Cometh the hour, cometh the man – A tribute to Deshamanya Cyril Herath
The eighth of September this year is the fifth death anniversary of Deshamanya Cyril Herath, former IGP, Defence Secretary, and Chairman of National Savings Bank (NSB); and also a distinguished alumnus of the prestigious University of Ceylon, Peradeniya. On this occasion, we think we have a duty to tell the people of Sri Lanka, the present employees of NSB, and the banking fraternity about some important but unknown facts relating to his unique and monumental contribution to NSB.
The first few years of Mr. Herath’s chairmanship of NSB was marked by turbulence, uncertainty, and challenges in the banking and financial sector. The World Bank’s panacea among others, was privatisation. In their report to the government in the late nineties, the World Bank made certain observations about NSB, which appeared to be unpalatable and below the belt. We at the NSB at that time felt hurt, embarrassed, insulted, humiliated, and thunderstruck by this report: For obvious reasons we don’t want to quote it verbatim and would only paraphrase the two fundamental observations/recommendations they made:
- There is no justification for continuing the operations of NSB.
- NSB branches should be sold by auction (they are the very words used) to private and foreign banks; the state owned banks should not be allowed to bid. (Readers may not believe that such a recommendation was ever made but we can vouch for that.)
These recommendations curiously but not surprisingly coincided with the withdrawal of the interest subsidy paid by the Treasury annually to NSB since its inception in 1972. Throughout the years, it was this annual Treasury subsidy that ensured the continued viability of the bank; and this concession had been granted to NSB by statute to enable it to effectively compete with other financial institutions.
There appeared to be no doubt that its withdrawal without reasonable notice was a strategic move intended to be the death knell of NSB because the authorities may have believed that the bank could and would never survive without the subsidy. They probably thought that when the bank crashed, that would pave the way for implementing their recommendations.
Refused to bow to wishes of WB
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 publicity . It is an ingratitude if people particularly the employees and Board members forget the unique contribution Mr. Herath made to NSB. They should be grateful to President Chandrika Kumaratunga too for appointing the right man at the right time as chairman, NSB. If Sri Lanka had another hundred leaders like Mr. Herath in top positions and among politicians, our country would be among the most developed countries of the world.
On a personal note we think that we were very fortunate, privileged and blessed to work under an exemplary leader of the calibre of Mr. Herath.
His beloved wife, Mrs. Rani Herath who passed away within one year of his death was a gracious and virtuous lady who made it possible for Mr. Herath to fully concentrate on coping with challenges of his job. She graced all events and ceremonies of the bank, mixed with the staff who adored her. Her presence created a great deal of goodwill among staff that was a significant factor which made it possible for NSB to move to greater heights. Beloved Sir, on behalf of all the employees of NSB, past and present, we wish you and Mrs. Herath peace and serenity in your sojourn in samsara.
N.B.S.B. Balalle and Eastman Narangoda
Former General
Managers of NSB