Hardwork and perseverance pay: Azim Premji

Innovation, big ideas and being different sometimes can be very important. However, the three ordinary things that we often don’t pay enough attention to, but are the drivers of success are hard work, perseverance and basic honesty, said Wipro chairman Azim Premji.

“As I look back at the past 30-40 years of Wipro, I can hardly remember any decisive turning point that came from some single big idea or great innovation. Everything was built with steady, painstaking work. No innovation or big idea can compensate for lack of hard work and perseverance, but I have experienced that often hard work and perseverance can compensate for most other things,” he said.

Addressing the students of Indian School of Business (ISB) at the convocation ceremony here on Sunday,  Premji said over the years, he had been privileged to have met with some of the most successful people in the world, and what was clearly common to all these people was what he had called the ordinary things.

“Many of them have startling brilliance or extraordinary creativity, but these are just flashes. What makes them what they are, is hard work, perseverance and basic honesty,” he added.