Narayana Murthy's journey in his own words

N.R. Narayana Murthy is the key founder of the IT giant Infosys. His clear and coherent policies have created an environment where a professional can indeed show as much commitment to the company as a founder-member. He made several interesting revelation to Infosys shareholders, in company's annual report. In his scintillating speech, Murthy speaks about his journey and life in Infosys. Here are some of the extracts from it.

It was on one of those rare nights at home during late eighties. I was huddling with my young children Rohan and Akshata, when Rohan was most mischievous child I had ever come across, asked innocently whether I loved Infosys more than him and his sister. I got away from the embarrassing situation by saying that I loved mu children much more than anything else. However, even today, when I reminisce about the incident, my children are not fully convinced that I was telling the truth. When I was busy overseeing every detail of the strategy and operations of the company-from designing the logo, the company song and the presentation materials used in every building of our campus around the world and coming home late at night- it is difficult to argue with the innocent but correct logic of my children. When I was spending 16 hour a day in the office, and was away from the home for as many as 330 days in a year, it was hard for my children to believe in my commitment to the family.

There is no doubt that the Infosys journey has been an integral part of my life. Most of my colleagues said Infosys is inseparable part of me and I am inseparable from Infosys. I have been number one actor in al

l major decision taken in the company. I have rejoiced every significant milestone of the company. I have commiserated in every false step that the company has taken. The best analogy that I can think of for this separation between Infosys and me is that of a daughter getting married and leaving her parents home. Yes, the parents will be there when she needs them and they will be happy that she is starting a new life in an exciting new environment.

Listing in India in 1993, pushed us to become leaders in corporate governance. The joy being India's first software company to be certified at Level 4 of the capability Maturity Model of the software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon was clearly what enhanced our own belief on quality.....

The inauguration of the first education center in Mysore by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and second one by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the President of Indian National Congress, were both reaffirmations of our long held belief in the importance of education and research......

There have been some moments of great dilemmas and sadness too. Biding goodbye to perhaps the brightest co-founder colleagues in early in the journey was disheartening. Refusing to accept unreasonab

le terms and walking away from the business with a Fortune- 10 company was a test of our resolve. Accepting the resignation of a senior colleague and dealing with the instance where our code of ethics was jeopardized were tests of adherence to our values. Deliberating all alone on the resignation offer of a co-founder is not something I would wish even upon my enemy. Being accused of violating our own high standard of business ethics recently made me lose several nights of sleep. Occasional incidents of the organization turning bureaucratic, the inability of some to our leader to take quick and firm decision, and the government-company interface becoming less business- friendly from time to time are things that make me sad. But then, this tapestry of happy and not-so happy incidents is normal and keeps life exciting......