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Contents
What is
Entrepreneurship?....................................................................................................................... 2
Characteristics of an entrepreneur................................................................................................4
10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs...............................................................................6
Narayana Murthy's Personal Background..................................................................................12
Narayana Murthy's Career.........................................................................................................14
Awards and Achievements won by Narayan Murthy.............................................................15
Infosys Technologies Ltd- Company Profile.............................................................................21
Valuable Business Leadership Lessons from Narayana Murthy...................................................24
1. Generosity as a virtue of a good leader.......................................................................24
2. Crisp and actionable definition of strategy...................................................................24
3. Respect from stakeholders as primary objective of the company................................25
4. Ethics violation and resignation of a co-founder were very disturbing.......................25
5. Continuously monitor the composition of the team.....................................................26
6. Leadership by example is what creates trust in people................................................26
7. Values...........................................................................................................................26
8. Comfort with ambiguity................................................................................................27
9. Important decisions require a calm and composed mind (equanimity)........................27
10. A great tip on how to to make decisions.........................................................................27
11. Laser focus on exceeding expectations of the customer...................................................28
12. Global bench-marking......................................................................................................28
13.Through the Years..............................................................................................................29
14.Narayana Murthy on how to be a successful entrepreneur.......................................................32
15. Bibliogaphy.

..37
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What is Entrepreneurship?

Entrepreneurship is the development of a business from the ground up coming

up with an idea and turning it into a profitable business. But while the definition of
entrepreneurship may be simple, its execution is much more difficult.

"Entrepreneurship is the journey of opportunity exploration and risk management

to create value for profit and/or social good," said Ajay Bam, a lecturer at the
Lester Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas
School of Business.

Bam said entrepreneurship entails recognizing the right opportunity, finding

resources such as funding and tools to pursue the opportunity and creating
the right team to do so. People who are thinking about starting their own business
must really be aware that successful entrepreneurship involves much more than
having a great concept, said Elizabeth Amini, CEO and co-founder of Anti-Aging
Games LLC, a company that develops online games to train memory and focus,
and an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California's Marshall School
of Business.

"Most people think being an entrepreneur is all about coming up with an idea, but
that's just one part," Amini told Business News Daily. "It's also important to know
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right from the start how you will reach interested customers in an effective and
affordable way."

MJ Gottlieb, co-founder of Hustle Branding, a company that provides business

consulting on brand management, and author of "How to Ruin a Business Without
Really Trying" (Morgan James Publishing, 2014), said it takes a special kind of
person to become a successful entrepreneur.

"An entrepreneur is someone who can take any idea, whether it be a product and/or
service, and have the skill set, will and courage to take extreme risk to do whatever
it takes to turn that concept into reality and not only bring it to market, but make it
a viable product and/or service that people want or need," Gottlieb said.

Although there are no specific traits all entrepreneurs share, there are certain
characteristics that most successful entrepreneurs possess, according to the
University of Illinois Center for Economic and Financial Education:

Ability to plan: Entrepreneurs must be able to develop business plans to

meet goals in a variety of areas, including finance, marketing, production, sales
and personnel.
Communication skills: Entrepreneurs should be able to explain, discuss, sell
and market their goods or services.
Marketing skills: Good marketing skills, which result in people wanting to
buy goods or services, are critical to entrepreneurial success.
Interpersonal skills: The ability to establish and maintain positive
relationships with customers and clients, employees, financial lenders, investors,
lawyers and accountants, among others, is crucial to the success of the
entrepreneur's business venture.
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Basic management skills: Even if entrepreneurs hire others to deal with the
day-to-day tasks of the business, entrepreneurs need to know whether their
company has the correct resources.
Leadership skills: The ability to develop a vision for the company and to
inspire employees to pursue it is imperative for success.

Many of history's top business leaders earned their success thorough

entrepreneurship, including Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, Ray Kroc,
John Rockefeller, Mary Kay Ash, P.T. Barnum and Estee Lauder. Mark Cuban,
Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and
Russell Simmons are among today's most successful entrepreneurs.

Research shows that Americans are increasingly choosing entrepreneurship as the

career of choice. A study by Intelligent Office revealed that nearly 65 percent of
workers would rather be an entrepreneur or independent employee than work in an
office. In addition, data from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's Index of
Entrepreneurial Activity shows that in 2013 12.2 percent of people ages 18 to 64
plan to start their own business within the next three years up from 7.3 percent
in 2010.

