Infosys co-founder NR Narayan Murthy has a suggestion for fellow corporate leaders – that they should exercise "self-restraint" in perks, profligacy, and lifestyle. Why though? To make capitalism attractive in a country like India where a majority of the people are poor.
He was speaking as chief guest at the 58th annual convocation of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) on April 2, where 597 students graduated.
Murthy further said that "good governance" is enhanced by adhering to "honesty, fairness, transparency and accountability in every transaction"; and listed his ideals, emphasising on “fairness” being the most important attribute when making a decision.
Mind-set needs change
"Across the world and particularly in a country like India where a majority of people are poor, the best way to make capitalism attractive is that corporate leaders exercise self-restraint in their perks, profligacy, compensation, and their lifestyle," Murthy said.
He added that a company’s mind-set and culture should be determined by values and meritocracy, and that culture is a strong foundation for “aspirations, hopes and dreams”.
Addressing students about success, he noted that it is determined by half parts performance and luck. “I want you all to be humble and do everything possible for success before invoking God,” he said.
Giving the example of Infosys, Murthy said he wanted to build a place where people could succeed based on competence and values irrespective of their caste, economic strata, nationality, race or religion.
He stressed on the importance of transparency and that it’s “a counterintuitive competitive advantage” as “competence, commitment and character" will earn companies enduring success and the respect of stakeholders.
Lead by example
On leadership attributes, Murthy emphasised “leading by example” and called it “the most powerful instrument of a leader”.
He said confident leaders hire people smarter than themselves to get the best from employees and create an environment of openness to “new ideas, meritocracy, fairness, transparency, speed, justice, imagination, discussion, excellence in execution and questioning”.
He added that the best management guru is market competition. "The way one behaves when he or she is on top and has power and wealth is his/her true character. In such moments, your grace, your courtesy and humility showed to others will reveal a real you," he added.
He further said that leaders should put the company ahead of their personal interests in the short and medium term will ensure betterment in the long term.
On customer service, Murthy noted that best value for money is an important consideration and a company that enhances different values using continuous innovation will obtain premium pricing.
Glass ceilings & limited circumstances
Murthy said he was taught that his fate would be limited by the circumstances he was born in — middle class with small hopes and even smaller dreams; and had “simply accepted” that there would be glass ceilings to most corporate ladders in corporate India where connections and corruption used to be common for success.
“This regressive mind-set changed when I went to work in a French real-time software company in Paris where I learnt three important ideas — the power of entrepreneurship in a free market in creating jobs and prosperity for the nation, the beauty of an enlightened corporate democracy, and the role of compassionate capitalism in building happy and prosperous country,” Murthy added.
He said this journey transformed him from a "confused Leftist" to a determined compassionate capitalist. "After my return to India, I decided to conduct an experiment based on these three important ideas that I spoke about," he said.
(With inputs from PTI)