Lack of soft skills has tripped up careers of more young professionals than a lack of intellectual capability or learning, according to Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestlé India Ltd.

“Young professionals seldom fall due to a lack of intellectual capability or learning but fall due to lack of soft skills,” he said addressing the 36th annual convocation of the Loyola Institute of Business Administration.

Drawing on over three decades of experience in the corporate sector, Narayanan’s advice to the graduates was to “be clear on what you want” and “do things that satisfy you”. Continuously upgrade competence, show credibility in leadership, courage and focus on the job at hand, he said.

Today’s young multitask on multiple social media platforms and their “lives are determined by likes on Facebook,” he commented.

But it is important to concentrate on one thing and get it right. “You need to work your way up” and that is by getting “competence right”, he said.

Narayanan pointed out that it is only in the initial couple of years in a job they would be asked where they studied. But within a few short years a professional’s careers will be decided by individual track record and capability.

According to a press statement from LIBA, 235 students consisting from, two-year full time Post Graduate Diploma in management (PGDM), three-year part-time PGDM, Ph.D and Executive Postgraduate programme from Maveric Systems received their certificates in various disciplines of Business Management.

LIBA announced plans for a Joint MS programme with Fordham University, New York, in Business Analytics and Global Finance. It will also set up a Centre for Analytics and Insights in collaboration with TCS.

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