Gottlieb, Bam and Amini offered several key tips for those wanting to enter the
world of entrepreneurship:

Learn from others' failures. Rather than admiring the small percentage of
businesses that grow to become successful, study those that end up failing. Gottlieb
said this research will greatly increase your chances of success, since most
companies have made common mistakes that have led to their demise. He said that
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having the humility to learn from the mistakes of others before making them
yourself is the secret to success.
Make sure this is what you want. Because entrepreneurship entails so much
hard work, it is critical to ensure you're following the right path, Amini said. "If
this is something you really want, then think long-term, and be persistent," she
said. "The vast majority of great entrepreneurs failed multiple times before they
finally found the business idea that took off and brought them success."
Solve problems. Entrepreneurs should always be in search of problems to
solve and not the other way around, Bam said. In other words, "they should not
start with a solution looking for a problem," he said.
Be passionate. To be successful, you should find your passion and then build
a business around that, Gottlieb said. "The passion is what will get you through the
stumbling blocks and prevent you from quitting in the middle of the race," he said.
Get advice from those who have done it. Amini advised would-be business
owners to find mentors who are successful, as well as to read books, network with
people they admire and look into great educational programs to help them
throughout the process.

Characteristics of an entrepreneur

There is no such thing as a typical entrepreneur. Some entrepreneurs are quiet and
hard-working, while others are more outgoing and flamboyant. The key to being a
successful entrepreneur lies in the ability to take an idea and then, through the
process of innovation, develop it in such a way that it becomes a marketable
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product or service. Research indicates that there are a number of characteristics

that are quite likely to be present in high-achieving entrepreneurs:

The ability to learn from others entrepreneurs tend to be good at

networking. They benefit from being members of organisation like the IET where
they can learn best practice ideas from others.
Self confidence a belief in their own abilities and ideas.
Being innovative/inventive being able to generate ideas, either for new
products/services or new ways of applying them.
Self motivation and determination the drive to keep going and see things
through.
Showing initiative it is necessary to have not only the ideas for the
business, but also the detailed plans to achieve objectives (both thinking and
doing).
Analytical abilities capable of researching and evaluating each aspect of
the business, from development, through finance, production, to marketing and
sales.
The ability to make decisions and to take (considered) risks.
A focus on results that ensures products are sold for a profit.

The combination of many of these skills and qualities, with the right support,
ensures ideas do not just remain as dreams but become real, viable businesses.
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10 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

Although there is no "one size, fits all" theory for entrepreneurship, a few
guidelines may help those with a good idea become successful entrepreneurs. The
following insights can help you embark on your next entrepreneurial venture with
due diligence.

1. Passion & Motivation

The one word that describes the basic requirement for an entrepreneurship venture
is Passion.

o Is there something that you can work on over and over again, without getting
bored?

o Is there something that keeps you awake because you have not finished it
yet?

o Is there something that you have built and want to continue to improve upon,
again and again?

o Is there something that you enjoy the most and want to continue doing for
the rest of your life?

Your demonstration of passion and motivation will determine your success in any
entrepreneurial venture. From building and implementing a prototype, to pitching
your idea to venture capitalists, success is a function of passion and determination.
(For more, see: Turn Your Passion into a Profitable Side Business.)
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2. Risk Taking

Entrepreneurs are risk takers ready to dive deep into a future of uncertainty. But
not all risk takers are successful entrepreneurs. What differentiates a successful
entrepreneur from the rest in terms of risk? Successful entrepreneurs are will to
risk time and money on unknowns, but they also keep resources, plans and
bandwidth for dealing with "unknown unknowns" in reserve. When evaluating
risk, a successful entrepreneur will ask herself, is this risk worth the cost of my
career, time and money? And, what will I do if this venture doesn't pay off?

3. Self-belief, Hard work & Disciplined Dedication

Entrepreneurs enjoy what they do. They believe in themselves and are confident
and dedicated to their project. Occasionally, they may show stubbornness in their
intense focus on and faith in their idea. But the flip side is their demonstrated
discipline and dedication.

4. Adaptability & Flexibility

Its good to be passionate or even stubborn about what you do. But being inflexible
about client or market needs will lead to failure. Remember, an entrepreneurial
venture is not simply about doing what you believe is good, but also making
successful business out of it. Market needs are dynamic: changes are a recurring
phenomenon. Successful entrepreneurs welcome all suggestions for optimization
or customization that enhances their offering and satisfies client and market needs.
A product you develop for yourself alone may qualify as a hobby, but a product for
the market should satisfy market needs.

5. Understand Your Offering And Its Market

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Entrepreneurs know their product offering inside and out. They also know the
marketplace and its dynamics inside and out. Remaining unaware of changing
market needs, competitor moves and other external factors can bring even great
products to failure (for example, Blockbuster).

6. Money Management

It takes time to get to profitability for any entrepreneurial venture. Till then, capital
is limited and needs to be utilized wisely. Successful entrepreneurs realize this
mandatory money management requirement and plan for present and future
financial obligations (with some additional buffer). Even after securing funding or
going fully operational, a successful businessman keeps a complete handle on cash
flows, as it is the most important aspect of any business.

7. Planning (But not Over-planning)

Entrepreneurship is about building a business from scratch while managing limited

resources (including time, money and personal relationships). It is a long-term
commitment, and attempting to plan as much as possible at the beginning is a
noble impulse. In reality, however, planning for everything and having a ready
solution for all possible risks may prevent you from even taking the first step.
Successful entrepreneurs do keep some dry powder in reserve, but more
importantly they maintain a mindset and temperament to capable of dealing with
unforeseen possibilities.

