Leadership

I felt the same way this morning, reading about steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal being honoured by the Asia Society with its Leadership Award for business acumen, entrepreneurship and tenacity, especially witnessed during his successful Arcelor takeover bid.

"Indians can be rightly proud of the epic, blockbuster and historic deal that he managed despite odds. It was the result of Mittal's vision, capability and tenacity that the Arcelor deal went through".

Thus spake Henry Cornell, managing director of Goldman Sachs, who presented the award to Mittal.

I'm sorry Mr Cornell, as an Indian, I am indifferent to Mittal's doings. Nor do I give much credence to your (or Goldman Sachs') notion of what constitutes "epic", "historic", "vision", "capability" and "tenacity". For me, these terms would be more relevant to bringing things like basic education, drinking water, sanitation to the historically deprived masses of India.