Ideas India

This year’s Ideas India event, held in Lucknow, featured Dar Vanderbeck, Vice President, Aspen Global Leadership Network, and brought together over 100 Fellows & Trustees along with their spouses, including an exciting contingent of young leaders. The overall theme was “Looking Within.” Ideas India, an initiative led and driven by the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellows, encourages discussion on a set of pressing themes and critical challenges faced by society. The event draws an eclectic set of leaders and thinkers from across sectors and regions to engage in text-based dialogues and specially curated sessions designed to help reflect on one’s values and spur them into action.

The theme echoed throughout the event as we explored how self-awareness is key to navigating the complexities of leadership and the world around us. It challenged each of us to reflect on who we are becoming and how to stay true to the core of who we are.

The sessions at the Ananta Godrej Ideas India are designed to help attendees unpack their worldviews and arrive at the core of what they stand for. These sessions are a mix of introspection, interaction and knowledge sharing led by Aspen-trained moderators

Ananta Godrej Ideas India 2024 | Lucknow | 6-8 September

Ideas India, an initiative led and driven by the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellows, encourages discussion on a set of pressing themes and critical challenges faced by society. The event draws an eclectic set of leaders and thinkers from across sectors and regions to engage in text-based dialogues and specially curated sessions designed to help reflect on one’s values and spur them into action.

The theme for this year was “Bridgnig Divides”. The event aimed to encourage individuals to come together, heal divisions, and build connections. This theme emphasizes the importance of finding common ground and recognizing our shared humanity, transcending differences.

The event took place in Hyderabad from September 1st to 3rd. One notable aspect of the event was the Socratic Dialogue, a unique and reflective module organized by Ananta Centre. There was a theatre workshop led by the CCDC group, during this 3 hours session, topics such as humility, selflessness, humanity, and honesty were discussed and left a positive and heartwarming impact on the participants, further emphasizing the importance of these values in bridging divides and building connections among people.

The programe was attended by over 70 Fellows & Trustees along with their spouses.

This year’s Ideas India event, held in Lucknow, featured Dar Vanderbeck, Vice President, Aspen Global Leadership Network, and brought together over 100 Fellows & Trustees along with their spouses, including an exciting contingent of young leaders. The overall theme was “Looking Within.” Ideas India, an initiative led and driven by the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellows, encourages discussion on a set of pressing themes and critical challenges faced by society. The event draws an eclectic set of leaders and thinkers from across sectors and regions to engage in text-based dialogues and specially curated sessions designed to help reflect on one’s values and spur them into action.

The theme echoed throughout the event as we explored how self-awareness is key to navigating the complexities of leadership and the world around us. It challenged each of us to reflect on who we are becoming and how to stay true to the core of who we are.

The sessions at the Ananta Godrej Ideas India are designed to help attendees unpack their worldviews and arrive at the core of what they stand for. These sessions are a mix of introspection, interaction and knowledge sharing led by Aspen-trained moderators

The Ananta Godrej Ideas India 2021 was held virtually from 8th to 10th October 2021. The overall theme for this year was “Imagine Anew: Rethinking Community & Leadership“. The pandemic has disrupted societal structures and relationships like never before. The pandemic has shown that community sometimes matters above all even as it has set new definitions for who or what leadership is. As we look ahead, as we imagine anew, what will future communities and leaders be like, and more importantly what do we want them to be, even as we look within ourselves, to examine our roles and equations in this new world?
  • Ananta Talks
  • Virtual Socratic Dialogues allowed participants to engage in classic text-based dialogue with a cohort of Fellows.
  • Strong written and spoken command of English
  • Plenaries and Discussion featured special guests and Fellows who had a powerful and enriching discussion on topics that encompass our theme was “Imagine Anew: Rethinking Community & Leadership“.
Ideas India is an initiative of the fellows of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship of the Ananta Aspen Centre. It has been a time of growth, transformation and new vistas for the nation. Economic, political, social, religious, environmental, almost all factors are rapidly changing, perhaps faster than we can manage. India embraces both unconstrained hope and unimaginable fear. We need courage to grasp hope and face fear – the courage of fellowship in action. We gather at Ideas India to raise difficult questions, to ideate, to confide, to act and to do so in the community of the Aspen Dialogue. The Ananta Godrej Ideas India 2020 held virtually from 2nd to 4th October 2020. Our overall theme for this year was “How Big is your Circle?“.
  • One special feature this year was the first plenary, titled “There are no others“, which was conducted as a joint exercise with the Resnick Aspen Action Forum (RAAF). Two panelists from the Aspen Global Leadership Network, one from the Central-American Leadership Initiative and one from the Middle-East Leadership Initiative, both bring personal and professional experience as migrants. They gave us a deeper insight into the issue and challenges us to expand our circle to find answers.
  • Virtual Socratic Dialogues allowed participants to engage in classic text-based dialogue with a cohort of Fellows.
  • Plenaries and Discussion featured special guests and Fellows who had a powerful and enriching discussion on topics that encompass our theme “How Big is Your Circle”.

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