GOVERNANCE and leadership are the main ingredients for successful organisations. If you are in a company with leadership without governance, you risk despotism and fraud. guest column:Emmanuel Zvada Such organisations are toxic. All the same, if you have governance without leadership, you risk bureaucracy and indifference. Several companies have at some point faced difficulties associated with corporate governance flaws. Corporate governance is not just something that happens in shiny big boardrooms, it is rather the cornerstone of any good business and should be practised with due diligence. Only the ethical will survive. Many business executives think the culture of their organisation is what they want it to be. They conduct workshops to define values and they display missions and goals on posters and in manuals. Some even go to the extent of conducting orientation sessions for new hires that describe what the company stands for. Yes, this works but in reality, a company’s culture is defined by what the top executives actually do. Employees emulate their boss’ behaviour. They do what the boss does because they get paid by the boss, recognised by the boss, and, eventually, promoted by the boss. This means if the boss is unethical the employees are likely to sing their boss’ song and breed unethical practices and poor corporate governance. What are governance and ethics issues? Governance issues are not alien to Zimbabwe and the concept has existed for years though nowadays words such as corporate governance, organisational governance or good governance have become so popular. Several companies have at some point faced difficulties associated with corporate governance flaws. The rising tide of corporate governance around the globe left traces on the African continent. The concept of corporate governance is merely to summarise the means by which organisations conduct themselves. The main difference between corporate governance and ethics is that the ethics are the moral decent standards that a corporation attempts to stand by, while governance processes are the means by which a corporation attempts to remain as ethical as possible while still making a profit. Advantages of corporate governance Corporate governance is about enabling organisations to achieve their goals, control risks and assuring compliance. With the support of a solid compliance culture, boards of directors can benefit in a multitude of ways from best-practice corporate governance. Below are some good corporate governance practices and examples. Without good reputation it is very difficult for a company to survive or to make progress. The key role of corporate governance has to be the improvement and protection of corporate reputation. Good reputation is the key condition of stakeholders’ support to a company in competitive relations, and it is an important factor of value of organisations on the financial markets. If organisations publicise their corporate governance policies and detail how they work, stakeholders’ confidence will be boosted. Having