A huge lesson for corporates

A lower court in Delhi denied bail to five corporate honchos involved in 2G scam. It's definitely a strong blow to corporates, but on the contrary it's certainly life-time lesson for those big-time corporate executives who always believed that “all is well if end is well”, which is a partial truth. To ensure a successful ending, people choose various means, and the key differentiator of success lies in the means chosen, not the end achieved, and this is quite evident from today's court verdict.

In corporates, smart executives often believe that they can influence the policy of this nation for the benefits of their company and forget for a moment that a business run ethically has a longer sustainability. Quick bucks, instant success and false bravado delude them to cross the wrong side of the fence and then they shun the primary principles of professionalism. A thorough professional always emphasizes on the principles and practices adhered during execution, leading to a successful mission. However, in today's world where everything is available instantly, some corporate houses believe in the fact that faster market turn-around time is more critical than anything else. And this thought process trickles down in the hierarchy affecting the collective thinking channel of the organization.

Now it's the learning time for those high-flying professionals who believe that everything is fair in business is just another myth and fundamentally wrong. What's already in practice that's yielding results doesn't necessarily mean full-proof and one should delve deeper to find out whether a popular perception or theory can withstand the litmus of ethical test. The yesteryear's recession in the USA is a classic instance of the larger fallout of ethical violation and extreme human greed. And both these evils are serious blockade to the sustainability of an organization.

And equally it's a primary task for B-schools to concentrate more on the business ethics and business sustainability. Apart from engaging in the critical functional skill development for students, the institutes should never undermine the legality of any practice or method used to achieve a certain business objective. This is a serious drawback in Indian mindset that going through a legal way will kill their business competitiveness and they should engage in policy manoeuvrings and turn the game to their side. There are ways, and more specifically, ethical ways, to achieve a business goals faster, but again it's a matter of continuous propriety that very few people believe in, and they are the real winners in this world of competition – they always succeed with a differentiating tag.

Radia Gate: The Kaleidoscopic Spectrum

The mother of all corporate lobbies, Niira Radia now cries foul, evading the hard evidences against her in the 2G spectrum scam. The most interesting fact is that she even doesn't care to call her a “small fry” while she was the queen bee in webbing the most complex nexus in the biggest ever scam in India. Everyone from politicians to bureaucrats, businessmen to journalists were the sober listener of her music, and the miles of tapes capturing her conversation with various big shots at different points are a reminder of her lobby power in the power circle, which she claims now a concoction. But the contrast here is that when her big boss Ratan Tata starts becoming candid about his relations with Raja and implicitly explains the “chemistry problem”, she still thinks to bamboozle the Public Account Committee (PAC), not a bad try at all. She is again spelling the abracadabra and thinks she could start playing her generic PR tricks.

Well, there is something beyond the Radia's lobbying magic. Radia as a PR strategist has played her perfect bit everywhere, whenever she sensed the corruption quotient in an official is at threshold to her lobby trap. She used her PR skills with extreme dexterity, like any other advocate protects a criminal client in the court of law, by swearing his or her professional ethics. Sounds irony, but the democracy has a room for everyone, that's the alluring angle of this system. But the contrast here is that Radia just now tries to disown her profession and even she doesn't bother to claim her a bumpkin who is too small an influential person in this world of networking.

Now I have a piece of advice for Radia: Why doesn't she close all her PR shops and start venturing into politics? I am sure she can be a better contender in this ball game, and certainly she can easily get a ticket from the Congress too. She has done a lot for the party and every citizen of this country knows it well. Never mind, she can even take the role of Pranav Da for managing the numbers for UPA. After all, it's all lobby. Huh!