Gouranga Chattopadhyay was my Professor of Behavioral Science at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Gouranga da, taught the subject differently. The skill to understand, predict, and change human behaviour is essential for professional success. He made us understand that organisations in the private and public sector have turned to behavioural science insights to increase the effectiveness. This has led to an increase in demand for people with these skills, formally in behavioural insights and people analytics teams, and less formally in leadership, change management and human resources roles.
By attending his class we acquired cutting edge scientific insights about human behaviour, and learnt how to change human behaviour by altering the “context” in which people act rather than how they think. We also gained expertise in state-of-the-art methodological and statistical approaches that are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of behavioural change.
It is this knowledge which kept me in the forefront to understand Human Management in later years as I joined the corporate.
In his lecture Gouranga da drew on a variety of studies covering issues such as wellbeing, inequality and discrimination to bust the common myths about our sources of happiness. He showed us that there can be many unexpected paths to lasting fulfilment. Some of these might involve not going into higher education, choosing not to marry, rewarding acts rooted in self-interest and caring a little less about living for ever. By freeing ourselves from the myth of the perfect life, we might each find a life worth living.
Much before he became my professor, he is the father of my friend Sumatra, with whom I studied in Don Bosco. I think Sumantra did his graduation from Jadavpur University and moved to McGill University to complete his MBA. His younger brother Amitava also studied with us, a year junior with my brother Ajay. He studied BSc Honors Chemistry at Jadavpur and moved to IIM Ahmedabad to do his MBA and then a specialization in Marketing from University of Florida.
Aa far as I can recall they always lived in Palm Avenue and his mother Arati Masi, used to come to school sometimes during tiffin-break or after school. She always carried some food and shared it with all of us.
What an insight ! And what a Professor !
Image : Sumantra Chattopadhya