I wish every CEO thought this way and followed this path....

The past few days have been interesting times... The latest found obsession is watching news and reading the newspaper inside out (especially the editorials). With each passing day, the news gets juicier while the tones of the newsreaders gets more dramatic.. With Steve Balmer talking about probable lay-off (almost unheard of), Steve Jobs declaring a sabbatical (owing to health reasons) and the 'Yahoo!' baton in the hands of an (able) woman, and of course America's largest telephone equipment maker filing for bankruptcy, the corporate world surely seems to be in the limelight (for the wrong reasons, perhaps)!
Just while the Indian press and media were about to divulge 'almost everything' that existed about this person (or may be beast) called 'Amir Ajmal Kasab' - one of the terrorists caught alive from the Terrorist attacks in Bombay on November 26, 2008- the focus turned to our home-grown (financial) terrorist Mr. Ramalingam Raju.
Anyone that has been partly awake the past 10 days would know this person who has put (a little less or more than) 52,000 people's lives in a 'chakravyuh' as they call it.. And this is just the number of employees with an uncertain future! Add to this number all the investors et al, who may have invested their hard-earned life earnings (or even the easily gotten black money) in this 'hen which laid golden eggs' until a while back, and the various politicians who were to recieve kick-backs from him or his family members, this number should cross a whooping hundred thousand!! This one man has directly or indirectly taken approx. 100,000 people for the 'ride' of their lifetime! (This qualifies him as a terrorist, doesn't it!? Or must you kill people literally to classify as one?)
While we shall not debate over the blinded (global) jury for presenting 'Satyam' with the Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Governance (or non-governance) in Oct'08, the blinded (or probably bribed) auditors who 'missed out' verifying the company's statements with financial institutions, the absolutely blind(ed) banking institutions who continued funding until days before the scam was out in the open, and armies of people he blind-folded with his aura (or political connections, may be), Corporate India in particular and the Corporate World at large, in general have quite a few lessons to learn.
I found this amazing letter from Warren Buffet to his employees online. [P.S. I do not take any responsibility for the authenticity of this document since it is a product of random googling (one of the things that leads to sanity at work place)]. And even if Warren Buffet had not originally written this, it nevertheless seems a super-read..
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC.
To: Berkshire Hathaway Managers (“The All-Stars”)
From: Warren E. Buffett
Date: September 27, 2006
The five most dangerous words in business may be “Everybody else is doing it.” A lot of banks and insurance companies have suffered earnings disasters after relying on that rationale.
Even worse have been the consequences from using that phrase to justify the morality of proposed actions. More than 100 companies so far have been drawn into the stock option backdating scandal and the number is sure to go higher. My guess is that a great many of the people involved would not have behaved in the manner they did except for the fact that they felt others were doing so as well. The same goes for all of the accounting gimmicks to manipulate earnings – and deceive investors – that has taken place in recent years.
You would have been happy to have as an executor of your will or your son-in-law most of the people who engaged in these ill-conceived activities. But somewhere along the line they picked up the notion – perhaps suggested to them by their auditor or consultant – that a number of well-respected managers were engaging in such practices and therefore it must be OK to do so. It’s a seductive argument.
But it couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, every time you hear the phrase “Everybody else is doing it” it should raise a huge red flag. Why would somebody offer such a rationale for an act if there were a good reason available? Clearly the advocate harbors at least a small doubt about the act if he utilizes this verbal crutch.
So, at Berkshire, let’s start with what is legal, but always go on to what we would feel comfortable about being printed on the front page of our local paper, and never proceed forward simply on the basis of the fact that other people are doing it.
A final note: Somebody is doing something today at Berkshire that you and I would be unhappy about if we knew of it. That’s inevitable: We now employ well over 200,000 people and the chances of that number getting through the day without any bad behavior occurring is nil. But we can have a huge effect in minimizing such activities by jumping on anything immediately when there is the slightest odor of impropriety. Your attitude on such matters, expressed by behavior as well as words, will be the most important factor in how the culture of your business develops. And culture, more than rule books, determines how an organization behaves.
Thanks for your help on this. Berkshire’s reputation is in your hands.
Succinctly put, this man has said all he has to ensure his employees think at least once before they turn into megalomaniacs- people with an obsession for immense wealth and fame - alias Mr. Raju and team!
Truly wish every CEO thought this way and followed this path!