Infosys Technologies, one of India?s most admired companies, will announce its new chairman on Saturday, bringing down curtains on the illustrious career of founder NR Narayana Murthy and opening the doors to a whole new beginning for the company. As Murthy bids adieu to chairmanship, either independent director KV Kamath or incumbent CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan is expected to step into his shoes. From all accounts, emerging from a charismatic Murthy?s shadow will not be an easy job.
Infosys and the Indian IT industry will lose its biggest icon. Often, Murthy was the man who would clarify value conflicts within the company, was a sounding board for the firm?s executives and a super brand ambassador. While both Kamath, the non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank, and Gopalakrishnan have their own strengths, they are hardly a substitute for Murthy, who according to an analyst, could ?fill up the World Economic Forum calendar easily?.
Nevertheless, global management gurus FE spoke to say Infosys is at a stage where it no longer needs icons. Iconism, they said, could come in the way of institution building. While iconism is required when a world class company is being built, it could become a detriment in phase two, harming what is called ?memetic continuity?. A meme, an idea mooted by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, is a unit for carrying cultural ideas and is supposed to function somewhat like genes ? they self-replicate and mutate.
?Organisations need memetic continuity. Infosys is cutting over from phase one to phase two of growth,? said a management thinker and author of several books.
?The idea of Infosys is the idea of trust, integrity, middle class boys who made it big, shared wealth creation, meritocracy and world class ambition. Until Infosys does something horribly wrong multiple times, there is no risk,? the thinker said. The biggest mistake for the company would be to try and look for a Murthy clone in the next chairman, Rajeev Vasudeva, partner and head of Board Consulting at Egon Zehnder International said. ?As companies grow in size, the needs of the organisation and leadership also evolve. In fact, very often there are changes that can be better driven by someone who is more dispassionate and objective in approach. It will be important that the new chairman retains the culture and value of the organisation and builds on the legacy of the founders,? he added.
Egon Zehnder advises on leadership and CEO succession. Ludo Van der Heyden, professor of Corporate Governance and Strategy at business school INSEAD believes the transition for Infosys will go just fine. ?There is a saying in Europe ? ?the cemetery is filled with people who could not be missed, yet were replaced as soon as they were buried?. Mr Murthy has started to prepare his departure for more than five years now ? and he is gradually removing himself. Now comes the test. His departure allows different leaders to step in and show their competences and how they can continue to develop the company,? he said.
While many industry watchers feel that it is important for the chairman to be charismatic, TR Madan Mohan, managing partner of consulting firm Browne & Mohan and a former professor at IIM Bangalore differs. Large corporations depending on the charisma of the chairman is pass?, except in the case of product companies where they have been champions of innovations and risk-taking, he said.
?Service-based companies build multiple offerings where leadership emerges over time and processes get honed. Murthy?s charisma surely would be missed for a while, while business leadership and acumen would not be short. SBU leaders would emerge as business champions, executive and ownerships delineations may become more pronounced which will help in improving the internal efficiencies and performance,? he noted.
Another management thinker who did not want to be quoted said that most dynamic organisations should have two generations of employees and not more. ?Cognizant has a CEO who is in his 40s. The idea of brand ambassador has to do with energy. Leaders also need high degree of interactions with the next generation. It is important to have brand ambassadors who are biologically closer to the bottom of the pyramid employee for better collaboration and ideation,? he said.
The transition from an older Murthy should not be a big deal for the firm from that standpoint.