Great Lakes Institute of Management hosts Narayana Murthy as part of its ‘Distinguished Thought Leadership Series’

Padma Vibhushan Mr. Narayana Murthy, Founder, Infosys graced Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai in a virtual fire-chat session organized by the institute. Mr. Murthy addressed a strong audience of 750+ participants and shared his insights based on the experience and observations over the years.

During the session, Mr. Narayana Murthy touched upon some key topics. He started off with his definition of an entrepreneur and explained that entrepreneurs come with bright and powerful ideas. His latest venture is all about unleashing the power of young Indian minds. He highlighted few qualities than an individual should possess to become an entrepreneur. Some of these qualities include competency, leadership, learnability and a sound value system. He further elaborated and said that an entrepreneur should transform the power of ideas into job and wealth creation. He then touched upon the topic of whether the Indian I.T companies have moved up in the value chain system? He said that, Indian companies have been doing work that is of high value for their customers and are now focusing on higher per capita productivity. But the sector still remains as reactive problem solvers which needs to change and a more proactive approach is the need of the hour.

He then spoke about the role of using luck to one’s advantage. Hard work plays a key role in shaping your career. He said, ”Chance favours the prepared mind”. When you fail as an individual, it is important to introspect your failure, analyse, decide on the next step and then act accordingly. He then spoke about how entrepreneurs can handle multiple roles in their initial stages of entrepreneurship. He was quick to add that his philosophy of choosing a team is to pick bright youngsters, review constantly and give them an opportunity to grow. He also emphasized on developing checklists and have constant dialogue with the team which can help and improve upon what you are doing at that point of time. High learnability, discipline and hard work are keys to enhance productivity. Mr Murthy also said that, he personally prefers learnability over experience for skills.

He next addressed the concern wherein I.T. sector pays higher remunerations than some other sectors and we are losing great talent in the sectors. He addressed the companies from different sectors and said, they need to sit down and ensure that the workplace provides a learning experience. Companies should visit campuses and sell jobs to students and provide better compensation. He added that, students nowadays prefer careers where there is learning involved. Also, curriculum in colleges need to keep pace with the industry demand and in-company training programs should be a key area of investment for the companies to groom talent. He then stressed upon the New Education Policy and rued the lack of constant research and innovation in Indian educational institutions. He mentioned that the New Education Policy (NEP) is certainly going to improve the quality of education. He called for a change in the mind-set of the society and said that the focus should be upon instilling curiosity, problem solving, open-mindedness, respect other’s opinions and not afraid of learning among the youngsters. He said that there is a need to embrace these traits in our cultures and then change will follow.