NR Narayana Murthy, founder of IT services company Infosys, spoke about his inclination towards capitalism while speaking at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) over the weekend.
Murthy recalled how he started out as a “confused Leftist” and then transformed into a “compassionate capitalist” over the years.
He recalled that in the initial years of his life he always thought his progress in life would be limited given his social and economic background.
“I thought my fate would be limited by the circumstances that I was born in, the lower middle class has small hopes and small dreams. I thought corruption and connections in government are important for success,” the Infosys founder said.
But then Murthy recalled how working in a French company changed his perspective on success in life.
He said, “This regressive mindset changed when I went to work in a French real-time software company in Paris where I learned three important ideas.”
“The power of entrepreneurship in a free market in creating jobs and prosperity for the nation, the beauty of an enlightened corporate democracy, and the role of compassionate capitalism in building happy and prosperous country,” Murthy said.
The Infosys founder then went on to explain how capitalism can be made attractive for people living in a country like India.
He said, “Across the world and, particularly in a country like India where a majority of people are poor, the best way to make capitalism attractive is that corporate leaders exercise self-restraint in their perks, profligacy, compensation, and their lifestyle.”
He further added what he thought are desirable traits in corporate leaders. He said, “The most powerful instrument of a leader is leading by example in demonstrating courage, sacrifice, hope, confidence, innovation, hard work, truth, fairness, transparency, accountability, austerity, discipline, a good value system, and most importantly, open-mindedness.”
“Putting the interest of the company ahead of one’s interest in the short- and medium-term results in the betterment of one’s personal interest in the long term,” he explained.
During a separate address in IIM Ahemadabad the Infosys founder spoke about one of his biggest regrets in life,
He said, “Feel bad that I invited my mother to visit Infosys only when she was dying.”