22nd May, 2025 – Alumni talk show is the signature initiative by the Alumni Association of Narayana (AAN) with the motive to create an inclusive environment between the students and alumnus of NBS. With over 9,400 alumni, this talk show was also born from the idea of exploring whether what we teach and preach truly holds up in the real world, once our students enter the corporate world or advance in their careers.
This talk show acts as a direct proof of the ethos of Narayana Business School, the ethos required to build, to succeed and most important of all, to build and succeed sustainably. On that note, we invited Trapti Tiwari – Sr. Manager People Success (Talent & Culture) at Infeedo AI for the second episode of Alumni talk show to talk on the topic of “The science and Art Of Managing People’s Growth” hosted by Vishal Tiwari – VP – Growth & Strategy at NBS Ahmedabad.
Trapti Tiwari’s Journey Of Growth
Trapti opened the session with a reflective account of her early days, navigating through different cities like Mandsaur, Ahmedabad, and Gurgaon. She candidly spoke about the anxiety she experienced at the age of 18 and how those challenging years shaped her resilience. “Too much anxiety at that age, but no one teaches you how to manage it,” she said. “Sometimes you just have to keep moving as life itself becomes the teacher.”
While having lived in different cities throughout her career, each city had its own diversity and made Trapti understand a lot about people and their background they are coming from. Like what we discussed in our recent webinar on Rise of Bharat, Trapti has been through the two Indias, one in the metro and the other in the towns. Her geographical, professional and interpersonal experience is what compelled us to speak to her as she knows the true art and science of managing people’s growth.
All of this has helped Trapti become a compassionate human and better HR professional. Today she works at Infeedo AI, Asia’s leading employee experience platform that helps engage employees, predict attrition & answer FAQs with conversational AI that people love.
Science Of Managing People’s Growth
As an HR, the art and science of managing people’s growth is a very crucial task especially in today’s time as it is very easy to be swayed by bogus narratives pushed forward by social media. The agenda of the webinar was to showcase NBSians and other fellow attendees what skill sets you require to manage people as an HR and the kind of candidate every HR should look for their organization.
She emphasized that students should not measure every task against their ego. Instead, she encouraged them to benchmark themselves internally and use every experience as a stepping stone, even if it’s outside their comfort zone. Referring to her own early days, taking every given task as the ultimate challenge and the hunger to do it in the best of best way is what works in real life. While attaching a few ups and downs in a professional environment to your ego can be fatal, focusing on the efficiency of tasks, interpersonal skills, transparent communication is what can take individuals higher and farther in their careers.
Quoting loosely from Maslow’s hierarchy, she urged students to find purpose beyond self-validation. “Don’t tag everything to your ego. Try to benchmark the task, not your pride,” she said.
“Even if you don’t enjoy something,” she advised, “ask yourself what you can learn. That mindset completes the journey faster than any shortcut.”
Art Of People Management
While touching upon the art of people management, Trapti ideal traits she looks for while hiring a candidate and what every HR should learn and observe to do as well.
Ownership, Curiosity and the Courage to Disagree
Central to the “art” of people management, Trapti suggested, are three non‐negotiables:
- Ownership. Leaders look for candidates who treat challenges as personal missions.
- Curiosity. Asking why and how sparks innovation and fuels continuous improvement.
- Constructive Dissent. “I don’t want yes-men,” she quipped. “When you disagree respectfully, you push the team forward.”
She illustrated these traits with examples from her hiring experience at Infeedo AI, where candidates who took initiative rather than waiting for direction, earned callbacks and offers. She reminded us that people management remains, at its core, a deeply human endeavour.
Tripti’s message to students was clear: while tools, certifications, and technical know-how are essential, what truly propels careers and organizations forward are mindset traits that cannot be automated or templated.
To build a culture that cultivates these attributes, she offered three tips:
- Hire for traits, train for skills: Prioritize potential and mindset over a perfect CV.
- Reward initiative: Publicly recognize those who step up, question, and contribute beyond their roles.
- Model dissent at the top: Leaders must welcome disagreement to make it safe for others to do the same.
Is AI Really Replacing Jobs? Trapti Touches Upon Crucial Topic
According to Forbes, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants now handle up to 70% of routine HR inquiries, everything from leave requests to benefits questions. Eventually freeing HR teams to focus on high-value activities such as coaching and culture building
Likewise, The Guardian reports that an AI-enabled payroll platform reduced one HR team’s monthly processing time from two days to under an hour, enabling them to spend more time on employee relations and onboarding.
“There’s a lot of noise about AI replacing jobs. But the reality is AI is removing the repetitive parts so you can focus on being more productive and creative,” she said.
By offloading repetitive and rule-based duties, AI frees HR professionals from the “busy work” that once filled their days. The result is twofold:
- Productivity Gains: HR teams can process larger volumes of tasks with higher accuracy and far fewer delays or errors.
- Creative & Strategic Bandwidth: Freed from administrative bottlenecks, HR practitioners can devote time to higher-value activities such as designing innovative engagement programs, coaching managers on leadership best practices, or analyzing workforce trends to inform talent strategy.
UPCOMING WEBINAR ON AI: CLICK HERE
Parting Thoughts On The Webinar
One of the crucial things which was touched upon in the webinar by Trapti Tiwari for students was to work, work like it was your ultimate challenge and strive to make the task a benchmark for others. That’s how you grow in your initial years. Don’t tag everything to your ego, communicate as much as you can and stay CURIOUS.
Another thing noted by Mr. Vishal Tiwari after being asked a question “sir what if we don’t like our jobs?”, he said, if you don’t like anything but it is important for your overall survival, find ways to through that phase of life as quickly as possible instead of being complaining about it.
And that is what we desire from the students of NBS Ahmedabad, to have a solution-oriented mindset, which is farther life helps organization and the individuals personally too. It’s easy to blame-shift, whether on a person, the situation or God, but what matters is how quickly you take responsibility, fix the hiccup and move on the bigger fish. That’s what being a good HR is about, that’s what is the art and science of managing people’s growth.
