The living legend-Mr. Narayan Murthy-his journey,leadership,30 lessons

Entrepreneur
Mr. Narayan Murthy
ANUJA CHAVAN

Born: 20-AUGUST-1946, Mysore
Education: B.E ELECTRICAL
[UNIVERSITY OF MYSORE(1967)]
M.Tech
[IIT,KANPUR (1969)
Career:
1. First position was at IIM Ahmadabad as chief
systems programmer where he worked on a timesharing system and designed and implemented a
BASIC interpreter for ECIL (Electronics Corporation
of India Limited).
2. Patni Computer Systems [Pune].

Journey of Mr. Murthy…..


In 1981, Narayan Murthy founded Infosys with
six other software professionals.

Founders
• Nandan Nilekani [CEO & MD]
• S Gopalakrishnan [DIRECTOR]
• S D Shibulal [DIRECTOR]
• K Dinesh [DIRECTOR]
• N S Raghavan [retired as joint managing
director in 2000 & now chairman of the advisory council
of the N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial
Learning at the Indian Institute of Management,
Bangalore]

• Ashok Arora [worked for the company till 1988
and left after selling his shares in the then unlisted
company back to the other promoters. He moved to the
United States where he now works as a consultant]

How Infosys came to being…
Narayan Murthy’s arrest in Bulgaria
From communism to Capitalism

Start-up Capital contribution from each
founder/co-founder
Sudha Murthy’s support

The living legend-Mr. Narayan Murthy-his journey,leadership,30 lessons

Infosys Technologies Ltd.
Started in 1981 by seven people with US$ 250(Rs.

10000) from his wife.
 Infosys defines, designs and delivers technologyenabled business solutions for Global 2000
companies.
 Infosys also provides a complete range of services by
leveraging our domain and business expertise and strategic
alliances with leading technology providers.
 Infosys has a global footprint with 64 offices and 63
development centers in US, India, China, Australia, Japan,
Middle East, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Poland, Canada and many other countries.

 In 1987, Infosys opened its first international office







in U.S.A.
With the liberalization of Indian economy in
1990s, Infosys grew rapidly.
1993, the company came up with its IPO.
In 1995, Infosys set up development centers across
cities in India and in 1996, it set up its first office in

Europe in Milton Keynes, UK.
In 1999, Infosys became the first Indian
company to be listed on NASDAQ.

2002:
Ranked No. 1 in the
"Best Employers in India 2002“
survey conducted by Hewitt
and
in the Business World's survey of
"India's Most Respected Company."
2006:

Turnover= more than $ 2billion
Employee strength= over 50,000.

Murthy served as the CEO of Infosys for
21 years from 1981 to 2002 & was
succeeded by co-founder Nandan Nilekani.
He was Chairman of the Board from
2002 to 2006, after which he became
Chairman of the Board and Chief Mentor.
In August 2011, he retired from the
company, taking the title Chairman
Emeritus.

SUDHA MURTHY
 An electrical engineer & M.E. in Computer Science
from the Indian Institute of Science.
 First female engineer hired at India's largest auto manufacturer

TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company or
TELCO.

 Met Narayan Murthy while employed as an engineer at TELCO in
Pune

 Clerk-cum-cook-cum-programmer
 Opted to be a homemaker
 Mr. Murthy : “Sudha, I stepped on your career to

make mine. You are responsible for my
success”.
 Teaches computer science to MBA & MCA students..

INFOSYS FOUNDATION[1997]
Sole objective: Uplifting the lessprivileged sections of society.

Sudha Murthy is one of the trustees our activities span six states

 travel to around 800 villages constantly
 donate around Rs 5-6 crores every year
 run Infosys Foundation the way Mr. Murthy runs
Infosys - in a professional and scientific way..

