N R Narayana Murthy: Through the looking glass

The Infosys co-founder's life and career inspire like a true leader should

It is difficult to say anything about N R Narayana Murthy that doesn’t verge on clichés. After all, the founder of Infosys and now chairman emeritus of the $7 billion company is all that inspiring stories are made of. How he founded the company in 1981 with Rs 10,000 from his wife Sudha Murthy, persuaded his co-founding partners not to sell the company despite hard times, and take business decisions that have catapulted the company into one of the biggest IT companies in the world.

Books, articles and motivational presentations take leaves out of his life and about the business decisions he took for the company. The mechanical engineer is a down-to-earth and humble man who was voted one of the “12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time” by the Fortune magazine this year. A Padma Shree and a Padma Vibhusan, Murthy is also the first Indian winner of the Ernst and Young’s World Entrepreneur and has been felicitated by almost all business groups and media in the world.

At the pre-commencement lecture at the New York University (Stern School of Business) in 2007, Murthy gave an inspiring speech about lessons from his life and career. It has instances of how role models can change your outlook on life and how important it is to stay focussed in what you set out to do. Learning from success is as important as lessons from failure, he said. Murthy also put a lot of emphasis on the mindset one works with, as well as self-knowledge. “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?” he asked.

Like a true leader, Murthy not only provides the answers but also asks questions that make one explore opportunities and challenges in a different light. He has great belief in how “we all are mere custodians of the wealth we generate, be it financial, intellectual or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.”

Only a leader can have a perspective like that.