My tryst with NRN
It had been roughly 4 years ago that I had noticed that there exists a man with the name of NRN whom people called the IT Stalwart of India. For these four long years , I used to admire this person whenever I saw him. But the irony was that I was able to see him only in newspapers and news clippings. But then it was 2nd august,2004 when I finally got a chance to see him , see him in person just in front of my eyes.
It was 2nd August,2004 when NRN visited our Infosys campus at Pune. He had been to Pune to receive some award but then he took some time off his busy schedule to visit his
very own campus.
I had heard a lot about the simplicity of this Big Man but then never could imagine about the extent to which one can be polite and humble.As usual, NRN was dead on time.That's what I like about all these great people - they have such a nice understanding of the time and are always in synch with time that they have enough time at their disposal when we could have just simply lamented about the dearth of time and all.The very first thing that NRN addressed in his speech -- it was an apology and an apology from the Chief Mentor to his employees . An the reason ,well , was for coming to the office without wearing a tie. And that very moment I realised that this man is as modest as the rainfall at 6:00 pm yesterday. There was a slight feel of apology and a slight wait when he apologised for not wearing a tie. And look at me , I thought during this period of about 3-4 seconds , that something drastic had happened and he wants to convey us the bad news.But then it all boiled down to not wearing a tie. Does not wearing a tie amout to this much of public apology? Maybe yes when the latter part of the motto of his founding company says : "Driven by Values" .
Not wearing a tie in no way is against any policy ,what ,in fact,it is, is an adherence to the values , values which have been imbibed by dozens of sincerety and truthfullness and the values which speak about his immense faith in himself and the work he does,values which have stood the tide of time , the waves of big economic upheavals and the seas of fame and fortune.
The rest all proceeded as normal, with some people being given the opportunity to speak on the behalf of all of us,the normal and interactive question answer session et al. Somebody asked NRN as to what his shortcoming was that he had tried to overcome and he replied instantly : being always in a hurry.
If you tell any Tom,Frank or Harry that NRN's shortcoming is that he is always in a hurry , I bet it will take you loads of arguments to prove your point.How can being in hurry be a shortcoming to any person , forget the man in light.But then this man is no ordinary man , this man is the Chief Mentor of Infosys.And when he is asked if he has the requisite faith in the new generation to hand over this big empire ,he was clear as crystal. NRN replied " Nandan is taking care of the present , I am taking care of the future of Infosys". For the first time, I understood why he is the Chief Mentor and not any ordinary CEO or any ordinary MD /Chairman.
The session ended in about an hour as planned . He is a busy man , in fact.
What remained at the end of the session, was a shadow of this person's immaculate
adherence to values and discipline, his simplistic yet high standards and his deep desire to contribute to the full in the progress of - not only his Infosys but the whole country as a whole.
And just a passing thought: What do you think when he said Infosys is a company "of the
Professionals, by the Professionals and for the Professionals".
very own campus.
I had heard a lot about the simplicity of this Big Man but then never could imagine about the extent to which one can be polite and humble.As usual, NRN was dead on time.That's what I like about all these great people - they have such a nice understanding of the time and are always in synch with time that they have enough time at their disposal when we could have just simply lamented about the dearth of time and all.The very first thing that NRN addressed in his speech -- it was an apology and an apology from the Chief Mentor to his employees . An the reason ,well , was for coming to the office without wearing a tie. And that very moment I realised that this man is as modest as the rainfall at 6:00 pm yesterday. There was a slight feel of apology and a slight wait when he apologised for not wearing a tie. And look at me , I thought during this period of about 3-4 seconds , that something drastic had happened and he wants to convey us the bad news.But then it all boiled down to not wearing a tie. Does not wearing a tie amout to this much of public apology? Maybe yes when the latter part of the motto of his founding company says : "Driven by Values" .
Not wearing a tie in no way is against any policy ,what ,in fact,it is, is an adherence to the values , values which have been imbibed by dozens of sincerety and truthfullness and the values which speak about his immense faith in himself and the work he does,values which have stood the tide of time , the waves of big economic upheavals and the seas of fame and fortune.
The rest all proceeded as normal, with some people being given the opportunity to speak on the behalf of all of us,the normal and interactive question answer session et al. Somebody asked NRN as to what his shortcoming was that he had tried to overcome and he replied instantly : being always in a hurry.
If you tell any Tom,Frank or Harry that NRN's shortcoming is that he is always in a hurry , I bet it will take you loads of arguments to prove your point.How can being in hurry be a shortcoming to any person , forget the man in light.But then this man is no ordinary man , this man is the Chief Mentor of Infosys.And when he is asked if he has the requisite faith in the new generation to hand over this big empire ,he was clear as crystal. NRN replied " Nandan is taking care of the present , I am taking care of the future of Infosys". For the first time, I understood why he is the Chief Mentor and not any ordinary CEO or any ordinary MD /Chairman.
The session ended in about an hour as planned . He is a busy man , in fact.
What remained at the end of the session, was a shadow of this person's immaculate
adherence to values and discipline, his simplistic yet high standards and his deep desire to contribute to the full in the progress of - not only his Infosys but the whole country as a whole.
And just a passing thought: What do you think when he said Infosys is a company "of the
Professionals, by the Professionals and for the Professionals".
posted by Rahul at 6:41 PM
1 Comments:
Reminds me of an astute politician with an educated target audience.
November 21, 2006 at 10:33 AM
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