Remembering Sumantra

As ISB celebrates its tenth year by organising events worldwide to connect with the community, and spark off discussions about societal problems, the School reaffirms the vision of one of its cherished founders, the Late Sumantra Ghoshal. “Business is a force of good,” Ghoshal emphasised and this has remained ISB’s underlying philosophy. Ghoshal’s mantra is more pertinent now than ever as business organisations reflect on their roles post financial crisis.

Management guru and an icon of the 90s, Ghoshal was an influential intellectual who wrote, gave impassioned speeches and provoked his opponents into arguments that he won effortlessly. “That was his nature,” remembers Pramath Sinha, ISB’s founding dean. Sinha had worked very closely with Ghoshal during the early heady days of ISB’s formation. Ghoshal was pivotal in forging ISB’s ties with the London Business School, but his more valuable contribution was “to push very hard to define values of ISB.” The School’s multidisciplinary centres are a result of his vision. An ardent advocate of the individual’s freedom of expression, he practiced his belief by fearlessly expressing his views and remaining steadfast in his beliefs. “Business Schools do not need to do a great deal more to prevent future Enrons. They need only to stop doing a lot they currently do,” he wrote provocatively in a paper entitled, “Bad Management Theories Are Destroying Good Management Practices.” The stage seemed set for a passionate global debate on the efficacy of business school teachings, but with his sudden demise in March 2004, that dialogue was cut short. Without him, there could hardly be a debate.

Sumantra Ghoshal would have been 63 this September 26.