Are wives more resilient than their husbands in business leadership?

Malavika Hegde of Cafe Coffee Day joins a small league of wives who have gone on to rewrite the future of their companies after the untimely demise of their husbands. What accounts for their tenacity?

Earlier this month, Cafe Coffee Day founder late V G Siddhartha’s wife, 51-year-old Malavika Hegde, took charge as the chief executive of the troubled company, shifting from her role as a non-executive director.

Spouses of corporate founders who have passed away prematurely or suddenly have moved into the corner office in the past too — both in India and overseas. Some of the well-known ones in India include Jyotsna Suri at Bharat Hotels, Anu Aga at Thermax, and Harjeet Kaur at Le Meridien. Internationally, one of the most celebrated cases of a wife succeeding her husband after death is that of