The rock stars of Infosys are getting ready to leave the stage to a new band of boys. Will Infosys be the same ever again?
Chandra Shekar Kakal may not be known widely to the outside world, but at Infosys Technologies, he is the leader of 12,000 people bringing in business worth over $1 billion. But there is a more important reason why this vice president of enterprise solutions must be watched.
He is among the handful of future leaders who will shape the new Infosys in the next decade or so.
Subhash Dhar, Ashok Vemuri, V. Balakrishnan and B.G. Srinivas, all Kakal’s peers, are now coming under the same limelight. These five are among a band of leaders being groomed to take over from the founding team of Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani and S. “Kris” Gopalakrishnan.
It will be one of the most keenly watched corporate transitions in recent times. Starting August 20, 2011, when Murthy will retire, the old guard will start putting more and more of Infosys in the hands of the new leadership. Within the next decade the remaining founders, who are now in their mid-50s, will start retiring too. No one quite knows how the transition will pan out. For over three decades, all the key operational roles have been looked after by one of the founders.
Of course, this could change with the relatively new Executive Council (EC), the highest decision making body in the firm, just below the board. In December, 2007, Gopalakrishnan, the current CEO and MD, drafted the five newbies into the EC. Earlier, decisions were arrived at by three or four executive board members — mostly the founders. Now all those decisions are put to the council which meets every 15 days.
The EC is an important part of grooming the next level of leaders. By assisting Gopalakrishnan and COO and director S.D. Shibulal, they learn what it takes to run a large corporation.
But can they step out of the shadow of the iconic founders to bring in a new way of working that Infosys now needs? The slowdown exposed the chinks in its armoury. Its rivals Wipro and Cognizant are growing faster. But can Infosys effect the transformation without straying too far from the so-called Murthy Doctrine?
(This story appears in the 04 June, 2010 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)