Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch explains why she is a ‘very difficult boss to work with’

Madhabi Puri Buch, the first woman to lead the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), revealed that she has encountered challenges in working relationships, with a "long list of colleagues" and bosses finding her difficult to work with.

Speaking at the annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) on Saturday, she said, "I have a long list of colleagues as well as bosses who will testify to the fact that I am not only a very difficult boss to work with but an almost impossible subordinate to work with because I just won't give up. Until a problem has been dissected to the last degree, I will not give up."

Discussing problem-solving, the SEBI chief likened it to peeling an onion.

"It makes everybody cry in the process. But by the time you are done, peeling layer after layer after layer of the onion, you suddenly realise there is no problem left,” she said.

She mentioned one steadfast rule she follows: doing what is right, regardless of difficulty, and leaving no stone unturned in the process.

She said, “I believe that at a conscious and a subconscious level, my mantra has been very very simple. Do the right thing, no matter how hard. Leave no stone unturned, no matter how hard. The wonderful thing about this mantra is that eight times out of ten you actually succeed. And the two times that you don’t, you have absolutely no regret.”