It’s been a week of nearly incessant downpours in the evenings and nights in Bengaluru, which I largely missed because I was in Mumbai most of the week.

But it did make me think about how we process the rain differently as adults. For many years now, the first thoughts heavy rains trigger in me are, “Great. I hope it flows into the lakes and rivers and dams and fills them up till the next monsoons.

I can’t help it. Because water shortages are now a perennial occurrence for most of us every year, I’ve started “seeing” even the beauty of the rain through a utilitarian lens. That’s our Earth’s reality today.

You must have heard some version of the quote, “We don’t inherit the earth, but merely look after it for our children.

Looking after something that doesn’t truly belong to us is a concept that exists in business too. It’s called “fiduciary responsibility”.

A fiduciary responsibility implies you’re looking after someone’s else’s assets, whether it be money or a company. And that you are bound, legally and ethically, to put their interests ahead of your own through your actions, not your own.

We’re not legally bound to safeguard the earth for our children and future generations, but I would say we can’t escape our ethical responsibilities.

Fiduciary responsibility is a phrase that gets tossed around a lot in corporate and legal circles, but rarely with deep thought.

It popped up in my conversation with Ruchi Kalra, the co-founder and CEO of business lending platform Oxyzo and also the co-founder of B2B procurement platform OfBusiness. Both are unicorns.

Ruchi didn’t use the word fiduciary responsibility when I asked her about the mental model she turned to most often when faced with major and tough decisions. But she didn’t need to either.

She said the first thought that comes to her mind when someone comes to her with a tough problem or decision is, “How do I explain it to a shareholder?”

“If I have to take a decision, how will I play it back to the stakeholders on whose behalf I am taking that decision? I am responsible on behalf of shareholders and stakeholders. Thus, can I convince them?