveness and Excellence. Williams explained that a key success factor to STRIDE was to return to professionalism, and said that by infusing innovativeness and entrepreneurship one can become highly competitive and foster efficiency, excellence and accountability. She declared that the Lok Jack GSB was in sync with global learning standards, and called on the students to be responsive to national needs, and learn from alumni dedicated to the Business School.

Quoting Albert Einstein in her speech that focused on ethics, Nirmala Harrylal, Director of Internationalisation at the School, encouraged students to “try not to become a ‘man of success,’ but rather become a ‘man of value’.” Stressing the need for ethical practices, and consequently, the training needed in this area to enable persons to carry out these practices, she indicated that it was of paramount importance to businesses and society. Harrylal said the School champions this cause in all its programmes and courses to ensure ethical learning. Referring to a recent AMBA (Association of MBAs) report, she stated that it expressed the need for more rounded individuals, capable of making ethical choices rather than just functional workers and management.

The students were later treated to a cocktail reception, where they were motivated and encouraged to become the problem solvers of society by alumni member Bhushan Singh, Manager of Corporate Services at the Agricultural Development Bank.

The second phase of the student’s orientation included three team-building sessions held in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard Services, which involved the students’ participation in various activities at their Training Centre Heliport, Chaguaramas.

For more UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news.

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About Arthur Lok Jack Graduate school of Business

The Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business (formerly the UWI-Institute of Business) was established in 1989 as a joint venture between the University of the West Indies and the private sector of Trinidad and Tobago to provide postgraduate education in business and management. In October 2005, the Board of Directors and the University agreed to change the name of the business school in honour of a $20 million endowment made by Arthur Lok Jack, one of the Caribbean 's leading entrepreneurs. Lok Jack GSB has produced more than 1000 graduates to date and has trained and developed more than 19,000 persons in executive and professional programmes. Today, Lok Jack GSB is recognised as the premier institution for the provision of business and management education, training and consultancy services in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean region.

About UWI

Over the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

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