Do a feasibility analysis; identify time and capital thresholds; take the deep dive
with your limited resources. If your thresholds are crossed, look for alternatives
and be prepared to take the next exit.
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8. Networking Abilities

How do you tap your network for solutions? Many people seek comfort in
commiseration: friends, colleagues and neighbors are happy to complain with you
about "the global slowdown, poor demand, or unfair competition; but that won't
improve the bottom line. What do successful entrepreneurs do? They reach out to
mentors with more experience and extensive networks to seek valuable advice.

Having such networking abilities, including more experienced mentors, is a key

characteristics of successful entrepreneurs.

9. Being Prepared to Take the Exit

Not every attempt will result in success. The failure rate of entrepreneurial
ventures is very high. At times, it is absolutely fine to take the practical exit route
and try something new, instead of continuing to make sunk cost investments in the
same venture. Many famous entrepreneurs weren't successful the first time around.
But they had the serenity and foresight to know when to cut their losses.

10. Entrepreneurs Doubt Themselves But Not Too Much

You may ask yourself, am I an entrepreneur? And the very question may put you in
doubt about the answer. Even if you don't have the flair of Steve Jobs or the hair of
Elon Musk, if you have the courage to ask yourself intimidating questions Can I
do this? Do I want to do this? you have the stuff to be an entrepreneur.

Instead of worrying about fitting the image of the perfect entrepreneur, check in
with your gut. Is it on board?

The Bottom Line

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Personal qualities and their correct demonstration with the right stakeholders are
the determining factors for success or failure as an entrepreneur. A realistic self-
assessment checklist against these suggested guidelines will ensure you take the
right steps in the right direction to succeed.

Introduction: Narayana Murthy

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy (born 20 August 1946), commonly referred

to as Narayana Murthy, is an Indian IT industrialist and the co-founder of Infosys,
a multinational corporation providing business consulting, technology,
engineering, and outsourcing services. Murthy studied electrical engineering at
the National Institute of Engineering, University of Mysore, and M. Tech at
the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.

Before starting Infosys, Murthy worked with Indian Institute of Management

Ahmedabad as chief systems programmer and Patni Computer Systems in Pune
(Maharashtra). He started Infosys in 1981 and served as its CEO from 1981 to
2002 and as chairman from 2002 to 2011. In 2011, he stepped down from the board
and became Chairman Emeritus. On 1 June 2013, Murthy was appointed as
Additional Director and Executive Chairman of the board for a period of five
years.[5][6]
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Murthy has been listed among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time
by Fortune magazine.[7]He has been described as Father of Indian IT sector
by Time magazine due to his contribution to outsourcing in India.[8] Murthy has
also been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan[9] and Padma Shri awards.[10]

The best way to train oneself to become an effective leader is to follow an effective
leader.
One of the most successful entrepreneurs and a truly acclaimed leader has written
such a heartfelt and instructive letter that it can be mined for highly valuable
business leadership lessons.

Chairman Emeritus of Infosys, N. R. Narayana Murthy (NR) started this company

in the 80s with Rs.10,000 ($300 or so, at the time). Assembling a bunch of
enthusiastic, like-minded people, NR worked the company through tough
competition, evolving technology and difficult business environment to make
Infosys one of the top Indian software companies.

NRs article first appeared in the Annual Report of Infosys for 2010-11 and was
written upon his departure from the company. Every time I read the letter, I am
floored by the mans simplicity and high-thinking.

In this post, Id like to bring out some great leadership thoughts and lessons that
NR has mentioned in this epic letter.
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Narayana Murthy's Personal Background

N. R. Narayana Murthy was born in a 'Kannada Madhwa Brahmin' family in

Mysore. He has eight brothers and a sister. Murthy's father was a school teacher.

Narayana was born into a middle class family in Mysore. Since his father was a
high-school teacher, the financial conditions of the family were not that good.

Narayana attended a government school and pursued his B.E degree from the
University of Mysore and masters from IIT, Kanpur.

Narayana is married to Sudha Murthy, who too is an engineer, an Indian social

worker and an accomplished author.

Narayana's wife being a philanthropist, he too believes in philanthropy. Murthy

comes across as a very social and friendly man. He always raises his voice for
various social issues in the country such as elections, unemployment, poverty etc.
He is a cooperative and a good natured person and manages his company quite
well. The recent news of him quitting Infosys has been keeping him in the
headlines.

