Tilak Padmaraj adasa > An Appreciation
   

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Island Friday 4th March, 2005

Tilak Padamarajadasa

 

Thilak Padamarajadasa and his wife perished in the recent tsunami disaster. And Sri Lanka has prematurely lost yet another very able son.

I got to know Thilak for the first time in early 1993, when I re-joined Coopers and Lybrand in Colombo (a firm which is now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC) after having spent some years working abroad. At the time Thilak had been recently promoted to be a partner of that firm, and was the head of that firm’s management consulting practice.

The discipline that specialized in was tax and therefore the disciplines that each Thilak and I specialized in did not converge much. There were other areas of convergence, however. For instance, I was (a few months after re-joining that firm ) made the head of that firm’s tax practice, and therefore Thilak and I conversed and exchanged correspondence often on matters affecting that firm’s general management or engagements of a multi-disciplinary scope.

I was able to quickly discern, after my first encounters with Thilak, that he was a person from a modest back-ground. Thilak never attempted to disguise that, as I felt that (within him)

 

Thilak was confident that his ability was such that his modest background would not hinder his progress.

He had started his career as a student accountant with a small accounting firm and later joined Coopers and Lybrand, Colombo at a junior level. From whence he had progressed to the rank of partner of that firm, and was the head of practice (the firm’s management consulting practice) that called for a high level of intellectual aptitude, so as to remain abreast with cutting-edge management approaches and techniques that were in a state of constant evolution.

Therefore Thilak’s confidence in himself (in my eyes) was justified.

I was consistently impressed with four attributes of Thilak; the versatility of his grasp, his willingness (despite the pressures on his time) to engage in discourse with others; his pragmatism and his integrity.

As I have mentioned. Thilak and I specialized in different disciplines but I never had difficulty in readily persuading Thilak to accept a viewpoint of mine. That was because Thilak possessed a knowledge (outside the discipline he specialized in) to readily grasp the merits of a viewpoint of those from different disciplines.

 

I think Thilak possessed that attribute as he had the interest to consistently read widely on maters outside his own discipline and had the aptitude to grasp the substance of what be read.

Coopers and Lybrand Colombo was a firm were generally tight deadlines were imposed for accomplishing tasks. In an environment like that the approach to management practiced by most partners of that firm (often, of necessity) was more directional than consultative.

Thilak impressed me as someone who was different, as the saw the benefit in discovering with others to elicit a plurality of perspective (emanating from different individuals). He perhaps appreciated how that plurality of perspectives can enrich his own analysis of matter warranting his attention.

Perhaps influenced by the modest background he originated from, Thilak was pragmatic. That is he was not guided by dogma or ideology. He respected the merits of sound analysis before acting on any matter but he also respected that sound analysis not necessarily predicated on one approach.

Thilak was a person with sound integrity.

 

His personal integrity was of the highest order and so was his professional integrity which could have failed if he were prone to make in advancement errors in his professional work due to incompetence.

That did not happen in Thilak’s case as his professional competence was of the highest order (and so his professional integrity). Given the high order of his personal integrity, Thilak was always impartial. One’s race, religion, social status and the like did not influence his judgment.

I left Coopers and Lybrand, Colombo about six years ago to recommence employment abroad, and Thilak left that firm before me to commence his own management consulting practice. I had largely lost touch with Thilak since except visiting his parent's home once to attend his father's funeral.

From the little that have I gathered from Sri Lanka media (published on the web) and from friends in Sri Lanka visiting abroad, I gather that Thilak to consistently serve all those he should well.

I know that Thilak was a devout Buddhist.

May he attain Nibbana



Maheswaran Sridaran
Sydney, Australia

 
   

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