'Brilliance alone won't take you far': Ex-ISRO chief Somanath’s message to IIM-A graduates

Former ISRO chairman S Somanath on Saturday offered a no-frills message to IIM-A's graduating students: read deeply, seek mentors, prepare relentlessly, and stay grounded. "Be a voracious reader. Read as much as you can, whenever you get an opportunity - and in every domain and every sphere that you come across and that will definitely give you a fulfilling life," Somanath said while delivering the convocation address at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A). "I am a product of nothing but the reading habits that I developed in my early life."

Sharing lessons from his own journey — from growing up in a village to leading India's space programme — he spoke of the transformative power of education. "I had never seen a government employee in my life other than the teachers. So look at the power of reading. That gives you visibility to see the bigger picture and it continues to be even now."

He stressed the importance of collaboration over brilliance. "Learn to work as a team, alone you can go really fast and far but then in the company of others you can go very very far. And many a times I have seen myself that brilliance alone won't take you far."

Warning of the relentless pace of technological change, he added, "The rate of knowledge creation, the technology advancements that are taking place are too fast now. And even human cannot even understand or tackle the rate at which it is growing."

To be a leader, he told the students, "First thing is to become a follower or (find) a mentor...somebody who will be able to guide you help you... identify that mentor and stick to him for sufficiently long time."

Somanath advised students to take chances and recognise the right moment. "Take risks in life and this only way that you can really break barriers. Prepare well for opportunities. Opportunities will definitely knock on your door but then if you are waiting for it many a time you won't even notice it."

He also underlined the value of humility and detachment. "At the end of it, you need to remain unattached."

Calling for stronger links between academia, research, and industry, Somanath said, "Even today, though we are doing similar work, the connection between research organisation, academia, and industry is still a distant dream." He added that this connect is essential if India is to become “a very powerful country in the future.”

Touching on India’s intellectual legacy, he said, “India has always been a great nation contributing to the global understanding of the universe,” and referred to ancient texts like Surya Siddhanta and Mahasalila to highlight India’s early advances in astronomy, mathematics and cosmology.

Somanath reminded the students that developing leadership grounded in principle was essential. “If you want to be a great leader and make an impact in whatever you do, then you need to become a good follower.”

He ended with a clear call to action: “To unlock the potential of our nation, we must continue to innovate and collaborate… Each failure highlights the strength to find out better solutions and reach greater heights.”