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``It is better to under-promise and over-deliver.''

Narayana Murthy

Chairman, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Infosys Technologies, the globally recognised Indian software major, has shown a dazzling performance in just under 20 years.

``I was a strong Leftist as a student, in the halcyon days of socialism, in the glory of the Soviet Union. For us Indians, the fact that America refused to build a steel plant in India, while the Soviet Union built one, glorified socialism. Also, it was in some sense an offshoot of anti-colonialism, because the colonisers were all those who had accepted capitalism in toto. Nehruvian socialism was the in-thing, it was entrenched in my mind. Poverty was a virtue and affluence a vice. But I realised in Par is that even the worst Communists believe that you have to work hard, there's a role for the private sector, and that the only solution is to encourage more and more people to create wealth, rather than simply redistribute poverty. You have to create opp ortunities-wealth through legal means...

``I have been by and large influenced by western thinking. The logic is simple: In the West, people are largely self-sufficient. They do most of their own housework and few keep chauffeurs...''

``We (at Infosys) brought together a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive set of skills. Our vision was to start India's first software company for the professional, of the professional, and by the professional. We wanted to prove to ourselves that we could generate wealth by leveraging sweat equity, or brains, without much finance. Software was one industry in India where professional competence could be leveraged.''

What was India's advantage? ``India has a large number of trained, quality professionals to produce high quality, world-class work. The best and the brightest in India opt for software development, unlike in the US and Japan, where they head for the hard ware industry. And the price factor -- India is cost competitive. Indians are smart with mathematics. They got this way by not using calculators in their youth! Also, because India missed the Industrial Revolution, the intellectuals in the country had to use pure conceptualisation as an instrument to enhance their intellectual power and experience, unlike in the West, where experimentation was possible...''

``What is good about this industry (software) is that it produces quality jobs, disposable incomes and provides a challenging work environment and opportunity. This is one industry where India has a sustainable competitive advantage, and the Government s hould do all it can to encourage this industry so that we can become worthwhile players.''

The above excerpts are from:

Thought Leaders

The Source Code of Exceptional Managers and Entrepreneurs

By Shrinivas Pandit

Publishers: Tata Mcgraw-Hill

Price: Not mentioned

The author is a management counsellor who has earlier worked with Blue Star, Hardillia Chemicals, Johnson & Johnson and Siemens. At present, he is a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development, UK.

Picture: Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys Technologies Ltd.