Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
As Mahatma Gandhi said, 'We must become the change we want to see in the
world.' Leaders have to prove their belief in sacrifice and hard work. Such
behavior will enthuse the employees to make bigger sacrifices. It will help win the
team's confidence, help leaders become credible, and help create trust in their
ideas.
Enhancing trust
Trust and confidence can only exist where there is a premium on transparency.
The leader has to create an environment where each person feels secure
enough to be able to disclose his or her mistakes, and resolves to improve.
Investors respect such organisations. Investors understand that the business will
have good times and bad times. What they want you to do is to level with them at
all times. They want you to disclose bad news on a proactive basis. At Infosys,
our philosophy has always been, 'When in doubt, disclose.'
Governance
Good corporate governance is about maximising shareholder value on a
sustainable basis while ensuring fairness to all stakeholders: customers, vendorpartners, investors, employees, government and society.
A successful organisation tides over many downturns. The best index of success
is its longevity. This is predicated on adhering to the finest levels of corporate
governance.
At Infosys, we have consistently adopted transparency and disclosure standards
even before law mandated it. In 1995, Infosys suffered losses in the secondary
market. Under Indian GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles), we were
not required to make this information public. Nevertheless, we published this
information in our annual report.
Fearless environment
Transparency about the organisation's operations should be accompanied by an
open environment inside the organisation. You have to create an environment
where any employee can disagree with you without fear of reprisal.
In such a case, everyone makes suggestions for the common good. In the end
everyone will be better off.
On the other hand, at Enron, the CFO was running an empire where people were
afraid to speak. In some other cases, the whistle blowers have been harassed
and thrown out of the company.
Managerial remuneration
We have gone towards excessive salaries and options for senior management
staff. At one company, the CEO's employment contract not only set out the model
of the Mercedes the company would buy him, but also promised a monthly firstclass air ticket for his mother, along with a cash bonus of $10 million and other
benefits. Not surprisingly, this company has already filed for bankruptcy.
Managerial remuneration should be based on three principles:
Integrity
Strong leadership in adverse times helps win the trust of the stakeholders,
making it more likely that they will stand by you in your hour of need. As leaders
who dream of growth and progress, integrity is your most wanted attribute.
Lead your teams to fight for the truth and never compromise on your values. I am
confident that our corporate leaders, through honest and desirable behaviour, will
reap long-term benefits for their stakeholders.
Two mottos
In conclusion, keep in mind two Sanskrit sentences: Sathyannasti Paro Dharma
(there is no dharma greater than adherence to truth); and Satyameva jayate
(truth alone triumphs). Let these be your motto for good corporate leadership.
The author is Chairman and Chief Mentor, Infosys Technologies.
Published with the kind permission of The Smart Manager.