Isha Ambani means business. Not only when she is doing business - she leads Reliance Retail - but also when she is not. The latter was unmistakable on Wednesday, during her eight-minute 49-second video address on the occasion of "Girls in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Day India 2024".
The question holds significance in the light of investors' call for Bill Gates to step down as Microsoft chairman.
In cases such as Infosys, a new CEO will have to play the game with not only the chairman, but also with the COO and the board of directors, and perhaps retired founders, each being a different game with different set of capabilities and attitudes.
Going by the provisions of the new company law, the responsibility and accountability equation for independent directors has seen a major change.
While the entry of 62-year-old Noel Tata, half brother of Ratan Tata, into Tata Trusts is being seen as a significant departure from the past within the salt-to-software conglomerate, Jehangir, a long-standing philanthropist is expected to add heft to Tata Trusts.
Industry watchers attribute a lot of the current successes of the $6 billion Hero Group to how B M Munjal planned and executed succession in HeroCorp, balancing the interests of other family-owned businesses.
VG Siddhartha's story 'will be a good case study and not a deterrent to those who want to be entrepreneurs. I don't think it will scare young entrepreneurs. I think these cases will make them sensible. They will understand that they have to be very careful about certain things, otherwise, they will have to pay a heavy price.'
Successors work hard, and many of them succeed and stay for many years. 'But when they don't it is best to be civil and part ways than seek confrontation which might prove acrimonious and futile.'