Faithful Inc.
Many corporate leaders say faith in God and their spiritual beliefs have helped them cope with hard times. Can it also help a business grow, make CEOs more focussed on their jobs and help a company in times of economic slowdown? Shalini S. Dagar finds out.
Faith, they say, can move mountains. Can it also help a business grow, make CEOs more focussed on their jobs and help a company in times of economic slowdown? The answer to these questions, by a few leaders in corporate India, is a resounding yes. Sample this: In 2005, Videocon Industries’ Chairman Venugopal Dhoot ran into a problem. Negotiations for the acquisition of Thomson’s global picture tube business were in a deadlock during a meeting in Paris.
As the two teams took a few hours break, Dhoot sought divine help. “I found a temple in Paris and prayed there for two hours. In the evening when we met for the next round of talks, I offered prasadam to our Thomson counterparts. Soon, they began to talk my language and we closed the deal on our terms,” he says.
Dhoot, however, does not seek God’s help only to close a deal. He prays daily—reciting two chapters of the Gita. Like his father and grandfather, Dhoot undertakes annual pilgrimages, too.
Like him, many corporate chieftains have an intense relationship with religion and spirituality. Whether it is Anil Ambani going to temples with his close friends, metal magnate Anil Agarwal naming his company after an ancient spiritual tradition, or Vijay Mallya flying on his private jet to Tirupati for divine blessings—faith permeates corporate boardrooms in multiple ways.
Does faith also heal some wounds during an economic slowdown? Are prayers and meditation helping CEOs in the present scenario?
Parsvnath Developers’ Founder and Chairman, Pradeep Jain, born into a Jain family, is a follower of Sai Baba. Each room in his office has a picture of Sai Baba. Indeed, BT met him on a Thursday—Sai Baba’s day—against the backdrop of a Sai hymn playing in the background. Jain says: “The terrible last few months, when the macroeconomic environment deteriorated for realty players, did not perturb me too much because Baba is there.” Sanjiv Goenka, Vice-Chairman, RPG Enterprises, says: “I was born into a deeply religious family where I was encouraged to pray everyday. It is a habit which remains to this day. And I do not do it merely for compliance.” For Goenka, his beliefs strengthened during a particularly tough time of his life. For B.K. Modi, Buddhist philosophy became a focal point after his father’s demise in 1977. Did it help in his business goals? Modi claims so, for the key message of disengagement with all things material, enabled him to sell his businesses without heartburns, unlike many Indian promoters (and his detractors might add, unlike typical wealth builders). “Buddhist philosophy teaches detachment and equality of all people. It enables my views to be accepted wherever I go,” he claims.
Does religion influence business decisions per se? Says Goenka: “Religion cannot be the guiding principle for business. Spiritual beliefs are intertwined with life itself. They offer comfort and security.”
Similarly Jose Dominic, MD, CGH Earth Hotels, would rather term himself ‘spiritual’ than religious— even though he’s a regular church-goer. “While I am a participant in community prayers, something within me rebels against reducing the relationship with God to a give-and-take one,” he emphasises. It sums up the general belief of new generation corporate leaders—private in their faith and quite eclectic in drawing their set of guiding principles of daily life. “I would not consider myself religious. However, there are beliefs that form the basis of my personality,” says Meher Pudumjee, Chairman of Thermax Industries.
Malvinder Mohan Singh, Chairman of Ranbaxy Laboratories, too, would prefer to keep his faith a private affair. He has adopted from his family the following of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a philosophical organisation based on the spiritual teachings of all religions. “It is really a philosophy and a way of life. It has certainly had a positive influence on my thinking in recent times,” says Malvinder.
So, do these personal beliefs of the top management affect the employees and other stakeholders? Leaders such as S.B. Ganguly of Exide Industries follow a pragmatic approach from implementing the Art of Living’s breathing exercises on the shop floor to hosting the Dalai Lama in Kolkata. “You cannot achieve things just by adopting a guru. You also need to learn the technique and follow his teachings,” he says, adding: “I encouraged my executives to go through a course of pranayam.” The last word, however, comes from Ernesto Noronha, professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He says: “Organisational culture could emanate from several sources. One such source is leadership, so it is quite possible that the leaders’ belief could become a part of the organisation culture.” However, Noronha adds a caveat: personal beliefs can become corporate beliefs when the gap between the rhetoric and reality is minimal.
—Additional reporting by Tejeesh N.S. Behl and Somnath Dasgupta
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Dhoot, however, does not seek God’s help only to close a deal. He prays daily—reciting two chapters of the Gita. Like his father and grandfather, Dhoot undertakes annual pilgrimages, too.
Like him, many corporate chieftains have an intense relationship with religion and spirituality. Whether it is Anil Ambani going to temples with his close friends, metal magnate Anil Agarwal naming his company after an ancient spiritual tradition, or Vijay Mallya flying on his private jet to Tirupati for divine blessings—faith permeates corporate boardrooms in multiple ways.
Does faith also heal some wounds during an economic slowdown? Are prayers and meditation helping CEOs in the present scenario?
Parsvnath Developers’ Founder and Chairman, Pradeep Jain, born into a Jain family, is a follower of Sai Baba. Each room in his office has a picture of Sai Baba. Indeed, BT met him on a Thursday—Sai Baba’s day—against the backdrop of a Sai hymn playing in the background. Jain says: “The terrible last few months, when the macroeconomic environment deteriorated for realty players, did not perturb me too much because Baba is there.” Sanjiv Goenka, Vice-Chairman, RPG Enterprises, says: “I was born into a deeply religious family where I was encouraged to pray everyday. It is a habit which remains to this day. And I do not do it merely for compliance.” For Goenka, his beliefs strengthened during a particularly tough time of his life. For B.K. Modi, Buddhist philosophy became a focal point after his father’s demise in 1977. Did it help in his business goals? Modi claims so, for the key message of disengagement with all things material, enabled him to sell his businesses without heartburns, unlike many Indian promoters (and his detractors might add, unlike typical wealth builders). “Buddhist philosophy teaches detachment and equality of all people. It enables my views to be accepted wherever I go,” he claims.
Does religion influence business decisions per se? Says Goenka: “Religion cannot be the guiding principle for business. Spiritual beliefs are intertwined with life itself. They offer comfort and security.”
Pradeep Jain
Malvinder Mohan Singh, Chairman of Ranbaxy Laboratories, too, would prefer to keep his faith a private affair. He has adopted from his family the following of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a philosophical organisation based on the spiritual teachings of all religions. “It is really a philosophy and a way of life. It has certainly had a positive influence on my thinking in recent times,” says Malvinder.
Meher Pudumjee
—Additional reporting by Tejeesh N.S. Behl and Somnath Dasgupta