Murthy earned a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from the University of

Mysore in 1967 and a masters degree in technology from the Indian Institute of
Technology, Kanpur, in 1969. During the 1970s he worked in Paris, where, among
other projects, he helped design an operating system for handling air cargo at
Charles de Gaulle Airport. Returning to India, he accepted a position with
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a computer systems company in Pune, but eventually he decided to launch his own
company. He cofounded Infosys with six fellow computer professionals in 1981.
The company grew slowly until the early 1990s, when the Indian governments
decisive move toward economic liberalization and deregulation contributed to
dramatic growth in the countrys high-technology and computer sectors. Murthy
aggressively expanded his companys services and client base, negotiating deals
with many overseas businesses to provide them with consulting, systems
integration, software development, and product engineering services. By 1999
Infosys had joined NASDAQ, becoming the first Indian company to be listed on an
American stock exchange. The following year Asiaweek included Murthy in its
Power 50, the magazines annual list of the most powerful people in the region. In
addition, BusinessWeek named him one of its Stars of Asia for three consecutive
years (19982000), and he was Fortune magazines 2003 Asian Businessman of
the Year.
In April 2004 Murthy announced that the Bangalore-based Infosys had posted
$1.06 billion in total annual revenuesan astonishing 33 percent increase in
revenues over the previous fiscal year. The companys growth was all the more
remarkable because it came in the midst of a global downturn in the information
technology industry. Such phenomenal success was not without controversy,
however. A political debate erupted in the United States over job losses caused
by offshoring, the outsourcing of work overseas. This was of serious concern to
Infosys, which derived more than two-thirds of its revenue from American
corporations. Murthy responded that it was normal that concerns over job losses
would be voiced, and while he indicated that he thought outsourcing was here to
stay, he made efforts to assuage some of the anger by announcing that Infosys
would establish a consulting unit in the United States that would employ 500
workers. In the end the controversy appeared not to have significantly dented
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Infosyss business. When Murthy retired in 2006, he left behind a company with
some 70,000 employees and $3 billion a year in revenues. He was awarded
the Legion of Honour in 2008.

Narayana Murthy's Career

Narayana started his career as a chief system programmer at IIM

Ahmedabad where he implemented the BASIC interpreter for ECIL (Electronics
Corporation of India Limited).
Later, he joined Patni Computer Systems, Pune. Prior to moving to Mumbai,
he met his wife, Sudha, who too was an engineer.
In 1981, Narayana founded Infosys with six people with an initial capital of
US$250, the maximum share of which was borrowed from his wife. Narayana
served as the CEO of Infosys for 21 years, and later was succeeded by co-founder
Nandan Nilekani in March 2002.
Infosys became the first company to be listed in NASDAQ, in 1991.
In 1996, it started its office in Europe, Milton Keynes, UK.
In 2002, it was selected as the The India's Most Respected Company by
the Business World Survey.
The couples are parents to two children, Rohan and Akshata. His son, Rohan is
engaged to Lakshmi Venu, daughter of Venu Srinivasan of TVS motors, and his
daughter Akshata is married to Rishi Sunak.
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Awards and Achievements won by Narayan

Murthy

Being the 33rd richest man in India, he has a net worth of US $1.8 Billion. He has
won a number of awards, following are some of them:

The Asiaweek magazine counted him in the 50 top most powerful men in the
year 2000.
He was honored with the Padma shree award by the President of India.
In 2001, he was awarded the Wharton school's Dean Medal, University of
Pennsylvania.
Narayana was also honored with the title 'Asia's Businessman of the year' by
Fortune magazine in 2003.
In 2008 he was honored with the Padma Vibhushan by the President of
India.
He is associated with important and prestigious organizations. He is the
member of the Board of Directors of INSEAD, the Board of Oversees of the
Wharton School Of the University of Pennsylvania, the Board of Members of
School of Management at Asian Institute of Technology.
He also serves as a Director of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of
India.
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Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy is among the 12 greatest entrepreneurs

of our time according to a Fortune magazine list that is topped by Apples late
chief Steve Jobs. It includes Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg for turning concepts into companies and changing the face of
business.

The US publication said as the visionary founder of Infosys, Murthy has built
one of the largest companies in India, helping to transform that economy and put
it on the world stage.

Murthy, 65, proved that India could compete with the world by taking on the
software development work that had long been the province of the West. As one
of six co-founders of Infosys and the CEO for 21 years, Murthy helped spark the
outsourcing revolution that has brought billions of dollars in wealth into the Indian
economy and transformed his country into the worlds back office, it said.

Fortune cited his lesson that an organisation starting from scratch must coalesce
around a team of people with an enduring value system. It is all about sacrifice
today, fulfilment tomorrow, it quotes Murthy, who is ranked 10th, as saying. It is
all about sacrifice, hard work, lots of frustration, being away from your family, in
the hope that someday you will get adequate returns from that.

The list is topped by Jobs, whom Fortune calls our generations quintessential
entrepreneur. Visionary. Inspiring. Brilliant. Mercurial. Fortune said the most
astonishing fact about Jobs was his view that market research and focus groups
only limited a persons ability to innovate.

