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Business News/ Companies / People/  Vishal Sikka inherits an Infosys with strong cultural setup: KV Kamath
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Vishal Sikka inherits an Infosys with strong cultural setup: KV Kamath

The non-executive chairman says the CEO has an even greater degree of responsibility, now that the baton has been passed from founders to a professional

K.V. Kamath, non-executive chairman of Infosys. Photo: MintPremium
K.V. Kamath, non-executive chairman of Infosys. Photo: Mint

Mumbai: It’s a little over a month since Vishal Sikka took charge as the first non-founder chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director of India’s second largest information technology (IT) services provider Infosys Ltd. In an interview in early August, K.V. Kamath, non-executive chairman of Infosys, said that contrary to what people might think, he has an even greater degree of responsibility, now that the baton has been passed from the founders to a professional after 33 years. Kamath also spoke about how Infosys narrowed down on Sikka, leadership issues at the company, client perceptions and his own role going forward. Edited excerpts:

Can you help us understand where Infosys stands today?

Infosys actually enabled a bunch of professionals to succeed and prove that founders need not necessarily be non-technology people. Founders can be professionals and they leverage their professional abilities to build and succeed. So none of that has changed. And as you did this, there is a certain culture that gets built up. That has not changed. And a day comes when you have to then pass the baton and move on with the next generation. That’s what has happened.

Shibu was the last of the professional founders to leave. And his date would have been sometime in the first quarter of next year. So everything that has happened has to be viewed in the context of saying that he would not have minded leaving earlier if we have a plan in place. And that’s how we began working on the plan. So if you look at the succession which has taken place, it has taken place a few months ahead of schedule. So I think the board has worked at a pace to make sure the transition is done.

Second, the culture, systems and processes have been set in place. And they endure. And there are enough team members in the executive side to ensure that it can be continued with. So this is the Infosys that Vishal Sikka inherits. A strong cultural setup. A strong process and systems-driven organization. And I would say, with significant people strengths. He has identified problems he sees and he has articulated that. One area that he has articulated clearly is the sales side which he wants to pay attention to. The way I would understand this is that if that is the vision of the CEO, then the board would support him in whatever way required. To make sure that that part of the business is set right. And we will need to see this over a period of time, how this works.

One of the things that Sikka has underscored is bringing access to boardrooms. In that context, what are the strengths that he has in the people around him?

If I have to look at it dispassionately—and I would like to talk about the current slate—it is a young slate. It is very high on energy. This slate has the ability to take the ball and run with it. So he has got a young team with the right mindset. And I am sure he will strengthen the team as he goes along, if he feels there are areas in which the team needs to be strengthened. That’s the job of a captain and he is a captain.

So who will those hunters be to get the business?

The sales team is clearly going to be the hunting team. Now whether that needs further work to be done, support to be given, it is his call. And I am sure, it has been less than a week that he has been actively in the hot seat, but knowing Vishal, I can tell you that he is probably working 24/7 at this moment. To get a fix on what is the contribution needed going forward.

The fact about Vishal is that from conceptualizing and developing products, he went to go to market with those products. What I think has been underplayed in all that has been written about him is his ability to go and talk to customers. He has a network of customers.

When I look at technology play, I look at idea generation. I want somebody across me to come from the company; he is able to tell me so many things that I have got a buffet in front of me from which I would like to choose. I should be constrained because I don’t have the energy, ability or the wherewithal. I want that choice. I don’t want a sales agent to come to me and say I have got this product, please buy. That is the excitement. And that to me was the single biggest difference between him (Sikka) and those others in contention (for the Infosys CEO post).

We believe it was you who really identified him and both of you share a great equation. How did that happen?

I know Vishal for more than three years now. But when I happened to be invited to the SAP Labs team in India in Bangalore at their annual event to deliver the keynote, I did not know Vishal then. And while we were driving to the event, the SAP person with me gave me a brief description of Vishal. And you could see the excitement that this gentleman had in what Vishal was doing. There was a lot of traffic and we had a one-hour drive, and that person’s energy level was very high because Vishal was coming. So he was telling me how hard he (Sikka) works, what thought process he brings to the table and so on. So I said fine. I didn’t know Vishal. We reached about 45 minutes early and Vishal was making a keynote before I reached there. So I sat quietly in the audience listening to Vishal. And it was a pleasure listening to him. There were about 4,500 people. The way he could sync with them was amazing. It was like a maestro performing on stage. But he was not doing a song-and-dance routine, he was doing a technology routine. So my admiration at that point went very high. This sort of brilliance is very rare to see. And this sort of connect with people is also very rare to see.

