Narayana Murthy - Standing for professional integrity and work ethic

Explore the story of Narayan Murthy. who did what people thought was impossible in india - built a successful corporation run by engineers - that was ethical and delivered high-quality work.

"I learnt so many things from (IIM-A professor) Krishnayya. He is probably the person who influenced me the most. He taught us how important it is to aspire... I learnt what it is to be an engineer. It isn’t theory but application of the theory to solve problems and make a difference to society."

Narayana Murthy quit his job as a young professional when he realized that the owner-managers of the company just wanted him to do work as directed - not apply his thinking and take initiative.

He refused to choose the easy option of bribing a government official - he paid a much higher price for the imported mini-computer, even though the company didn't have enough money and had to borrow it. He recounted, "Because we had decided to do business ethically, we didn't have a choice."

He decided to walk out of a customer deal even though the customer accounted for 25% of the company's revenue - and that could have been devastating for a young, fledgling company. He told the customer team that they could not accept the customer's terms as that might lead Infosys to let the customer down later. He promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of customer's choice.