While it is Tamil literature that fascinates him, it is Latin poet Horace’s theme of carpe diem (seize the day) that he seems to have embodied. ?I am a person who lives in today! I don’t regret the past and never try to anticipate the future. I like to live and enjoy what I am doing right now,? says N Chandrasekaran, executive director and the new chief operating officer of India’s largest software company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Fortunately for Chandra (as he is better known), he was allowed to follow his dream very early on in life. A career in computer applications was not very common then and given that his father had relinquished his career in law to manage large ancestral lands and properties, it was expected that Chandra would follow suit.
After graduating in applied sciences from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, he had even enrolled himself for a course in agriculture, but washed his hands off in no less than three months. Though his father?being the only son?couldn’t practise law for larger family interests, he gave his son the leeway to design his future himself.
Chandra had a keen interest in mathematics and joined the Regional Engineering College in Trichy (now NIT) in 1984. His stint with TCS started at college itself. The company offered him a job while he was doing the summer project.
?I came to Mumbai for the project and never went back,? smiles Chandra. Ask him how has he survived in one organisation for this long in these times of rising attrition and he says matter-of-factly, ?It has not been long enough!?
He then goes on to say how it is a part of his value-system. ?We were taught to go after the function we chose, enjoy it, excel in it and the rest would follow.? TCS as an organisation gives a lot of space to its employees. Plans are there to support, so are the reviews and processes, but they are never meant to take away the entrepreneurial freedom, he says.
What worked for Chandra is that while his technical skills allowed him to engage himself in four major assignments, his ability to handle customers also gave him the chance to build strong client relationships for developing business and that is perhaps what lends an extra dash to him as the head of operations.
He believes that the pleasure of working lies in details. He confesses that he lays a lot of emphasis on choosing the right people. Having done that, he offers them a lot of space to run the day-to-day show, ensuring that he gets into the details only during the review meetings.
Chandra is known for his high energy levels, according toTCS insiders. ?We have never seen him jet-lagged. He is always fresh and always full of zest,? says a TCS official. The secret behind it is a simple principle that he claims to have internalised. ?I was greatly influenced by J Krishnamurti’s book Think on These Things, where he talks about how pressure is something that we feel from within, there is nobody who actually physically puts pressure on us and every now and then if you remind yourself that pressure is a creation of your own, you don’t feel it anymore.?
Another belief that has been a source of sustenance is that transformation and not change can be achieved. When one tries to suddenly give up smoking, it is difficult to achieve that overnight, but between each drag and the butt when one realises that this is something that needs to be curbed and arrested, one often succeeds, Chandra simplifies it for you. And it is this ability to dissect the profound and apply it to everyday living that separates him from the rest. He tells you how important it is to differentiate between being right and what happens to be right. ?This is an ability that comes handy in corporate life,? he says.
What has also influenced him immensely is something that he has learnt from his father?the importance of frugality. ?When you are spending time and money on something, it must be really worth it,? he smiles, ?and that has helped me in my professional as well as personal life.?
?I believe in living a holistic life,? he says. Naturally, his interests beyond work are wide-ranging. Chandra?s knack for mathematics could well have stemmed from being an avid chess player as a child. Between four and twelve years of age, he was very much involved with the invigorating game, but as academics assumed greater importance chess took a backseat so much so that Chandra completely lost touch with it.
It was only several decades later in 1993 that he took up the game seriously. A client-cum-friend, Bob Gerber, who was practising to become a grandmaster rekindled his interest in the game and after three months of some meticulous practice, Chandra gave it up once again.
Lack of a playing partner, more than time, has now limited his chess tourneys to computers. ?I play the game when I am travelling, but computer chess is not tough enough. The ideal thing would be to play with my son, but I prefer to spend my time with him doing what he likes rather than what I would like him to do.?
Chandra is also a nature lover and uses his holidays for trekking trips both within and outside India. While he would enjoy long walks amidst the tranquil beauty, his marriage to Lalitha, an avid trekker, has helped him develop a passion for trekking.
His trips have taken him to Cornwall and Hampshire in the UK to our very own Sahyadris, ?I am yet to venture out to the Himalayas, maybe one day I would!? As one who believes in living healthy, Chandra has also been focussing on physical fitness. For the past six months he has been running for about 45-60 minutes every morning. ?I catch up with it in the evening if I am busy in the mornings, and I have improved a lot in the past few months,? he confesses.
Chandra is also inclined towards music. Limited to listening alone, he has a varied taste. For someone who doesn’t get stressed easily, music is a source of pleasure. ?Frankly, I don’t think it is something that calms me. I listen to it simply because I enjoy it.? Maharajapuram Santhanam, D K Jayaraman and his sister D K Pattamal, Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Shivamani top his list of favourites. Music apart, Chandra catches up on reading management books and more importantly Tamil literature.
As you get down to note some of his favourite things, he cuts you short. ?There is nothing that is totally bad or completely good. There is something good about everything, and that is what I look out for. So my list of favourites is endless.? Now, that is a lot of optimism and we sincerely hope he succeeds in spreading that!