Will Salil Parekh Succeed as CEO @infosys.

Will Salil Parekh succeed as CEO @infosys. He is the second professional, outside the founder’s circle, to be given this mandate. I share my thoughts.

Will Salil Parekh succeed as CEO @infosys.


Salil Parekh is the second professional, outside the founder’s circle, to be given the CEO mandate of Infosys. Will he succeed?

Will the founders of Infosys be able to realize their dream of growing their legacy of a truly global organization that adopted industry-leading corporate governance ethics & standards run by professionals?

The real answers are the time will tell and depends on how one measures success.

Will Salil Parekh succeed as CEO @infosys
Salil Parekh

I believe that it is highly likely that Salil Parekh will succeed. Salil Parekh will succeed to steer and grow Infosys without the founders at the helm of affairs.

Salil Parekh will succeed @infosys.

Almost every change involves and requires a transitory phase. And, Nandan Nilekani, one of the co-founders of Infosys has announced his intent to continue as Chairman till he feels it appropriate. Thus, Salil Parekh will succeed because a transition period exists.

For the founders of Infosys, numbers are no longer the only consideration. Equally and maybe more important are the values around which they build Infosys. And, during this transitory phase, Salil Parekh will get an opportunity to co-create the new Infosys with Nandan. Also, this transition will allow Salil Parekh to imbibe some of the values of Infosys that are held close by the founders, led by Narayana Murthy.

Salil’s transition period with Nandan will play an impacting role in his success. And, because he is an accomplished professional, I believe Salil Parekh will succeed @infosys.

We saw a similar situation at Tata Sons. Compared to Cyrus Mistry, N. Chandrasekeran had spent more time with Mr. Ratan Tata. Thus, Chandra resonated more (probably) with the TATA values that Mr. Ratan Tata held close to his heart.

The unwarranted comparison.

Salil Parekh’s predecessor Vishal Sikka had embarked on a journey that was unprecedented in the IT industry. No company has been successful to transform itself from being outsourcing-centric to product plus services centric in the highly disruptive scenario of today.

In recent times, IBM is an example of the IT industry of such a large-scale corporate transformation. But IBM moved from being a hardware company to a services-centric firm. And the pace of disruption was much slower than today.

Thus, comparing two highly accomplished professionals like Vishal Sikka and Salil Parekh is unfair. Equally, such a comparison does no justice to their individual achievements & competences.


This article was first published on my LinkedIn Page. I have made some edits.

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