Smells like teen spirit in boardrooms

A joint parliamentary committee has reportedly recommended tweaking the Companies Act to let the minimum age to be appointed as managing or full-time director be dropped from 21 to 18. About time. The received wisdom on managerial 'experience' is already being turned on its head by the digital economy. Startups by teenagers are disrupting the environment for legacy businesses using strategic insights drawn from generational diversity. Like outside boardrooms, the entrepreneurial template has been changed by young people who can spot opportunity and deliver tech-aided solutions that become profitable businesses. Trillion-dollar companies have been built by college dropouts and students. Elon Musk began his journey by selling a video game he had programmed as a 12-yr-old. Bill Gates was 19 when he and Paul Allen started Microsoft. Steve Jobs co-founded Apple at the grand age of 21. And that was in 1976. Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook at 19. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both 25. There's nothing that should be different here for digital-native Indians.

Management can be learnt on the job. Or, better still, experienced managers can be hired to run companies that alter business dynamics. Youth must have its place at the high table to take innovation forward. India, with a young population, needs to allow teens with talent better access to boardrooms if it wants to get ahead in the tech race, and not get bogged down by a legacy 'Bhishma Pitamah' mindset in boardrooms. The parliamentary panel recommendation must be, indeed, followed through in spirit and letter.

The country lacks fresh boardroom talent and early exposure to corporate governance addresses both generational and gender diversity. With AI accelerating the pace of business disruption - and offering additional management bandwidth out of a box - the funnel for youth, especially in tech startups, must be widened Asap. The move should not face a serious hurdle in India's family-held business landscape or vibrant startup ecosystem.