Having perused both Narinder Batra’s lacklustre manifesto and the last two annual financial statements of one of the organisations he heads, the International Hockey Federation (FIH), I am compelled to conclude that the 64-year-old Indian IOC member must share Chesky’s leadership philosophy.

The FIH lost more than CHF313,000 (£246,000/$349,000/€285,000) in 2018; it doubled that to over CHF633,000 (£497,000/$705,000/€577,000) in 2019.

As at the end of that year, the Federation’s assets were down to CHF7.34 million (£5.8 million/$8.2 million/€6.7 million) and equity and reserves to under CHF5 million (£3.9 million/$5.6 million/€4.6 million).

As of yet, we have no idea how it fared in COVID-ravaged 2020, although we do know a) that it took a loan of as yet unknown size from the IOC and b) that, as chief executive Thierry Weil put it, the organisation was in "complete savings mode" by last May.

In this context, some might find the limited references to finances in that Batra manifesto for the delayed FIH Presidential election on Saturday (May 22) rather surprising.

There is an isolated injunction to "explore new resources to generate revenue".

A pledge to "enhance financial sustainability" is included as the third of what he rather cornily terms his "11 players".

He elaborates: "I believe that it's very important for us to develop media (digital + broadcast) rights as a strong source of revenue.

"This added to sponsor revenues are capable of leading us to the path of healthy sustainable financial stability.

"If we invest our efforts in developing the overall experience for the consumer, all stakeholders will find the right kind of long-term support for the sport."

And there is a prominent back-page pledge to, among other things, "seize every opportunity to grow hockey, both in terms of participants and fans, as this is so crucial to generate the resources we need to make our sport flourish".

Now I can appreciate that "We will cut our suit according to our cloth" might not be viewed as the sexiest vote-winner.

But if the money runs out in the push for growth, who will suffer?

Consider that of the FIH’s CHF11 million (£8.6 million/$12.3 million/€10 million) of operating income in 2019 CHF6.25 million (£4.9 million/$7 million/€5.7 million) - 56.6 per cent - came from the IOC.

Consider too that if the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were, even now, to be called off, it might well put a question-mark over the $15 million (£10.6 million/€12.3 million) or so payment for hockey’s contribution that the FIH would normally expect to receive.

On the other side of the coin, every other sport - including the global juggernaut football - has growth ambitions of its own.

Some are going to be disappointed.

I thought that shrewd American Sports Business Journal reporter Ben Fischer put it very well in a recent Tweet.

"Nobody has invented the 25-hour day," Fischer wrote, "and that’s where niche sports always run into trouble - competition for people’s time."

In such a competitive marketplace, it seems like plain common sense to make sure you can at least break even on the revenues you have now.

Oh and by the way, if the pandemic has done nothing else, it has underlined the indispensability of an adequate rainy-day fund.

I have to say, for whatever reason, it seems to me that Batra’s sole challenger, Marc Coudron from Belgium, is giving the Indian Olympic Association President an easy ride on this key issue for the Federation and the sport’s future.

He acknowledges - in an interview with Liam Morgan, my insidethegames colleague, that the FIH has "big financial problems".

He has also proposed at least one practical measure for helping to address them: nations taking part in the fledgling global Pro League must completely cover their participation costs.

But he has insisted repeatedly that the current situation is not the fault of Batra or the Board.

I get that COVID-19 struck at a particularly unfortunate time for the FIH, with the second Pro League season about a third of the way through.

Nonetheless, if it is not their fault, it is hard to comprehend whose fault it is.

After all, numerous International Federations (and not just the biggest) had built up plump - indeed, in some cases positively over-stuffed - cushions of reserves to see them through unexpected catastrophes.

While his campaign may be gentlemanly to a fault, Coudron has other imaginative and specific ideas that make clear how deeply the much-capped Belgian international is steeped in his sport.

The need to water synthetic pitches is plainly a bugbear, on cost and environmental grounds - "If it is expensive in Belgium, I can tell you it is more so in Malawi," he exclaimed in one recent interview.

He is proposing to come together with other sports, including American football and baseball, to put pressure on manufacturers to find a way of delivering the same quality of product with no need for water.

He is also an advocate, perhaps not surprisingly, of greater use of languages other than English to improve communication.

Not that I have met him, or indeed Batra, and not that it is a sine qua non for an IF President, but Coudron also seems to have a pleasingly dry sense of humour.

"If I am elected, even if some people tell me that from now on I should say 'when I am elected,'" he interjects in the course of one interview.

Whoever wins, I hope that this week’s virtual Congress provides a forum for a frank debate on the Federation’s business plan.

While much of the talk of boosting sponsorship and media exposure/revenues sounds mightily familiar to one who has cast an eye over a range of fringe sports, it does seem to me that hockey has one potential advantage over most of its peers and, in business terms, rivals: the depth of its roots in hugely populous and increasingly powerful and prosperous India.

The country was once the hockey superpower, winning seven of the eight men’s Olympic tournaments staged between 1928 and 1964, including dishing out an 8-1 walloping to Germany in the 1936 final.

Should either its men’s or its women’s team grab Olympic gold again, you feel it might well spark something for the sport’s business rainmakers to get their teeth into.