THE GOVERNANCE CIRCLE

  There's a version of gratitude I've come to find genuinely strange, and a little perverse. You tell someone you're struggling — broke, behind on everything, or you've just lost your home — and almost on reflex, the person says, " Well, at least you're not bedridden in the hospital " or " At least you're not in prison. " or " At least you still have your legs ."  Said kindly, usually. Meant as comfort. But sit with it for a second and it starts to feel off about this relative gratitude. Why does my gratitude need a person worse off than me? Why can't I just be grateful without reaching for someone else's (seemingly) harder life as the measuring stick? What this kind of gratitude actually is Strip away the kind intention behind it, and what's left is a quiet ranking system. Somewhere in the back of the mind, there's a ladder, and gratitude becomes the relief of not being on a lower rung. It's not really gratitude...

  The strength of a company's corporate governance culture is often exposed when growth pressures collide with regulatory boundaries.  Recently, India’s largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, found itself at the epicenter of a massive governance storm. The incident offers a vital blueprint of what can go wrong when the aggressive drive for deposits overrides regulatory controls. The HDFC Bank Controversy: What Happened? The Core Issue : To secure massive, high-value corporate deposits from the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), the bank offered the MSRDC an interest rate significantly higher than standard regulatory caps. Under this arrangement, the MSRDC would receive an annual interest of ₹45 crore [approx. $5.4 million USD] on a ₹ 25,000 crore deposit [approx. $2.6 billion USD]. The MSRDC would go on to deposit only ₹ 3,000 crore [approx. $315 million USD] and still received the ₹45 crore interest on the deposit. Th...

  I ran into an old schoolmate recently. Let’s call him Anthony. We hadn't seen each other in years.   He was several years ahead of me at university, and back then, medical school was not kind to him. He resat most of his exams. More than once, I imagine, he must have wondered whether he was pursuing the right career. He's a doctor now. Working at a private hospital, well paid, living in a house that comes with the job. By every visible measure, he made it. But it's what he told me about how he made it that stayed with me. He said it was my older brother — his fellow medical student— who kept him going. Not through some rousing speech about perseverance. My brother never once sat him down and told him not to give up; he simply kept getting back up after his own setbacks, semester after semester, and Anthony watched him do it. That was enough. Somewhere in watching my brother refuse to quit, Anthony found the will to keep going himself. My brother has no idea he di...

  For decades, cybersecurity was neatly filed away in the corporate basement as an operational "IT problem."  Boards of directors set the strategic direction, reviewed financial statements, and left the technical jargon to the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). That era is officially over. In today’s digital-first business environment, a cyberattack is no longer a matter of if , but when .  When disaster strikes—whether through a crippling ransomware attack, a massive data breach, or supply chain infiltration—the fallout lands squarely on the boardroom table. Regulators, shareholders, and the public now expect directors to exercise active oversight over cyber risk.  To do that effectively, every corporate director needs cyber literacy. Cybersecurity is a Core Business Risk, Not Just an IT Issue Board members routinely evaluate financial, legal, and operational risks. Yet, cybersecurity is frequently treated as an exception—something too complex for non-techni...