Human Governance: To thy own self be true…
Prof. Arfah Salleh
Dean, Graduate School of Management
UPM
In his play “Hamlet”, as in his other plays, Shakespeare interjects his wise pronouncements on living a proper life. "To thine own self be true" is one of his kernels of wisdom. It comes from the character in “Hamlet” – Polonius. It is Polonius's last advice to his son Laertes, as he prepares the latter for life abroad in Paris. Polonius’s full exhortation is:
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
As Shakespeare - through the character of Polonius - sees it, being true to one’s conscience and not indulging in dubious and other intemperate practices such as ‘cooking the books’ and cheating (in the context of business) are "false" to the self. By "true" Shakespeare means "loyal to your own conscience and spiritual values." Be honest and safeguard your integrity first, he warns, and that way, we shall be in a position to safeguard the interests others.
There is wisdom in Polonius’s advice. That wisdom also is reflected in the concept of human governance that this School nurtures among its students and industry. Human governance is about leading from the inside out. It requires one to be true to one’s upbringing and spiritual values. Only then can we be in a position to have the locus to influence the lives of others and cause them no harm. This is all about walking the talk and leadership by example.
Integrity is everything. As a former US senator, Alan Simpson once said, “If you have integrity, nothing else matters; if you don’t have integrity nothing else matters.” Integrity is sacrosanct. It is very much a part of human governance as it is being true to oneself. Integrity is about doing things right even when no one is watching.
That reminds me of a friend who lately knocked his car into someone else’s car – an Alphard. While seeking to maneouver his car into a parking lot, he had knocked the car parked adjacent. He would not have knocked it if he had not been in a hurry to park. As always considerate of others, he wanted to park quickly after the car that was parked there, was vacating the lot so that he would not hold up the traffic behind him; which he would if he had taken his time to carefully park.
And so, the unfortunate thing happened. He had knocked the back bumper of the car parked adjacent. What would he do now? What would we do in such a spot? The car owner was not there to witness the accident. They were a few who came out of the shops along the road upon hearing the thud from the knock on the bumper. But they quickly lost interest and went back to doing whatever they were doing. They did not want to get involved.
This friend of mine is a God-fearing man who is ever conscious of God watching our every thought, word and action (not from a distance as one song would have us believe). He did the decent thing that one who is ruled by human governance would do. He left a note under the wiper of the car with his name and mobile number for the car owner to call him. And he settled the matter with the car owner subsequently. What he did was true to his conscience: to thy own self be true and, it must follow as night the day, thou canst not be false to any man.
Human governance reflects that principle as it exhorts us to live true to our conscience and spiritual beliefs, even when no one is watching us. Of course, God is watching us. And God’s retribution can sometimes be swift.
There is a Malay saying: Apa yang ditanam itulah yang dituai; apa yang disemai itulah yang dipetik. The English equivalent will be: What you sow is what you will reap. If you sow goodness, goodness will come back to you in good measure, pressed down and well shaken, and flowing over! Likewise, evil recoils unto the evil doer. For, with the same measure that we mete out to others, by that same measure will it be meted out to us again.
So, in our professional lives, as in our personal lives, let us sow the seeds of good governance so that we shall be true to ourselves and shall not do harm to others.
19th October 2011
GSM-UPM
2 comments:
Dear Prof. Arfah ,
It is indeed our honor to have you as our leader in GSM,UPM.
Would like to know if our Corporate Governance are eligible to apply or being conferred the student status of ICSA in MAICSA ?
What if we would like to apply for the ICSA status and membership ? Do we have to retake those subject with the MAICSA recognized institute ?
What is the role of GSM in assisting the Corporate Governance student in obtaining the ICSA graduate student status ?
We are eager to hear wise advises from your goodself
Rgrds
Vivianne Pang
Thank you for posing your questions and your kind words.
About the Corporate Governance MBA specialisation at GSM, we are pleased to share that students who undertake this specialisation can opt to choose to join as MAICSA students at the onset of the specialisation which I take it as at the beginning of the 3rd Semester usually for F/T students. All they need to do is to issue through cheque or bankers drafts, RM2000 payable to MAICSA (details of which would be advised) to signify registration of membership. GSM will collect on your behalf.
Upon completion of the MBA, graduates no longer need to sit for any further examination to be MAICSA members . This means that the MBA (CG) from GSM UPM is the door to become MAICSA members.
I hope my explanation is clear Vivianne. Just in case you do have other queries, please feel free to forward to me or to any other administrative staff at GSM.
Thank you
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