Jobs used his own intuition, which was not merely a gut call, radar-like feel for
emerging technologies and how they could be brought together to create insanely
great products, Fortune said.
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It is a safe bet to assume that none of Apples blockbuster products, from the
Macintosh to the iPod and iTunes, from the iPhone to the iPad, would have come
about if Jobs had relied heavily on consumer research, it added.

Fortune related an incident when a reporter had called Jobs on the day he launched
the Macintosh, asking him what type of studies Apple had conducted to ensure
there was a market for the computer. In a nearly offended tone, Jobs retorted, Did
Alexander Graham Bell do any market research before he invented the telephone?
, according to the publication.

Coming next is Gates, who Fortune says is one of the very few extraordinary
entrepreneurs who have had the opportunity to change the world twice in one
lifetime. First, as the worlds most influential geek, he helped usher in the
personal computer revolution. Now he is tackling the stubbornly difficult
challenges of global health and public education as the worlds most generous
philanthropist, Fortune added.

Fortune said the similarity between how Gates led Microsoft and the way he is
leading the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as its co-chair is the focus on hiring
very smart people and putting them to work in small teams to solve big issues.
There is no way of getting around that, it quotes Gates as saying. In terms of
IQ, youve got to be very elitist in picking the people who deserve to write
software.

The list also includes founder, chairman and CEO of express delivery company
FedEx Fred Smith, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, Google co-founders
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, Facebook founder
Mark Zuckerberg and Walmart chief Sam Walton.
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On Zuckerberg, Fortune said by the time he celebrates his 28th birthday this May,
Facebook would have in all likelihood gone public and become the biggest IPO of
all time. The long-anticipated IPO will create hundreds of millionaires, result in a
valuation of an Internet company that will approach $100 billion, and make the
geek who dropped out of Harvard University his generations Bill Gates, it said.

Fortune said Facebook has become the worlds dominant social network because of
an obsessive entrepreneurial genius who has taken a page from another of
Silicon Valleys legendary denizens, Intels Andy Groves dictum that only the
paranoid survive.

Zuckerberg is the Valleys most paranoid entrepreneur these days, taking nothing
for granted. Its why he has pushed out a constant flow of innovative changes to
Facebooks platform, making it easier for developers to create applications for the
community and ensuring that each new iteration keeps it ahead of the competition.
Its the single most important explanation for why Facebook has yet to face any
formidable rival in its space, including last years challenge from heavyweight
Google.

Also on the list is Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank
Muhammad Yunus, who through his institution helped pioneer and spread the
concept of microcredit. While the bank could not eradicate poverty, it lifted
many lives. No less critical, Yunus idea inspired countless numbers of young
people to devote themselves to social causes all over the world, Fortune said. It
said the people on its list have world-changing vision who have had social and
economic impact.
 20

Great ideas are hard to come by. Putting them to work is even harder. Each of
their companies sits at the nucleus of a thriving ecosystem that has cultivated and
nurtured dozens if not hundreds of other enterprises, Fortune said.

Entrepreneurship can transform the world and lift people out of poverty, said N.R.
Narayana Murthy, co-founder of the international information technology
consultancy Infosys Ltd., speaking on campus Sept. 10. But an entrepreneur needs
more than good business skills: He or she needs leadership and courage.

Murthy, who spoke as part of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of
Management's Distinguished Global Leader Speaker Series, and six partners co-
founded Infosys in 1981 with start-up capital of $250 borrowed from their spouses.
The company led India's IT revolution and has revenues of more than $7 billion.
Forbes magazine estimates Murthy's personal wealth at $1.7 billion.

Growing up in a "lower-middle class" household, Murthy excelled at academics

and studied at India's top technical school, the Indian Institute of Technology. In
his 20s, while interning in France in the 1970s, Murthy interacted with people from
varied fields and began to understand entrepreneurship's potential to change
people's lives for the better, he said.

"Societies do not solve the problem of poverty by slogans," he said. "They solve
the problem by creating jobs that increase disposable income. That's where I
realized entrepreneurship becomes really important."

He continued, "Entrepreneurship is about creating jobs and wealth with ideas. It is

about transforming the world with your new products and new ideas. It is,
therefore, about courage. It is about making the possibly impossible happen," said
Murthy, describing entrepreneurship as the driving force of change in the 21st
century.
 21

Further, he said, entrepreneurship is about "raising the aspirations of people,

making them more confident, more hopeful. It is about making them do the
impossible stuff."

Murthy also gave pointers to first-time entrepreneurs by emphasizing how ideas

succeed: a differentiated value proposition; correct timing in the market; and a
cohesive, mutually respectful team to implement it. "The market needs to be ready
for your idea or it will fail," said Murthy.

Murthy, a Cornell trustee emeritus, served as Infosys CEO 1981-2002. Since

stepping down as chairman in 2011, he has led the Infosys Foundation, which uses
social entrepreneurship to provide health, education and social services to people
from underprivileged backgrounds. He is noted for his modest lifestyle and
commitment to charity, and recommended: "Live in harmony with society ... have
the good will of society."