AWARDS
• 2012 Hoover Medal American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• 2011 NDTV Indian of the Year's Icon of India NDTV
• 2010 IEEE Honorary Membership Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers.
• 2009 Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate
Citizenship Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• 2008 Padma Vibhushan President of India
• 2008 Officer of the Legion of Honor Government of France
• 2007 Commander of the Order of the British Empire
(CBE) Government of United Kingdom
• 2007 IEEE Ernst Weber Engineering Leadership
Recognition Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• 2000 Padma Shri President of India

A great leader
• Primary creator of India's biggest (and respected) IT
Organization Infosys
• Mr. Murthy obtained Rs 10,000 from spouse to begin Infosys.
But all know the achievements of Infosys
• Served as CEO of this organization for more 20 years
• Receiver of several famous prizes like 'Padma

Vibhushan', and also 'Legion of the Honor‘
• Regularly on the panel of HSBC, Honda Base and UN
Base.
• Had been regularly rated as great among top company
leaders/influential individualities through well known
press and media houses like The Time, Economist, CNN..

• IT consultant to the several China companies..

30 lessons of Mr. Narayan Murthy
1-Seize Your Gandhi Moment
Murthy, a self proclaimed socialist in the mid
'70s was jailed for 72 hours in Bulgaria. The
experience taught him that entrepreneurship
and job creation is the way to alleviate
poverty.

2-You might fail, but get started
Learn from mistakes and move on.
In 1976, Murthy founded Softronics, a
company that lasted a year and a half.
When he realised that his first venture
wasn't taking off, he moved on.

3-Think Big. Don't Hesitate to Start
Small.
In 1981, a determined Murthy started
Infosys with Rs 10,000 he borrowed
from his wife. In few years, Infosys
went on to become one of the largest
wealth creators in the country.

4-Cut Yourself a Slice, Not a Large
One
Always When Infosys was set up,
Murthy took a pay cut while salaries of
other co-founder's were increased by
10 percent. According to Murthy, a
leader needs to show his or her
sacrifice and commitment.

5-Lend a Hand and Throw in a Foot
Too

After Murthy convinced seven of his
colleagues, there was a problem.
Nandan's future in-laws were not sure
about him. Murthy met Nandan's
uncle and convinced him.

6-Own Up, and Then Clean Up
In the '80s Infosys developed an
application for a German client.
Murthy noticed a single character
error and informed the client
immediately.

7-Trust in God, But Verify with Data
In God we trust, the rest must come
with data, is perhaps Murthy's favorite
statement. When confronted with
difficult decisions, he tends to rely on
data.

8-Keep the Faith
Infosys almost wound up in 1990.
Murthy did not want to sell the
company. He asked co-founders if they
wanted out and offered to buy their
shares. All of them stuck together.

9-Get Involved
Infosys won a contract from Reebok in
the early '90s. Seeing the founders
involvement, the software, was nick
named 'Dinesh, Murthy and Prahlad.'
Infy veterans still recall those days.

10-Sharing is Caring
After the IPO, Infosys decided to share
a portion of its equity with employees.
This helped them retain talent and
gave employees a sense of ownership.
Murthy is proud of having given away
stocks worth over Rs 50,000 crore to
employees.

11-Treat your People Good, but
Your Best Better
Murthy always had a thing for good
performers. And he rewarded them
well. When Infosys decided to give its
employees stock options, Murthy
insisted that some shares be given to
good performers through the
'Chairman's quota.'

12-Hire a Good Accountant, Even if
he is Argumentative
A young, argumentative Indian, was
asking too many questions at an
annual general body meeting of
Infosys. More impressed than irritated,
he hired Mohandas Pai, who went on
to help Infosys list on Nasdaq.

13-When in Doubt, Disclose
Keep your books clean and leave the
cooking to the chef. Murthy's
philosophy about being open and
transparent has given the company a
lot of credibility. He often says, "When
in doubt, please disclose.”

14-Leave the Family Out
Murthy told his wife that only one of
them could be with the company.
Murthy, along with other
founders, said that none of their
children would work for Infosys. This
left no room for nepotism at Infosys.

