The Hindu Business Line : ‘Innovation is the key to be competitive’

Chennai, Aug. 12 Unless there is a culture of encouraging failures, innovation will be hampered, says the President of Institute of Directors (IOD) India and World Council for Corporate Governance, Dr Madhav Mehra.

According to him, there is a dearth of innovation in every business — basically due to the fear of failure.

Innovation is the key to be competitive and also sustain in the current scenario, he says. “Failure is the badge of honour. Organisations should display boards and posters stating that ‘you will be fired if you do not make mistakes’ within the work places. It is necessary to reward ownerships of failures,” he says. This would help people to come out with ideas, which can take organisations to heights, he adds. Currently, tremendous opportunities lie in technologies, products and services that help preserve the environment. Preserving the planet should be part of every business, he says. Recycling and renewable energy are some of the businesses that would thrive in the future. Those products that delight customers but harm the environment cannot be termed ‘quality products’.

It is necessary to understand the multi-reality world where there is a value shift from capital to knowledge and from single bottom line to triple bottom line (financial, human and environmental capital), from tangibles to intangibles.

Dr Mehra was in the city to inaugurate the Chennai chapter of Institute of Directors. On the role of the institute he says it was created as a non-profit apex association of company directors to help improve competitiveness of Indian business through development of its leadership.

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