Today in Tech: Azim Premji on succession; Steve writes to Ed; Quora Blogs

Rishad will not be Wipro CEO: Azim Premji Every three months, after the quarterly earning press conference at the imposing headquarters of Wipro, journalists gather to trade stories, opinions, speculations and hypothesis. During the last few quarters there was one constant question. It was about Rishad Premji, son of Wipro chairman. When will he occupy the corner office?

If you look at the rigor with which he was selected and the speed at which he rose through the ranks, it seemed as if he would become the CEO sooner than later. On the other hand, if you consider the dominant stake Premji family has in the company, and if you look at the rise of shareholder / analysts activism in India, you would see that it makes more sense to wield power without actually occupying the seat.

Premji himself had kept quiet about succession plans - often avoiding the questions on the subject, and at times hinting that Rishad will play a major role.

But at Davos, in an interview to CNBC-TV18, he made his views pretty clear. "He (Rishad) is not going to be the chief executive officer, that's not the career plan for him but, he would be representing ownership obviously."

In another interview to ET Now, Premji also made it clear that the role Rishad is playing right now is important. "M&A is a major area and so is strategy and he is involved in lot of initiatives working for Kurien, like a lot of our future investments, the H1, H2, H3. H1 is here now, H2 is forward, H3 is even more forward. A lot of those investments he is very involved in vis-a-vis working with Kurien, defining the parameters, evaluating those investments and measuring those investments that are giving results."

Forbes India readers might be familiar with the terms H1, H2, H3. Cognizant used the three horizon framework to chart its future growth. Read the story here.

Hiring in Silicon Valley: Steve writes to Ed
One of the outcomes of Silicon Valley no-hire case is that we get that rare chance to read emails that shuttle between the titans. The Verge has them all in one place. A friend who pointed out the link to me said he always wondered how the language would be. He found it was 'refreshing to see direct threats'.

Check this out:

This is not satisfactory to Apple.

 

It is not just a matter of our employees deciding they want to join Palm. They are being actively recruited using knowledge supplied by [employees], with [one] personally participating in the recruiting process. We must do whatever we can to stop this. I'm sure you realize the asymmetry in the financial resources of our respective companies when you say: 'We will both just end up paying a lot of lawyers a lot of money."....

 

... We are not concerned about them at all. My advice to you is to take a look at our patent portfolio before you make a decision.

Quora blogs
Visitors to Quora today were greeted with a surprise announcement

Starting today you can create Blogs on Quora. Blogs allow you to share your thoughts in a space that you control -- without the structure of Q&A, but with the same distribution potential and engagement. Blogs are great for people who want an audience, but don't have an established blog already.

Quora has its die-hard fans, and you can always expect to find some insightful answer to a whole range of questions anytime, often answered by experts who are immersed in the issue involved. At the same time, in someways it never lived up to the promise it showed a couple of years back. It's very small compared to Yahoo! Answers or Answers.com, attracting only a fraction of its rivals' traffic. Adding a blog option might not bring in additional viewers, but it could expand the way its existing viewers engage with the site.

Also of interest

• Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), after straining ties with computer makers by releasing its own tablet computer last year, risks further fissures with partners by planning to make a strategic investment in Dell Inc |  Bloomberg
• Wolfram Alpha expands Facebook analytics, takes a closer look at your social relationships | Engadget
• Apple CEO: Don't Fear Cannibalization, Embrace It | AllThingsD

The thoughts and opinions shared here are of the author.