Oh, what a tangled web we weave...

...when we first practice to deceive!

Ramalinga Raju, the CEO of Sathyam mentioned in his now infamous letter to the Board of Directors of his company, that his fraudulent activity felt akin to riding a tiger. He didn't know how to get off and so kept riding it until he was forced to dismount.

Rhetoric aside, the very first time we make a CHOICE to deceive instead of doing the right and moral thing, we end up weaving a web that soon becomes hard to unravel. There is no way out of the snag other than to cut the string finally. And that is what happened to Ramalinga Raju. Sadly, his crime did not just impact himself and his family. His multitude of employees, shareholders, the Indian public and press - everyone has been affected.

The more power a person has, the longer the fall. And they take other innocents down with them. It comes down to my oft-repeated refrain - It is imperative that Corporations, since they actually are, ultimately a collection of individuals, have a social conscience. Something that will keep them honest, something that will alert them when they start to tread the wrong path - a path that will lead to everyone's downfall.

When I was working for a large Fortune 300 company, one of the annual goal setting exercises included a vision and mission statement. Now, if only the vision statement, in addition to the company's vision for its growth and financial bottom line, included a social responsibility statement, it would help keep the focus on being a wholesome company that is well-integrated and has a synergistic relationship with the society that helps it grow.

For, after all, which predatory relationship has ever prospered?

Corporations, like individuals, animals and the eco-system as a whole, need to function in a mutually symbiotic manner in their environment. Animals know that you cannot survive if you bite the hand that feeds you.

In the case of Sathyam and in the case of Bernie Madoff, both entities did not understand this fundamental fact - Society is the hand that feeds them. If they act in a predatory manner within the very society that breathes spirit into them, there is no way they can survive. They will be riding a tiger. And when they fall, they bring others down with them.

I urge the corporate bigwigs to incorporate a Social responsibility statement that keeps them on the straight and narrow path. Ultimately, it will benefit them.