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not from any other management guru!! this time from TOMPETERS.COM

IT JUST COULD BE …

It just could be … WORLD’S COOLEST COMPANY. Full disclosure: They paid my way to Japan. But I am not, by nature, an endorser of my speaking Clients. As one colleague, Nancy Austin (co-author of A Passion for Excellence), said in print, “Tom almost takes pains to trash those who pay him, so acute is his sense of integrity.” Thanks, Nancy! So when I say I’m besmitten with Infosys, I’ll promise you it ain’t no paid endorsement. I guess you could call them exhibit #1, pro or con, of off-shoring. Infosys is Bangalore-based, and do quite a bit of their work near homeport. But make no mistake, they’re winning top-of-the-market work because they are good and aim stratospherically high, not because they are cheap! In fact, the hook for me is their audacious vision for leading the revolution in IS/IT—and the Talent they’re amassing from around the world to pull it off. Infosys aims to do no less than generate revolutionary approaches that turn whole industries upside down. They are not only not limiting themselves to mundane IS chores, they are not limiting themselves at all—they are ready, willing, and able to take on an IBM or Accenture as strategic enterprise masterminds, as well as effective implementers of complex enterprise-system activities. They have won every international quality award you can name, and I am eagerly looking forward to visiting their Bangalore campus next month (on my own dime) when I accompany my wife, Susan Sargent, on her semi-annual sourcing trip to India. (She’ll do textiles, I’ll play at bits and bytes.) Wherever they operate, Infosys is accumulating a talent pool to die for; for example droves of U.S. and European top-school grads, including MBAs, are signing up to do a tour in Bangalore for a quarter or less of what they could earn elsewhere. If the firm can contend for “best there is,” and I believe it can, a lot of the reason is Chairman Narayana Murthy. The softspoken but far seeing boss, like his company, has won every conceivable Best Boss/Entrepreneur/Businessman in Asia award. Why not “Best in World,” I’d ask. He is a true business visionary—both in terms of the impact he insists Infosys can have on the world and the humanity of the enterprise he has created. It takes but a few minutes in his presence for even an old (!) and well-traveled (!) hand like me to feel I’ve had a near once-in-a-lifetime exposure to a special person. And to the amazement of an/this American, his humility runs as deep as his accomplishments run tall. Hey, check Infosys out! (Start with the annual report, available at Infosys.com.)



NOT YOUR ORDINARY VISION …

Consider extract from the chairman’s letter in the Infosys annual report, describing the company’s Global Delivery Model, these days featuring strategic consulting: “By making the Global Delivery Model both legitimate and mainstream, we have brought the battle to our territory. That is, after all, the purpose of strategy. We have become the leaders and incumbents [IBM, Accenture, etc.—TP] are followers, forever playing catch up. Every company now needs to articulate an India strategy. … However, creating a new business innovation is not enough for rules to be changed. The innovation must impact clients, competitors, investors and society. We have seen all this in spades. Clients have embraced the model and are demanding it in even greater measure. The acuteness of their circumstance, coupled with the capability and value of our solution, has made the choice not a choice. Competitors have been dragged kicking and screaming to replicate what we do. They face trauma and disruption, but the game has changed forever. Investors have grasped that this is not a passing fancy, but a potential restructuring of the way the world operates and how value will be created in the future. …” Brash? Absolutely! But oh so much better than 100 … or 1,000 … corporate value statements that begin, “We aim to create value for our stakeholders …” Infosys does aim to enrich its stakeholders, but to do so not by pocketing the leavings from a few efficiency improvements, rather from Changing the World! Amen … for the audacity. (Hint: I’d not bet against them! See you in Bangalore!)