Articles

May 1, 2020

Immunizing a company from invisible attack

26th March 2020 BUSINESS STANDARD

Unleash passion, purposeful culture and positivity. They constitute people power, which is the best immunization for the company.
April 11, 2020

Mitigating the bullying effects of power

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?
March 27, 2020

Wisdom for start-ups from grown-ups

26th March 2020 BUSINESS STANDARD

In an earlier Innocolumn, I wrote about the case of an unknown, but highly successful start-up called Galaxy Surfactants—a start-up nurtured by ex-HUL stalwarts.
March 18, 2020

Beware of competence without humanity or humility

13th March BUSINESS STANDARD

Competence without humanity and humility can be dangerous in a company CEO, or, for that matter, in any leader. My article in BS may interest you.
January 23, 2020

Lingering fallouts of acrimonious leadership disputes

15th January 2020

I had written an article on Ahankar-Mukt Leadership (BS, 6th Dec 2019). Even in successful companies, visible and acrimonious leadership disputes linger—like in L’Oréal, Viacom, Raymond, Infosys, Tata, Indigo and recently Murugappa.
January 3, 2020

Board wisdom is judgment + character + humility

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.
December 24, 2019

Transparency and public scrutiny is tough but valuable

18th December 2019

In this last column of 2019, I explore the reality that public scrutiny is tough but valuable. A CEO in a listed company bears this as an additional responsibility compared to an unlisted company CEO.
December 7, 2019

Ahankar-mukt leadership

6th December 2019 THE WISE LEADER

This year-end I write about the importance of ahankar-mukt leadership. Early next year, I will share how to work at becoming ahankar-mukt.  Narcissists are full of ahankar.
November 27, 2019

Lingering debates about entrepreneurship and growth

27th November 2019 BUSINESS STANDARD

Like persistent bacteria which linger in the gut, debates about facilitating business linger in the alimentary canal of the economy. Last week, I participated in two different panel discussions, one in Mumbai and another in Bangalore.