N R Narayana Murthy chief mentor and chairman of the board, Infosys Technologies,
delivered a pre-commencement lecture at the New York University (Stern School
of Business) on May 9. It is a scintillating speech, Murthy speaks
about the lessons he learnt from his life and career. We present it
for our readers:
Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished
guests, and, most importantly, the graduating class of 2007, it is a great
privilege to speak at your commencement ceremonies. I thank Dean Cooley and
Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I am exhilarated to be part
of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the class of 2007, on
completing an important milestone in your life journey.
After some thought, I have
decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I learned these lessons in the
context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of
sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character
and reshaped my future.
I
would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope
that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and
unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career. Later,
I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is
that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the
hidden blessings they can be.
The
first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT,
Kanpur, in India]. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a
chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a
well-known US university.
He
was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with
a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He
was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went straight
from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and
left the library determined to study computer science.
Friends,
when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model
can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience taught
me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and
chance events can sometimes open new doors.
The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in
1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia,
and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.
By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9
p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next
morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the
railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.
The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I
struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the
travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted
by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who
thought we were criticizing the communist government of Bulgaria.
The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were
confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a
cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was
held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.
I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when
the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the
guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be
released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still
ring in my ears -- “You are from a friendly country called India and that is
why we are letting you go!"
The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This
long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about
Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours,
I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left. I concluded that
entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable
mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.
Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for
transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate
capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in
1981.
While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two,
both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly
influenced my career trajectory.
On a chilly Saturday
morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small
office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale
of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the
then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing
at least some money.
I let my younger
colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our
journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had
not yet spoken a word.
Finally, it was my turn.
I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been
beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest
hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon
selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did
not have a cent in my pocket.
There was a stunned
silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I
remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed
their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a
great company, we should be optimistic and confident. They have more than lived
up to their promise of that day.
In the seventeen years
since that day, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3.0 billion, a net
income of more than $800 million and a market capitalization of more than $28
billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day.
In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying
jobs, 2,000-plus dollar-millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires.
A
final story:
On a hot summer morning
in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software
vendors, including Infosys, in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in
Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another. This
customer's propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very
nervous.
First of all, with
revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer.
Second, this customer
contributed fully 25% of our revenues. The loss of this business would
potentially devastate our recently-listed company.
Third, the customer's
negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to
room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the
other. This went on for several rounds. Our various arguments why a fair price --
one that allowed us to invest in good people, R&D, infrastructure,
technology and training -- was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice
with the customer.
By 5 p.m. on the last
day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the
customer's terms or to walk out.
All eyes were on me as I
mulled over the decision. I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey
until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the
long-term interests of Infosys. I communicated clearly to the customer team
that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting
them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor
of customer's choice.
This was a turning point
for Infosys.
Subsequently, we created
a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too
much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee.
The crisis was a blessing in disguise. Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking
strategy that has stabilized its revenues and profits.
I want to share with
you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me.
1. I
will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less
important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you
learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is
steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable
place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this.
Learning from
experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn
from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the
precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.
2. A
second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide
variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by
the interplay of chance events with intentional choices. While the turning
points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is
anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to
chance events that is crucial.
3. Of
course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by
the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one
believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed. Put simply, the
former view, a fixed mindset, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore
useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve
their full potential.
The latter view, a
growth mindset, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from
criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement (Krakovsky,
2007: page 48).
4. The
fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition:
self-knowledge. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is
self-knowledge. I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is
what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage,
determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear
one's success with dignity and grace.
Based on my life
experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a
growth mindset, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have
helped me grow to the present.
Back in the 1960s, the
odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand
before you! With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour,
and it is these life lessons that made all the difference.
My young friends, I
would like to end with some words of advice. Do you believe that your future is
pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to
be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?
Do you believe that
these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your
energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and
that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine
your successes with even greater care?
I hope you believe that
the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning
opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage.
A final word: When,
one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate
analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate,
whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your
wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.
I believe that we have
all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the
fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant
gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit
generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I
hope you will shoulder in time.
Thank you for your
patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue
enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery!
- ALSO READ: The amazing success story of
Infosys
COURTESY: REDIFF.COM