Major Works
Murthy is best known as one of the co-founders of Infosys Ltd., one of
Indias largest IT services company with offices all across the globe.
Under his leadership Infosys became the first Indian company to be listed on
the Nasdaq. It also became the first listed Indian company with revenue of $1
billion a year.
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Infosys Technologies Ltd- Company Profile

Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) was started in 1981 by seven people
with US$ 250. Infosys defines, designs and delivers technology-enabled business
solutions for Global 2000 companies. Infosys also provides a complete range of
services by leveraging our domain and business expertise and strategic alliances
with leading technology providers.

Infosys has a global footprint with 64 offices and 63 development centers in US,
India, China, Australia, Japan, Middle East, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland,
Netherlands, Poland, Canada and many other countries. Infosys and its subsidiaries
have 130,820 employees as on March 31, 2011.

The company follows the following principles:

Vision : "We will be a globally respected corporation."

Mission : "To achieve our objectives in an environment of fairness, honesty,
and courtesy towards our clients, employees, vendors and society at large".
Values : We believe that the softest pillow is a clear conscience. The values
that drive us underscore is commitment
Client Value : To surpass client expectations consistently.
Leadership by Example : To set standards in our business and transactions
and be an exemplar for the industry and ourselves.
Integrity and Transparency : To be ethical, sincere and open in all our
transactions.
 23

Fairness : To be objective and transaction-oriented, and thereby earn trust

and respect.
Excellence : To strive relentlessly, constantly improve ourselves, our teams,
our services and products to become the best.

With the liberalization of Indian economy in 1990s, Infosys grew rapidly. In

1993, the company came up with its IPO. In 1995, Infosys set up development
centers across cities in India and in 1996, it set up its first office in Europe in
Milton Keynes, UK. In 1999, Infosys became the first Indian company to be
listed on NASDAQ. Today (in 2006), Infosys has a turnover of more than $
2billion and has employee strength of over 50,000. In 2002, Infosys was ranked
No. 1 in the "Best Employers in India 2002" survey conducted by Hewitt and in
the Business World's survey of "India's Most Respected Company." Conducted in
the same year.

Along with the growth of Infosys, Narayana Moorthy too has grown in stature.
He has received many honors and awards. In June 2000, Asiaweek magazine
featured him in a list of Asia's 50 Most Powerful People. In 2001, Narayana
Murthy was named by TIME/CNN as one of the 25 most influential global
executives. He was the first recipient of the Indo-French Forum Medal (2003)
and was voted the World Entrepreneur of the Year - 2003 by Ernst and Young.
The Economist ranked Narayana Murthy eighth on the list of the 15 most
admired global leaders (2005) and Narayan Murthy also topped the Economic
Times Corporate Dossier list of India's most powerful CEOs for two consecutive
years - 2004 and 2005.
 24

Valuable Business Leadership Lessons from Narayana

Murthy

1. Generosity as a virtue of a good leader

This is the foundation on which good team work is built. I have written
about sharing knowledge and coaching/mentoring a protg being good qualities of
an effective leader, but NR also talks about sharing wealth as a leadership virtue.

2. Crisp and actionable definition of strategy

Victor Cheng credits NR with providing the best definition of strategy. Without
beating about the bush, NR straightaway links strategy to net income margins. If
there is no improvement in net income margins, then you dont have a strategy.
In non-organizational assignments or initiatives, we can equate net income to end-
result. Strategy should be a marked improvement in end-result and that should
be measurable. As a leader, you are responsible for the end-result.

3. Respect from stakeholders as primary objective of the

company
 25

Applying a very broad definition of the term stakeholder, NR includes employees

and politicians also in this category. Clearly, to gain respect from such a varied
group of people, NR and his organization would have had to do business very
ethically, effectively and efficiently. Moreover, his good leadership ensured that the
team kept the interests of a varied group in mind.

4. Ethics violation and resignation of a co-founder were very

disturbing

Two things struck me when I first read this.

The first one is that NR accorded a high importance to these two activities: (a)
ethics (read: company reputation) and (b) people focus, especially a co-founder
with whom there were long and strong ties.
The second aspect is that NR personally paid attention to these and made sure that
he was closely involved in the ultimate resolution.

An effective leader does not shirk responsibility away from such stressful but
hugely important decisions.

5. Continuously monitor the composition of the team

The performance of a successful organization is heavily dependent on the team that
the leader assembles. Differentiation comes from innovation and innovation
 26

comes from sharp and smart minds. NR puts a high value on employees who are
his sharp and smart minds.
His thoughts about a leader being responsible for providing growth
opportunities for his people even if it outside the organization, are quite
uncommon. Not many business leaders would agree with this, but NR takes the
organizational boundary out of leader-mentee relationship.

