Новая дирекция Национальной газовой компании Тринидада и Тобаго зафиксировала рекордную прибыль в 3,468 млрд долларов

As we have grown accustomed to over the past year, whenever positive news emerges from Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector, MP Stuart Young is seldom far behind with the familiar claim that the previous administration was responsible. After hearing some version of this following almost every announcement, the refrain is becoming weary and tired. At some point, credit must belong to the people actually governing institutions today, making decisions today, and being accountable for results today. The National Gas Company’s performance makes that difficult to ignore. A $3.468 billion after-tax profit—the highest in 11 years and more than double the previous year’s figure—represents a remarkable turnaround. Commodity prices, inherited projects and previous commercial arrangements matter, but corporate history demonstrates that favourable circumstances and valuable assets cannot compensate for poor leadership. Kodak provides the classic example. It possessed an extraordinary brand, enormous resources and even invented the digital camera. Yet its leadership hesitated to disrupt its profitable film business. The technology, capital and opportunity were present. What was missing was leadership prepared to make difficult short-term decisions for long-term survival. That is why NGC’s performance under its new board, led by chairman Gerald Ramdeen, deserves recognition. In approximately one year, the company has recorded an extraordinary improvement in profitability while imposing greater discipline on its cost structure. That does not happen through news conferences. It happens through governance. Leadership is easiest when decisions are popular. Its real test comes when directors accept short-term discomfort to protect long-term institutional value. Cutting operating expenditure by more than $500 million inevitably requires difficult choices. Costs must be questioned, programmes justified, and management forced to distinguish between what is desirable and what is necessary. Such decisions will not please everyone. But a board’s responsibility is not popularity. It is protecting the company’s future. Blockbuster offers another lesson. It had enormous market recognition, thousands of stores, and the opportunity to acquire Netflix. Yet leadership remained attached to immediate revenues while the market changed around it. Blockbuster had the advantage; it lacked the strategic courage to sacrifice part of today’s successful model to secure tomorrow’s. WeWork similarly enjoyed billions in investment during an extraordinarily favourable financing environment. Capital was plentiful. What ultimately proved deficient was governance. When boards fail to challenge management, control expenditure and impose institutional discipline, favourable conditions provide little protection. This is why NGC’s achievement extends beyond the headline profit. Ramdeen and the new board appear willing to impose fiscal discipline, interrogate costs, and make decisions whose benefits may be unpopular today but strengthen the institution tomorrow. That is inspired leadership. Previous governments will naturally have initiated energy projects whose benefits emerge years later. That is the nature of the industry. But today’s leaders must also be judged by what they do with what they inherit. NGC inherited its assets and challenges. Yet within one year, its financial trajectory has changed dramatically. Corporate history teaches a simple lesson: Kodak had technology, Blockbuster had market dominance and WeWork had capital. What failed at crucial moments was leadership. NGC’s $3.468 billion profit demonstrates the opposite proposition: assets create possibilities, but disciplined leadership converts possibilities into results. Chairman Gerald Ramdeen and his board deserve credit for doing precisely that.