A Brand Ambassador called NRN

In an earlier post on Infosys i had mentioned how the leadership in the last few years has not shown an understanding of the Infy difference the way NRN used to. They have been extremely competent business managers delivering great results but no different from the guys at TCS or Wipro or Cognizant... Last evening, after a long time, saw NRN in action on CNBC and he spoke about the rupee appreciation in a manner only he can. Despite IT companies losing millions of dollars, he defended the appreciation of the rupee as a sign of the strengthening of the Indian economy and how our imports will become cheaper and therefore the overall good it represents for the country. This is what separates him from the rest- whether it is taking a stand on the IIM quota issue, or suggesting that IT companies should be taxed by governement or questioning intentions of ex-prime ministers... he has always taken a clear stand and operated from a place of conviction rather than convenience.

And that has been the Infy difference- not in terms of business model or culture as much as the ideology that it represented. Coming from the middle class background, NRN somehow showed the opportunistic middle class how not be emasculated and be a stand for a few things irrespective of the stakes involved....

Dying to see some of that spunk in the current leadership as well!

Synchronicity!

Stumbled upon this very clearly written blog by David Maister on the woes of advertising which takes the discussion on the future of marketing further. Whose baby will marketing be, is a question urgently begging an answer... particularly when the company is the brand- shoudn't CEO be the chief marketing officer?

Infosys & the Curse of the Incumbent

Infosys has truly been an iconic brand for the 1990s...one of the defining metaphors for what our country went through as it shed its socialist past and embraced capitalism. To use Douglas Holt's thesis, brand Infosys provided a dramatic reconciliation for the ideological conflict the nation was going through. While a nations of so many underprivileged people naturally resonated with the idea of socialism and central role for government, the 1991 crisis exposed the vulnerability of that model. On the other hand, while the success of capitalism was unmistakable, our society was still suspicious of unbridled capitalism.

Infosys emerged as a brand which was highly competitive, global, high technology and yet humane, socially responsible and authentic. Like JN TATA almost a hundred years ago, it was difficult to say whether NarayanMurthy was a socialist or a capitalist. He reinvented the archetype for the new century. In a way, in the 1990s, he was more TATA than the TATAs.

Moreover, with their middle class educational upbringing, the management made the dream beliveable 'for the rest of us'.

However, the last 3 years have been relatively tepid as far as Infy's masterful performances are concerned. It has been a while since one got to see a bold visionary move that this brand had been so good at in the past. Whether it is putting the value of the human capital on the balance sheet or the generous wealth sharing or the breathtaking campus or taking bold stands on various issues...the new Infy seems to be far more conservative and self-centred.

And the impression one gets is of an extremely efficient execution machine delivering great stock market performance but losing touch with its soul. The CEOs after NRN have also been more managers/strategists than visionaries.

Probably they see themselves now as incumbents rather than challengers and thus the need to preserve status-quo rather than invent new paradigms....

At times their efforts at making a difference have looked publicity stunts rather than authentic expressions of care. Case in point being the one crore donation for Kashmir earthquake a day after announcing quarterly profits of over 600 crores.

It is a brand that has been the pride of this nation and one hopes it continues to play the progressive role it provided through the 1990s in inspiring Indian corporates towards greater transparency and equitable wealth-sharing. That was the Infosys difference and definitely something that all of us who want to see standard-setting global corporations emerge out of India, would want preserved.

The challenger in Infosys probably needs to be rekindled!

What does a company need most- vision, values, mission, direction...

Another response to a David Maister (www.davidmaister.com/blog) query which too k me into thoughts i had never had--
If we look at it as sequence of events in the life of a company before a virtuous cycle sets in reinforcing each element-- I would say a business gets created by identifying a need i.e. customers in the market. It then becomes a company when a set of like minded people come and stay together around that need (although it could happen the other way round also with a group of like minded people figuring out a business to be in a la Sony) so shared values (or culture) keeps these people together... and this can become an enduring company if it looks at its business with a sense of contribution i.e. a purpose beyond making money. And it will become a visionary company if it develops a strong sense of direction early on in its life rather than being subject to environmental forces and opportunistic behavior.
In my consulting I have tried to study most of my clients with the Built to Last framework where Vision is a combination of values, purpose and a long term goal.
What I have found most often is the presence of a value system which is the glue keeping it all together. What is most often lacking is a sense of purpose and direction.
The growing Indian economy keeps this virtuous cycle in place and the core team sticks together trying out every new opportunity that comes up in the environment but there is no real sense of strategy and trade-offs that seems to exist.

One hypothesis I have is that most strategic calls get taken by a sense of identity that the management has of itself (this is our kind of opportunity and that is not) rather than any serious analysis of market opportunity or competencies (they come into play only when they desire excellence which is very often not the case). So, if as a consultant I can help clients become more self-aware by putting them in touch with their core values then an entity may emerge over a period of time that is differentiated in the market by what we call organizational culture.
One may wish to give them a long-term strategy articulating in great detail on a quarterly basis what they should be doing..however it is likely to get thrown out of the window the moment first unpredictable event takes place in the environment. And environment is only getting more unpredictable.
So, for an established organization I would focus most on discovering core values and illustrating it with actions/trade offs/rules etc.
for a new start up, i would focus on understanding the nature of the market opportunity.
Ultimately, it is all about finding, articulating and sharpening a difference you can preserve and at various life stages of a company, these would be my priorities.