NR Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys Technologies, has urged youngsters not to fall into the trap of working from home, attending the office for three days in a week and moonlighting, as this would not take them very far.
The whole issue of moonlighting, attending office three days a week and working from home is not the way young Indians should behave at this point in time, he said. The future of the country was on their shoulders and this was their time, he said at a fireside chat at the Asia Economic Dialogue 2023, the geo-economics conference organised jointly by Pune International Centre, a policy research think-tank, and the ministry of external affairs, in Pune on Thursday.
“For the first time in 300 years, the country has tasted some success and we have to consolidate on the little success we have achieved and aim for bigger success. There is no country in the world which has enhanced its prosperity, achieved economic progress and earned the respect of the world without working hard… Anybody who has told you that work ethics are not important, hard work is not important and laziness is good, they are not your well-wishers,” he said.
The task of building the nation was in their hands and they should not throw it away, and instead seize the opportunity as this does not come to every generation, Murthy told the youngsters. It was their time and they should not give up on this extraordinary opportunity to consolidate, try and improve the success of India, for which they would have to work hard and have a certain value system.
Any country that has reached a certain level of prosperity has done so with a level of honesty, discipline, work ethic and pride in the nation, he pointed out. India had to create a culture of good work ethics, discipline, honesty, transparency and high aspiration, Murthy said. The country’s culture was the most important ingredient for success and if this was achieved, economic growth would be child’s play, the Infosys founder said.