Nilekani's colleagues to fill the vacuum

The gap between operation and inspiration created by the premature exit of Infosys Technologies’ key founder, Nandan Mohan Nilekani, is being filled by his colleagues.

S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and MD of the Bangalore-headquartered company, who used to be its marketing face in the US in the early days, will now represent the brand identity of the company in overseas markets, stepping into the shoes of Nilekani. The other role of Nilekani — to handle certain large clients — will now be split and taken care by Gopalakrishnan, T V Mohandas Pai and other members of the executive council.

“Nandan has been the public face of Infosys for long. Others will now step in, as we pass on Nandan’s responsibilities to them. We have proved our abilities to manage transitions in the past, too,” says Gopalakrishnan quietly, when asked about its future public faces. “Branding had been the face of Infosys. More and more, I will have to play that role. The other part of branding, in terms of creating new themes and messages, will be taken care by our sales and marketing team headed by Subhas Dhar. Besides, it will be taken care by other people, including Mohandas Pai, S D Shibulal and other members of the executive council,” Gopalakrishnan told Business Standard.

The executive council will interact more often with the top 10 clients whom Nilekani handled as co-chairman. “Nandan was handling certain relationships. These will now be distributed among the executive council members, including Mohandas Pai and S D Shibulal,” Gopalakrishnan said.

“We will be seeing aircraft lights more often, thanks to Nandan,” jokes Infosys HR head and member of the board, Mohandas Pai.

Nandan’s absence, according to Infosys’ management, will have more of an emotional impact than anything else. He was company CEO & MD from March 2002 to April 2007 and then stepped into the role of co-chairman, in keeping with the general agreement among the founders that each of them would be CEO by rotation, with none exceeding five years on the job.

The charismatic co-chairman said his goodbyes at a send-off function organised at the Infosys headquarters near Bangalore on Thursday evening, but his admirers within and outside the company openly hoped for a high-profile comeback a few years down the line.

Addressed as ‘Nandan’ by Infoscions numbering over a lakh, Nilekani’s career move into the highest echelons of the technocracy as chief of the Unique Identification Authority of India left the top management befuddled at first. But as the titan’s exit became clear, the company rallied to support the change and the inevitable challenges that would crop up with Nilekani’s exit.

Apparently, the personality vacuum at Infosys caused by the exit of the charismatic 54-year-old will not be a thing of the past for a long time to come. “Nandan is not with us today and the emotional gap he has left behind in the company will take time to fill. But from a business point of view, we will continue to build on the leadership he has provided,” said Gopalakrishnan.