Founder's Message

Dear Friends,

Life is a series of ups and downs. Life has the irritating and unnerving habit of throwing at you an 'unexpected' surprise and you are of course 'expected' to deal with it, resolve it and move on. I like to look at these ups and downs as experiences, which are necessary simply to widen your perspective, infuse a certain maturity of thought into your system and finally, through all these experiences propel you to take on initiatives that give you the most satisfaction and enrichment.

Great Lakes is one such experience. The reason I say this is because the time that you spend with us is filled with so much learning - a lot of which will happen outside the classroom! For starters, your peer group will be a diverse and talented set of culturally diverse professionals with varied backgrounds and work experiences. Likewise, your coursework will bring you in contact with brilliant academicians, management gurus and industry experts from around the world. Interactions with all these people will not only elevate your levels of thought but will also enable a cross-fertilization of ideas and exchanges, some of which will serve as game changers that you hold dear for the rest of your lives. One of our key competencies is our Karma Yoga program through which we reach out to the rural and backward communities and help them through several health, wellness, awareness, donation campaigns and this initiative is such a smashing success that we have also tied up with several NGO's to take this initiative to more areas than just those immediately surrounding our campus. We take pride in being a student driven, participative and democratic Institute – with the students having as much authority and responsibility as the management in the affairs of the Institute. Having said all this, we party just as hard as we work and your stay at Great Lakes will be heartily peppered with several on and off campus fun activities including cultural extravaganzas and events. Above all, the experience that a 'Gurukulam' offers is nonpareil. The ambience in which students and teachers co-exist after class hours provides ample time and opportunity for introspection and overall rounding of one's personality. Platinum rated, green & eco-friendly, our campus - spread over 27.5 acres - is equipped with cutting-edge infrastructure and amenities. In all this, the common thread is that of being a large family and Great Lakes strives to be a home away from home during the period of your stay and forever after.

All in all, Great Lakes is the perfect recipe for a veritable feast – you have all the ingredients with which to create one of the most magical and exponentially rewarding experiences of your life. The only ingredient you will be short on is time and we hope that you are able to amass a wealth of experience in the one year you spend with us – as this is an asset for life!

Swagatham!

Late Prof. Bala V. Balachandran
(05 July 1937 - 27 September 2021)

Founder, Great Lakes Institute of Management, India
J. L. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting and Information Management,
Northwestern University, Illinois, USA
Executive Professor and Strategy Advisor to the Dean, Bauer College,
University of Houston, Texas, USA

Learn More about Prof. Balachandran's inspiring journey and the legacy he left behind - https://www.greatlakes.edu.in/chennai/remembering-uncle-bala

Associations

  • Cornell University
  • Chicago Booth
  • Skema Business School
  • Universite Bordeaux
  • IESEG
  • Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
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