I spoke about a few of my experiences in technology going back to 1997. Somehow we connected and we kept in fairly close touch. We would correspond. Clearly, mutual respect. Thereafter, completely independently, he came to Infosys. This happened sometime last year. I think Shibu (S.D. Shibulal) arranged for him to come and then he was invited to come to our (Infosys) annual strategy meeting, Strap (Strategic and Action Planning). But he couldn’t make it; so he did a video conference.

In early 2014, Vishal called to say he was leaving SAP. And then it worked out exactly as he had said.

Without getting too much into the past, but looking at it from a leadership point of view, you had some real good people internally. And then, there was this choice of Sikka. From the board’s point of view, how did you look at this internal versus external debate?

We in a way dealt with the hand we had. It was around the time of our annual results (February-March 2014 period). If there was a successor in place, Shibu (said he) won’t mind leaving earlier than planned. So we started the work (of looking out for a new CEO). The board was very open and we said on Day 1 that we will look at both internal and external candidates. We went through the dual process of looking at an external evaluation and an internal evaluation using two sets of people who have worked with in terms of the process. One which worked predominantly on internal candidates, and one which did work on the external slate. Based on that we took a call, at that point in time.

Did it affect the decision in any way that FIIs (foreign institutional investors) at that time had a little over 40% stake in the company?

Absolutely not. See, the board has the fiduciary responsibility to all shareholders. So basically it shows the person that it serves the best interest of the company.

As non-executive chairman, how does your role change now?

I don’t interfere in day-to-day matters. I’m available for counselling and advice, but the ultimate decision has to be made by the CEO. In the committees, and the board processes, you are the key person and you will take the call. You will decide. Because that is the duty of the board and you will perform that duty. This is what I did for two years as chairman and (that is) exactly what I will do going forward with Vishal.

A part of the responsibility is also to pull up the CEO when something is not working out?

It is. But pulling up is also (done) through the board process. I will not call the CEO and tell him I have a problem. You do it at the appropriate time during a board meeting. The process doesn’t generally come about. When you look at the board process, sometimes people who observe believe that you need to take action tomorrow. You cannot unless there is something so dire that you need to. Particularly in terms of performance. You have to understand the root cause of performance. You have to then see whether solutions are available. And then you need to see whether you can come to a common agreement on them. Particularly if you have people who have knowledge in the business, then you have to be even more careful. Like you are not taking a decision too early and so on. All of this come into play; so it is never that you will call up and say “this is wrong". That is not your job. Your job is to observe, understand, analyse, connect and then get a consensus on the decision.

What, to your mind, is the perception of the company especially in the light of what happened in the last few years?

Whatever the perception, I think it stems from the single key point that Vishal has made. That is, not getting sales growth to where it was when Infosys was a bellwether. He has identified I think his challenge upfront on Day 1. Having done that, I am sure he will work on it. And that’s how we need to keep track of it. And help him with anything that he needs help with. Once you have identified it as your key, thereafter you will work to a solution.

The word glory (context: Infosys says its wants to regain its past glory) is that something that can be chased?

See, the word glory is not something that I would chase. I would look at several different ways to describe what you need to do. They include, how do you meet challenges, how do you seek opportunities, how do you execute on the changing marketplace, changing the IT context—there are so many ways in which you can describe your agenda. And I am very happy that Vishal has put it that the company’s agenda is very simply getting the sales engine to where it ought to be. The moment you do that, all other things fall in place.

If you look at the last one year and I think which Murthy has articulated that well also. There are two challenges—sales line and the cost line. I think he has clearly articulated how the cost line has been brought into control. And the new CEO has very clearly articulated in a succinct way what is the challenge remaining. So he can very clearly understand what is required to be done in terms of attention going forward.

Does the style of leadership change when you have a founder at the helm compared to a professional? And how do you deal with it at the board?

No, there is no change. What I think a board member has to be conscious of at all times is how is the experience of the person you are talking to, in a particular context. And read into that. So if business is not doing well but you have somebody with years of experience in that business, you would still like to see what he thinks before you try and impose your view of how it will work. If somebody doesn’t have experience, maybe you will have to jointly explore (to find a solution). The process has nothing to do with, whether the person is a founder or not. On the board, your duty and care is to the company which is an entity by itself. My job was very simply to put a succession in place.

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Published: 03 Sep 2014, 12:13 AM IST
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