When we strip away the titles and the mahogany desks, what endures is a series of moments. A feedback session that either ignites a career or crushes a spirit. A boardroom negotiation where trust is either solidified or evaporated. A crisis where a team either rallies behind a vision or scatters in self-preservation. In all […]
Brilliant but lonely: High IQ alone will never make an effective leader Read More »
For decades, Sri Lanka has teetered on the edge of a precipice, fuelled by a dangerous cocktail of systemic political failure and a quiet, creeping social paralysis. We speak of the “economic quagmire” as if it were a natural disaster, a sudden flood, or an act of God, rather than what it truly is: the
In the high-stakes theater of Sri Lankan politics, with the National People’s Power (NPP) Government holding a commanding 159-seats and currently riding high on the wave of solid public affirmation of its performance, the belief of the Opposition comprising of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) led by Sajith Premadasa, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP),
SJB must be more of a guardrail than a roadblock Read More »
“Businesses are shifting the risk of uncontrollable external economic factors such as inflation and downturn away from their fixed nature onto performance metrics that employees directly influence. This has led to a shift toward compensation packages that include a competitive base salary for stability, complemented by performance-linked variable rewards. By emphasising meritocracy and productivity gains,
Staying competitive by transferring pay risks through performance-based compensation Read More »
In the early years of my leadership career, an event that often left me in a state of trepidation was the annual promotion cycle. It was not the mechanics of the review process or the substance of the discussions themselves that gave rise to such anxiety. It was the dispirited office atmosphere that inevitably followed
Coping with and managing the agony and ecstasy of annual promotions Read More »
President and Finance Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake presents the 2026 Budget in Parliament on 7 November Cheers and jeers welcomed Sri Lanka’s National Budget 2026. This is normal when the country’s ends are many, but the means are limited. Budget promulgations based on important and urgent priorities, as seen by drivers of national policy, will
The National Budget is IMF influenced, so what? Do we have a choice? Read More »
Delegation crumbles when the leader perpetually doubts the subordinate’s competence or commitment Leading without trust is like building on quicksand. The unsound foundation makes it unstable and unreliable. In December 2025, I complete 53 years in a corporate career ranging from an accounts clerk at Lever Brothers (Ceylon) Ltd. in 1972, the post I am
Leading without trust is akin to building on quicksand Read More »
The Sri Lankan National Budget for 2026 is poised to be a pivotal document, arriving at a critical juncture in the nation’s economic recovery and reform agenda Sri Lanka’s National Budget will be unveiled on 7 November 2025, and I hope it will be significantly different from the predictable rhetoric and theatrics we have heard
Benchmarking National Budget 2026 and making theatrics of cheerleaders superfluous Read More »
While the profit motive is a necessary component of a functional economic system, its overemphasis poses a grave threat to the concept of professionalism. Despite the general acceptance of a ‘stakeholder model’ of governance replete with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks and Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) thinking, the
Nobility of professions is being traded for silver and gold Read More »
The ‘RW incident’ highlights the urgent and critical need for Sri Lanka’s leaders to align their actions with the economic reality of the country and the lived experience of its citizens The hullabaloo over whether Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) misused public funds when he extended his official trip to Cuba and the United States of America
