?Would you like to sell Infosys for $1 million?? When NR Narayana Murthy and his co-founders of Infosys received this feeler, several of them were relieved. It was 1990. They had spent a frustrating decade growing the company under harsh conditions. They had little money to show. Entrepreneurship was so tightly controlled by government officials that they had little freedom to grow although they were aware of the fantastic scope in IT.
For the seven struggling entrepreneurs, in their forties, $1 million was a lot of money in 1990. So five of them, including Murthy, met in their office in Bangalore to discuss the idea of selling Infosys.
Most of them wanted to get out with some money in the bank. Murthy didn?t want to sell. He told them that they had nothing to lose by hanging on to the company that they had nurtured because they were already at the bottom! They were used to hardship. Their wives had given up any hope of their becoming successful. They were running a marathon. He urged them to push along a little longer.
He said he couldn?t leave Infosys. He became emotional as he recalled their journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 and the way they faced many challenges. He said he was sure this was the ?the darkest hour before the dawn?.
Then he said something that started them. If they were bent upon selling the company, he would buy them all out. Of course, everyone knew that he did not have a cent in his pocket. They were struck by Murthy?s confidence in the future of Infosys.
That settled it. They decided to hang on. The rest is history.
Excerpts from ?The Persuasive Manager?, a book on communication strategies by MM Monippally, professor of communications at IIM, Ahmedabad