Developing a resilient Sri Lanka: A reflection of late Senior Professor Nalin Abeysekera’s three newspaper Articles on his vision of leadership
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Late Senior Professor Nalin Abeysekera was an eminent scholar, former Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies, former Head of the Department of Marketing Management at The Open University of Sri Lanka, whose writings mostly focused on leadership strategies towards the national development. His writeups were very simple, easy to understand, and deeply resonated with people. This article was written to pay tribute to his great contribution to the society through disseminating his vision of leadership with indigenous values. He strongly believed that western theories and best practices need to be adapted to suit Sri Lankan deeply rooted values, culture and social life.
Being a small, import dependent country, Sri Lanka has faced many challenges recent years. With its deeply rooted inefficiencies and governance issues since independence, the country has experienced a continuous series of internal and external shocks: Easter attack, Covid 19 pandemic, post pandemic crisis, Ditwah, and finally Middle East crisis. These shocks have further challenged and slowed down the country’s progress towards its expected development. In this context, through a series of newspaper articles, late Senior Professor Nalin Abeysekera highlighted that these challenges are not just operational issues, but symptoms of an urgent need to rethink the existing leadership approaches across various institutional levels of the country. Thus. it is important to revisit his seminal work on both role of leadership the country requires and the role of the followers in supporting the leaders for a better future of Sri Lanka. Though there are number of his works, this article has been focused his three seminal works on leadership, strategic management and national development that are important to current context 1) Rediscovering Our Roots: Building a Leadership Style for Modern Sri Lanka – requirement of locally grounded leadership approach aligning to the cultural roots and indigenous values of the country, 2) Middle East Crisis and Economic Management – visionary leadership for resilient economy of the country via effective strategic planning 3) Marketing and supply chain perspective in challenging context of the country – operational level of strategic management via integrated marketing and supply chain management systems of fruits and vegetables. What he said was not merely theoretical, but highly relevant to the practices.
The first article, Rediscovering Our Roots: Building a Leadership Style for Modern Sri Lanka published on 3rd November 2024 in Sunday Times was grounded on the requirement of a context specific leadership model integrated with deep cultural roots and values of the country. The author emphasized transformation leadership and its four core elements; charismatic or Idealized influence (leading by example), inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized consideration. Further, he argued that short sighted transactional leadership does not address present challenges of the country. Instead of that the country requires a transformational leadership with long-term vision. The writer also stressed that effective leaders should demonstrate awareness, integrity, and the ability to respond to complex social and political challenges. While criticising the existing system, he stated his observations on public discussions regarding corruption, discipline and malpractice of politicians. Further, he questioned whether the followers fulfill their duties and responsibilities in this regard. He argued that leaders can achieve expected goals only with the support of well-disciplined and responsible followers. Moreover, he mentioned the importance of emotional intelligence in fostering leader – follower relationships.
The second newspaper article was Middle East Crisis and Economic Management published on 22nd March 2026. The writer pointed out Sri Lanka economy is highly sensitive to global shocks and external influences; The middle east crisis leads to a chain of adverse effects within the country such as fluctuations of fuel prices, fuel supply constraints, trade and employment issues of the country. Further he emphasised importance of relief measures and protecting economically vulnerable, poorer segments in society from crisis burdens. He also stresses that the crisis should be understood not just as an external problem but as an alarming signal about the structural weaknesses backed by short-term planning and policies on economy and crisis preparedness issues. That’s why Sri Lanka economy always shakes to external economic shocks. He emphasizes a paradigm shift in the economy through localised transformational leadership approach. He proposed to adopt Multi-stakeholder Economic Advisory Model, a collaborative economic transformation framework that brings various stakeholders in economy such as public, private, community and academia together to national economic development. With that he stressed the importance of strategic economic management, disciplined governance, and long-term national planning instead of temporary political solutions.
As always, the writer connected his thoughts to cultural roots. In this article, he reflected his thoughts on Buddhist teaching “Asevanacha balanan Panditanancha sevana…………..”. Although interpretation of “Bala” and “Pandita” may vary, his readings were linked to our thoughts; Merit (Pandita) and Demerits (Bala) arise from our own mind. Thus, he requested everyone to explore their mind; that may encourage everyone in the country to cultivate mindset for the collective wellbeing rather than just thinking individualistic self-centered “Bala” thoughts. In other words, writer pointed out the importance of addressing real problems in any level practically and philosophical way by providing individuals role in developing the nation irrespective short-sighted thinking of following “Bala”.
The third article titled Supply Chain Management and Marketing: Challenges for Sri Lanka published in same newspaper on 9th June 2024 addressed the operational level of strategic management. It highlighted importance of integrating marketing and supply chain management using the example of demand and supply chain management of fruits and vegetables in the country. Food is a multi-dimensional agenda for national development. This article identified two important roles. First, experts should educate the public on nutritional values, promoting locally sourced products as viable substitutes for imports through effective marketing communication. fruit, strengthening fruits and vegetables supply chain management systems to minimise waste and improve efficiency. Further, the writer proposed an institutional framework to address food security, nutrition, and economic efficiency in the country that benefit the sustainable entire food ecosystem. These insights can be connected to implications of the previous articles, as one of the aspects of strategic leadership vision is its effective translation into operational practice. It is essential in developing a resilient Sri Lanka.
As conclusion, these three articles show that the challenges in the country require a visionary leadership to initiate the strategic planning at policy level while guiding and supporting the public or followers to be disciplined. This has to be carried out not only on the national level, but on institutional and community levels.
With his intellect, friendly nature and inspirational leadership, late Senior Professor Nalin Abeysekera demonstrated idealised influence during his tenure as a Head of the Department of Marketing Management, Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies and as one of the most senior academics of The Open University of Sri Lanka. He built a culture of long-term relationships by inspiring a shared vision, offering clear direction and alternatives, setting individual and organisational goals, and engaging followers through thoughtful discussions.
During his deanship, The Department of Marketing Management launched MSc in Public Procurement and Supply Chain Management. This programme is a good example of collaborative work of academia with industry experts to address timely national priorities of developing professionalism in public procurement and supply chain management. In June this year, the first batch of this programme will graduate marking an important milestone, reflecting his contribution as a visionary academic leader to national development.
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/241103/education/rediscovering-our-roots-building-a-leadership-style-for-modern-sri-lanka-575849.html
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/260322/education/middle-east-crisis-and-economic-management-634975.html
https://www.sundaytimes.lk/240609/education/supply-chain-management-and-marketing-challenges-for-sri-lanka-559407.html
Dr A.A. I Lakmali
Department of
Marketing Management
Faculty of Management Studies
The Open University of Sri Lanka
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