15-Don't be a Pushover
In 1994, when General Electric wanted
to re-negotiate rates, Murthy said no
to selling services any cheaper. This
helped Infosys not to be overly
dependent on any one client.

16-Make hay While the Sun Shines

In late 90's, India's tech companies
made use of the Y2K opportunity to
make themselves known in the global
market. For Infosys, it was a great
opportunity to enter into long-term
relationships with their customers.

17-Brand-aid First, Get Clinical
When the sexual harassment case
against Infosys' top sales guy Phaneesh
Murthy threatened to tarnish the
company's brand, Murthy decided to
quickly react. He let go of Phaneesh,
and settled the case out of court
despite Phaneesh wanting to fight it
out.

18-Mind your Business, you'll See
Things Coming
Murthy carries and updates a mental
model of Infosys' business all the time.
According to him, every leader must
have a model, consisting of six to
seven parameters that might affect
business.

19-Keep it Simple, Not Silly
Keep your life simple and straight. That
way, you get to work more and worry
less. Murthy is known to be frugal with
money. Despite being one of the
richest Indians, he leads a simple life.
However, he does not cut corners on
buying books or brushing up on
literature.

20-Founders Keepers, but Not
Forever

Murthy's decision to not allow
founders to continue with the
company after the age of 65 set
another standard for the company.
This way, younger leaders at Infosys
had a greater chance at the top
positions.

21-Talent Spotting and Division of
Labor
Murthy is known to have an eye for
talent and a talent for dividing labour.
Nandan was given sales
responsibilities while Kris and Shibu
did the tech stuff. N S Raghavan was
asked to handle people and Dinesh
was assigned quality.

22-Hold on to Your People but don't
Cling
Letting go is never easy but its not
good to cling on to your colleagues
either. Amongst the founders, Ashok
Arora, Nandan Nilekani and K Dinesh
have quit Infosys. Infy veteran
Mohandas Pai has also left Infosys.

23-Give, it only gets you more
In 2010, the Murthy's donated $ 5.2
million USD to Harvard University
Press for a project that aims to make
India's classical heritage available for
generations to come. He is also
supporter of the Akshaya Patra
Foundation.

24-Do it First and Do it Right
Infosys did many things first. And most
things right. For example, it was the
first Indian company to list on Nasdaq.
It was the first Indian company to
make it to the Nasdaq 100 list and it
was the first Indian company to attain
the highest level of quality
certification.

25-Perils of Being a Poster Child
Being the poster child of Indian IT
industry, Infosys and Murthy have
been at the receiving end of many
criticisms. The company has been
accused of taking away American jobs
and been called a "chop shop."

26-Get Rich. Honestly
Rich businesses were considered to be
dirty in the days when the country had
a socialist bent. Infy was a company
which got rid of this sentiment.
Murthy, with his 'no compromise'
policy on greasing palms and doing
ethical business, set the standards.

27-Do Not be Afraid to Court
Controversy
Ever since Infosys became a success,
Murthy was under constant public
glare. This did not deter the straight
talking Murthy from courting
controversy or voicing his opinions
openly.

28-Invest in Learning
With big investments in training,
development and building facilities,
India's IT bell-weather has always been
keen on grooming the younger
generation. Murthy drove the culture
of learning in the company in its early
days.

29-Never Lose the Common Touch

The big man of Indian IT kept his
personal life simple. He lives in a
simple, middle class house and flies
economy till date. Murthy has always
been accessible to people around him.

30-Do Good, Look Good
Murthy knew the importance of
creating an image for Infosys. He
invested in creating a sprawling, world
class campuses early on, bigger than
any other company's headquarters in
the country, that would make his
global customers feel like they were in
a global office.

HE WAS.. HE IS.. HE WILL..
He is a living legend and an epitome
of the fact that honesty,
transparency, and moral integrity
are not at variance with business
acumen. He set new standards in corporate
governance and morality when he stepped
down as the Executive Chairman of
Infosys at the age of 60.

The living legend-Mr. Narayan Murthy-his journey,leadership,30 lessons

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