Strengthening alignment in family businesses

Synopsis

The real issues need to be addressed at the fundamental level. The issues are: a) misalignment of values between the promoters, the board and the management team, and b) lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities.

After losing the test series, the Indian Cricket team also lost the one-day series with South Africa recently. While winning and losing are part of the game, the recent misalignment between the BCCI President and former Captain does raise a few questions about the impact of such differences on the field and on the game. We have also seen such scenarios play out in the case of family owners and the CEOs of family businesses if there is misalignment in values and roles and responsibilities are not well defined.

BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said that he had requested Virat Kohli not to step down from the T20 captaincy. However, in a press conference, former Captain Kohli contradicted this statement and said that he wasn’t told to reconsider his decision. He also added “Obviously we haven’t won an ICC tournament. I understand the logic behind why they took that decision.” We will never know the whole truth. However, such controversies take the focus away from the game itself and are totally unnecessary. It will do good to all parties to avoid the differences, have clear and open communications, and align themselves for the best of the game.