Pure Chocolate

The Cadbury logo for as long as one can remember was of two streams of milk pouring out of two glasses, signifying the goodness of milk, which was of course symbolic of the goodness of life. In Bournville (the dark chocolate of the company bears that name) in Britain can be seen well preserved little houses that the Cadburys had built for their workers in another age, a lasting symbol of the family's practice of good governance of its entire flock in the widest possible sense long before the phrase became a part of management jargon.

Sir Adrian, who read economics at Cambridge, first headed Cadbury as its chairman and managing director, then as deputy chairman and MD of Cadbury Schweppes and finally its chairman till 1989. Since then the call of public duty has taken his time, first as a member of the takeovers and mergers panel, then as chairman of the corporate governance committee and now, as member of the OECD working party on corporate governance which is drafting a multilateral code.

 

His writings flow naturally from his background and concerns. He has written a book on ethical managers, one on the company chairman and naturally one on the role of directors in family firms.

He wears his grey eminence lightly, dresses so very modestly and bubbles with laughter without much prodding. The one Indian figure who grew in age and wisdom with equal grace and even shared the same slim build was J R D Tata, who should have been here now to give Indian business the ethical guidance that it so desperately needs and which, like Sir Adrian, he could uniquely provide.