Livestream: NRN’s mantras to get ‘enlightenment’ in business

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy (NRN) is never a man to mince his words. The doyen of business, who built the IT edifice of India is a believer of a simple mantra – Fairness, Transparency and Accountability (FTA). Whether business or life, FTA, when applied is known to work always, is the tipping point offered by NRN. Data backed by action and adoption of Indian philosophy are reflected in this podcast where he stresses on the importance of the extraordinary values that the Gita and Buddha have to offer.

Acknowledging his “good-hearted” engineer-wife Sudha’s role in naming his office ‘Thatagatha’ after Buddha, NRN says ‘The Enlightened One’ has been a great role model. “Desire or ambition is the root cause of all sorrow. Buddha did not say don’t improve or don’t work hard… what Buddha said was ‘don’t be greedy’; ‘don’t be ambitious without being equipped to reach that ambition’,” he says and goes on to expound the extraordinary values that Buddha or Indian scriptures provide. Buddha never asked everyone to go and sit in the Himalayas. Be it business or in life, one must have the ability to know the pros and cons and learn to deal with every situation by applying the FTA principles. So long as one is not attached to the outcome of an act, the chance of retaining energy and confidence even if the decision fails, remains intact.

The podcast reveals the passion and fervour with which NRN speaks. He does not beat around the bush. “Most organisations that have seen a downward slide have seen that it starts at the top. As they say, a fish always rots at the top. Therefore, it’s very, very important for senior people to conduct themselves with fairness, transparency, and accountability,” says he, once again reiterating the need to adhere to FTA. In an age, when a company like Apple has become the first listed company to reach the $1 trillion mark, NRN’s take on stock valuation is profound. “Never look at a ticker tape and make a decision. If you enthused your employees to work hard, if you satisfied your customers with good software, if you followed the best rules and did not violate any laws of the land, and if you used a part of your profits to make a difference to the society, then your revenues will grow and you will provide better and better value to investors.” He stresses on the need to steer focus away from the ticker tape and instead focus on how can one win better in the marketplace. “Anybody who looks at stock price and takes decisions…that person is definitely going to destroy the corporation,” he adds.

Leadership, in his view, has to create impact and push forth transformation. “You will have to take decisions that are indeed going to impact the organisation, environment, stakeholders. Leadership is all about taking decisions,” NRN says.

Engaging experts, a collaborative consensual approach, relying on data and facts and involving younger people (30 per cent below 30 years) have been the keys that he has adopted in business. “We do not want opinions as they are subjective,” he says, strongly rooting for those who brought data from organisations that had performed better than Infosys, on a global basis. In the same breath, he goes on to add that the onus was on the leader to take bottomline responsibility even if a decision turned out to be bad.

Title: Outliers 

Synopsis: Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy gives a lowdown on decision-making

Source: Factor Daily