A week is a long time, it is said. And so last week we saw five top executives released on bail, and two top heads of companies humbled. And if we allow our mind to travel in space and time then the list is endless. So what does this make of the discipline of management? Is it still the science it masquerades as? Or is it art? But bad art never survives and yet bad management rises to the top echelons, so management is definitely not art. Perhaps it is sport, more of an adventure sport testing the limits of the law and the system. Alas! A letter is not about to evoke any soul-searching. It may require a doctoral thesis, not mere anecdotal evidence. In the meanwhile, “this too shall pass” would be the advisory.
Hari Parmeshwar, Mumbai
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