A Dad Talks! N R Narayana Murthy in Conversation with Chitti Pantulu

"Becoming sthitha pragya, or one with a detached mind,  is important."  Infosys Founder N R Narayana Murthy in Conversation with Chitti Pantulu 

On success and unfulfilled achievements:
Real success is when you bring happiness and smiles to people and their eyes light up when you enter the room. When you use this criterion as a measure of success, then I think all of us have a lot left to achieve.

The good thing about such a definition is that it does not require money and power. In other words, being wanted by people and to be held as desirable is success. But it requires a lot of effort. Talking of my personal achievements, when I started off, I wanted to be an electrical engineer but went on to do a masters and management at IIM-Ahmedabad. I worked abroad but life didn’t change. I came back to India, started Infosys but life has still not changed. So in that sense, as far as your happiness and satisfaction is concerned I think it is none of these. I think the ability to have inner peace and peace of mind is not an easy job. You can achieve many things in physical and monetary terms but none of that can make you happy. So the point I am making is that the ultimate objective all of us have to strive for is having stability and peace of mind. Having a sense of contentment is difficult. Am I anywhere near it? I would very much love to say yes, but that would be false. I think as the Bhagvad Gita said, it is becoming sthitha pragya, one with a detached mind, which is important. We are attached to too many things — quarterly results, for instance. We are also attached to our children, our family, friends, nation and professions.

On compassionate capitalism and democracy:
We have tried socialism, we have tried communism and everything else but we have not succeeded as much as we would like. Given the scenario, I believe time has come for us to try compassionate capitalism. To me, it is all about providing opportunities for individuals to use their enterprise, drive, initiative and create wealth for themselves and society. However, it cannot be laissez faire capitalism. It has to be capitalism which believes in a sense of fairness, transparency and accountability. At the same time, democracy is important. I believe in a democracy where individuals discharge their duties before they exercise their rights. And leaders have to lead by example, they have to be role models and communicate good values to youngsters. There is nothing wrong with our democratic model, but there is something wrong with the quality of our people who become leaders.

On why he would not contest elections:
There are many roads that provide the opportunity to add value to society. The important thing is for each one of us to understand one’s strengths and weaknesses. I believe that it is not necessary for everybody to be in a public office for this nation to make progress. We also need entrepreneurs who create jobs. Each one of us adds a certain value, we are all needed. Just yesterday I was talking to my son and he was saying it was time for me to contest elections. I told him you are 25 years now and you can finish education, work for two years and then join politics. I think the democratic process is more suited for young persons now. I don’t think I am really in for political engagement. Speaking of elections, I am very happy with the way the elections have turned out. This mandate is extremely important for several reasons — people have voted for stability and progressive politics where governments are not hampered by partners. We must remember that people have also voted for Manmohan Singh, his humility and his ability. For the first time, they have recognised that a decent, honest leader is not a weak leader. And most importantly, it has revived the confidence of the global investing community. I worked abroad but life didn’t change. I came back to India, started Infosys, but life has still not changed. So in that sense, as far as your happiness and satisfaction is concerned, I think it is none of these. The ability to have inner peace of mind is not an easy job.

On Obama’s protectionist designs:
At one level, I do understand it is the duty of the leader of a country to ensure that he or she does whatever is needed to ensure the future. And as a foreigner, I have no right to criticise the leader of the most powerful nation of the world. At another level, a nation that has stood for free trade, a nation that lectured us in the ’60s and ’70s on becoming more and more open to outsiders does not cover itself with glory if it goes back on its thinking. On Indians as ideators and doers We are a great nation for ideas but we are very weak in execution. And this is a nation where articulation is mistaken for accomplishment. We have to go from articulation as an end in itself to accomplishment as an end. I am a great believer in execution, I am a doer. I can get into a discussion at 60,000 feet and at the same time I get down to the ground level. For instance, even at home, I do a lot of physical chores or, for that matter, even here I do a lot of stuff. What kind of chores I do? No, I don’t get into the kitchen. But I do clean my own toilets. And I clean the house regularly. My wife is a much better cook and I want to have good meals.

On making the most of free time:
I have this habit of speaking to my children twice every day on the phone. Both are in the US. I ask them provoking questions that brings out what they are doing either at the office or the school, their value systems or views on what is happening. In other words, I have become more like their friend. Second thing — reading. The latest book I have read is Stranger to History, by Aatish Taseer (Stranger to History: A son’s journey through Islamic lands), a wonderful book and extraordinary coming from an author who is in his ’20s. It is the best book I have read in a long time. And then I have read my colleague Nandan’s book. But such reading is rare. I prefer reading physics and mathematics. And then we do meet our friends. But most of my time goes in travelling. I spend about 20 days of the month on tour. Would I get down to writing a full-length book? I don’t think so, even if it is on Infosys. When you have seen things from such close quarters you can lose your objectivity. And then I listen to music, mostly western classical. But I also listen to Indian classical. Mozart is my favourite. In modern tenors, Luciano Pavarotti was extraordinary. But I think I like Russell Watson who is another extraordinary tenor.

If he had not been founder of Infosys…
A professor, definitely. That’s what I love the most. I used to teach at Infosys when we were very small. Even today, I enjoy spending time with our education and research people. My father was a teacher and I have a lot of respect for teachers. But taking up a full length teaching engagement is difficult. I used to be a visiting fellow at Stanford two years ago. They want me to be there for three years. But I don’t have the time. Given my peripatetic nature I don’t have the flexibility of being at one place for one year. But mentoring is most satisfying. Teaching is a great way of learning. If his children want to join Infosys… Theoretically, they can join. There is no doubt about it. After all, they are as smart as anybody else, my daughter has gone to Stanford and my son is doing PhD at Harvard and there is no issue. But given that they are smarter than I am, I do think that their dreams will be better served if they ran their own marathon and created something that is as exciting. I think they may want to do their own thing.