THE WISE LEADER

Corporate governance depends on checks and balances among four institutions--Board, Management, Stakeholders and Regulators—just as political governance depends on the four estates of Legislature,

Directors on boards have two distinct roles: a ‘map’ role and a ‘compass’ role. The former is the traditional role. It is about overseeing the short-term with a horizon of a few years.

Wisdom is born out of controlling lower ground thinking by the discipline of higher ground thinking—the word discipline is noteworthy.

Before you think that Shashi Tharoor has been language-tutoring me, let me explain that a myrmidon is an unquestioning and subservient lackey of a powerful leader. Myrmidons are around everywhere and become the leader’s Achilles heel. Achilles’s body became invulnerable, excluding his foot, and hence the expression, Achilles Heel to signify an inherent weakness.

Indian business leaders tend to be opportunistic rather than strategic, perhaps a hangover from the license raj. Gurus exhort business leaders to view business through a long-term lens.

Recent rhetoric says “less government, more governance” but the unfolding reality does not match up. Indian government, center and states, face a real governance issue.

In uncertain times, leaders require deeperconversations andempathetic listening--three times more than speech-making.

10th April 2020 THE WISE LEADER. I received positive reader responses to my last column. (Beware of competence without humility or humanity, BS, 13th March). One reader posed a tricky question: why are so many leaders arrogant if it is obvious that humility is very important?

3rd January 2019 THE WISE LEADER

2019 was a year full of board room debacles. Usually, we all tend to live in the uplands of activity-obsession. The lull during the holiday season offered me a quiet period when I retreated with my books into the valley of humility.