6. Leadership by example is what creates trust in people

If there is one thing in common amongst all effective leaders, Id say it is leading
by example. In an earlier post I have mentioned about Hanumant Singh, and NR
looks to be cut from the same cloth. If a leader is all about do as I say and not
do as I do, the effectiveness will be lost very soon.

7. Values

NR emphasizes utmost regard for values. In fact, in the letter he describes a

superior organization as one where employees at all levels are driven by values and
no employee is high or important enough to put up with non-compliance. An
effective leader stamps his or her culture on the organization and a leader with a
good value system automatically passes on those values to the people around him
or her.

8. Comfort with ambiguity

 27

NR calls the ability to take bold and firm decisions with incomplete information in
an environment of uncertainty as a hallmark of effective leadership. He advises to
use as much data and modeling as possible to clearly eliminate bad decisions. But
then he cautions against analysis-paralysis and recommends bold and quick
decisions where required.

9. Important decisions require a calm and composed mind

(equanimity)

The part where NR took a decision for Infosys to walk away from a huge business
from a single client is a classic example of equanimity. This has been highlighted
earlier in our blog by Dr. Vikram Dravid. Staying calm under pressure is indeed an
enviable quality that effective leaders possess. The likes of NR go one step further
and can take crucial decisions with a calm mind!

10. A great tip on how to to make decisions

This valuable nugget is a template on how to make decisions. NR states that every
leader must have a mental model of his or her business. This model should contain
at least five to seven parameters that determine sensitivity to revenue and net
income. Without the ability to perform such quick sensitivity computations, a
leader will not be able to make bold and quick decisions.
 28

Revenue is important otherwise you will be cutting costs all the time. Net income
is even more important because unless revenue is higher than costs, your actions
will not be profitable. For non-business tasks, this means that leaders must identify
the top 5 factors that affect their end-result. They should be ready at all times to
perform a quick computation and get a gut-feel as to whether to go with a certain
proposal or not.

11. Laser focus on exceeding expectations of the customer

NR provides another crisp definition of a customer as one who puts food on our
table.
If you look at your customer thus, you will accord the highest respect for this
entity. Respect then translates into importance. And all actions towards the
customer such as openness, fairness, transparency, honesty, etc. become part of
the company culture.

12. Global bench-marking

NR believes that global bench-marking helps in competing with the best and
serving the customer better. We have always maintained that only what can be
measured can be controlled. And only what can be controlled can be improved.
NRs stand on bench-marking totally advocates this approach.
 29

Through the Years

An interview given by Narayan Murthy himself outlines a lot of information about the
progress of the company over time. He said that when himself and six of his friends
began to think about what their motto should be their, they had a large amount of
difficulty. However, all of them were sure of one thing--their value system. They wanted
to serve clients across the world in the best possible way without concentrating much on
the profit. This leaves it as no surprise that Infosys had to wait ten years before making
any profit at all. Businessweek Contrary to common assumption, those ten years were
not in vain. During that time, Murthy was attempting to learn how to compete globally.
Most Indian companies did not have the proper information technology services to take
care of their business, so he had look outside their country for projects. Due to this
essential practice, Infosys was forced to learn how to compete globally right from the
start. Furthermore, when the US government made changes in their telecom policies,
Infosys Technologies was one of the biggest gainers in terms of information technology
projects. Shortly after came Y2K and the company continued to grow. Now, Infosys is
considered among the top three brand names for IT service providers in the entire world.
iipi

Elements of Success
In order to evolve as a global leader, companies like Infosys Technologies must define
the key principles of their success. In the highly competitive business of fast-paced,
changing technologies, Infosys success can be attributed to the following five elements:
 30

Openness to learn: Technology leaders like Microsoft, IBM, GE, HP etc. had been
in their respective field of innovation much before Infosys Technologies. In this
industry, it is very important that they should form partnerships with these leaders
and always be open to learn from them. One can easily find numerous joint
projects going on at hundreds of Infosys campuses (such as an Infosys-Microsoft
project). After all, the key strengths of the company lie within the young and
experienced, knowledge-based professionals. They have constantly been learning
what they know from their associations with other leaders in the field.

Meritocracy: Infosys Employee badges have a quote that reads, Power by

intellect, Driven by people. With 5,800 employees globally, Infosys is able to
create an environment where the best ideas are implemented for the right reasons
via discussion among the employees and their clients.

Speed: Infosys Technologies is a service-based company and not a product making

institution. All customers have Infosys people on their projects working on tight
deadlines to compete projects. Every client desires to be a leader in their
respective marketplace using the technical solutions provided to them by Infosys
Technologies. Therefore, the learning, meritocracy and implementation processes
must be done accurately and with great speed .

