Leadership and ethics
By A.P.N. Pankaj

LOOKING at the obituary advertisements in various newspapers across the country, one often observes a striking similarity about them. It is their reference — difference of location and language notwithstanding — to one or the other quotation from the Bhagavadgita, Upanishads or the equally respected other scriptures. These obits — full page, half page or prominently displayed smaller ones — pertaining to the death of one or the other corporate leaders state "who lived a life of Karmayogi, dedicated himself to improving the plight of our countrymen," "an idealist in service of the nation," "an institution-builder who led a life of detached devotion to his duty",etc. Reference is also made to the leadership qualities of the departed soul who held a steadfast belief in the immortality of soul, death being only a change of garment and importance of right conduct in life. A point or two are also made about the ethical values like truth, piety, compassion and love practised by him.

We have used the term "corporate leader" deliberately in the above context instead of "corporate manager". By definition, a leader is a pathfinder, an innovator and a visionary who not only creates an organisation but also conceives a mission and a set of values for it. A leader spells out the future of his organisation and raises his team of managers — the management — who would translate his dream into an operating reality. While therefore the role of the management or the managers cannot be underestimated, it must be remembered that it is the leader who supplies the raison d’etre for the existence of the organisation.

The obit ads mentioned earlier are inserted in the Press by the well-meaning family members of the deceased, managements of the organisations founded or led by them and, sometimes, by the staff also. This is done invariably in each case, to express their love, respect and gratitude for the leader by those who inherit his legacy or mantle and to declare their resolve to follow his footprints.

At a time when our attitudes are increasingly being shaped by crass considerations of materialism and we are fast forsaking our essential spiritual moorings, expression of such sentiments reinforce our conviction that somewhere in our collective social psyche we continue to place premium on human and ethical values more than the mundane and the material ones.

While this is one bright side of our corporate citizenry, the other, the darker one, is the pervasive practical reality. In some pockets of this very corporate world there is lustful pursuit of wealth where values, ideals and morality have no place. A few unscrupulous persons join hands, raise resources and incorporate themselves with the sole motive of amassing huge amounts of money. They hoodwink not only gullible, simple people but even professional financing agencies like banks and financial institutions (whose representative sometimes connive with these sinister entrepreneures), siphon off funds at the earliest opportunity and, declaring themselves sick units, approach the agencies concerned with requests for more funds.

A deeper and careful analysis of the financial affairs of several such medium and large corporate would reveal how, over the years, they create huge artificial losses in their books. They attribute these losses to factors beyond their control and through ‘fixed’ financial figures, clandestinely rotate funds among their elusive sister or ancillary concerns and eventually succeed in diverting huge funds which should legitimately have been used for multiplication of wealth and creating opportunity for the economic amelioration of the people. Being rich is no crime. Money and profit are not dirty words. Blind pursuit of wealth, ignoring all moral and ethical values is, however, as detrimental as pursuit of power for destroying others or even pursuit of scholarship to humiliate others. As a matter of fact, at the root of the all-pervasive corruption in our society is the ability of a few ruthless and unprincipled seekers and hoarders to tamper with the system.

When, in the beginning of this article, a reference was made to the departed corporate leaders and their families or the managements of their organisations who publicly eulogise the ethical values and moral philosophy enshrined in our sacred literature, what we implied was that the avowed commitment to them of the departed leaders and their successors. They must be the guiding principles of their corporate policies. And what is more important, they must be reflected in their practices.

As a matter of fact, the HRD and training systems of their organisations must emphasise on the core values of our culture so that the employees, executives and the future managers of our corporate world may evolve themselves in their assigned roles through an orientation in what we refer to as Karmayoga or performance of duty without motives of self-aggrandisement. There should be an emphasis in all the institutional training programmes on character-building rather than only managing or controlling manifest behaviour.

In one of the famous Upanishad verses which Gandhiji often cited, it is said that we must not covet what is not ours but enjoy the gifts of the material world with a spirit of detachment. It does not mean that we should renounce the world and shun the fruits of our labour. It means that we should shun greed. I am reminded of a banker friend who, early in his career, was appointed as the custodian of crores of rupees worth of cash.

At first, he was awestruck. He, however, reminded himself that he was only a custodian and not the owner of all that money. He carefully carried out his duties, diligently followed the rules of the job and honestly accounted for all the transactions. His claim, he told himself, was only to the salary and perquisites which he brought home and shared with his family. This early awareness was carried by him through the different assignments in his career and, indeed in his life.

It is the responsibility of the corporate leaders to contribute their resources to the perpetuation of truth, piety and uprighteousness. A sizeable number of our corporate leaders are themselves convinced of the relevance of these values. What is needed is that each of them should weave them into the culture of their organisations and spread, if possible, this culture into the other organisations where he wields even some indirect influence. If this happens, our society can surely be a happier place.