Whose company is it anyways?

Over the last year or so we have just been hearing about the excesses that have been committed by the companies around the world. Check – the management of the companies. Check 2 – the top management ‘Board’ of the companies. Decisions for growth, profitability, self remuneration et al. And, the resultant collapse of the mighty empires whose so called rock solid foundations have proven to be hollow. The leadership which was dynamic and class dithered to dust.

And, today morning here back in India, which has had its share of worldwide flu – comes a pleasant, confident and overpowering look at what good companies are made of. “The fundamentals of Corporate Governance” by Sudhakar Ram, CMD of Mastek Ltd a pioneering IT solutions company from India takes an objective look at the role of leadership. Sudhakar has interpreted the ideology behind the governance of an organization with that of a model which is proven, trustworthy and evolved from the concept of a true organization – governance of the organization for the organization by the organization from within its hierarchy based on value, principles and processes.A refreshing thought and viewpoint away from the mundane – do and don’ts being propagated by one and sundry. Have worked on imbibing this philosophy in my wake of life. It works.

Follow or not to follow

Today, the #3 IT company in India and a world leader in IT outsourcing revealed that it was built on the basis of internal fraud. The founder was the fraudster leading a dual life - propogating governance and working against it.
There is so much one can now do (write) to critic the company, management and various authorities that were supposed to create a supportive and governing environment to prevent a fraud.
My two cents take was that not to go this path but to only say what is the learning that we have - we can learn from this history now.

1. Trust what you factually see and is presented to you -- yet take a deep dive when look out for warning signals. These signals are not necessarily in annoucing the problem - yet symptons which could be totally isolated.
2. Create and live with back-up options while the going is good - not when something goes wrong.

The only other thing that is on my mind right now is the 50,000+ employees of the company whose TRUST has been betrayed.

Yet, another question arises in mind - was there an opportunity for someone to stand tall and blow the whistle?