Comments

Chief Mentor is a good gig if you've got folks who will take to mentoring. Recently, I've had numerous conversations with business people who lament their experiences in failing to coach employees who simply aren't coachable. Some seem to find workplaces full of people who do not want to be instructed and who feel that instruction is somehow being critical. Others I've talked to feel that a younger generation that grew up getting a trophy for youth sports participation were bragged on at every turn and are unable to handle mentoring, coaching or instruction. Mr. Murthy's sentiment about a retiring being like marrying off a daughter is cool. Hopefully, he's got a company that will accept his willingness to pass on his wisdom.

Posted by Randy Cantrell at August 31, 2006 10:20 AM

Hi Tom,

Narayana Murthy has been Cheif Mentor for sometime after he made Nandan Nilekani the CEO a couple of years back, actually.

He's retiring now as he's turned 60.

It remains to be seen what he does now. I would like to see him devote his energy to spreading education in poverty stricken rural India, where only education is the ticket for prosperity.

By the way, Infosys has started a corporate blog, and I've reviewed it on my blog. In one word it's a disappointment. I suggested that maybe they should talk to you and learn from you !

:-)

Posted by Gautam Ghosh at August 31, 2006 11:35 AM

I've been where Randy's been, a sea of heads nodding up and down saying "year, right," then returning to whatever they were doing (the same way they were doing it) when whoever just imparted their wisdom walks away. Have also been in the occasional place where all the heads stop nodding because they're hanging on every word and every thought and are engaged in "how do we make that happen." The bottom line here isn't made up of those being mentored. Selection of the right people is important, of course, but the ability of someone to (successfully) mentor is based upon the reservoir of trust and credibility they've established through past actions. If you've been led astray before, it's "send me a postcard when you get there." When you've previously been pointed in the right direction, the response is "how soon can we go there?"

Posted by Ed Di Gangi at August 31, 2006 11:37 AM

"Narayana Murthy" ... seems like the perfect Indian - Irish name [2 IT powerhouse nations par excellence].

Posted by sean at August 31, 2006 12:18 PM

Tom, thank you for sharing a bit about Narayana Murthy. I had the great fortune of working for Starbucks Howard Schultz who also possesses fundamental decency, lack of pomp and approachability. It is a great moment in life when we are touched by such people.

Posted by Lewis Green at August 31, 2006 2:21 PM

The great thing is, a thousand Narayana Murthys are sprouting in this great, chaotic idea field called Bangalore. Right now, in Bannerghatta Road, a company called izmocars is CHANGING the way the world shops for cars – and I work there.

Within ten minutes’ drive from here, there are at least a hundred companies that produce mind blowing value, and ideas that could potentially change the world.

In Bangalore, we celebrate Narayana Murthy not by eulogizing him, but by driving the vision he lived, and the impetus he created, to greater, previously inconceivable heights. One day, some of these visionaries and their power houses would make Narayana Murthy and Infosys look irrelevant, and that would be our greatest tribute!

Posted by Jayakumar Hariharan at September 1, 2006 1:56 AM

NRN Retires…?

To me “retirement” is not the right word for a man like Mr. Narayana Murthy. The right word would be “rearranging priorities” like what Mr. Bill Gates said when he had charted himself a retirement plan to plot a future course of action in engaging himself with projects that have a social cause & contribution (like education, AIDS awareness, poverty eradication, helping the under-privileged etc…).

Little did Mr. Murthy realize then (about 25 years ago) that he would create a multi-billion dollar (Market Cap = US$23 bio and Annual revenues of US$ 2.15 bio) IT/Consulting enterprise from India (Bangalore to be precise) to show to the rest of the world the NEW “re-incarnated” FACE OF INDIA & INFOSYS – A company with vibrant thoughts, brilliant ideas, empowered execs, superb strategies, flawless execution and above all “customer-focus & relevance”. Kudos to Mr. NRN for having carved himself (and Infosys) a unique position (stature) that every aspiring entrepreneur would like to think of doing.

We all know that Mr. Murthy will continue to be associated with Infosys in an advisory role of a non-exec Chairman and Chief Mentor and am sure he will do a terrific job in his new advisory role (after all…he is the Chairman of the governing body of the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a member of the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Cornell University Board of Trustees, Singapore Management University Board of Trustees, INSEAD's Board of Directors and the Asian Institute of Management's Board of Governors. He is also a member of the Advisory Boards and Councils of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Corporate Governance initiative at Harvard Business School, Yale University and the University of Tokyo’s President's Council and many more…)

Posted by K.Sriram at September 1, 2006 3:46 AM