As a younger man, your columnist once wandered through the vast courtyards of the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai, awed by its towering gopurams and the hum of quiet devotion. What struck him most, though, was how seamlessly faith and enterprise coexisted. The temple was as much a monument to piety as it was to accounting.

This week’s podcast episode revisits that dual legacy through the story of the Pandya dynasty, whose ports thrummed with trade from Rome to Southeast Asia. Their pearl fisheries, merchant guilds and maritime laws made them masters of the southern seas. Centuries before banks and stock exchanges, the Pandyas’ proved that prosperity could be built on trust, ledgers and a goddess’s blessing.

In a fast-changing business environment, leaders are expected to deliver growth, innovation and impact all at once. A recent session of the IMA India CEO Forum featured B Santhanam, Former CEO of Saint-Gobain Asia Pacific and India Region, who reflected on his 25-year journey of building a purpose-led enterprise. His narrative offered a rare inside view of how organisations evolve across decades, how leaders navigate contradictions and how purpose often emerges not through design but accumulated choices. What followed was a candid account of strategy, culture, innovation and stakeholder engagement, one that resonates with the leadership challenges CEOs face today.

At our recent Q3FY26 CHRO Forum Dialogue in Bangalore, we hosted former Nestlé CMD Suresh Narayanan, who, drawing on decades of experience stewarding culture and capability and managing crises, reflected on the principles that anchor leadership through change. Our second session of the day, run as an open-house, focused on the imperative of building a future-ready workforce.

The attached podcast summarises these discussions.