UditVani, Jamshedpur : XLRI Jamshedpur, India’s oldest B-school with a 75-year legacy of management excellence, hosted Aurora 3.0—its annual flagship product management conclave organized by the PGDM (General Management) batch of 2025–26. With the theme “Designing What’s Next: Product Leadership for a Changing World”, the conclave explored the evolving landscape of product leadership—spanning Agentic AI, resilient strategies, ethical innovations, and career pivots in an ever-dynamic marketplace.
The event commenced with a traditional Lamp Lighting Ceremony graced by XLRI’s academic leadership, including Sanjay K. Patro (Dean Academics), P. C. Padhan (Associate Dean, GM Programmes), Sunil Kumar Sarangi (Co-Convenor, Placements & CEO, XCEED), and Giridhar Ramachandran (Associate Dean, XLRI Online Learning), alongside eminent industry leaders and speakers.
In his inaugural address, Patro emphasized that “Product management today is at the heart of organizations, where strategic agility and fast-paced decision-making define leadership.”
Ramachandran urged students to master problem framing, quick decision cycles, and stakeholder trade-offs as essential skills for future product leaders.
The conclave featured four power-packed panel discussions, each addressing a critical dimension of product leadership:
1. The Agentic Future: Product Evolution in the Age of AI – Insights on responsible AI adoption, personalization, fraud detection, and inclusivity from leaders at Google, Publicis Sapient, Ajio, Razorpay, ServiceNow, and Optum.
2. Leading Products When the Ground Shifts: Strategies for Resilience and Relevance – Practical approaches to balancing speed, adoption, and resilience amid market volatility, discussed by experts from Pine Labs, Tata Digital, SAP, Expedia, and consulting.
3. Product with Purpose: Ethical and Sustainable Technology for a Responsible Future – Calls for aligning profitability with sustainability and people-first innovation, led by changemakers from GreenTech Solutions, FutureTech, Social Impact Tech, and Infosys.
4. From Doing to Leading to Redefining: Career Pivots and Failures that Future-Proof Product Leaders – Inspiring journeys of reinvention and resilience shared by senior product leaders from Zomato, Amadeus, OpenText, and Joveo.
The conclave concluded with a vote of thanks. Dr. Kanagaraj Ayyalusamy and Shownu Winstington, extended gratitude to all speakers, XLRI leadership, and the student community.
