Appreciation

For us at NSB it was too much to stomach. Mr. Herath, the top management team, and the Ceylon Bank Employees Union refused to agree with the World Bank views; they felt that they were prejudiced and influenced by ulterior motives.

Mr. Herath who was the Chairman at the time considered the World Bank recommendation as totally unwarranted, ill timed, and unjustified. He firmly decided that we should not cave in. He and the management resolved with consummate determination to prove that the World Bank was wrong and that a government institution could be run efficiently and profitably without any subsidy provided there was good leadership and efficient management.

While we at the NSB were fortunate to have Mr. Herath as our Chairman at that particular time, we dare say that if not for his strong, effective, rare, and benevolent leadership, NSB would have succumbed to the salvo fired by the World Bank; because of his unique leadership, we managed to weather the storm. Mr. Herath succeeded in rallying the staff, inspiring, and galvanizing them into action to meet this life and death challenge. The bank’s trade unions supported him to the hilt because they felt that he was the only saviour and the right man for the moment. No other Chairman or CEO in the history of this country would have received such support from trade unions; the employees felt that he was sincere, genuine, and that he had the strength to fight back. They knew that he was the man who resigned as IGP five years prematurely when former President J.R. Jayawardane wanted him to grant an irregular and unethical promotion. So, they had absolute confidence in him.

NSB employees spread all over Sri Lanka at that time would recall how Mr. Herath and the top management team visited the staff in the branches during weekends. On these visits he addressed them with a view to inspiring and motivating them to meet these challenges and to help realise the bank’s shared vision of achieving excellent bank status by the year 2002. (NSB realized the vision in the targeted year.) After these meetings, Mr. Herath and his team mixed with the staff in a spirit of camaraderie. He won their hearts and trust. All these factors boosted the morale of the staff and they were determined to contribute selflessly.

Transformation

If Mr. Herath was not the Chairman at that turbulent time, NSB would have gone down shamelessly and its branches auctioned to the private banks; and NSB wouldn’t have existed today. It was, in fact, a great example of how effective leadership could help to turn around an organizatipn. The transformation of NSB against all odds (by this time the attractive tax concessions the NSB depositors had hitherto enjoyed also had been withdrawn) was incredible, and it became an efficient, well managed, profitable, and customer oriented bank offering innovative products. And all of us had the last laugh.

Any leadership guru will admit that the most crucial ingredient of turning around an organization or for that matter even a country is nothing but strong, genuine, and effective leadership. Mr. Herath possessed the essential qualities such as integrity, humility, intellect, pragmatism, communication ability, and empathy. Above all, he walked the talk and was fearless; he never succumbed to political pressure. And he conducted himself with dignity and decorum that is something very rare today. It was no doubt divine providence that Mr. Herath was Chairman at the worst of times in the history of NSB; a case of Cometh the hour, cometh the man. We believe that as a tribute to him it is appropriate to give a few examples of his leadership. We hope the top executives and managers in this country would emulate them to improve their effectiveness and also to win the hearts of their employees: Believe it or not, he queued up with other employees (including the lowest grade of employees) every morning and waited for his turn to enter the lift to proceed to his office which was on the sixth floor. He was approachable, and any employee could meet him on Wednesdays without an appointment to have their grievances redressed. He mixed closely with staff and engaged in banter with everyone at bank get-togethers and parties. His official vehicle was an unostentatious car (Mitsubishi Lancer and later a Honda Civic). He was cost conscious and frugal. When travelling abroad, he and the others travelled economy class (unless of course it was upgraded by the airline at no extra cost.) When several top executives were required to travel outstation or attend any other event the management team including the Chairman travelled by a van to cut costs. He re-employed a large number of staff and/or restored the pensions of those employees who had been unfairly dismissed by a previous chairman. He believed in empowering staff and gave them a great deal of freedom. He never raised his voice when speaking to subordinates and was always conscious of their self - respect.

Rare individual

In passing we need to tell the readers the reason why the country didn’t know about the miraculous turnaround of NSB at that time. It was purely because Mr. Herat by nature was one who did not want to brag about it regardless of the fact that this was an extremely rare, unique and a peerless transformation that warranted and deserved publici-