A lot of debate surrounds how L&T’s CMD and HR could have handled this incident better. PR professionals are crafting hypothetical press releases. HR leaders are offering advice on damage control. Marketing experts are reimagining the brand’s response. Meanwhile, countless others are rewriting the HR department’s tone-deaf and lacklustre statement.
Amid this noise, one glaringly simple approach seems overlooked: an authentic, heartfelt apology directly from SNS himself. To those whom he hurt the most: his employees. A video or post owning up to the mistake. Addressing the hurt. Promising change. Something like this:
“An Apology and a Promise
To my fellow L&Tians,
Last week, I made an uncharacteristic but inexcusable error of judgment. During an internal call, I made an offhand remark about working on Sundays. Worse, I followed it with a thoughtless, completely unwarranted comment about ‘wives.’ My words caused pain. To you, your families, our investors, vendors, customers, and the larger L&T community. They hurt the reputation of the company we have all worked tirelessly to uphold.
I was wrong. I was out of line. No excuses. No justifications.
These remarks are neither reflective of nor representative of L&T’s culture: past, present, or future. They do not align with the values we have inherited from the generations who built this company brick by brick, sweat by sweat, over the past 85 years. And they certainly do not align with the vision I have for its future.
L&T is more than a company. It is an institution. A beacon of nation-building, created not just by those who came before us, but by each of you who continue to dedicate your talents and efforts every day. My words dishonoured that legacy. For this, I am deeply sorry.
But apologies are not enough. They must be followed by action.
Today, I commit to doing better. I pledge to make L&T a better workplace for all of us. Within the next two weeks, we will appoint a reputed, impartial external agency to conduct a comprehensive review of our work culture and practices. This is not to find faults but to find solutions. Our goal: To make L&T the best workplace in India by 2030. And I promise to lead this effort with everything I have.
Let us use this moment, not to divide us, but to strengthen our resolve to build an organisation where every individual feels valued and respected. Because nation-building, the task that L&T does best, is not just being done BY all of you, but the very nation we are building with such great effort is being built FOR you, and our children that follow us.
I humbly ask for your forgiveness, your trust, and your partnership as we take this journey together.
Yours in service,
S. N. Subrahmanyan
Chairperson & Managing Director”
Would it have killed him to say this?
None of this would have negated his tough climb to his position, his hard work, his passion, his vision, and all that he has done to date. If anything, the exact opposite.
I’d think if he had put this out, he would not have needed his HR department to call their employees to put out a good word justifying his faux pas. Employees, ex-employees, customers, vendors, everyone would have automatically risen to his defence, shouting down the likes of me on social media. Indeed, someone like me would have acknowledged his leadership qualities. Everyone makes mistakes. It is what you do after that defines your character.
P.S.: If you wish to read my previous posts on this, you may find them here, here, here, and here.