Imagination: Innovation is a key requirement for both Infosys Technologies

business and the clients who put their faith and money in them. Imagination
breaks the boundary of the current mode of thinking and gives striking results
beyond imagination of the clients.
 31

Excellence in execution: All the above elements of success have to be executed in

the most efficient way because proper execution is what will drive business. iipi

Murthys stress on leadership and learning

As the founders of Infosys Technologies become old, they continue to focus upon
building the business and technology leaders of tomorrow. In an effort to grow in that
direction, they have opened a global 355-acre training facility in Mysore, India with total
costs of about $200 million. This includes a training facility that can house 9000 people
and 7500 hostel rooms for the employees being trained at the facility. In brief, the center
will provide the following: iipi

Infosys leadership Institute

98 member faculty, including 65 PhDs
160+ continuing education courses
Individual training program for all employees iipi

Narayana Murthy on how to be a successful entrepreneur

N R Narayana Murthy, founder-chairman of Infosys Technologies, has had his

share of failure. During a visit to Hubballi to participate in a Development

Dialogue organised by the Deshpande Foundation, he spoke to Bibhu Ranjan
 32

Mishra on entrepreneurship. Excerpts:

There seems a rising trend among new-generation entrepreneurs to solve complex

social issues, with ventures focused on solving complex social issues, maintaining
a balance between profit or even not-for-profit. How do you see this trend?

It is true that there still exists a gap between the rich and poor, and this is
pervasive. The best way to address this is through the power of entrepreneurship,
creating jobs with better and better incomes. There are also areas where social
entrepreneurship is very important, particularly in markets where the consumers
disposable income is low. That means in rural India and in sectors where the
opportunities to scale up revenue are not high.

There are sectors where the revenues are small and the profits are even smaller,
where the role of social entrepreneurship becomes very important. There are areas
which aim at excelling at common good. I am quite happy that the whole activities
of Deshpande Foundation and Sandbox (a project begun by the former) are focused
on awakening the speed of entrepreneurship among less advantaged children and
youngsters, and exposing the power of social entrepreneurship to youngsters.

Is the local market mature enough to consume the products and solutions of
entrepreneurs? It wasnt so when you started your first venture, Softronics, in
1976, only focusing on the domestic market?

As aptly pointed out by Naveen Jha, the CEO of Deshpande Foundation, when you
think of problems, it is all they; when you think of solutions, it is all I.
 33

Therefore, the need of the day is to move from a paradigm of problems or being
part of the problems to being part of the solution.

I think it is already happening. Even in a place like Hubballi, TiE (The Indus
Entrepreneurs, a non-profit body aiming to foster entrepreneurship) already has
around 850 members and thats extraordinary. There is an appreciation of
entrepreneurship and people have realised its need.

People always used to complain about the education system in our country not
teaching how to be risk takers. Do you think this is changing?

Well, in the context of moving away from being only bystanders or spectators
when you see a problem, we have to move towards becoming problem solvers,
problem finders and problem definers. The first step is a good education system
that encourages our children to relate what they learn in the classrooms to the real
world around them.

And once you do that at the primary and secondary school level, once they go to
college, they will start finding problems around them. Then they will ask, how do I
solve problems using all the education I have got in the college? This is the need of
the hour.

What is your advice to present-day entrepreneurs, who seem to be in a dilemma on

whether to go for a profit-based model or not-for-profit or even to maintain a
balance between the two while going for delivering a solution?

Todays entrepreneurs are clearly much smarter than those of an earlier period. In
todays world, there is huge competition. By and large, as against the eco-system
 34

being the constraint, if you want to succeed in the marketplace today, you have to
bring differentiation. So, the entrepreneurs of today have to be that much more
focused on the market and find solutions to create differentiation. I have respect
and admiration for todays entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneurs of today are fortunate to have lots of successful business icons
around them. Is that enough to drive the tempo?

When you transform the system to focus on finding problems in our context and
solving those, you create lots of opportunities for jobs. No matter how good your
context is, if you ask how I can make my context better, you will come out with
excellent ideas and make the eco-system context even better. Therefore, this is a
very good trend.

There might also be failures?

Failure is part of life. Every individual goes through some failure or another. As
long as you have learnt some lessons from the failure, as long as you dont fail
again and again and again, then it will keep your hope alive and you will improve.

Do you think problems such as access to funding are pass, given that there is a
fledging eco-system of people to support, mentor and incubate the ideas?

I think access to funding is not an issue right now. If a person has a good idea and
the market is ready for it, and if you have a good team, a good value system, I
dont think funding will be an issue.
 35

What is your view about the initiative by Rohan Murty (his son), to translate the
Indian classics from various Indic languages into English?

Its all his idea; he is the one who thought about it, worked with Harvard
University Press and brought the Indian classics to the knowledge of the common
man in the country and the world. His desire is that just that he read Charles
Dickens or William Shakespeare in school, he would like Indian classics to be part
of such education in high schools and colleges across the country. That is the main
motivation behind what he has done.

Bibliography
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/

http://www.investopedia.com/

http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/

http://business.mapsofindia.com/

http://www.thefamouspeople.com/

http://www.iloveindia.com/

http://www.livemint.com/