@SURINDER KUMAR THAKUR

    The Board was anxious and tense. They needed a new CFO. Fast. But no internal candidate seemed “ready,” so they hired externally — again. What followed wasn’t progress. It was a disruption. The external hire didn’t understand the culture, struggled to gain trust, and left within months. The internal team, overlooked and demoralized, lost motivation. Some of the most capable people left. The company paid the price in morale, stability, and money. This wasn’t just a hiring mistake. It was a leadership pipeline failure . It’s easy to chase impressive resumes. It’s harder — but far more rewarding — to invest in your people, develop them over time, and prepare them for bigger roles. When companies ignore internal talent, they lose credibility, damage culture, and send the wrong message to future leaders: Loyalty and performance don't guarantee growth here. “Performance Without a Pipeline” Looks Like: Strong quarterly earnings Market share growth Smoo...

  Toxic Management: A Boardroom Blind Spot That Threatens Enterprise Value Boardrooms meticulously dissect financial reports, strategy blueprints, and market risks. Yet, a more insidious threat often goes unnoticed: toxic management . This pervasive leadership style quietly erodes enterprise value, damages culture, and drives away top talent, posing a silent but significant danger to organizational health. Toxic management is not simply “tough” leadership. It’s characterized by behaviours that create fear, distrust, and disengagement, including micromanagement, poor communication, emotional neglect, blame shifting, favouritism, public humiliation, and the theft of credit for others’ work. These are not isolated personality flaws. They are systemic leadership failures with profound implications for organizational sustainability. For boards, the danger lies in how well toxic managers often mask their behaviour behind impress...

      “Boards Beyond Governance: Owning Brand and Marketing Strategy”   Traditionally, branding and marketing were rarely discussed in the boardrooms.  Directors focused on compliance, financials, and risk, often seeing Branding as the purely marketing team’s domain. But the world has changed. Today, Brand isn't just a logo, tagline, or ad campaign. It's the aggregate of all impressions about an organization by customers, employees, investors, regulators, partners, and communities. It has a direct impact on reputation, valuation, and resilience. Why Should Boards Care? ·        Brand = Risk & Opportunity : A strong brand is a valuable asset that can command pricing power, foster customer loyalty, and inspire investor confidence. A damaged brand can tank shareholder value overnight. Think data breaches, ESG (environmental, social, and governance) failures, or socia...

  New Face of Leadership 1. Leading Without the Spotlight Leadership today is undergoing a transformation. It’s no longer just about titles, boardrooms, or profit margins. It's about impact . And in this new era, the most powerful leaders aren’t always the ones speaking the loudest — they’re the ones living with purpose, especially when no one is watching. Think about the leaders who shaped you. Were they the ones with big LinkedIn followings? Were they social media stars with polished TED Talks? Or were they the ones who pulled you aside after a rough day and said, “I believe in you”? True inspiration in leadership isn’t about charisma — it’s about consistency, clarity, and compassion . In a world obsessed with visibility, there’s incredible strength in silent influence. Some of the most powerful leaders you’ll ever meet aren’t on magazine covers. They’re in the background, making things better, one choice at a time. Consider Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, who brought empathy ...