Surenraj27

It’s a powerful leadership mantra—encouraging decisive action while emphasizing the importance of making the right choices.  The above phrase was famously said by Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, as advice to his successor, Satya Nadella. Ballmer told Nadella, _”Be bold and be right. If you’re not bold, you’re not going to do much of anything. If you’re not right, you’re not going to…

The more auditors try to bridge the proverbial ‘ expectation gap’, it’s noted with a lot of despair the expectation by audit committees is widening. Managing expectation gaps between the audit committee and external auditors is crucial to maintaining a productive and effective audit process. How to bridge those gaps? Is it impossible?  1. How much Communication and Education is enough?  I’ve…

For a caterpillar the cocoon is a place of transformation. The caterpillar undergoes tremendous changes, has many moments of discomfort and struggle, but the process would lead to something beautiful. When the right day arrives the caterpillar feels strong and ready. It pushes against the walls of the cocoon and there will be moments when it wanted to give up as it was tough. But with every push…

This is the story of my experience in the last couple of years and resonates well with some key messages I want to make.  The story is, Jack Ma the richest man in China said, “If you put the Banana and Money infront of a monkey. The monkey will choose Banana because the monkey don’t know that money can buy alot of Bananas.” One of the reason the poor are poor is because the poor are not trained…

Who is responsible for the dysfunctional board in State Owned Enterprises (SOEs)? Corporate governance codes require boards to bear the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that effective governance structures are in place and are delivering the desired results. But if the government shareholder or the minister short circuits the nomination process to appoint directors to SOEs for personal…

My hypothesis; “Under the guise of economic crisis, banks in SriLanka are robbing the public without any conscience.” Is the root cause due to the absence of the pillars of successful corporate governance: accountability, fairness, transparency, assurance, leadership and stakeholder management? Banks attract customers by baiting with ‘No transactions costs’ or first time ‘waiver of fees’ or low…

The easiest excuse for an under-performer to win in a democratic process is to be disengaged with management, blame the past on lack of transparency and gain popularity from the marginal voters who like their comfort zone. Politics has the same effect in corporates as in the public space. However, in a high performing society or corporate culture this may not be successful, is my notion. In the…

In leadership positions it’s important to identify winners and reward them and equally important to avoid unnecessarily rewarding average or underperformance. It’s also important to have courage but not be disrespectful or be allowed to be disrespected. “This post was inspired by a post on (not sure of the author) Christiano Ronaldo. As it happens, Ronaldo was told by his Portugal coach to sit…

(The SriLankan story) “S.E.P” Someone else’s problem is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider someone else to be responsible for it, or that it is “out of scope” in a particular context or think someone else will resolve the problem. Douglas Adams’ 1982 novel Life, the Universe and Everything introduces the idea of an “SEP field” as a kind of cloaking devise.…

I watched a recent documentary on Iran and the ‘kulbars’ and tried to think SriLanka is better off. However it doesn’t appear to be so? Let me summarize the plight of these Iranians: In the border regions of Iran, one of the most hazardous ways of making a living is to become a porter, a human mule or a ‘Kulbar’ as the locals call the one who transports loads on one’s back through the…

Amnesty claimants beat the working millionaires again

“If tax is a risk for doing something right, a tax amnesty is a reward for doing something wrong” Risk-Reward equation?  The Government of Sri Lanka has granted at least 10 tax amnesties, in 50 years. On average one every five years probably coinciding with every new election? Not that I’m alleging any foul play. If any of these amnesties resulted in increased tax revenue in Sri Lanka then there…

Financial inclusion via telecom providers

There are many barriers to financial inclusion in insurance. Some are not due to the customers but due to unsuitable business models, product design or distribution mechanism of insurers. Copied (African Strategies for Health 2016) below is a success story from the African market.  Case study: MicroEnsure  Technology: Mobile Payments The challenge Health insurance penetration in Africa…

Two sides of Disagreement in Business

To experience good governance one has to meet people who disagree with your decision and be able to come up with a win-win compromise which is beneficial to the overall health of the business. But many workplace cultures discourage disagreement, particularly with senior management ideas and plans. Sometimes the behavior of the senior management suggest that disagreement will not be tolerated.…

Financial Frauds during COVID-19

Investors are so happy that financial statements are being released to the market fast and furious. Many companies are showing extra ordinary results ranging from a 20% growth to over 100%. The CEOs are collecting pandemic bonuses and the directors probably oblivious to the manipulations done through the famous accounting jargons “assumptions, estimates and judgments.” “Coronavirus Pandemic Is a…

Adult Day-care Centers are Back!

Pre COVID19 many many corporates never realized the power of flexi working or the power of digital technology. It didn’t matter if we lived in the south of the globe or the developed north it was the same behavior underneath the facade.  But, COVID19 beat some sense into many leaders during the lockdowns and magically digital transformation was imposed on leading corporates and most of them were…

FS industry provides leadership for Digital revolution

As everyone would agree, technology has caused rapid and continuous disruption of many industries. In the financial services industry, with the growth of FinTech, we are witnessing significant transformations to systems and processes that had stood the test of time in many industries. But this process has been slow prior to the global adversity caused by COVID19.  There has been a revolution…

Cost of poor leadership

“Is a Toxic Culture the biggest cost of poor leadership?”

Culture is everything to a team and while everyone on the team plays a part in the ongoing development of the culture, it’s the leader’s responsibility to create and own it. Toxic cultures create bad habits and bad habits eventually lead to bad results.  Conversely great cultures create good habits and good habits eventually lead to…