The rock stars of Infosys are getting ready to leave the stage to a new band of boys. Will Infosys be the same ever again?
Chandra Shekar Kakal may not be known widely to the outside world, but at Infosys Technologies, he is the leader of 12,000 people bringing in business worth over $1 billion. But there is a more important reason why this vice president of enterprise solutions must be watched. He is among the handful of future leaders who will shape the new Infosys in the next decade or so. He is one of the faces the world must get used to once the company’s iconic founders bow out in deference to age and change. But Kakal should do just fine. His mentor? Narayana Murthy himself!
Subhash Dhar, Ashok Vemuri, V. Balakrishnan and B.G. Srinivas, all Kakal’s peers, are now coming under the same limelight. These five are among a band of leaders being groomed to take over from the founding team of Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and S. “Kris” Gopalakrishnan.Imagine being asked to lead the Roman Empire after Augustus. Infosys is no ordinary company; its reputation is globally enviable. Its leaders enjoy an iconic status. Inside the company, they virtually have a demi-god status. “They are brands and personalities of their own. It will be extremely difficult for anyone to replace them,” says Sudin Apte, country head of research firm Forrester.As if that wasn’t tough enough, the new leaders would be required to develop their own script for running Infosys. If that means overturning the precepts under which Infosys has been run until now, so be it. This new band of boys is already tweaking the so-called Murthy Doctrine — a financial model that has invariably helped the software giant beat market forecasts over and over again.
The Murthy Doctrine
Under Murthy’s 21-year-long reign as CEO, Infosys built a unique DNA. To this day, the founders share his belief: They would always put the interests of Infosys above their own, the company would be profitable from day one, and they would accommodate each other. So if one of them became the CEO, the others would allow him to bask in the glory but continue to contribute to Infosys and support him from outside. Murthy also plumped for transparency and respect. He ensured Infosys ran a clean and open balance sheet.
“WE MUST PUT COMPANY BEFORE SELF"
The founders want to preserve the company’s DNA even as they prepare to pass the baton to the next generation. Nandan Nilekani and Narayana Murthy share transition plans
(This story appears in the 19 June, 2009 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)